Chapter 5
“Ah…”
The moment she realized this, tears began to flow.
Drip, drip drop.
“S-Soya?”
Flustered Irim looked at her, not knowing what to do.
“I’m sorry. The tears came suddenly… I was just so happy.”
Soya smiled brightly as she rubbed her eyes.
Happy. And also, it felt so unfamiliar.
Since that day three years ago, this was the first time someone had spoken to her with such gentle words.
It was also the first time she had been congratulated on her birthday.
Come to think of it, that day… the day three years ago when she was abandoned by her family was her sixth birthday.
Soya suddenly realized another fact and swallowed her bitter feelings.
“Thank you so much for coming to keep your promise.”
Soya said while tightly gripping the ornament Irim had given her.
Irim looked at her quietly, then extended his hand.
“Give me that for a moment.”
He attached the ornament with the red jade to Soya’s jeogori.
Then he spoke in a calm tone.
“Pretty.”
“…”
“Now it seems to have found its proper owner.”
At that gentle praise, Soya’s face turned red for no reason.
To be honest, her mother’s relic didn’t seem to suit her shabby appearance at all, but…
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Soya smiled happily.
Irim also smiled slightly, following her lead.
“Just call me Elder Brother like before.”
The two sat side by side on the flat rock, chatting quietly.
“But… what happened?”
He asked carefully.
“You look very different from how I remembered. Can you tell me what happened to you during this time?”
At that question, Soya hesitated.
She was embarrassed to reveal her shameful secret to her childhood acquaintance, but she didn’t want to hide or deceive him.
“I am…”
Soya confessed that she was a sinner who had stolen the young lady’s position.
Tae Irim, who had been quietly listening to her story, frowned.
He instinctively felt something was strange.
“But… that can’t be…”
He who had been muttering quietly suddenly stood up abruptly.
“Elder Brother Irim?”
“Soya.”
Irim grabbed both hands of the puzzled Soya.
Her small fingertips were rough, perhaps from doing a lot of hard work. That fact made Irim a little sad.
The current Soya had shadows that the Soya in his memories didn’t have.
Soya’s transformation must surely be because of her family.
Remembering Soya’s withdrawn appearance during the day and her family who treated her as if she didn’t exist made him angry.
‘Even if this child really did take the real daughter’s place, that is never this child’s fault.’
However, what remained unchanged despite the hostility from those she once believed to be family was that clear smile.
Irim wanted to protect Soya’s smile. Even though it might be very late, at least now.
“I have something urgent to investigate, so I need to return to the Imperial Palace.”
“Ah…”
A look of regret crossed Soya’s face.
Seeing that expression made it difficult for Irim to take a step.
But perhaps, if he went to the Imperial Palace library, he might be able to resolve the unsettling doubt that had been bothering him.
And just maybe, Soya, this child…
“Don’t be too disappointed. I’ll come back soon. And when I return…”
He might find a way to take her from this estate to the Imperial Palace.
“I want to take you to the Imperial Palace. If you would allow it.”
“…”
Instead of answering, Soya stared at him blankly.
Irim smiled and hooked his pinky finger with hers.
Just like she had hooked her pinky finger with his three years ago.
And there was a pair of eyes watching this scene from afar.
* * *
The prince left urgently in the middle of the night, and the next morning.
“Tell me honestly. You stole this, didn’t you?”
Lili shouted at Soya in a sharp voice.
In her hand was the very ornament that Soya had received back from Irim last night.
“N-no, Young Lady.”
Soya protested firmly even while trembling.
“I really didn’t steal it. P-please give it back.”
Lili’s face contorted at the sight of Soya speaking her mind instead of being docile as usual.
“How dare you lie!”
Lili disliked Soya. From the moment she first saw her.
She didn’t like having a child of similar age at the estate, and she hated how this mere working child stood out with a prettier face than her own.
And she also disliked how Father and Elder Brother seemed to unconsciously pay attention to that child.
So Lili deliberately kept Soya as her personal servant and always had her around. To show Soya how different their positions were.
Sometimes she would deliberately encourage other servant women to bully Soya.
Of course, since Lili had to be the kind and good youngest lady, she did it subtly so it would never show.
Actually, yesterday Lili had planned to humiliate Soya.
She intended to show that child’s shabby appearance before the noble prince from the Imperial Palace and torment her thoroughly.
How pathetic it usually was to see her ashamed of her ragged appearance in front of Father and Elder Brother.
‘Learn your place with this opportunity.’
But things went differently than she had thought.
From the moment the prince’s gaze turned toward Soya after getting out of the palanquin, she had an ominously bad feeling, and last night she saw the two having an affectionate conversation.
Though she couldn’t hear the conversation from afar, seeing Irim patting Soya’s head and even giving her an ornament made Lili burn with rage.
‘I don’t know what that fox-like thing did, but I need to drive her out before His Highness returns.’
So Lili planned to drive Soya away before the prince returned by framing her for theft.
The ornament Soya received from the prince last night served as a good excuse.
Since the prince had left and there were no witnesses, she planned to pressure Soya by accusing her of stealing the ornament and deal with her before he returned.
“It’s not a lie. It’s really true.”
Soya pleaded while trembling, tears welling up in her eyes.
“If you really didn’t steal it, then where did it come from?”
“That’s…”
Soya couldn’t easily open her mouth.
‘She knows too. That even if I say I received it from His Highness the Prince, no one would believe me.’
It was when Lili was inwardly sneering.
“That… isn’t that the deceased Madam’s ornament?”
One of the servant women who had been watching muttered quietly.
“What?”
When Lili whipped her head around to look, the servant woman who had been muttering to herself gasped “Hah!” and shut her mouth.
But Lili had already heard it.
“The deceased Madam… then this is Lili’s mother’s belonging?”
Lili’s voice trembled violently.
“Why, why do you have mother’s belonging?”
At the sharp question, the color drained completely from Soya’s face.
[Make sure Lili never discovers your true identity. If Lili ever gets hurt because of you, I will not forgive you.]
Father’s stern warning that he wouldn’t forgive her if Young Lady Lili discovered her identity rang terrifyingly in her head.
“Th, that… that is…”
“Speak up!”
Lili threw off her mask of a gentle young lady and shrieked viciously as she shoved Soya’s body.
From that force, Soya’s small body crashed hard against the floor.
Just then, the family head Jeok Ayun and second son Jeok Hwayu came running and witnessed that scene.
“Lili…!”
It was the moment when the fake peace that Jeok Ayun had worked so hard to create shattered.
* * *
Lili had come to learn that Soya was the fake daughter who had stolen her place.
Shocked, Lili collapsed in illness, and the estate was turned completely upside down.
The household members gossiped about Soya.
How shameless. A thieving wench who stole the young lady’s place. Instead of immediately going to the young lady to apologize. Oh, our poor Young Lady Lili…
Words sharp as needles kept stabbing at Soya’s tender skin.
“An, an apology… I must unconditionally beg for forgiveness. That, that I was wrong… That I’m sorry for stealing the young lady’s place…”
Soya went to find the young lady’s room. She had to apologize.
Although stealing the young lady’s childhood was an unforgivable wrong, still, even so, if her apology could ease the young lady’s feelings even a little…
It was when Soya, standing before the young lady’s closed door, was taking a short deep breath.
“Please get rid of that child.”
At the sound coming from inside the room, Soya froze stiff.
“Lili absolutely cannot live under the same sky as that child. Unless you want to watch Lili die, please get rid of that child. Before His Highness the Prince comes back to take that child.”
“Alright.”
The answer that immediately followed was Elder Brother Hwayu’s voice.
