MPO

CHAPTER V

“…Thank you for your concern, Amelie.”

“Really? Then you’d better listen to me…”

Leila, accepting her sister’s attitude, interrupted the momentarily brightened voice of Amelie by adding,

“But I am of age now, so I can handle myself. Even if I’m blind, as you say.”

“Hmph, if you end up in an accident and become even more disabled, don’t expect me to care.”

“Then don’t.”

Leila, curt in her response, chose not to add the unnecessary remark ‘You’d like that anyway, wouldn’t you?’ Instead, she proceeded under the guidance of her exclusive maid, Anna.

As Leila finally boarded the carriage and left the estate, Amelie’s own exclusive maid, Jessie, cautiously asked Amelie, who had been watching,

“Miss, isn’t it better for the elder miss to not be in the mansion?”

“You don’t understand, do you?”

“Quite honestly, Miss, even though the elder miss stays in her room, you’ve always been displeased. Wouldn’t it be better if she just went out and never came back?”

“You’re so naive to know just one and not the other. It would be better if you were a bit wiser than Anna.”

Jessie, offended by the comparison to Anna, could not dare to show her displeasure. Amelie added while Jessie struggled to hide her emotions,

“She seems to enjoy those little outings.”

“…What?”

“I don’t know where my sister goes, but she seems excited and happy when she leaves. So, I should make absolutely certain that she’d never go out again, yes?”

“Ah…”

Jessie swallowed the thought ‘That’s really wicked’ and nodded vigorously. Amelie, following the disappearing carriage, said in a cold voice,

“I hate seeing my sister happy. So, even if it’s uncomfortable for me, I have to endure it. I’ll find a way to lock her up at home.”

Of course, that would require their father’s permission, but since his favorite was Amelie, she thought convincing him wouldn’t be too hard.

Humming, Amelie asked Jessie,

“When is father coming home?”

* * *

“Really, Miss Amelie is a devil.”

Anna muttered in a subdued voice while riding in the carriage with Leila. She had been brought from the orphanage by Leila’s mother when she was still alive. Although the other servants in the mansion were not trustworthy, Anna was someone Leila could rely on.

“It’s okay, Anna.”

“You always yield too easily…”

“There’s no other way.”

“Miss…”

Anna couldn’t hide her sadness, but Leila was no longer a child. She had grown into an adult who could face reality. She was a neglected child who barely received permission to go out and a noble lady with a significant defect.

She was well aware of the unfavorable rumors about herself. There had been times in her childhood when she had acted out too much, hoping for her father’s support against the unfairness of her sudden disability.

That had resulted in her becoming a burden, unable to accept her kind stepmother and her children, tormenting them instead. Moreover, she had become a person who could not take care of herself and relied only on others’ help.

“Being blind is a significant flaw for a noble lady. Soon, I’ll be sold off to some lord in the countryside as his second wife. But since I’m a hyper-dominant omega, I guess I still have some use.”

“Miss! Please don’t say such things.”

“It’s okay, Anna.”

I’ve already come to terms with it.

Swallowing words she couldn’t share with Anna, Leila redirected the conversation and tightly hugged her violin case.

“Still, I’m happy because of you, Anna. You’ve allowed me to play, and this is my only joy.”

“I’m glad to have been of help, Miss…”

Anna responded, struggling to hide the heaviness in her voice, knowing Leila was the one who would suffer the most.

Anna thought Leila’s life had been harsh. One day, Leila’s mother died from a severe illness, when she was only ten.

Before she could adapt to the sudden absence of her mother, Leila’s father, Count Este, remarried Sarah, bringing her into the family as a stepmother. The fact that her father already had children with his mistress was something that didn’t sit well with Leila, not in the slightest.

When she was a child, she did not understand what a mistress was, and so she held some hope for the new stepmother—an impossible hope that she would love her like her mother once did.