Why Is That?
I’ve always wondered about one thing.
Why do I have to be so unhappy?
At seven years old, Isana repeated that question to herself every single day.
‘What did I ever do wrong?’
Isana had never longed for love. Even at that young age, she didn’t want to beg for affection from people who hated her.
She simply didn’t want to be hated.
She wished they wouldn’t look at her with those disgusted eyes. She wished they wouldn’t hit her. She wished they would at least give her proper food.
She had never asked for much.
Her father, Valterion Sivtant, had kept her in complete isolation. The head of the family—her father—had never once laid a hand on her.
Instead, he treated her with absolute indifference. He hadn’t even come to see her when she was born.
The first time he appeared was when she was around three. Every time their eyes met, he would mutter curses under his breath. That was the norm.
Because of the duke’s attitude, Isana suffered terribly within the family.
Being a bastard daughter, she was ignored. The maids abused her at every opportunity.
Her tutor forced strict rules on a girl who hadn’t even turned ten. She was to speak formally to everyone in the family. She was to swear that her tutor was like the heavens themselves.
And so on and so forth. Words she didn’t even want to remember properly.
Even so, Isana had to obey. If she didn’t, she would only be hated more.
“Hey! You mongrel!”
And then there was the most irritating human being of all.
Luke Sivtant, the legitimate heir of the Sivtant family.
Unlike her, a mere bastard, he was the true successor of the house.
“What do you want?”
“Ugh, you’re still looking as pathetic as ever.”
Luke made a retching gesture as he looked at her.
“You’re so annoying I want to hit you, but I don’t want to dirty my hands.”
“Then order a maid to do it.”
“Wow. You’re actually telling me to command someone to beat you? Are you an idiot?”
“I’m not an idiot. I’m Isana Sivtant.”
“You’re no Sivtant. You’re just a monster.”
Luke scowled.
“State your business.”
“Business? I don’t have any. I was just bored.”
“Then get lost.”
“Did you just tell me to get lost?”
Luke’s face hardened as he ground his teeth. He glared at her and clenched his fist.
“Go ahead and hit me. You can’t, can you?”
“Tsk.”
Clicking his tongue, Luke turned and left. But from the next day onward, the maids’ harassment grew far worse.
Luke, who didn’t want to dirty his own hands, had ordered them to beat the mongrel until she was nearly dead.
Isana endured it all in silence. There was nothing a seven-year-old like her could do by resisting.
Time passed like that. As she grew older, the bullying gradually died down.
Because Isana no longer showed any reaction at all.
“The mongrel’s finally broken.”
Even Luke lost interest after seeing her state. Empty eyes. Bruises covering her body. A mouth whose corners twitched in a way that made it impossible to tell if she was smiling or not. A cracked, hollow voice.
Isana, who had completely abandoned any rebellious attitude, was no different from the lowest trash among all mongrels.
When Valterion saw her like that, he left only one remark.
“Make her look human again.”
The reason was simple. Luke’s coming-of-age ceremony was approaching, and he would be turning fifteen.
Even as a bastard daughter, Isana was required to attend. If she appeared in such a broken state, the family’s reputation would be utterly ruined.
“Lady Isana, please fix your expression. If you ruin Young Master Luke’s coming-of-age ceremony, I don’t know what will happen to you.”
One of the maids chattered with feigned concern, but her voice was clearly laced with mockery.
Isana looked into the mirror. The bruises had been covered, so her appearance was undeniably beautiful.
Yet at the same time, it was grotesque. Her eyes were smiling, but her mouth hung slack.
Isana used her index fingers to pull up the corners of her mouth. A forced smile appeared.
It was still grotesque. This time, she tried smiling with more strength.
Not bad. It was still a little eerie, but better than before.
“Wow. You did it perfectly!”
The maid clapped her hands after seeing Isana’s effort. This time, she sounded sincere.
Since she had been ordered by the duke himself, the maid was relieved by Isana’s obedient attitude.
After being dressed up beautifully, Isana stepped into high society. But as expected, it was exactly as she had anticipated.
Being a bastard daughter who had never once shown her face in public, no one paid her any attention. Everyone’s eyes were on Luke Sivtant, the legitimate heir and the star of the coming-of-age ceremony.
Isana was ignored here as well. Still, there was one silver lining: the nobles didn’t harass her directly.
Clang. Clang. Isana Sivtant. You are sentenced to one hundred years of indifference.
It was a cruel verdict, yet it felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest.
For the first time, she could eat a proper meal. She even took a small sip of wine.
After all, she was an adult now too. Of course, the fact that no one paid her any attention was rather amusing.
“Why are you eating all alone over here?”
Her happy delusion was cut short. A young lady with a face so beautiful it drew involuntary gasps of admiration pushed her way in.
“You’re from this family too, right? The crest is the same.”
“I’m a bastard daughter.”
“What does that matter? You’re still part of the same family.”
Who is this person?
“I’m Linea Rosianne! The daughter of the Rosianne Marquis family. You must have heard of me at least once.”
“I haven’t.”
In truth, she had. She was known as the crazy, reckless young lady.
They said she charged straight at anyone regardless of status. Even that disgusting Luke had tried to approach her because of her looks, only to be sent back empty-handed.
“If you haven’t heard of me, you can start now!”
“No. I don’t feel any need to.”
Isana spoke coldly. Linea’s eyebrows twitched at her attitude.
This bitch has some nerve.
Just as Linea was about to charge in—
She looked at Isana’s face. All traces of a smile had vanished, leaving only a completely broken expression.
Feeling suspicious, she looked closer. Her eyes were sharper than most people’s, so she could see it.
The countless traces of beatings.
“Hey, you…”
“Mind your own business. This isn’t something an outsider like you should concern yourself with.”
“How can I not care after seeing something like this?!”
Linea dragged Isana out of the banquet hall. She called for a maid and took her straight to the infirmary.
“Treat her right now!”
“Y-yes!”
Unlike Isana, it seemed Linea held real power within her own family.
“…Why did you do that?”
The question slipped out before she could stop herself. Even Isana didn’t understand why she had asked it.
Linea was different from her, a mere bastard. She was surely the cherished daughter of the Rosianne family.
Not someone a mere maid could treat carelessly.
“Why? I threw a tantrum, obviously.”
That was an answer Isana could never have imagined.
“I was the firstborn daughter, you know? But the head of the family kept saying it was ridiculous for a woman to be the successor. He kept acting like a bastard and telling me not to become the head. So I decided to act even worse than him.”
Once I completely wrecked everything, he stopped saying anything.
Linea proudly recounted her life story without a hint of hesitation. She even tilted her head as if to say, Isn’t that obvious?
It was a story from an entirely different world than Isana’s.
Drip—
“H-hey? Why are you crying all of a sudden?!”
Isana rubbed her eyes with trembling hands. Her fingers came away wet.
She had never cried once in her entire life. Why was she doing this now?
Before she could even question it, the tears came pouring out.
“A-are you okay?”
Linea pulled Isana into her arms. A warmth she had never felt in her entire life.
That warmth caused Isana’s tear ducts to burst open even more.
“If you cry like that, what am I supposed to do? You idiot.”
Even as she grumbled, Linea gently patted Isana’s back.
“Wait here. We’re going to my room.”
She sent the doctor away and took Isana to her own quarters, continuing to comfort her.
Once Isana had finally calmed down—
“Why were you crying?”
“I-I just… I…”
Isana couldn’t continue. Linea simply listened with quiet patience.
“It wasn’t because of what I said, right?”
“…No.”
“Then there must be a reason. Will you tell me?”
“…”
After a long silence, Isana finally opened her mouth. A long, long story spilled from her lips.
As Linea listened to Isana’s life, she grew furious at times and swallowed her tears at others. But one emotion remained constant throughout.
That the Sivtant family was filled with nothing but sons of bitches. And that the Rosianne family, which she had always found so irritating, was actually a family of angels.
“Isana, are you okay?”
“Y-yes…”
“Then would you like to hear my plan?”
The method to become the ruler of the Sivtant family…
‘It really was ridiculous, wasn’t it?’
Back in the present, Isana bit her lip. At the time, Linea’s plan had been nothing short of revolutionary.
‘She told me to kill Luke.’
She was to kill Luke and make it look like an accident. Then she was to swallow the entire family.
Isana had actually done it. She killed Luke.
His mother, the legal wife, couldn’t endure the loss of her child and took her own life. All the commoners who had tormented her the most were purged as well.
That was how Isana had taken the Sivtant family into her own hands. Or rather, she supposed it was past tense now.
Because the Sivtant family was finished.
‘Still, it feels refreshing.’
It really had been a disgusting family. Her hatred for commoners had grown because of that wretched house.
That so-called mother, a mere commoner, had stolen the duke’s heart only to drop dead and cause her endless suffering. The maids had taken that as their cue to torment her even more.
Of course Luke and Valterion had made her life difficult too, but if she had to calculate the share of pain in her life, commoners accounted for over ninety percent of it.
The nobles, excluding Luke and Valterion, had shown her no interest whatsoever. Yet when she took over the family, many of them suddenly began showing her goodwill.
And above all else, there was Linea. The noble-born Linea had been her savior.
‘But I couldn’t do anything for you.’
She had resolved to free her from slavery. Of course, these days Linea seemed even happier than before.
Still, it was undeniable that she had done nothing for her. And then there was—
‘That annoying commoner.’
Ethan. The man who had humiliated her and turned Linea into a slave.
When they first met, she had felt a hatred toward him that rivaled what she felt for Luke. But as time passed, she realized he was a genuinely good person.
He had saved her. He secretly looked after her in the club.
And that wasn’t all. He had perfectly accomplished the ‘salvation of Linea’ that she herself had failed to achieve.
Even though he had made her a slave, Linea looked happier than ever these days.
‘I’m jealous.’
She wasn’t sure who she was jealous of.
She was jealous of Linea, who had been saved by Ethan. And she was jealous of Ethan, who had saved Linea when she herself could not.
‘What will happen to me now?’
With a bitter heart, Isana wrapped her arms around herself. Actually, it wasn’t bitterness.
She was scared. Her body was trembling uncontrollably.
There were still so many things she wanted to do. She didn’t want to die because of that head of house and that family who had ruined her life.
As she curled up, shaking with fear—
Tap.
Footsteps echoed. Death was approaching.
Isana couldn’t bring herself to lift her head. One step. Another step.
The end was coming. And the end stopped right in front of her.
Just like she had always done in the past, Isana waited once more. Clang. Clang. Isana Sivtant. I sentence you to death.
But instead—
“Isana.”
Her eyes snapped open. Isana shot upright in a panic.
The person standing there was someone who should not have been there.
“I received three favor tokens from you. I already used one to persuade Rachel.”
The man continued speaking with an amused tone.
“Two remain. And I’m thinking of using one right now.”
The man hesitated for a moment. Then—
“Become my slave.”
Such a stupid. Utterly pathetic.
One sentence.
“I’ll treat you well.”
“…Commoner. You really are trash.”
Even as she said that, why was it that—
Thump!
Thump!
Her heart was pounding like crazy?
“Man, how many times have I heard the word ‘trash’ lately?”
“It’s because you are trash.”
Why was it that—
She couldn’t bring herself to meet the eyes of that trash-like man?