Chapter 01
Yustitia had clearly seen it.
Just before Lumiella threw herself down the stairs, she had made eye contact with Yustitia and smiled faintly.
By the time Yustitia realized what had happened, Lumiella had already fallen to the bottom of the stairs. Her delicate body tumbled down the steps before anyone could do anything.
“Ahhh! Lady Lumiella!”
People who came running after hearing the scream were horrified by the terrible sight before them. Then someone shouted loudly.
“The Saintess pushed Lady Lumiella down the stairs!”
Everyone stared at Yustitia in shock. Soon, a look of understanding appeared on their faces, as if they could believe Yustitia was capable of such a thing.
Yustitia had already been caught several times trying to slander Lumiella.
But Yustitia was innocent. She hurriedly shook her head.
“No. I didn’t do—”
“Saintess!”
Someone interrupted Yustitia and shouted angrily.
Yustitia turned her head in confusion and saw King Alfonso climbing the stairs with a furious expression.
Behind him, Lumiella was being carried away unconscious.
“How far are you planning to disgrace yourself? Last time, you tried to slander Lumiella by claiming she had lied.”
It hadn’t been slander. Lumiella really had lied about Yustitia doing something she had never done.
Yustitia had insisted that she was innocent and said that Lumiella was strange for lying.
But no one had believed her.
“Did it bother you that Lumiella always spoke the truth? So you decided to kill her altogether?”
“How can you say such a thing, Your Majesty? I don’t lie. You know that better than anyone…”
“I don’t know. Perhaps you’re using that rigid, honest image of yours to slander Lumiella.”
“Do I have any reason to do that? I am Your Majesty’s fiancée and the Saintess of Scalia.”
Yustitia firmly denied it.
“This time as well, Lady Lumiella fell down the stairs by herself. I clearly saw her look into my eyes and smile just before she fell…!”
Smack!
A sharp crack rang out against Yustitia’s cheek.
The burning pain that followed left Yustitia staring blankly as she turned her head.
“How far do I have to be disappointed in you?”
Her older brother, Duke Sergio Cassini, was staring at her with contempt.
“Are you framing the real one because you’re afraid of losing your position?”
“Framing her? Brother, no. That’s not true.”
“Shut your mouth, Yustitia.”
Sergio cut her off in a cold voice.
“By my authority as head of the family, I hereby expel you from the Cassini family. You are no longer a Cassini, nor are you my sister.”
A commotion broke out around them at the sudden declaration.
No matter how much authority the head of the family possessed, it was unheard of to casually expel a Saintess like this.
Yet Alfonso simply watched without intervening, implicitly agreeing with him.
Yustitia couldn’t believe what was happening.
“This is how it should have been from the beginning. Now that the real one has returned, there’s no need for a fake little sister.”
“…Fake.”
Yustitia muttered the word in a hollow voice before asking sorrowfully,
“Have you ever considered me your little sister? Even once?”
Sergio gave a cold laugh, leaned closer to Yustitia, and replied.
“You know better than anyone that I never did.”
Sergio turned around and walked away.
Before following him, Alfonso seemed to remember something and left her with one final remark.
“As for what happened today, I intend to investigate it thoroughly later. No matter how much of a Saintess you are, the crime of attempting to harm a daughter of House Cassini will not be taken lightly.”
“……”
“Do not do something like this again. I’m saying this for the sake of the Saintess’s well-being.”
It sounded as though this was the last time he would let her off.
How absurd.
She had never done anything wrong in the first place.
Fortunately, Lumiella woke up safely and stated that she did not want Yustitia punished.
Yustitia requested to meet and speak with Lumiella, but the request fell through when Lumiella refused, saying that she was afraid of her.
Once the news spread, everyone praised Lumiella’s generosity while insulting Yustitia.
“It all belonged to Lady Lumiella in the first place. The position of Saintess, and her position as the daughter of House Cassini.”
“The real one appeared after disappearing seven years ago, so it’s understandable that the fake one would be desperate. But even so, to think she’d actually push someone down the stairs.”
At some point, Yustitia had become the fake who was jealous of and slandered the real one.
“I am truly innocent, Archbishop Formoso. The position of Saintess, the Cassini name… I can give all of it up. I have never harbored any ill feelings toward Lady Lumiella.”
“If the Saintess is truly innocent, God will know the truth.”
“…Even you don’t believe me, Archbishop?”
“No matter what kind of person the Saintess is, I am always on the Saintess’s side.”
Archbishop Formoso held Yustitia’s hand and spoke seriously.
Yustitia looked at him with wounded eyes, but eventually pulled her hand away and left.
Not long after that.
“I hereby order the execution of Saintess Yustitia for attempting to poison Lady Lumiella Cassini.”
Yustitia met her death.
Abandoned by her family, her fiancé, and the temple.
So.
‘That means I’ve become that Yustitia.’
I stared blankly at the mirror.
Inside it was a beautiful woman with silver hair that shimmered elegantly as though it had been dyed by moonlight, and eyes as blue as a lake.
Yustitia.
The kind and upright Saintess who didn’t know how to lie.
A tragic woman who was helplessly deceived by the schemes of the ‘real’ one who suddenly appeared, eventually losing everything.
“Saintess, you’re absolutely beautiful today as well! There has never been a Saintess as beautiful as you in the history of Scalia.”
Nora, my maid, was clearly trying to cheer me up with her bright smile.
Then she carefully added,
“Please avoid Lady Lumiella as much as possible today. Somehow, whenever you get involved with her, nothing but bad things happen.”
This girl had pretty good instincts.
When I looked at Nora with an expression that said she had some sense after all, she flinched and hurriedly continued.
“O-Of course, that doesn’t mean Lady Lumiella is a bad person. But… somehow, whenever you’re with Lady Lumiella, you often end up in unfair situations.”
The original kind-hearted Yustitia would have gently scolded her, telling her not to speak ill of Lumiella.
“You’re right.”
But I wasn’t the real Yustitia.
“You saw it exactly right. Lady Cassini keeps making up things that never happened and putting me in difficult situations.”
Perhaps my unexpected answer had caught her off guard, because Nora’s eyes widened.
“Yes, yes! Exactly! Last time, too, Lady Lumiella told everyone that Saintess Yustitia had come back from the slums alone in a carriage, leaving Lady Lumiella behind! When in fact, you had urgently taken an injured child to the hospital.”
Just as Nora said, Lumiella had repeatedly distorted facts like this to make Yustitia look like a strange person.
“I was so frustrated watching you just let it happen…”
She was right.
Until things became serious, Yustitia hadn’t bothered to correct the facts.
She would just say something infuriating like, ‘But it is true that I rode in the carriage alone.’
Because of that, even the people who had trusted Saintess Yustitia gradually began believing Lumiella’s words.
By the time Lumiella’s lies and distortions had become so severe that Yustitia finally tried to correct them, it was already too late.
“So. I should have listened to you.”
Yustitia hadn’t exactly lacked people around her who gave her advice.
There had been a maid as perceptive as this one, yet she had still been so softhearted?
When I nodded obediently, Nora looked at me as though I were a stranger.
“You’re a little strange today.”
“Am I?”
“Yes. Last time I said something like this… you didn’t like it very much. You said that as a Saintess, you should overlook other people’s little faults.”
“I changed my mind. I don’t think spreading false information is a little fault.”
I answered indifferently.
“A thief who steals a needle eventually steals a cow. There’s no guarantee that they won’t tell even bigger lies later, is there?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying!”
“Of course…”
I stared thoughtfully at the top of Nora’s head before adding one more thing.
“I still think Lumiella is a good person.”
The moment I said those words—
[That is a lie.]
[Lies Gauge increased by 0.1%.]
[Current Gauge: 0.1%]
