Chapter 6

 What greeted Karina upon her return to the estate was her younger brother, Ferdinand, who had been about to head up to the second floor.  

His shimmering golden hair and blue eyes made him almost indistinguishable from Abelia. If he grew his hair out, it would be difficult to tell them apart. His face was just as beautiful.  

"Sis! Where did you go?"  

"Ferdinand."  

The boy, who had been climbing the stairs, quickly jumped down.  

"Wow, something smells delicious!"  

As expected of someone with an animal-like sharp sense of smell, Ferdinand sniffed the air and instantly snatched what she was holding.  

"Sis, isn't this heavy? I'll carry it for you."  

"You only call me 'sis' at times like this. Go share it with Abelia. She asked me to buy some on the way back."  

"Yay! Thanks, sis!"  

Ferdinand pressed a quick kiss to her cheek, then immediately ran up the stairs with the paper bag in his hands.  

Karina, silent, caught the scent of skewers clinging to her clothes and slowly climbed up to the second floor.  

I should change.

Moving around after such a long time had drained a significant amount of her energy.  

She forced her heavy eyelids to stay open as she made her way to her room. Exhaustion was hitting its peak.  

The moment she arrived, she locked the door behind her and collapsed.

***

"…Rina!"  

It's too bright… and too loud.  

"Karina Leopold!"  

Sinking deep into the depths of sleep, Karina instinctively snapped her eyes open at the booming sound of her name.  

As she struggled to gather her senses in a half-dazed state and lifted her head, a familiar silhouette came into view.  

"Father?"  

Still groggy, Karina pushed herself upright from where she had been lying on the bed.  

A glance out the window told her that morning had yet to arrive.  

It's just past evening, I guess?

After roughly gauging the time, Karina let out a small sigh and looked up.  

"What brings you here?"  

His expression was far too furious for it to be just an invitation to dinner. A shiver of unease ran down her spine.  

Behind her father, Count Leopold, stood Ferdinand, fidgeting anxiously.  

Karina pressed her lips together tightly.  

"Karina, did you buy street food for Abelia?"  

"Yes, I had some errands to run, so I bought some on my way back."  

"Haa… Karina!"  

Count Leopold raised his voice.

Karina's body instinctively flinched. She forced herself to steady her trembling shoulders.  

"You know Abelia's health is fragile. Surely, you didn't think it was acceptable to feed her just anything!"  

"…"  

Count Leopold pressed his temples as if he had a headache, his voice stern.  

Karina's face hardened at his words.  

So he had come all the way to her room just to say this? She couldn't be more disappointed.  

She forced her throbbing head to think. Abelia must have had some kind of reaction.  

She knew the right response should be to apologize or at least ask if Abelia was alright.  

And yet, her mind had gone cold.

"She just asked me to buy it for her. Did something happen to Abelia?"  

"She must have gotten food poisoning because she threw up everything she ate and is now suffering from dehydration. How can you be so thoughtless as her older sister?"  

His furious voice rang in her ears.  

With her body still weary, her mind groggy from interrupted sleep, and her energy drained, Karina felt dizzy. Her stomach churned, perhaps just as much as Abelia’s.  

"Your father is right. You're an adult now. How can you be so careless?"  

"But Lia was the one who…"  

The accusations made her stomach twist.  

And the pounding in her head from being forcefully woken up didn't help either.  

She pressed her forehead and opened her mouth to explain.  

"Don't make excuses!"  

It was always the same.  

Karina gave up on explaining and silently kept her lips shut.  

"Father, Mother! My sister only…"  

“So what?”

Karina tightened her gaze and lifted her head, cutting off Ferdinand’s words.  

She knew she had to endure this.  

She knew that, as always, she should just say she was sorry and let it end.  

She understood that they were only worried because Abelia was often unwell.  

She knew she was the only one they could blame.  

But why?  

Why was she the only one to blame?  

“What?”  

At Karina’s question, Count Leopold’s eyes widened in shock as he looked at her.  

In her head, she knew. She had told herself this dozens, hundreds of times. She had resolved to understand.  

But for how long?  

Until she died in a year?  

She asked herself.  

And when she died, who would understand what she had endured?  

No one.  

For the rest of their lives, people would remember Karina Leopold as a foolishly kind, frustratingly naïve girl who never grew up.  

The thought made her stomach burn and her mind go cold.  

“What did you just say?”  

“I asked, so what should I do about it?”  

“How dare you speak so disrespectfully!”

"I only bought the skewers and juice because Abelia asked me to." Karina said dryly. Her face completely void of any warmth.  

"And that’s something you should be telling Abelia. You should warn her not to eat things like that if her health is fragile."  

"How little do you care about your sister that you wouldn’t even know something so basic?"  

"I thought it was fine since Abelia asked for it herself."  

The more she spoke, the more unjust it felt. No one ever reported Abelia’s condition to her. She had no way of knowing what Abelia could or couldn't eat.  

Was death something that gave a person this much courage?  

Karina scoffed inwardly as she felt the words she had always suppressed slipping effortlessly from her lips.  

Count Leopold, as well as Ferdinnd and the Countess, who had followed him in, all looked stunned.  

What kind of person was Karina Leopold?  

She was a considerate child who always smiled kindly, no matter the situation.  

If she made a mistake, she would sincerely apologize and quietly take the blame.  

Never before had she worn such a cold expression.  

My head hurts.

The truth was, she wasn’t feeling well either. Her head throbbed, and her stomach churned. She felt like burying her face in the toilet at any moment.  

"Karina, what kind of tone is that all of a sudden?" Count Leopold asked sternly.  

"My tone? I’m merely stating my opinion. As far as etiquette goes, I don’t believe I’ve done anything wrong."  

"When bringing such food, you should have gotten the physician’s approval first."

"What do you mean by 'such food'?"  

It was food that plenty of people ate without issue. Even she had taken a bite when the vendor had offered her a taste.  

"I tried it myself before buying it, so I thought it would be fine. I'll be more careful next time, Father."  

"Really?"  

"Yes."  

"Alright. Just be careful."  

Count Leopold, though still puzzled by Karina’s behavior, nodded at her obedient response.  

Just as he was about to turn away, he hesitated and looked at her silently for a moment.  

After a brief pause, he finally spoke.  

"You know that your sister has been frail since birth, don’t you, Karina?"  

"Yes."  

"And you’re healthy. So please try to understand."  

That damned ‘health’.

Was she the only one born healthy?  

Enrich and Ferdinand were perfectly fine too.  

Then why? Why was it always her?  

Why was she always the only one expected to make sacrifices?

Karina clenched the blanket so tightly that her knuckles turned white, then suddenly let go, dropping her head.  

"Yes, I know."  

Suppressing the emotions that surged up within her, crushing them as she always did, she avoided their gaze and answered indifferently.  

The Countess stepped forward, siding with Count Leopold.  

"Your father was just too upset because Lia collapsed."  

"Yes."  

"Being born healthy is such a blessing. Karina, you’re not feeling hurt, are you?"  

She pressed her lips together to stifle the laughter that almost escaped.  

There was nothing to expect, so what was there to be hurt about?  

Karina's gaze met Ferdinand’s, who was fidgeting anxiously behind them.  

But she ignored it.  

Instead, she turned her attention to Count Leopold and the Countess, who were preparing to leave, and spoke.  

"Is that all you have to say?"  

"What?"

"I was just wondering if that was all you had to say."  

"It is, but why?"  

Count Leopold's puzzled response was met with a fleeting smirk on Karina’s lips before it crumbled away.  

"So, you did know where my room was, Mother, Father."  

"Of course, we know," the Count replied, frowning as if the question itself was absurd.  

"You never visited even once in the past few years, so I thought you had forgotten."  

At Karina’s words, Count Leopold’s face hardened.

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