The Radiant Young Lady of the Dark Family - Chapter 2
At that fact, she displayed a faint sneer and stretched out her body. She exhaled shallow breaths, as if enduring everything like a dying flame.
But then she noticed the newspaper on the bedside table. Hartbisa looked down at the newspaper with narrowed eyes.
‘My niece and nephew were talking about the Empire in the garden. Is this why?’
The face adorning the front page was familiar. It was Wolfgang Lamberth, the Empire’s hero, still boasting his handsome looks despite the passage of time.
She recalled the words he had spoken long ago, holding her hand.
“Hartbisa, I fell for you at first sight. We are destined.”
Yes. Hartbisa had appeared in this story just to hear that one line.
As a stepping stone for the male protagonist to become a stronger character, carrying the despair of not being able to be with his first love, in order to meet the real female lead.
So Hartbisa was the protagonist’s foothold, something like that. It was truly a fitting description for her life.
Hartbisa once again recalled that wretched fact as her vision slowly dimmed.
As her eyes were closing…
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Hartbisa’s eyes suddenly flew open, and she grasped the newspaper. She gripped it so tightly that it crumpled miserably.
As if not caring, she tore the newspaper with all her remaining strength. Lamberth’s face, wearing a bright smile, was torn vertically and fell to the floor.
Even in such a life, there were faces she wanted to see.
The kind maid Azure who stayed by her mother’s side until the end. The kitchen assistant Jomalon who secretly brought her bread when she was hungry. The lark that sat on the tree outside her bedroom and sang beautifully, and even her missed family members.
Suddenly, from her hazy memories, a sentence written in neat handwriting came to mind.
「To my beloved」
There was also a man who called Hartbisa that in clean handwriting, even without knowing her face.
It was a very old memory, but for some reason, she thought of it now.
Hartbisa laughed softly.
“I should be grateful. At least the last memory is…”
Because it was someone’s affection.
As if she had truly exhausted all her strength now, her entire body went limp.
If I’m given another life, I dare to try living my own life.
Hartbisa made that vow as she exhaled her dying breath in the small room that no one cared for.
***
Hartbisa rose from her place, taking deep breaths.
“Haa, haa.”
She had clearly thought her body was completely losing strength and her breath was fading…
But now she was taking deep breaths as if her lungs would burst.
Wondering how this could be, she looked around.
It was a very small attic room.
In the narrow room where barely any light entered, there was a wooden frame with a few blankets laid over it, a small desk, and an old lantern. Dust had settled on top of them.
Hartbisa raised herself. Distracted by her surroundings, she hadn’t noticed, but her body felt light.
The headaches and muscle pains she had suffered from as aftereffects of the accident, and the burning in her insides, were all gone.
She looked down at her body and her gaze stopped on her white, smooth hands without a single wrinkle.
Looking at hands that seemed to have regained youth, only one thought came to mind. Hartbisa was looking at the back of her hands when she suddenly stood up and headed towards the wall.
As she brushed away the cobwebs without hesitation, an old tapestry hanging on the wall came into view.
A large black snake was coiled around a thick tree branch. Moreover, at the end were two heads – it was a two-headed snake.
Hartbisa felt a shiver run through her the moment her eyes met those of the two-headed snake. Hartbisa knew all too well what this was. It was the crest of the Cellie family, known as the shadow of the Empire.
She muttered unconsciously.
“I’m back.”
She knew instinctively. That after her miserable death, she had returned to the novel she had read in her modern life.
Her fists clenched involuntarily.
“I’ve been given one more chance.”
Like the dust sitting thickly in the attic room, old memories surfaced one by one.
After Hartbisa’s mother passed away, all her misfortunes began.
Her aunt hated her mother, who was an orphan without family or status, but due to her father’s stubborn heart, the two married and she gave birth to Hartbisa.
Until then, she thought everything would be fine, but was it because of the unwelcome gazes around them? Her mother passed away, and afterward, her aunt began to eat away at the internal affairs of the Duke’s household in place of her father, who had fallen into great loss.
“Taking care of children and household chores is a woman’s job.”
She said while doing just that.
After that, it was a predictable story. Her father was busy with outside affairs, and her younger brother, who was the spitting image of her father, was the firstborn and a genius, so he escaped her aunt’s clutches.
Her aunt’s target was solely Hartbisa Cellie.
Poor Hartbisa, who resembled her orphan mother and knew nothing – that was what her aunt called her until her ears were sore.
Hartbisa looked around the room.
It seemed she was still being punished by her aunt. This was her aunt’s method of discipline. If she made even a small mistake, she would be confined to a solitary room.
This happened so often that she couldn’t remember and wasn’t curious about what she had done to be locked in the room this time.
What was important was that she standing in this room now was a different person from before.
Hartbisa tore down the tapestry depicting the two-headed snake, the crest of the Cellie family. Dust and cobwebs flew all over the narrow, dark room, instantly covering her.
But she didn’t even blink, and holding the tapestry tightly, she walked towards the door and shook the handle.
Clank, clank-
It seemed to be locked from the outside with a bolt, as the handle wouldn’t turn. As she had expected, she applied more force, and the old door shook as if it would break.
And not long after, there was a commotion outside the door, and then the bolt was undone and the door swung open wide.
Bright light poured in, and Hartbisa instinctively frowned.
The maids who opened the door were also coughing from the dust that poured out, but they seemed quite surprised by her appearance, covered in cobwebs.
She had been someone who didn’t make a peep when confined to the attic room at her aunt’s command. The act of shaking the doorknob as if to break down the door was unimaginable.
Because of this, no one could easily open their mouths, but the maid standing at the very back pushed past the dazed maids and stood in front of Hartbisa with her head held high.
“What is all this commotion?”
She was a girl aiming for the position of her aunt’s personal maid. Hartbisa carefully looked her up and down, her eyes narrowed, and then stopped her gaze on the bowl in her hand.
It seemed to be mealtime, as there was a stew with oil floating on top, clearly made long ago, in the fancy dish she was holding.
As Hartbisa’s gaze lingered there, the maid raised the corner of her mouth in a smirk.
“No matter how hungry you are, this is too much. What an unsightly act, forgetting your status.”
The maid spoke as if Hartbisa smelled, covering her nose.
“Well, looking at your current state, who would dare see you as a noble lady? Maybe a beggar from the slums, if anything.”
At the maid’s words, those standing beside her also looked around and followed suit in laughing. Hartbisa quietly took them in with her eyes.
Not all the servants had followed her aunt from the beginning.
The servants who had followed her mother had tried to protect Hartbisa from her aunt’s harassment, but they all crumbled before the sharp-eyed aunt.
Gradually, those who took Hartbisa’s side were fired for various reasons and subsequently faced great difficulties in finding employment.
After that, it became rare to find anyone helping her, and now, after much time had passed, they tormented her behind her back even without her aunt’s intervention. It was a natural progression.
Hartbisa looked at the giggling maids and opened her mouth with a slightly raised corner of her lips.
“It’s like a broken window.”
“Pardon?”
At her sudden words, the maid asked again, but Hartbisa continued calmly.
“Hey, what do you think happens if you leave a broken window as it is?”
“…A broken window?”
“The whole surrounding area becomes like that. As if the unbroken parts are being stained, they lose order and crack hideously.”
The maids looked at each other and frowned. They had expressions that suggested Hartbisa had finally gone mad after being locked in solitary confinement.
Hartbisa looked at them and smiled brightly.
“Don’t you understand? As you said, who would think this is a Duke’s household? With servants who can’t even recognize their master.”
At Hartbisa’s words, the maids’ faces instantly turned red.
It is the servant’s place to serve their master properly. But they had taken the side of outsiders who seemed to have power and tormented their young mistress. Some of them comforted themselves saying they had no choice to avoid being fired, but in truth, there were those who were intoxicated with a sense of superiority from tormenting a noble lady deep in their hearts.
