Ch.96Awakening (6)

Kirsy.

All the memories I shared with her flashed before my eyes like a kaleidoscope.

Her stoic demeanor when we first met. The moment she finally expressed her grief over losing her parents in front of me.

How she gradually became healthier, smiled more often. The times she followed me around like a little chick, calling “Oppa, Oppa!”

I recalled her various cute gestures and playful antics.

These were the memorable moments with her, painted vividly in my mind.

“……”

And I knew this moment too would be something I’d never forget.

It wasn’t gently etched into my memory like a painting. It would remain in my mind like a scar burned with a branding iron, an indelible mark.

That cute girl who used to follow me around was now completely naked, hugging me and… begging me to embrace her.

I stood frozen.

When I tried to form words, I couldn’t think of what to say next. No matter what word I started with, I couldn’t continue.

Since my mouth failed me, I moved my body instead.

I grabbed her arms wrapped around my waist.

I applied force to free myself, but her arms wouldn’t let go.

I couldn’t tell if she was really drunk or where this strength was coming from.

Finally, I gripped her slender arms firmly, like holding a sword.

When I applied force without mercy, her arms finally released me.

And simultaneously, I heard a sound.

“..Ah..ah..it hurts.”

She moaned in a whisper so faint I could barely hear it.

That sound made me lose strength momentarily, and Kirsy persistently wrapped her freed arms around my waist again.

Now with her face buried against my back, she wouldn’t let me go.

I tried to grab the doorknob.

She pushed my body from behind. The gap between me and the door narrowed, making it impossible to open.

Though she was still occasionally trembling and hiccupping, her determination remained unwavering.

I finally closed my eyes and steeled myself for a moment.

I twisted my body that had been facing the door.

As if knowing I would look at her, Kirsy slightly loosened her grip.

When my body completely turned toward her, she embraced me strongly again.

The position itself was very familiar.

Except for the fact that she was naked.

Her words weren’t just bluster—I could see her underwear next to her wine-soaked clothes.

I moved my hands to grip her shoulders. Even touching her bare shoulders felt strange now.

My entire body contracted, and my hands, cold from poor circulation, warmed up upon meeting Kirsy’s soft, warm shoulders.

Only then did she slightly raise her head to look at me.

“…Look at me, Oppa.”

As she said, I was already averting my eyes.

I’m not the strange one here. We’ve always been like this. It’s just that Kirsy has changed too quickly.

I pushed her away and said:

“…Stop it.”

“…Stop what? I love you, Oppa… I love you.”

“Stop right here, Kirsy.”

“…Hiccup… Is it because you were cold to me earlier today? You know better than anyone that wasn’t your true feeling… You know I can’t hate you…”

“…Please, don’t do this anymore.”

They were gradually erasing the line between us. They kept scuffing away the sibling boundary drawn on the floor as they approached.

No matter how many times I redrew the line, the distance between me and them kept narrowing.

Like this, with her showing her naked body and asking for intimacy… I couldn’t draw the same line as before.

No matter how hard I tried, we had moved beyond a normal sibling relationship.

Increasingly, the relationship they wanted—as man and woman—was being established.

“…Ah.”

I pushed her body away with force.

She, who had felt like cotton, separated from me.

Though I wasn’t looking at her, I could roughly tell how she was moving.

Kirsy didn’t cover her exposed body.

She tried to approach me again, but I didn’t relax my arms.

Eventually, she stubbornly grabbed my arm that was pushing against her shoulder.

Finally, I gritted my teeth and spoke harshly to her.

“…Aren’t you ashamed?”

“……..”

“…I told you I couldn’t accept your feelings. I said we should go back to being normal siblings. But like this… using your body like…!”

I bit my lip.

When I tried to speak harsh words filled with emotion and frustration, they caught in my throat and wouldn’t come out easily.

But I had to say it. I had to make a desperate attempt, even if it was as futile as trying to glue a broken glass back together.

“…Like… approaching me like a prostitute… aren’t you ashamed…?”

I don’t know how I uttered those words. Whether I said them without hesitation, to shock her. Did I speak strongly? Or just loud enough to be heard?

Kirsy’s body trembled. At least… she heard me. That trembling created ripples in my heart. I had definitely hurt her.

How much more of this? I think I’ve already hurt them countless times. Telling them to leave my room. Declaring I wouldn’t be close to them anymore. Ignoring the pleas in their letters. And now even calling her a prostitute…

Kirsy’s head slowly bowed.

Her fingernails dug slightly into my arm.

If she loves me… how must she feel hearing the word “prostitute” from the person she loves?

I can’t push her away if I think about each detail.

I endure this pain as well.

I continued speaking.

“…Don’t you feel pathetic, clinging to someone who says no and approaching them like this?”

“……..”

“Is this how you want to appear to your brother? You’re making me keep losing respect for you…”

The strength gradually left Kirsy’s grip.

“Have you forgotten that I already have someone? It’s already over. Accept it.”

Her hand went limp and fell.

Only then could I look at her.

There was no energy left in Kirsy’s body with its beautiful feminine curves.

She hadn’t said a word since I started speaking.

I couldn’t gauge how deeply each of my words was wounding her.

She turned around.

She must have bathed—a floral scent wafted from her.

She slowly moved to my bed.

Then she pulled the blanket up to her head and settled underneath it.

A small mound formed on the bed from the blanket.

Her breathing grew louder until it turned into crying.

After listening to her sobs for a while, I clenched and unclenched my fists a couple of times, then left the room.

Her silence made her look even more pitiful in my eyes.

****

That night.

I couldn’t fall asleep.

The words I first said to Grandmother.

It seems I can no longer postpone it.

After talking with the family members for a month, leaving now wouldn’t be sudden.

The situation was more serious than I thought, and they were becoming aggressive at an accelerating pace.

I needed to act.

When morning came, I knocked on Asena’s door.

-Knock knock.

I could smell her familiar perfume.

It had always been like this. Waking up Asena was always my responsibility.

When I knocked on the door gently like this and she didn’t respond.

-Creak…

I would quietly open the door and wake her by stroking her cheek and calling her name.

Today was a bit different.

She was already awake before I entered.

“Asena.”

When I called her, Asena opened her arms. She remembered our routine too.

Normally… it would be my turn to embrace her. Then she would kiss my cheek.

Today was different.

“…Asena. I need to talk to you. Get dressed, wake up Kirsy in my room, and come to your office.”

Then I coldly turned away.

****

Asena entered the room with Kirsy. I stood up and offered Asena her seat.

I didn’t make eye contact with Kirsy.

Asena sat down with anxious eyes.

Kirsy sat beside her.

Standing before them, I declared:

“…I’m leaving.”

“…What?”

Asena’s expression gradually hardened, as if her anxiety had been confirmed.

“I’ve told you many times. That I would leave. It seems… that time is now.”

“……..”

They weren’t people who couldn’t understand my words.

Kirsy, perhaps having nothing to say to me after yesterday, turned her head to look out the window and silently shed tears.

Only Asena objected to my words.

“…How can you leave when we’ve only been here for such a short time?”

“You know I’m leaving because you came.”

“…Didn’t I beg you to stop hurting me?”

“…Not everything can be as you want it.”

“Then what should I do…? Oppa…..”

Immediately after, she gritted her teeth and spoke forcefully.

“Don’t leave.”

“I’ve finished preparing.”

“Are you saying you’re abandoning us to go to Daisy? For the crime of loving you?”

“I never said it was a crime. But… it shouldn’t happen.”

“If it’s not a crime, why is there punishment? Why shouldn’t it happen? Even now, you…! Grandmother too…! Neither of you have clearly explained why it can’t be…!”

“We are siblings—”

“We’re not siblings!!”

Asena exploded, shouting loudly. It felt like she utterly despised the fact that we were siblings.

I had nothing more to say.

Without answering, I took a long look at them.

When I remained silent, even Kirsy, who had been looking away, slowly turned to me.

They surely knew. That I was taking them in with my eyes.

That I was etching a final memory before a long farewell.

Kirsy suddenly stood up.

She approached and clung to my legs.

“Oppa… no… no… don’t leave…”

I took my eyes off Kirsy and looked at Asena for a long time.

She was blinking repeatedly and shaking her head.

I slowly organized my thoughts. Or at least, I pretended to do so for myself.

The only reason for me to stay with them is… that I still like them.

I haven’t been able to reform the twins, and I don’t think I can. It was obvious that my presence in the family would be a huge obstacle to the family, as much as they loved me. Also, I already have a fiancée.

It’s right to leave before my sisters’ actions become even more extreme.

I said:

“…Goodbye.”

And with a push, I detached Kirsy.

I turned and started to leave the room.

“Oppa!!!”

Asena’s tearing cry echoed behind me.

It was a voice filled with stinging anger that I couldn’t detect earlier.

I half-turned my head to look at her.

She said:

“If you… If you leave now…! We’re finished.”

A trembling voice.

“……..”

“The moment you walk out that door, I’ll… expel you from the Praester family. You’ll return to commoner status.”

“…….”

“And I’ll never see your face again. I’ll live forgetting you. I’ll throw away all memories and love!! I’ll hate you. I’ll hate you insanely, understand…? Even if you come looking for me when life gets hard…! Even if you cry and beg, I won’t see you again!! The moment you leave… know that you’ll never think of me as your sister Asena again. Like everyone else…! You’ll only think of me as the head of the Praester family. I’ll make you tremble in fear just hearing my name.”

Even if I joined the Hexter family and married Daisy, I wouldn’t see Asena again if she didn’t want to see me. That’s how powerful a high noble she was.

“You leave me like this…! Did you think you could smile and face me again later? Did you think I’d just take it? I begged you so much!! What more do I need to do for you to love me?!”

“……..”

I moved my feet.

With each step I took, Asena spoke:

“Stop..! Is this really the end?! It can’t be…! Come back!!”

“…..”

“H-how will you get to the Hexter territory? Didn’t I say you’d be expelled the moment you walk out this door? I won’t provide a carriage, not even a horse. How do you plan to go?!”

I stopped at the door.

Asena spoke in a lowered voice:

“…O-okay. Come back—”

“…..”

And then, turning my head, I crossed the threshold.

****

Asena stared blankly in the direction Caden had disappeared.

He had left.

Even though she had said it was over and that she would cut ties with him for the first time.

He didn’t come back.

“…Helen.”

She called for Helen in a daze.

Several maids were gathering in this room, drawn by the loud voices.

Among them was the oldest maid, the elderly head maid Helen. She hurriedly said:

“My Lady..! Master Caden just passed by—”

“—Oppa has been expelled from the family from now on.”

She uttered with a blank expression.

For the first time in her life, she wanted Caden to suffer. She wanted to cause him pain.

She wanted to give him such unbearable pain that… he would recall the memories he shared with them and regret this moment of leaving and abandoning them.

“Spread the news throughout the kingdom. Tell them to no longer consider Caden Praester a member of our family.”

“A-Asena, what are you saying…”

“—Don’t treat Oppa as a noble. No… that’s not it. Capture him now.”

“…What?”

“Capture him and lock him in the dungeon.”

Asena’s mind was in chaos. She didn’t even know what she was saying.

Her voice began to tremble. Tears flowed in front of all the maids.

“Oppa… Oppa is leaving… Capture him… Helen… please capture him…”

Max, who assisted Helen, followed her in.

Seeing the collapsed twins, he looked at Helen with his usual light expression gone.

Even in the confusion, Helen followed Asena’s orders.

“…Max, tell Sir Lawrence to… bring Master Caden back.”

“—I said capture him. I won’t forgive letting him escape.”

Asena corrected Helen’s words.

Helen didn’t bother to speak further.

Max nodded.

But the next day.

Asena had to face a morning without Caden.

Her heart felt emptier and… more painful than ever before.