Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Exposed to the Twin Little Sister Who Learned the Truth About My Relationship with Aunt (1)
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Using the second-year Hero Tournament as an excuse, they had sent Juyeon-woo out of the house not long ago.
The still half-asleep Juyeon-hee emerged from her room. The moment Shin Jae-eun spotted her, she showed Juyeon-hee the documents she had prepared in advance.
"...What is this?"
Her mind foggy, Juyeon-hee couldn't quite grasp what the papers meant. A paternity test result? It was so out of left field that her brain couldn't keep up.
"Exactly what it says."
Shin Jae-eun waited patiently for Juyeon-hee to figure it out on her own. Now that they had decided to reveal they were unrelated, she had no intention of being unconditionally kind like before.
The only one she considered her nephew was Juyeon-woo. Juyeon-hee, who had always been hostile toward her, wasn't blood. Coaxing and placating someone who wasn't even family was mentally exhausting.
"Still not getting it?"
Shin Jae-eun tilted her chin up and asked. Her gaze was fierce, sharper than the aunt's usual eyes.
Juyeon-hee flinched for a moment. The defiant attitude she always had around Shin Jae-eun vanished completely.
She was just an academy cadet, after all. Her body might be that of an adult, but her mind was still immature.
Just because she could drink and smoke didn't make her a responsible grown-up.
"...So, why the hell is there a paternity test result...?"
Juyeon-hee lowered her eyes. Skipping over the bold title at the top, she read the contents. It was dizzying. In summary, it stated that Shin Jae-eun and Juyeon-woo's genes did not match.
Shin Jae-eun and Juyeon-woo were strangers. Which meant Shin Jae-eun and Juyeon-hee were strangers too. Since Juyeon-woo and Juyeon-hee were genetically identical twins.
'Why?'
Juyeon-hee couldn't comprehend this part. It was too hard to accept.
If she wasn't the aunt's niece, that meant she wasn't her dad's daughter. Was that even possible?
She loved her twin brother, but her values on other sexual matters were normal. She couldn't even imagine her mom getting knocked up by another man's seed.
"Your mom deceived our brother."
To help Juyeon-hee understand, Shin Jae-eun added a brief explanation. There was no consideration whatsoever for how the shocking information might hurt her.
They were strangers, after all. Showing that much care to someone with not a drop of shared blood was a luxury. Besides, wasn't Juyeon-hee the spawn of trash?
The years spent raising her? She had let go of those feelings long ago.
The time Juyeon-hee kept glaring and acting hostile had helped her detach from the niece on paper.
"Mom...?"
She wasn't unaware of cuckolding itself. There were plenty of anime and manga with that trope.
But she never imagined it happening in her own family. Who could have known she was the product of another man's seed?
"D-Does Oppa know?"
There was no strength in Juyeon-hee's voice. It wasn't sharp like usual. Her spirit was crushed.
Tame would be a fitting description.
Shin Jae-eun let out a scoff.
"He knows."
"...What did Oppa say?"
"He wanted to keep it a secret from you and protect the family."
"......"
It was a brotherly judgment and choice. After their parents died, Oppa had always valued family above all.
But that didn't add up. Juyeon-woo had clearly said to keep it secret from Juyeon-hee, so why was she telling her now?
Juyeon-hee tore her eyes from the papers and glared at Shin Jae-eun. Clear malice radiated from the aunt's eyes.
"Yeon-woo is a good boy. He values family more than anyone. Even after hearing such a shocking truth, he thought of his one and only little sister and his aunt—who shares not a drop of blood—with her youth still ahead."
"......"
"But you're not his sister. You leech off us, glare at me, snap and bitch at every little thing.... Puberty should have been over ages ago. You must be doing it on purpose, right?"
Memories of the past few days flashed by. The aunt had been especially prickly lately.
'...That's why...!'
When she still believed Juyeon-hee was her niece, she had dealt with her maturely. Even when Juyeon-hee acted like a brat, she endured it because she was her late brother's daughter.
At some point, her voice had dripped with venom. Sometimes her gaze toward Juyeon-hee held killing intent.
Juyeon-hee checked the date on the paternity test results. It matched roughly when the aunt's attitude had flipped.
The aunt had started seeing her as an outsider after receiving the test results.
"While Yeon-woo is 'trying' so hard like that, you still don't get it. Do you want to go live with your real dad?"
"...Real dad?"
"You haven't even tried to find out? Yeon-woo awakened the lightning attribute. You could figure it out just from that. Though, you didn't know you weren't blood-related, so you wouldn't have thought to look. I'll give you that."
"......"
Juyeon-woo had awakened lightning. Mana infused with the thunder attribute.
As far as Juyeon-hee remembered, neither parent had attributes. But if it was another man's seed?
The seed of a man with lightning attribute...
A quick internet search would reveal it. And the odds that person was her real father? Probably 100%. There were plenty of scientific studies and papers on mana attributes being hereditary.
The hazy doubts found answers and spat out a new one. With trembling hands, Juyeon-hee set the results down. Then she asked.
"...Why tell me now?"
"Look at you, talking down to me already. Like father, like daughter."
She knew they were unrelated now. No need to bother with politeness.
"Why tell me now? Didn't Oppa say to keep it secret?"
"He did. It's the most efficient way to maintain family peace."
"Why...?"
"I just felt like telling you."
Shin Jae-eun smirked and continued.
"I hated seeing you strut around with your head held high, oblivious to everything."
"......"
Strangers. The daughter of a bitch who got knocked up by some bastard. Every time Shin Jae-eun saw Juyeon-hee, her blood boiled. To think her youth had been spent raising not her brother's blood, but some unknown scum's...
If not for Juyeon-woo, she might have done something dangerous as a hero. That's why she loved that boy.
The way her lower belly tingled whenever she saw him, how her eyes kept drifting to his crotch, burying her nose in his panties to smell them...
None of it was her fault. It was natural for a woman to be drawn to an attractive man.
She could rationalize it because he wasn't her blood nephew.
Juyeon-hee glared straight at Shin Jae-eun. Realizing the truth brought relief not just to the aunt. Juyeon-hee also shed the guilt she had carried in her heart.
"So what? What do you want?"
"Look at those eyes. What a rude bitch."
"Why tell me this? Want me gone?"
Juyeon-hee growled at Shin Jae-eun. She had nowhere to go if told to leave right now, but in this moment, she acted as bold as possible. Like a herbivore bristling to hide its weakness.
Shin Jae-eun remained relaxed. With the power dynamic flipped, she decided to take it slow. She hadn't revealed the truth to kick Juyeon-hee out in the first place.
"I told you. Yeon-woo wants to keep the family together. I have no intention of throwing you out. I'd prefer if you stayed in my house."
"......"
Neither wanted to live under the same roof. It was the same for both Juyeon-hee and Shin Jae-eun.
But she couldn't leave. Juyeon-hee didn't want to be apart from Juyeon-woo. Her beloved, cherished brother—living without him was unthinkable.
Yet she couldn't just swallow Shin Jae-eun's words whole. She agonized over it.
An academy cadet versus a pro hero already active in the field.
There was an insurmountable gap in social status between them. If they clashed, Juyeon-hee would lose.
"I have one thing to say. Behave from now on. Stop glaring at me every time we cross paths."
"......"
"A woman still in her prime liking a domestic, meek, smart, handsome boy... It's not entirely wrong, is it? Way more normal than some girl crushing on her twin brother. Right?"
"......!"
Juyeon-hee gritted her teeth.
Shin Jae-eun's gaze on Juyeon-woo and Juyeon-hee's own. They shared similar emotions.
But now it was different.
The aunt's gaze fell within socially acceptable bounds, while hers would forever be in the utterly forbidden zone.
That fact filled her with rage and injustice.
Being Juyeon-woo's little sister was great, but being his sister was what hurt. Indescribable emotions tore at her heart.
Shin Jae-eun grinned and rose from her chair.
"Yeon-woo's gone to watch the Hero Tournament, right? So make your own food. You can handle that much?"
"......"
Shin Jae-eun patted Juyeon-hee's shoulder.
"You'll have to live independently after graduating the academy. Think of it as practice."
Tears welled up in Juyeon-hee's eyes.