Ants crawled into the inside of my eyelids while I was sleeping.
Suffering from an unpleasant tingling sensation in the back of my eyeballs, I set my eyes on my step-sister.
She was looking down at me with the same grace as usual.
Facing that innocent face, I felt like my eyes were burning.
I gripped the blanket like a shield and looked sting.
"Did you come to watch? If you have something to say, hurry up and leave."
"...How are you feeling?"
"How do I look?"
Her pale green eyes scanned me carefully.
"It doesn't look good."
My mouth tightened.
My fingertips trembled. If my legs were intact, I would have grabbed her by the hair and slammed her out of the door.
I suppressed my surging anger and squeezed out my nonchalant voice.
"If you find out, why don't you leave me? I'm trying to get worse because of you."
Ayla's lips tightened.
The longer the silence dragged on, the sharper my nerves became. As the pain that had finally subsided gradually climbed up my bones, I raised my voice.
"Don't you hear me tell you to leave?"
"I said I had a story I wanted to tell."
Ayla blurted out a little nervously.
I glared at her with narrowed eyes.
"Then hurry up and get out. Just looking at your face makes me turn upside down. But do I have to wait patiently for you? Don't be funny, tell me right now, or disappear from my sight!"
As if fed up with the onslaught of hostility, Ayla's face hardened visibly.
She gave me a cold look.
"Yes. Then I'll tell you about my business. I came here because I was curious about what you plan to do in the future."
"What do you do?"
I asked indifferently.
The headache was getting worse and worse. The ants that had been gnawing at the back of the eyeball now seemed to have burrowed into the bones. The stinging pain spread to the back of my head.
All my attention was on it, and Ayla kept whispering.
"Don't pretend to be pretentious, you know what I'm talking about."
"Am I a mind reader? How do I know if you didn't tell me?"
"You...!"
Ayla's voice rose slightly.
I turned my head and frowned at my half-sister's face, distorted with contempt.
Ayla, who was trying to stay calm, took a moment to catch her breath and then spoke in a calmer voice.
"I want to ask you if you really want to marry him."
I didn't answer, just staring at her face.
It seemed that it was Ayla who found it difficult to endure the silence now, not I.
She continued nervously.
"You don't like Barcas. You've been tormenting him so much since he was a child, and now you're not going to be his wife, are you?"
Her eyes looked like she was asking for my consent, and a smile flowed onto my face.
Ayla's mouth hardened.
When I saw her miserable expression, my intermittent laughter gradually became rough.
I grabbed my stomach and laughed, forgetting about the headache that threatened to crush my bones and the tingling pain that ran down my legs.
"So, you ran because you were scared?"
Ayla's face was now almost plaster white.
I looked at her face as if admiring if and spoke softly.
"I guess you were burning inside because you were afraid that your fiancé would be taken away from you?"
"..."
"But what should I do? That's why I want to take it away at all costs."
Ayla's lovely face became even more vicious. Her eyes, which were reminiscent of fresh evergreens, were also filled with poison.
I was overwhelmed by a strange sense of uplift.
She always looked down on me with a flawless face. Such an older sister was finally showing her raw emotions.
"He's just saying he's going to marry you out of a sense of responsibility."
She cried out in a dry voice.
"He's just feeling guilty for being like that! But it's not his fault that you got hurt. But why should Barkas make such a sacrifice?"
I wiped away the smile on my lips.
The pleasant feelings faded in an instant, and a frozen anger took their place. My fingers itched to tear off her tongue, which was chattering as if she were Barcas' mouthpiece.
I swallowed the profanity that crept up my throat, squeezing out a gentle voice.
"I thought you were a little smarter. But you're dumber than I thought."
Ayla's lips froze.
I continued slowly.
"That's not what you should say to me right now. You have to politely and earnestly ask."
"..."
"Please, don't marry Barcas Raedgo Sheerkan."
Ayla's eyes twitched.
As I stared at her humiliated face, Ayla squirmed her lips and spat out with difficulty.
"If I asked, would you refuse to marry him?"
"I don't know."
I spat dryly.
"Doesn't that depend on how earnest the person asks?"
Ayla pursed her lips and looked down at the floor. It seemed that her mouth could not be dropped.
It took a long time for a breathless silence to pass, and finally Ayla gave me a sad look. Soon, a mournful voice poured out from between her pinkish lips.
"Please, refuse to marry Barcas, if you don't agree, His Majesty won't push you either. So please..."
Her voice was shattered and scattered.
I looked up at her pitiful face and swallowed a bitter sneer.
Now, this woman must think that she has given up something great.
It is the pride of being a Princess.
Ayla, the honorable Princess, has bent down to an insignificant illegitimate child, and she will think that she deserves to be rewarded.
I lowered my gaze to my legs, which were hidden under the covers.
It was only at this point that I could be mentioned as his bride.
But this woman believed that she could get him back by giving up her pride.
For her, Thalia Roem Guirta's legs are worth nothing more than her pride.
I blurted out.
"Yes."
Her face was flushed.
I stared at her face and calmly added.
"But there are conditions."
"Conditions?"
A look of caution appeared on her face.
I turned my head to examine the shelf. On a tray of fruit, bread, and butter, there were some silver utensils.
I picked up a small knife used to cut butter and threw it in front of her half-sister.
The silver blades slid to my feet. Turning to Ayla, who looked down at it from afar, I spoke softly.
"With that, stab yourself in the leg."
"...What?"
Ayla looked at me with a deafening expression.
I looked directly into their blank eyes and said forcefully, one word at a time.
"Use it to scar your leg. Like this..."
I slowly pulled up the blanket. Her wide-eyed eyes fell on the ugly, bulging scar.
With my eyes, I proudly ran my fingertips over the long, ugly marks that started from my shins.
"From here... This is how long the knife cuts. Then I'll do as you say."
Ayla alternated between the knife on the floor and her legs wrapped in the velvet dress. Her eyelids twitched.
Presently, a cold sneer flowed from my blood-stained lips.
"From the beginning, you didn't even have the slightest intention of listening to me."
I didn't say anything.
Soon after, the Princess's mask was placed over Ayla's face.
Ayla raised her head as if to ask when I had shown my servility and stepped towards the door. The sound of footsteps, which had been flowing evenly, stopped when she reached the entrance of the bedroom.
Ayla turned to me, clutching the doorknob. Her swampy eyes shone with an eerie glow.
"You're going to regret what happened today. Thalia Roem Guirta."
Ayla, who cursed me, walked out the door and coldly added.
"Surely."
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