Chapter 209
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 209
‘Ha. This is driving me crazy, you stupid stars…!’
Aaaargh!
I couldn't even let out a proper scream, so I just sat on the bed and thunked my head against it over and over again.
‘Why! Why of all times did I have to go back to then! Why!’
To make matters worse, the so-called "Tip" didn't offer any actual advice. It just said "Fighting!" followed by an annoying, mocking eye-smile emoji, which only served to piss me off even more.
But I couldn't grab Kim Ddong-byul and hurl him across the room like I usually did. No, I wanted to take a pair of scissors, snip that star into tiny pieces, and hold a ritualistic burning, but I simply couldn't bring myself to do it!
‘Back then…! I was lower than the dirt on someone’s shoe…!’
Of all times, it had to be right when my younger sibling was born between my mother and stepfather!
That was the period when my older sister—well, my stepfather’s daughter—bullied me to death!
She was much older than me, and apparently, she had lived her whole life doing whatever she wanted as the only daughter of the house until my stepfather remarried.
In short, she was a beloved little tyrant.
But then my stepfather remarried my mother, and suddenly I appeared as another daughter. On top of that, a younger sibling was born—an absolute existence that absorbed every ounce of attention from both my mother and stepfather…
‘She used to sucker-punch me every time she saw me.’
And the bullying—god, the bullying. My older brothers at least treated me like a ghost, but if my shoulder so much as lightly brushed hers, that girl would follow me all the way outside just to pummel my shoulders before walking away laughing.
Thanks to her, the bruises on my body never had a chance to fade.
‘That crazy woman was so unnervingly strong, too.’
Of course, it didn't help that I was skin and bones back then because my brothers stole all my food.
Anyway, as a mere young student at the time, my personality was a total wreck due to the constant violence, the sense of isolation, and the resentment and depression I felt toward my mother.
‘I get that raising a newborn is hard, but still.’
I was her biological daughter, yet she didn't show even a flicker of concern while my body was covered in bruises and I couldn't even get a proper meal.
‘Honestly, if I had been even a little more rebellious, there would have been a bloodbath between me and that sister of mine…’
Perhaps the reason I had screamed at my brothers—who tried to sell me off in a ridiculous marriage deal after our parents passed away—telling them, "If you want to marry someone off that badly, why don't you marry off her instead?" was largely due to the lingering rage from that childhood abuse.
‘Sigh.’
The maids attending my bath today had pupils shaking so hard they looked like they were vibrating. I didn't really have an excuse, so I just pretended not to notice.
‘It feels like my brain isn't firing as fast as it did when I was Tulia…’
Was I less intelligent when I was Han Ina?
My sister used to say that all the time while poking my forehead. Was she actually right?
Unable to handle the stifling frustration any longer, I bolted upright.
I grabbed the tray and the bowl of food I had brought up earlier from the first-floor dining room and walked out onto the terrace.
I glanced toward the Summer Annex, but every single light on the second floor where Klaus was staying was extinguished. It only made my heart feel heavier.
I set the tray down, pulled my knees up to my chest with the bowl resting on them, and swallowed back my tears.
I seriously wanted to die.
“Hey, why are you eating alone?”
Just then.
The terrace door I had closed swung wide open.
“Leon?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
Leon Frezier, who had suddenly appeared, looked down at me.
“Is something really wrong with you? Why are you acting all pathetic and moping out here by yourself?”
Despite the insult, Leon Frezier plopped down right next to me. He stretched his long legs out in front of him and closed his eyes, the night breeze lightly tossing his jet-black hair.
“…”
I carefully hugged the bowl on my knees and stole a glance at him.
His eyelids were slightly puffy. Anyone could tell he had been crying.
“…Why are you here?”
Of course, my eyes were worse. They were swollen like chestnuts from all the crying I'd done.
Leon Frezier glanced at me and spoke.
“No matter how much I thought about it, I figured that as your older brother, I should lead my stupid little sister, so I decided to grace you with my presence.”
“…”
“Look at her. This is really weird. Usually, you’d get all fired up at the ‘stupid sister’ comment and grab me by the collar…”
Leon peered intently into my eyes.
“Why were you crying again?”
“…”
“Was fighting with me earlier really that sad? Huh?”
“…”
“She’s definitely weird today. Did she hit her head?”
Leon Frezier was genuinely worried.
He went as far as using two fingers to pry my eyes open to inspect them, and he kept waving his hand in front of my face, asking if I could even see him.
In short, he was treating me like a total moron.
“Hey. Tulia Frezier. I know something happened. But still, how can a person change so much so suddenly in the time I haven't seen you?”
I felt a pang of guilt, but I couldn't say anything.
“I mean, take dinner tonight. That dish you told the kitchen to serve at the banquet—what was it called? Olive Chicken? Kitchen?”
“Chicken fried in olive oil.”
“Right, that. You said you wanted it so badly you made them cook it. So why did you think I’d refuse to eat it and flip the table?”
“…”
“Do I look like some picky eater to you? I can eat pretty much anything.”
“…But as soon as you sat down at the table, you scowled. You asked what that was.”
“No, I asked because it was a dish I’d never seen before. And the scowling is just a habit. A habit!”
“And then when Adel explained it, you asked, ‘Why would you put something like that on the table?’”
“No! Ah! Fine, I did do that!”
Leon Frezier ran a hand roughly through his hair.
“I was just caught off guard because she said it was Borderland cuisine. You know how it is. What noble on this continent eats Borderland food?”
“I said I wanted to eat it…”
“And that’s why I said I was sorry!”
“…”
“Ah, she’s going to cry again. What is it, seriously? Are you sick? Are you really Tulia?”
‘I really want to cry.’
I felt like I was going to lose my mind.
Leon Frezier had returned early from the Academy today. The problem was that since I had reverted to the mindset of Han Ina, my tastes had completely changed.
I was craving spicy food like crazy, and more than anything, I desperately wanted some crunchy fried chicken.
Of course, since The Milk Bread was a domestic game, it included several Korean dishes under the guise of "exotic food" or "Borderland cuisine."
So, I had ordered the chef to make the thing I could get the fastest: chicken fried in olive oil with a spicy seasoning sauce.
‘Adel is from the Borderlands too, so she made it in no time.’
I had planned to eat it alone, but in The Milk Bread, one of the ways Corico won over the family was by serving them unique foods like this.
Ever since Corico appeared in the quests, I had been obsessively conscious of her. Half of me wanted to raise my favorability a bit, and the other half wanted to share the delicious food I craved with Leon Frezier, so I had it placed on the banquet table…
“What is this? What? Borderland food? Why would you serve something like that? Are you people feeding Tulia this garbage? Throw it away immediately. It’s disgusting…”
That was exactly how Leon had reacted.
If it had been the usual Tulia—no, even if it had been the Han Ina from after the events of The Milk Bread, who had been through all sorts of hardships—I would have cut him off or shoved a drumstick into his mouth and told him to try it before talking.
But ridiculously, the ‘current Han Ina’ was hurt by those words.
‘It’s because I’ve started thinking of this guy as real family.’
I didn't care if my stepfather, sister, or brothers ignored me or verbally abused me; it didn't leave a deep wound.
But it was different with my mother. Just like how I used to cry all night while pretending to be asleep when she hurt me.
‘Right! So it’s all Leon Frezier’s fault!’
In the end, that’s how the two of us ended up in a massive shouting match.
‘Leon isn't nice like Brother Lisian. To put it simply, he’s the quintessential brother for Tulia…’
A few misunderstandings were exchanged, and it quickly turned into a fight where we were both screaming at the top of our lungs.
“And you. Even if I made a slip of the tongue, did you really have to say something so hurtful on purpose? I was actually hurt. You know that?”
I knew all too well that Leon Frezier wasn't exaggerating.
[System] You have completed the quest <Seriously hurt Male Lead ‘Leon’s’ feelings>!
It was because the Guide had popped up at that exact moment, forcing me to spit out a barrage of hurtful words.
‘Actually, the moment that system window appeared, I suddenly burst into tears.’
At that time, Leon Frezier had looked at me like I was a madwoman, beyond just being flustered.
I fiddled with the bowl of cooling chicken and asked.
“Setting aside the fact that I cried… why did you cry, Brother?”
“What? Did you just call me ‘Brother’? No, are you really sick…? Have you seen the Chief Physician?”
“…”
“…Fine. Whatever. Forget it. Sigh. They say a sister’s heart is as fickle as a reed, but this is seriously difficult.”
As he spoke, Leon Frezier stabbed a piece of chicken with a fork and shoved it into his mouth.
“Hey, Tulia.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m only arguing with you because it’s me. Honestly, if it were our older brother, he wouldn't even argue with you.”
“Are you saying Brother Lisian ignores me?”
Leon stopped chewing and looked back at me with an incredulous expression.
“No, why are you being so twisted all of a sudden? That’s not what I meant. I meant that no matter what you do, Brother is the type to just smile and let it go. In other words, the man has no backbone! That’s what I’m saying. A woman should pick a man with a backbone, like me.”
“…”
‘Well, he’s not wrong.’
That’s why Lisian is actually the hardest one to deal with.
[System] Seriously hurt Male Lead ‘Lisian’s’ feelings (Incomplete)
I had no idea what I could possibly say to seriously hurt Lisian’s feelings…
‘I’m scared to death of what kind of horrible things this vicious system window is going to make me say.’
“But, Brother Leon.”
“What?”
“It’s spicy chicken. Do you really have to keep eating it?”
“I’m eating it because it seems to suit my palate. And I happened to be hungry.”
I watched him with a heavy heart and added one more thing. This time, it was my pure, sincere feelings, uninfluenced by the system.
“Still… don't eat it while you're crying…”