She seemed indifferent. Then I momentarily lost focus as her unchanging expression returned.

“Seems like there are many people wanting to talk to me today. Was I this popular?”

Even though I sneered, Helena didn’t bat an eye.

Instead, she pulled one side of her lips, forming a cold smile.

I didn’t show it, but internally, I was surprised.

For a brief moment, it felt like seeing Helena from before I died.

Before the regression, when I was fourteen, the original Helena didn’t openly reveal her enmity. That happened a few years later.

While she greeted with a smiling face in front, she manipulated behind the scenes, instigating the servants.

Sometimes she treated me well, only to abruptly change her attitude and become icy.

When I was young, I didn’t catch Helena’s deceit. Or maybe I did, but chose to deliberately ignore it.

Even when I was much younger, there were times when I genuinely believed in her.

That she was my sister, my family who would understand me.

‘That’s not the Helena from before.’

I forcibly regained my composure.

The twenty-year-old Helena, who killed me, is not here.

She is not even sixteen now. She is just an underage girl younger than myself before the regression.

‘I’m not the same as I was back then, either.’

There is no Khalia who foolishly believed in Helena. She died a long time ago.

Helena can no longer shake me. It’s impossible.

“Khalia, don’t delude yourself.”

She spoke in a gentle voice.

Lost in thought, I was momentarily taken aback. The response came a step too late.

“What… do you mean?”

“Do you think you summoned a spirit or something?”

“What?”

“Maybe you think you drove our family away with the Duke’s protection.”

The content was far from gentle, despite her soft voice.

“You’re still the devil’s daughter.”

I clenched my fist. Ignoring the excessive tension, I retorted.

“Frightening me, huh? Even if you do, it’s useless.”

“Frighten you? What a bitter thing to say.”

Helena approached. It was a small step, but without realizing it, I took a big step back.

She lowered her head to look at the ground between us.

Because I hastily retreated, dust flew up. The footprints left behind were vivid.

Helena smiled slyly at the sight.

As if her nails would dig into the flesh, she pressed. Without approaching further, Helena spoke.

“I just wanted to talk openly with you.”

“I… have nothing to talk to you about.”

“Then just listen.”

“I don’t want to!”

“I’m just giving you a chance. It’s not too late, Khalia.”

“What chance?”

I knew I shouldn’t ask, but I did. There was no other choice.

The answer was simple. As if stating that 1 plus 1 equals 2.

“Come back.”

I momentarily froze. I couldn’t maintain my composure.

“What… What are you talking about, Helena?”

“You and me, Father, Mother. We can all go back to being a marquisate family and live together.”

She spoke calmly.

“We are a family, aren’t we?”

“Ha, hahaha. Haha…”

Laughter that seemed to contain bitterness escaped me. Helena showed no signs of being moved by my reaction. She still had a bright smile.

My own voice sounded strange in my ears. It lacked strength.

“You’re truly insane.”

“In the end, there’s nothing more important than bloodline. Do you believe in the Duke? Desmiere is not your family.”

“You’re not my family either!”

I screamed as if it were a scream. A bird flew up from the forest.

“I have no family, no one! Don’t arrogantly claim to be one!”

“But we had good times, didn’t we?”

Helena approached. I tried to escape, but somehow, I couldn’t move.

She came right up to me and took my hand. Her warm touch enveloped both my fists.

“Hmm? Khalia. Think about it.”

Helena charmingly tilted her head, and her red hair cascaded down like a waterfall.

“When you were very young, I took care of you. We played and had fun together. Do you remember playing house and hosting parties with dolls, pretending to attend a debutante ball? I was your Sharflon.”

“Crying in!”

Desperately, I called on the spirits. However, I couldn’t concentrate, and my energy was about to drain away but got stuck.

The power to summon intermediate spirits was far from enough.

“Undine, Undine!”

Giving up and summoning lesser spirits, barely three appeared next to me.

Helena wasn’t surprised by the sudden spirit summoning.

However, as the Undines, sensing my emotions, flapped their wings threateningly and swelled their bodies, Helena calmly let go of my hand and stepped back.

“Heuk, heuk…”

I gasped for breath in a hurry. Suddenly, I realized that the hand she released was trembling like crazy.

I turned my back to hide it. But both she and I already knew what we had seen.

The Undines floated around as if escorting her. Helena spoke slowly.

“It’s not just for my benefit. It’s something beneficial for you too.”

“Shut up…”

“They’re all gossiping that you’re going crazy following your Father. Did it feel good when the kids here avoided you like the plague? No. The real aristocrats, the true power holders leading the empire, are all watching you. If you show a bit more ‘devilish’ qualities and summon slightly higher spirits… they’ll try to kill you soon. Before it’s too late.”

I whimpered. My body still hadn’t calmed down. My head began to throb as if I were getting a fever.

“So, you need to show them what a good child you are. For instance, bring back the relatives and longtime guardian you expelled in a moment of mistake.”

At her suggestion, I was completely dumbfounded. Helena’s words…

“Am I, am I going back to that hell again?”

“Hell, Khalia? You must roll into heaven to avoid falling into hell.”

Ah. With those words, I collapsed.

Even the sensations, like the legs hitting the ground, the dirt on my touched hands, were absent.

As I sat trembling, Helena’s shadow loomed over me.

“Don’t come any closer!”

I tried to push her away by holding up my hand, but it was a feeble resistance.

Before I could move an inch, she had closed the distance and bent down at the waist.

Something sparkled inside her wide-open collar.

“What’s this?”

She pulled out a string that had been inside my clothes.

The moment I saw it, my eyes, which I thought couldn’t get any wider, reached their limit.

“Ah, ah, ahhhh….”

[Khalia….]

I couldn’t even maintain the presence of just three lower spirits.

The Undines called my name with a plaintive voice and were dismissed in reverse and vanished.

Her shadow fell upon me as I, who couldn’t even put up a weak resistance, tried to pull my hand away.

“What is it that you don’t remember yet?”

As she extracted the thin string with her slender finger, the eyes, which I thought couldn’t get any bigger, reached their true limit.

“Ah, no, nooo….”

Helena gently stroked my head.

“Well, it’s not easy to forget when it’s one of the few things left from your mother, is it?”

Indeed, it was impossible to forget. It was my mother’s necklace, something I reluctantly gave to Helena to establish an orphanage for the victims of my father on our estate.

“I wanted this so badly back then. I was just a child. I’m sorry.”

Helena, softly smiling, touched the sparkling amethyst in the middle of the necklace.

“If you listen to me well, I might return this to you.”

She whispered sweetly.

“Now, touch it. It’s okay….”

Helena forcefully pulled my hand, even causing it to bleed, and brought it to her neck.

I desperately resisted, exerting all my strength.

I tried not to get close. Tried not to touch it. Attempted to resist feeling that sensation and drawing the amethyst with my fingertips.

I don’t even remember her face, only accumulating memories through portraits. I tried not to recall the longing for my mother, buried deep in my heart for a very long time.

In that moment of resistance, it seemed unbearable.

But my strength kept fading. My arm became limp. I couldn’t stop Helena.

She embraced my shoulders with her opposite hand and pulled me even closer.

“No… don’t…”

Trembling fingers approached the small jewel.

Just one more second, and it would be within reach.

“Step away from Khalia.”

A loud voice shouted from behind, abruptly interrupting. With the sudden appearance of an intruder, Helena released my hand.

Seizing the opportunity, I hastily moved away from her embrace.

Finally, a gasp escaped my lips. I had been breathless. I breathed heavily, my breath coming in erratic gasps.

Helena, who had been bent over, straightened her body. Her eyes widened as she identified the intruder.

“…Young Lord.”

The owner of the approaching footsteps intervened, squeezing in front of me as I sat hesitantly.

“I won’t say it twice.”

Standing protectively, drops of still-moisture fell from the stern face of the one who had just arrived.

“Step back, immediately.”

The stoic-faced leader warned Helena with a voice as cold as I had never heard before.