Chapter 83

Clink. Clink.

When I, who usually led the conversation during meals, shut my mouth, only the sound of utensils clattering echoed throughout the entire meal.

Edward sliced his meat elegantly, like an angel from a masterpiece.

Who would ever see him as the king of the underworld? He could easily pass for a noble from the empire.

It’s already shocking that he’s the ruler of a place that commits all sorts of illegal acts, but it’s even more shocking that he’s colder than I ever imagined.

“Ugh. It splashed.”

Daniel tried to pick out the asparagus, but when the sauce splashed on his clothes, he quickly wiped it off with a napkin.

It’s funny that the Tower Master is such a picky eater, yet behind the scenes, he’s the brain scheming all sorts of plots.

If I had that kind of intelligence, I’d solve world hunger and bring about global peace.

“The trade war of 1435…”

Leo, cramming for his exam tomorrow, had his nose buried in a book while eating.

Ha. You make him the youngest swordmaster, and he goes around hitting people? Then, at school, he’s a cheerful student council president.

Grind.

My teeth clenched. I was bedridden all day yesterday, more shocked by the truth about my brothers than the sorrow of my heartbreak.

I became one with the bed, lost in thought.

How should I come to terms with what my brothers have done?

Should I scold them, get angry? Or should I take a rational approach and talk things through step by step?

I was overwhelmed with options but couldn’t decide. My emotions kept flipping from anger to disappointment every second.

‘I can’t exactly hit grown men.’

Screech. The sound of a fork scraping the plate made a terrible noise.

Leo looked up at me, startled by the sound.

“Sis?”

“……”

Leo, that brat, is the worst. How did I raise him, only for him to resort to punching?

“Sis, are you really upset?”

Leo cautiously observed my mood.

Now that I think about it, there were many strange things. Unlike other families, my brothers were always overly interested in my love life.

Who I was getting close to, how long it had been since I started seeing someone, and so on.

On top of that, my ex-boyfriends would often ask about my brothers, and then, out of the blue, they’d break up with me, always keeping an eye on my reaction.

‘It was all because they were threatened by my brothers.’

Trembling with betrayal, my breath grew heavy with anger, and Daniel asked,

“Sister, you seemed out of energy all day yesterday. Are you okay?”

“I’m not okay.”

The only reason I sat at the table in this situation was to see how these brats would react.

Since when have they been sabotaging my relationships? Why! Why the hell!

“Sister, Peter isn’t worth all this pain you’re going through.”

“That’s for me to decide.”

My tone came out cold, unlike usual. Leo looked at me, wide-eyed in surprise, and Edward gazed at me carefully.

But now, I didn’t care about their reactions. I wasn’t interested.

My appetite vanished, so I put down my utensils and stood up. Leo, startled, called out to me.

“Sis…”

Without a word, I turned around and left the dining room.

It was hard enough just holding back from making them all bald, let alone responding.

I felt wronged for all the emotional suffering I’d endured. I thought I had as much charm as a mouse’s tail, or that my sense of judgment was so bad that I only attracted weird men.

As I lay down and pulled the blanket over myself, Leo followed and asked,

“Sis, are you okay?”

“Get out.”

“Sis, should I get you medicine if you’re not feeling well?”

Leo hovered around me worriedly, and I glared at him, clenching my fist.

‘I can’t exactly kill him.’

Leo not only interfered in my love life but also had the added sin of throwing punches carelessly, so I couldn’t let him off the hook.

He couldn’t even use the excuse of being young—he was seventeen, after all.

“Sis?”

I grabbed Leo’s sideburns and twisted them with all my strength.

“Aaaagh! Sis, it hurts! It hurts! What are you doing!”

“Why? Why do you think?”

Panting with anger, I slapped Leo’s back repeatedly with my other hand.

His whole body was muscular, so it felt like my hand hurt more than him, but it was the only way I could let out my frustration.

Hearing Leo’s screams, Daniel and Edward rushed upstairs.

“What did you mess up this time?”

Daniel seemed certain that Leo had done something wrong. Unable to watch any longer, Edward tried to stop me.

“Sister, calm down. I don’t know what’s going on, but…”

“Explain yourselves.”

“What?”

“Why did you interfere in my relationships? Explain everything.”

My hands trembled uncontrollably with emotion. The pressure in my chest was unbearable, like it was about to burst, and I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

Leo’s screams stopped. Edward’s expression darkened, and Daniel turned pale.

“Don’t even think about denying it! I’ve confirmed everything!”

The surroundings fell silent. The only sound filling the space was my ragged breathing.

It felt like my head was going to explode. No, what was about to explode was my heart, crammed full of emotions.

The betrayal of how my brothers could do this to me was one thing, but the grief of having suffered in silence, clueless, made me want to cry.

But the hardest part was the disappointment. I’d been stabbed in the back by the people I trusted most, my beloved brothers.

“Sister… Let’s sit down and talk first.”

Tears welled up, blurring my vision. A sob rose in my throat, and I bit my lip hard to control my emotions.

“Just answer me right here.”

“Sister, we’ll explain everything. Peter had a gambling problem, so we had to get rid of him. Otherwise…”

“That was for me to decide, not for you to handle! And Leo, you! You got into a fight? Edward, you should’ve stopped them! What do you think you’re doing getting involved too?”

I scolded Leo, hitting him everywhere—his back, waist, arms—yelling at him, and he curled up, shouting,

“Sis, I’m sorry! But we had no choice! That bastard Peter refused to break up with you no matter what!”

“You still…!”

His body was so solid that my hand tingled from the impact. Then, Edward, who had come closer, gently took my hand.

Up close, his complexion looked quite pale. Ha. I guess he knows he’s in the wrong.

I locked eyes with Edward, glaring at him.

Running a business in the underworld… since when had he been involved? What would our parents think if they knew?

“Since when?”

“From the beginning. The first man you met, Ravi, had a complicated history with women.”

So, they’ve been consistently sabotaging my relationships for the past two years?

My frequent breakups weren’t because of me, but because of my brothers?

“If you had told me, I would have handled it. Why did you deal with it on your own?”

“We didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“What you did is more hurtful! You made me feel like a fool! And not all the men I dated were bad. Why did you ruin everything by acting on your own?”

“Sis… it felt like we were losing you…”

“So you resort to punching people? How many times did I tell you not to use your strength recklessly, and you still did it!”

“……”

Leo lowered his head. Once I started talking, I couldn’t stop.

“How did you feel seeing me depressed after being dumped? Did you find it funny? Did you feel sorry? How long did you think you could keep this a secret?”

“I’m sorry… I really believed it was for your sake…”

Daniel lowered his head. My heart pounded with rage.

I wiped away the tears that started to spill and took a deep breath.

I’ll deal with Edward’s job and Daniel and Leo’s bad behavior later. Right now, my emotions take priority.

“Let’s live separately for a while.”

“Sis!”

“I’m packing my things and leaving. A tenant just moved out of the house on Merdan 3rd Street, so I’ll move in there.”

“Sis, it’s dangerous to live alone.”

“Why? Because of your job?”

At my sharp remark, Edward flinched, uncharacteristically.

Leo fidgeted and looked at Daniel, but Daniel just shook his head slightly.

I pulled a suitcase out of the closet and stuffed it full of clothes.

“Sis, how about we leave instead? I’m away on business half the month, and I practically live at the Magic Tower anyway. As for Leo… we’ll just send him to a friend’s place. You can stay here. Okay?”

“Shut up! I’m so disappointed in all of you! I don’t want to see a single hair on your heads for a while!”

I pressed down on the suitcase to close it and grabbed my bag with my wallet. Then, just in case, I yelled,

“Don’t come looking for me! Don’t call me! Don’t spy on me! If you pull any more sneaky tricks behind my back, I’ll never see your faces again! Got it?”

I shouted threateningly at my brothers, who were all a head taller than me, then stormed out of the house.

If this is what independence looks like, I’m not sure whose independence this really is.

Whether this would be my first step toward living a life without my brothers or their first step toward independence from me, only time would tell.

One thing was certain—we needed space, both physically and emotionally.

***

Timoteo looked around at a landscape completely different from the empire.

The mild climate, the sophisticated harbor, and even the livelier atmosphere than the empire.

He finally felt like he understood where Elizabeth’s sparkling gaze came from.

“Elizabeth is somewhere around here?”

It had been an incredibly difficult journey.

No matter how long he waited, she never replied to his letters, leaving him anxious. He had tried finding Elizabeth himself, but Edward and Daniel Harrington constantly spread false information, leading him on wild goose chases countless times.

Finally, Caron had discovered that Elizabeth’s real last name wasn’t what he thought; her true name was ‘Elizabeth Harrington.’ Yet, even after this revelation, finding her was no easy task.

Edward’s business, despite being an underground operation, was so well hidden under layers of identity fraud that tracking him down was no easy feat.

No matter how many times he visited the Magic Tower, Daniel refused to meet him. As for Leonard, he had transferred schools, and no one knew where he had gone.

In the end, he investigated every area where Edward’s company had branches, using the process of elimination to confirm that Elizabeth was here, in Sierra.

“I can’t wait to see you, Elizabeth…”

The mere certainty that Elizabeth was under the same sky filled his heart with hope.

Timoteo disembarked, eagerly anticipating the moment he would meet her again.