The Haunting Embrace
The parlor that everyone had been waiting for was none other than the scene of the previous commotion. As she stepped inside, thinking, “Of course it would be here again,” Idel saw Melissa rising from her seat as if she had been expecting her, arms spread wide.
“Idel, my daughter!”
Her voice was soft, yet it carried a weight of longing that struck Idel like a physical blow.
‘All of it is a lie.’
Idel knew every performance was staged, so she allowed a cynical smirk to form in her mind as she approached.
Melissa treasured her daughter only as a tool, never as a beloved child.
‘No mother in the world would cast a brainwashing curse on her own daughter and then have her commit crimes in her place.’
Look at her now. Just days after their reunion, she strokes the girl’s cheek as if truly missing her, yet her eyes remain cold and sharp.
‘It’s the way a well-trained pet checks to make sure no one else has touched it while the master was away.’
Even Idel’s little brother had acknowledged the same truth in his book report.
“[...] Melissa abandoned Idel to her dying moments and used her only to fulfill her own desires. It was like watching a madman driven by love and inferiority complex to the very brink.”
Back then she hadn’t understood. Seeing Melissa’s behavior toward the duchess herself revealed that the woman was far beyond “mad.”
‘Spoiler aside, the duchess’s own words already suggested she would have killed her husband too. It’s no wonder she turned black afterward.’
‘Love and inferiority madness? The man she loved was already dead, and she tried to kill her own sister as well. Is it any wonder the surviving duchess turned so vicious?’
‘Well, I suppose she only stated that she had been adopted. That’s all.’
Melissa had smiled sweetly while offering that tidbit, reminding herself that she was not the duke’s sister.
‘No, it’s because of her own inflated pride that so many people suffered. She lives alone in the world.’
Idel had stared at Melissa with open contempt. She quickly gathered her emotions as those piercing eyes swept over her body, searching for any flaw in the curse she had placed.
Once satisfied, Melissa looked her in the eyes. In that moment of eye contact—fascinating smiles hiding something relentless—a voice slammed into Idel’s mind.
[Idel, I wanted to hug you so badly I kept complaining.]
Oh, damn it.
Melissa’s voice echoed in her skull at the same instant her body, frozen stiff, moved on its own.
As if someone had stolen control of her limbs.
“Hing, Mother, I missed you…”
“Oh, Idel…”
While embracing Melissa’s waist, Idel rubbed her cheek against the older woman’s stomach.
‘So this is the so-called “brainwashing curse” I only ever saw in books.’
The gap between imagination and reality was staggering. Now she understood why the original Idel had been utterly broken and obedient to Melissa’s every whim.
If she had endured this for seven years straight, she would still be in pieces.
Her body now felt no different from a puppet dancing on someone else’s strings.
‘If I had refused to side with her and behaved nicely toward the duke’s people, she would have cast this curse on me?’
An unpleasant, pride-stinging feeling made Idel furrow her brows.
Fortunately, she could not completely steal the reins. The stronger she resisted, the more her fingertips trembled.
Idel, whose top priority was breaking the curse, bit her lip before raising her head. She suddenly tasted blood.
‘No matter what it takes, I will shatter these shackles. And soon.’
She refused to feel this wretched feeling any longer.
Quickly regaining her composure, Idel slowly pulled away.
The expression on Melissa’s face when they met again looked almost satisfied. She had clearly enjoyed watching everything unfold exactly as she wanted.
With a sly smile, she tucked her hand onto Idel’s shoulder and lightly slapped it.
“Idel, I know how much you missed me, but this is improper conduct. Come here.”
She turned Idel’s body toward the duke and duchess, pushing her lightly toward them with a pat on the shoulder.
“You must greet His Grace and the Duchess. Privately, you are my father and my aunt. Say you’re sorry.”
“Ah…”
“…I’m sorry…”
Rowena, who missed the faint tremble in the voice, carefully studied the child. The red-haired girl, resembling her sister, stood with her head bowed and body shaking slightly.
Her small hands were clutched so tightly around her skirt that her knuckles were pale.
The shock of the revelation had already turned her into a timid child who could not even meet eyes with her at first.
Idel had inwardly blamed herself for that existence.
‘But seeing it up close…’
The existence she had blamed was nothing more than a too-young child.
The moment she noticed the girl’s tense stance in this unfamiliar situation, a faint trace of guilt flickered in the duchess’s heart.
She had grown into an adult and done something unforgivable.
‘Sybil, the maid, mentioned that the child often ignored her fellow maids and acted on her own. She was said to have emotional instability and be easily irritated.’
Idel was not the type to fabricate excuses, so such incidents must have happened. Yet seeing the child up close made it impossible to simply blame her.
Especially since she had left the girl alone for years because she had separated her from her sister.
Rowena watched Idel with eyes clouded by bitterness and guilt.
Meanwhile, Idel was exerting every effort not to let her emotions show.
The reason she had been trembling was not fear but the utter disgust stirred by Melissa’s words.
‘Privately, I’m supposed to call her father and aunt? Is that even a single word that two people can share?’
Her already low favorability toward Melissa had been driven into the dirt.
‘She’s blinded by love. Is it normal to tell a child who knows nothing about the world that her father and she have had some kind of relationship?’
And the lie was bright red.
Well, anyone with common sense would never have done something like this in the first place. That’s why people say characters in trash novels are hopeless.
Just as Idel was pouring contempt mixed with prejudice at Melissa, a gentle hand touched her cheek.
“Idel, if you’re comfortable, may I see your face?”
The moment the soft voice reached her, Idel’s body stiffened.
She had momentarily forgotten how dangerous the person before her was while cursing Melissa, but the opponent in front of her was a figure she absolutely had to be wary of.
‘Stay calm. Melissa is here. Do not let your guard down.’
Idel’s eyes cautiously met the duchess’s.
Rowena was smiling faintly, completely oblivious to what lay ahead.
Beneath her thin brown hair, her face looked gaunt.
‘…Pretending it’s fine because it’s in front of a child, but she must have suffered so much.’
Of course. The appearance of her husband’s illegitimate child as her sister’s daughter was enough to make anyone blacken without hesitation.
Idel, feeling both human compassion and tension while looking at the duchess, pressed her lips into a thin line.
‘Wouldn’t it be better to find a way to avoid each other? Maybe boarding school or something.’
That way she could spare herself at least one painful memory. Moreover, staying at a boarding school would let her avoid Melissa’s eyes and keep her from acting out.
‘Of course, the odds are low.’
Melissa would never allow her to stay far from the duke’s house.
‘Is there no other way?’
At that moment, Rowena knelt so her eyes met the girl’s. Seeing Idel’s furrowed brows in thought, she mistook the reluctance for fear.
“Rowena.”
Even the duke’s short objection that she didn’t have to do this much couldn’t stop her.
When forming a relationship, it was the adult’s responsibility to extend a hand first, not the child’s.
“Idel, may we not greet each other for the first time? I am Rowena Clementine. Like my sister’s introduction, I am now your… aunt.”
“…It’s nice to meet you, um… madam.”
While rolling her eyes, the child refused to say the word “aunt,” leaving a bitter smile on Rowena’s lips for a moment.
“…Yes, hello, Idel. I called you here today because I wanted to tell you that we will become one family. From now on, you will no longer be Idel Lopez but Idel Clementine. In other words, like Jiana, you will live as the daughter of my husband.”
Of course that was why she had been summoned.
Idel swallowed hard, trying to clear her mind, when another unpleasant voice slammed into her thoughts.
[Idel, tell the duchess why she is not my mother. The duke is my father, but the duchess is not. How can she become family when she is neither?]
Idel’s fists trembled.
‘So she wants me to throw this trash into the garbage bin myself?’
Yah…
Yah, you trash!