Episode 16 Helena Antebellum
“Because they have to trust witches and be afraid of them, they covered up thoroughly from the beginning. It’s erasing the existence of history altogether. The addition of ‘Magic’ to Magical Engineering is one of its initiatives. There was no such thing as magic in the first place. Everything I thought was magical was magic pottery.”
“Didn’t you say you were the only one who was persecuted when we first met?”
“Well, each individual may have different standards of persecution. What do you think…. Infested with worms and rats, threatening that if you don’t give up your house quickly, they’ll be more active… It’s a definite persecution from our point of view.”
Medea pretended to cry abominably. It was all crocodile tears.
By the way, she is out of her causality. If so, it was convincing that the existence of a witch did not appear in the novel. It is a character that the author, who is the God of the novel, has not set.
“Don’t worry too much, though. Oh, even with great power, a witch cannot destroy the world.”
“Why?”
Even if a witch with such a heart appears, the sisters keep each other in check. In severe cases, we can vote to kill them. Well, usually, most of the witches who are tired of living apply for a vote that they want to die…”
Having said that, Medea somehow looked a little subdued. Then she looks at me and smiles.
“It’s a shame, the stranger has what it takes to be our sister. If you wanted to stay, I could help you.”
“I also think being a witch would be happier than being a fiancée.”
“Yes. Having the human man on this side as a familiar…….”
We talked for a long time after that. Some futures that will never come true, but make you smile just by using your imagination.
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(T/N: The POV shifts to Helena Antebellum)
If you’re low in status but beautiful, you’ll have a lot of luck. When I was a child, my mother sometimes hung around in front of me with a knife.
Grabbing my cheek and holding a knife again and again. She would let go… and then she’d drop her knife and cry. Knowing her thinking, I wouldn’t blame my mother for cutting my face.
If our family hadn’t been framed and destroyed, she wouldn’t be like this. Sometimes on the days she couldn’t hold back, my mother drank and cried until she became hoarse, missing her dead family. I soothed the mother until she fell asleep.
Mother, don’t cry. Everything will be fine.
I was really fine, but my mother, in her heart, always felt like she owed me a debt. I don’t even know that the debt comes heavier to me.
Be nice. I can no longer protect you. Mother said it like a habit. To laugh no matter how hard things are, to pretend you don’t know without saying anything.
Like an idiot without a screw, I lived that way.
I was as good as a protruding edge from the palace. Everyone felt sorry for me. Now a commoner and a low-ranking maid, but before that she was a noble family member and even had ties to the royal family.
Since my mother was the Crown Prince’s nanny, Alec was practically my baby brother, and Her Majesty, who had no daughter, adored me. When I tried to do the laundry or clean up according to my junior maid’s routine, Alex or the madame called me.
– Antebellum, Her Majesty is calling. Go ahead.
– But, but I haven’t finished my part today?
– How dare you keep her waiting?
While doing the laundry, the maid’s scolding came. When I hesitated again and again because I felt sorry for the maid, she jabbed me in the side.
– Let’s go. Before you get in trouble again.
– I’m so sorry. If there are snacks, I’ll get them and give them to you. I’m so sorry.
When I was a child, I was ignorant and stubborn. I did not leave until I’m done. I thought it was right, and I believed it should be.
When I came back from work, I was whipped to the point of bleeding by my mother for coming home on time, but I was rather proud. My burning legs seemed to prove my legitimacy.
One day, I found a maid who was verbally abused by Alex for not bringing me in. She accepted my apology with a tired face and said,
– You are in a position to serve them. Don’t turn down the order.
Only then did I know. No matter how sensitive they are to me or how much they love me, they and I are divided by a clear difference in status. I didn’t have the right to refuse in the first place.
‘If I don’t go, someone else will be disadvantaged. What an unfair contradiction. Even if I go or not, someone loses.
I felt like I was drifting sometimes. I don’t belong anywhere, and they don’t accept me even if they try to adapt.
They tell me to go over there. After being abandoned by everyone, I had to come back to my mother and soothe her crying.
That made me a little bit sad.
When I think about it, she hated me from the day I first met her. It was common for her to secretly kick my shin from under the table or trample my feet with high heels.
Even at a young age, she frequently ripped into me, lied to get me into trouble and enjoyed it. Because I’m a commoner, the intensity grew worse when I realized I couldn’t hurt her.
There was a tea party with Jason, Eris, and Alec, who insisted I was his childhood friend and I deserved it.
Jason said that it doesn’t matter, but Eris didn’t like the fact that she was sitting at the same table as a commoner. She lured me into saying something so that she could put me into a corner closet.
– Eris! Please let me out!
– Don’t call me Eris! I don’t know how many people are there……… Do you really think you’ve become a noble because Her Majesty treats you kindly? Or do you dare want to raise your status as a subject of the traitor’s household?
– But how do I do what Her Majesty’s orders…
When she shouted in resentment, Eris snapped sharply with her eyes drawn between the cracks.
– Why should I care about your circumstances? Whether you’re pretending to die or breaking your leg, take care of it yourself……. If you act presumptuously once more, you will be sold to the brothel so that you can raise your status as you wish.
And Eris turned around and disappeared. I was left crumpled in a narrow, dark closet that wouldn’t open. I might have been locked up for a few more days if the maid in the same room hadn’t told him I didn’t come back.
Alec and Her Majesty went out in a fit of rage to find the culprit, but both I and Eris kept silent. The next day, they met again. Eris, as she hugged me, cried out loud.
– Helena, you don’t know how worried I
was.
– Lady….
– Oh, just call me Eris. It was in front of everyone.
And she whispered in my ear, “Remember what I said.” Eris grabbed my trembling hand and laughed dazzlingly at me.
Yes, I think I hated her a little at that time, Since that day, if I was confined in a dark and narrow place, I have developed a condition where I cannot even breathe well.
Eris was a child who always worked hard. ‘If she was like others, she doubled her effort, and if she was less than others, she worked three times harder than others. She said she had to always be the best.
I didn’t know what drove her that way. She whipped herself like she couldn’t tolerate mistakes. She’ll always have another chance, but why would she think that being behind once is so humiliating?
Alecto always had a bad word with Eris. The reason was that the Marquis had a snake-like sneaky side, and so did Eris.
Alecto called me out, so I stopped working and came to him in the back garden. Then I saw Eris crying, out of breath, in the corner of the back garden.
She was crying with her hands tightly covered over her mouth, just in case the cry could leak. She looked so small and young, curled up. I hid myself because thought I saw something I shouldn’t have seen.
Far away, Alecto was walking around to find me. And then….. As soon as she heard his voice, she wiped away her tears. In that short time, she wiped away her sorrow, armed herself with a thick mask, and smiled like a flower at Alex.
‘It felt strange to see such a young child moving toward such a difficult future with such heavy clothes and makeup.
‘If I were a noble, would I be stepping towards the same future as her? I couldn’t seem to hold out. No matter how despised you are, one can’t live like that.
We will never understand each other. But on that sunny day in early summer, I decided I’d forgive her no matter what she did to me.
Regardless of my commitment, my mother ‘hated Eris. No, it wasn’t just hate, it was almost wrathful. The Misérian family framed them, and was blamed for the collapse of the Antebellum family.
“We’ll arrange the next appointment’s venue.”
“That would be better.”
Lilia, who agreed with Tession’s words, turned her head and asked Karhan.
“By the way, did you bring anything with you?”
At the last meeting, Lilia told him to bring the most useless thing he had recently bought. The reason was unknown, but Karhan followed it faithfully.
‘He carefully pulled out the object.
It was a small box that the package had not even been opened .
“When did you buy it?”
“……. it’s been about a week.”
“Okay, it’s just the right time.”
Karhan looked curious about what she was going to do with it. Lilia stared at him quietly instead of explaining.
She saw eyes that trusted her as she fiercely raised her own eyes.
After confirming it, Lilia smiled lightly.
In fact, at first, she was only thinking about listening to his worries and getting rid of Richard.
But now, she sincerely wanted to help Karhan. He was not confident, and he would not even look at other people’s eyes.
He didn’t know how to express his opinions, and so he neglected himself because he put others first but he wanted to change that.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with Karhan. The world was just too ugly to survive with good character.
The moment you seem easy, everything you have will be taken away and chewed
off.
So, he needed to fix his personality before he gets caught.
“From what I’ve been watching so far, you lack a lot of confidence.”
Despite Lilia’s frank remarks, Karhan remained silent.
He seemed to be feeling it a lot.