Chapter 1 – - [A Miraculous Thing] (2/2)

At this point, unless I was an idiot, I realized that they had something important to tell me. So I asked them, “Perhaps . . . Do you have something to tell me?”

Out of the four there, Medina answered my question.

“Bella, listen. We’ve actually already talked about this amongst ourselves, so today we will tell you what we want to say. There really is no other way to bring it up to you nicely.”

A tired smile rested on my face, “What do you want to say?”

“Now that our mother is dead, we can’t keep giving you money for your living expenses,”

she replied solemnly.

“Ahh. Of course.”

I knew that my intuition was correct.

Since my mother had finally passed away, I couldn’t keep receiving living expenses from my sisters since the reason why they were supporting me was not because of myself but out of filial piety towards my mother.

“That’s alright. I understand what you mean. Now that mom is gone, there is no need for you to keep taking care of me. Even though I’m not sure what I’m going to do in the future, I’m sure that I will find a job soon.”

Medina looked at me with a sliver of disdain. “We’ll be selling this house too.”

Medina’s unexpected announcement had me in shock.

Before I could say anything, Claire, who was watching me closely, agreed with Medina with a brazen face.

“What are you all surprised about? This house isn’t yours. It never was. Now that the real homeowner has died, my husband will find and sell it to a suitable relative. That way, we’ll be able to get back all the living costs we’ve been sending her all these years.”

Everyone nodded in agreement with Claire.

Finally Medina spoke with an upright tone, “That’s right. It’s not just this mansion. We’re also selling the Baron title, as well as all the small land left in the will.”

After hearing that, I was moved into a further state of shock. I couldn’t say anything in response.

A terrible sense of loss swirled all over my body.

“Then. . .

What about me?”

Medina and Claire had already married and currently hold the title of Viscountess and Baroness, but I didn’t even have anything.

I knew that it would be hard to maintain the Baron name of our family, but if they really sold the title of the Baron, I couldn’t even be in the aristocracy anymore.

If they were to sell this mansion and the little land left, I would have no place to stay.

I tried once again, trying to hide my trembling shoulders.

“You may not need the Perrington name or title anymore, but it’s not the same for me. I’ve been carrying it my entire lives, while you’ve started carrying the names and titles of your husbands. You can’t do this to me.”

Claire’s face scrunched up in spurts of anger. “We can’t help it either! Your brother-in-law gambled away all the money! We have to pay back our loans!”

She glared fiercely at her husband, Denver. In response, Denver coughed lightly and looked somewhere else to avoid her eyes.

Medina spoke belatedly with a poor look on her face as if trying to arouse sympathy.

“Bella, your situation is pitiful, but what can we do about it? We’ve also been having a hard time.”

At that moment, my heart shattered a thousand different times at once.

Back then and now.

It was still the same.

They still acted the same.

Twenty years ago, they had passed the responsibility of our mother to me. I had spent years taking care of her while they were able to get married and have children, and have a life defined by their own actions and decisions. In comparison, my life had revolved around my mother for twenty years.

“You’re not the only one who’s been having a hard time,” I protested, “It’s hard for me, too.”

Until now, Medina and Claire were having a hard time with their family life as well, so I tried to understand. No one had an easy life, I understood that.

But this was it.

I couldn’t do it anymore.

There is not much left for me to do at the age of 38. If they took any of these things away from me, I wouldn’t be able to survive.

But Medina looked at me coldly.

“I can’t help it if you choose to refuse. Unless there’s an heir, I have the right to do as I wish with the property and inheritance as the eldest child. You can say whatever you want to say, but I’ adamant on selling everything.”

“But-”

I tried to refuse, but Claire, who was next to me, cut off my protests quickly.

“How is it our fault that you’ve grown so old?” Claire questioned with contempt.

She laughed,” Maybe you ended this way because you’ve been collecting pictures of the Duke of Acruge for years.”

Miles and Denver had ridiculous expressions on their faces as they looked down on me. They were mocking me.

Theansis Kaian Acruge.

Also known as the Duke of Acruge.

I hadn’t collected his pictures because I had a wild dream to be with him and live a happy life together. Instead I fancied him from far away, like many other ladies did.

Whenever I would look at his handsome and perfect face, I forgot about the hard reality of my own life for a while and would just imagine a life with someone like that.

When Claire noticed my red face and inability to say anything back, she gave me a pathetic look and continued.

“Why don’t you just marry Schellman before we sell the title to someone else? He did say he wanted to be with you. He already has three grown up sons, but at your age, you shouldn’t be too picky. The only thing people think that you’re good for at your age is to join a convent.”

“Stop.” I cut her off before I would hear something disgusting again.

I didn’t want to hear what Medina and Claire were going to say anymore.

“It hasn’t even been a day since our mother’s funeral,” I reminded them with a laugh.

Mom was not here, and I am left all alone to fight my own family members.

“Do you not have to say anything nice to me first? Like ‘you have done a great job taking care of your mother?’ or ‘I’m sorry that she died’? Couldn’t you have had some sympathy for me? Or what you’re about to take away from me?”

No one answered.

***

Shortly after, I kicked my family out of the mansion where my mother and I lived.

They shouted at me saying, “You’re the one who’s going to lose everything.” But I didn’t want to talk to them anymore.

It was unfair and vexing.

During my youth, my heart had ached to take care of my mother and not myself, but they consoled me by saying that it was a necessary sacrifice for my family.

But as soon as my mom died, my family couldn’t even afford to console me once more. The twenty years I spent caring for my mother felt like a worthless effort.

They were the most cold hearted people I’ve met.

But they weren’t even supposed to be cold hearted towards me. They were my family.

I drew my head up because my throat began to feel stuffy. I felt like I would cry and burst it all out.

But I didn’t want to cry. I really didn’t want to draw more tears on a day like this.

If I cry again, it’s only going to make me feel more miserable.

I sat down in defeat and looked at the newspaper casually tossed on the table. It was from this morning, and it contained a job opening advertisement from the Kamar Academy. They were searching for a pharmacist for a medicinal drug company.

Even though my mother’s dementia was incurable, I had still been studying a lot about medicine in hopes that her symptoms would improve even just a little.

Because I have never felt as useless as I have today, I had the urge to go to the job’s interview.

So on the spur of the moment, I left the house in a foggy state of mind.

I wasn’t even fully conscious or aware of what was going on around me, just that I had arrived at the location of the interview already. I was out of my mind.

Perhaps it was a coincidence that the security guard who had guided me there confused the drink he left for me with an unidentified experimental drug. Perhaps we were both a little out of our minds.

As soon as I realized that the drink had a unique pink color and strange taste, my mind grew sharp again. But by then it was already too late.

My head felt like it was spinning, I felt so dizzy. Then I plunged to the floor.

Clank!

As I fell, my grip on the container of the drink fell to the floor and broke.

On the floor, I turned my head towards the broken glass, and saw right behind it a large glass mirrored wall filled with laboratory vials and experimental drugs.

I couldn’t believe how I was reflected on the wall.

The woman reflected in the mirror was young, and had the face that I had when I was younger.

I had no choice but to stand up and stagger closer to the mirror to pinch my face.

I . . . got younger?