“Stop calling her that! Odelliana is our sister, not some stranger! And she’s not mad! The servants were abusing her, do you understand? Horrifically abusing her! If you’d seen it yourself, you wouldn’t be spouting such nonsense!”
Odelliana listened to their exchange, a heavy sigh escaping her lips. So, Blair was punished because of me.
Blair had acted completely reasonably, yet the family had blown it out of proportion. Even now, he continued to defend her with unwavering conviction, emphasizing her sanity and the injustice of abandoning her because of her condition. His voice vibrated with urgency as he pleaded for their understanding.
“Don’t even think about considering her your sister,” Hermann spat. “Detach yourself from that discarded child. Odette needs your attention. What good can come of clinging to that woman? Do you want to be ostracized too?”
Blair remained silent, his jaw clenched.
“You claim she’s not mad? Does her behavior scream sanity to you? Stop stirring trouble and get out. Don’t come back here. And you,” he turned to Odelliana, his voice laced with venom, “stop manipulating Blair. Nothing will change. Just keep your head down like you have been. If you incite him into causing more trouble, you’ll answer to me.”
With a final roar, Hermann stormed out, clearly eager to put as much distance between himself and the situation as possible. His departure left a heavy silence in its wake. Blair let out a string of frustrated sighs, burying his face in his hands.
“I’m such an idiot,” he mumbled, his voice muffled. “I’m so sorry.”
Even now, with everything stacked against them, Blair was apologizing. It was Hermann who’d created the chaos, so why was Blair taking the blame? Shouldn’t it be Odelliana apologizing for the trouble she’d caused?
Odelliana’s heart ached. “Because of me,” she whispered, “you’ve fallen out of favor with the family.”
“No, Odelliana, absolutely not!” Blair protested.
“I wondered why you hadn’t contacted me,” she continued, her voice trembling. “I even foolishly thought you might have grown tired of me. But all this time, you were suffering because of me.”
“It’s not your fault,” Blair insisted, shaking his head. “It’s mine. My parents were furious that I replaced the servants without consulting them. I was put under house arrest, but that’s all.”
“But you did it to protect me.”
“Yes, but it was still my decision. I dismissed them without informing the family. They held me accountable for the process, not the outcome. Please, Odelliana, don’t blame yourself for this.”
Odelliana leaned heavily against Matthias for support, her eyes fixed on Blair, who worriedly chewed on his lip.
How could siblings raised in the same household be so different? Blair, consumed by worry for his sister’s well-being, readily accepted blame. Meanwhile, Hermann harbored open disdain for her, his contempt as palpable as a physical blow. He couldn’t even tolerate sharing the same space with her.
And then there was Odette, the third sibling, a stranger Odelliana had yet to meet. In her past life, she’d been her husband’s mistress. Now, she was Odelliana’s twin sister.
“It seems our parents and eldest brother have nothing but animosity for me,” Odelliana concluded bitterly. “That leaves only my sister. Why hasn’t she appeared?”
“Actually,” Blair hesitated, “she’s not at home right now. Odette is volunteering at a relief center.”
“Volunteering?” Odelliana echoed, her voice laced with disbelief. A sneer twisted her lips.
A cruel woman, devoid of compassion or empathy. Even on her deathbed, Odelliana could recall with chilling clarity Odette’s cold, triumphant smile amidst the bloody chaos of the overthrow. And now, this woman volunteered at a relief center?
The absurdity of it fueled Odelliana’s anger. Of course. Odette had a cultivated reputation, a moniker that glittered in high society: ‘The Saint of Reveln.’
