The sky was a piercing shade of blue, almost icy in its coldness.
The wintry air made the heavens seem even more frigid.
As she gazed at the sporadic clusters of pale clouds, it wouldn’t have been surprising if snowflakes began to fall.
“Snow…”
Alicia’s eyes, fixated on the sky, slowly closed. Under her lowered eyelids, she imagined delicate snowflakes drifting down.
Alicia loved snow. It was beautiful.
She loved beautiful things.
She had the capacity to appreciate beauty. But now, she…
Her closed eyes reopened, and a faint, wistful smile adorned her lips.
Crunch, crunch.
The sound of footsteps on the cold ground echoed around her. A particularly dazzling pink dress was dragged across the floor.
Today was her birthday.
Strangely, no, it was perfectly reasonable, but she didn’t feel happy at all.
* * *
“Happy birthday, Alicia.”
“Happy birthday, Alicia.”
“Alicia, happy birthday.”
Today was a day filled with unbridled joy.
Despite their usual awkwardness when gathered together, the family atmosphere had lightened significantly compared to Rosetta’s birthday a few weeks ago.
Everyone lovingly whispered their birthday wishes to her, and each of them genuinely smiled.
Even their usually stoic father wore a subtle smile, reminding her how much she was loved.
Alicia should have been overjoyed, laughing until tears streamed down her face… if she were her usual self.
But today, Alicia was not herself.
She couldn’t fully enjoy the happiness because she carried a secret that’s much too heavy to bear.
As her family grew more affectionate, her dreams constricted around her neck even tighter.
She feared the bitterness that followed this sweetness.
The more intense the sweetness, the stronger the bitterness.
Yet, she had already kept this secret hidden for a long time.
Smiling became so easy for her, while feigning happiness and naivety became second nature.
“Everyone, thank you so much for the well wishes. I’m so happy.”
Ever so naturally, Alicia made herself part of this harmonious family.
‘Disgusting.’
Beyond the smiling lips, she swallowed the nausea and disgust she felt towards herself, again and again.
* * *
The disguised joyful dinner finally came to an end, and Alicia was granted access to the secret study once more.
Just like with Rosetta, Duke Valentine took her hand and acted as her guide. After repeating the same explanation he had given before, he carefully left Alicia alone in the room.
Left to her own devices, Alicia explored the secret study with tentative footsteps.
Being alone allowed her to finally breathe without restraint.
“The book of aspirations…”
Now that she could breathe freely, she took in the room filled with books.
Alicia had always loved reading, so being surrounded by books brought a strange sense of calm.
At least her heart wasn’t pounding.
Alicia’s hand gently brushed the bookshelves. She contemplated the idea of occasionally coming here.
However, her hazy smile and contemplations were abruptly interrupted.
Her round eyes focused on something, and her golden irises began to tremble uncontrollably.
Her face turned pale, almost sickly. It was so white that it bordered on gray.
Alicia took faltering steps, her movements erratic.
“Ahh!”
Finally, her ankle twisted, and she fell to the ground. Thankfully, she managed to catch herself with her hands, but she couldn’t avoid her knees hitting the floor.
She cradled her aching knee and slowly raised her head.
Her golden irises wavered uncontrollably.
A face so pale, almost sickly pale, and a ghastly expression.
Alicia crawled on the floor like a living corpse, struggling to regain her balance.
“Mom…”
A tiny voice quivered from her pale, almost colorless lips. Simultaneously, tears welled up in her eyes, which had never ceased crying every night.
Plik, plik.
Tears that had collected on her eyelashes cascaded down.
They flowed down her cheeks and dripped onto the floor.
Her hand on the ground curled into a tight fist.
Scrape—
Her fingernail scraped the floor.
Alicia’s gaze remained fixed in one place.
Her mother, smiling kindly at her.
Her dearly missed mother, whom she met in her dreams every day.
Mom.
But maybe…
‘Maybe, my real mother isn’t her… but my sister’s…’
“Hiic.”
Alicia covered her mouth with her hand.
A sensation, whether nausea or sobbing, surged in her throat.
The relentless suffocation in her throat left her breathless.
Alicia gritted her teeth behind her white lips.
She kept her head down, her forehead touching the floor.
“…Sorry… I’m sorry, Mom. Mother… Mom… I’m so sorry.”
An apology for the loss filled the empty space.
Alicia’s white teeth bit her lips as she gasped for air.
She groped her way to her neck, grasping the necklace she wore.
Earlier this morning,
Rosetta had given it to her as a present when she came to Alicia’s room personally.
“You were the first to wish me a happy birthday, so I wanted to do the same.”
Rosetta had said, offering the necklace.
It was a necklace with a large yellow gem embedded in it.
“How is it? Do you like it?”
“Yes, Sister… It’s really beautiful.”
“I’m glad. Here, let me put it on for you.”
With her gentle words, Rosetta had hung the necklace around Alicia’s neck.
“Alicia.”
“Yes, Sister.”
“Happy birthday. I always wish for your happiness. So, I’ll be on your side no matter what.”
“……”
“No matter what happens, I’ll protect you. So, you have to be happy.”
Alicia couldn’t say anything in response.
She just bit her lips to keep from crying.
With both hands on her face, she nodded repeatedly.
After Rosetta left the room, Alicia made up her mind.
To reveal the entire truth.
Only after confirming that it was indeed the truth.
As vivid as the dream had been, it was still just a dream, for now.
Alicia was somewhat convinced by her recurring dream, but telling other people that she saw it in her dreams would only bring confusion.
She needed concrete evidence.
So, she spent the entire morning racking her brain, but remembering the details of an event she didn’t fully know was not an easy task.
In the end, she arrived at this secret library after washing up, changing her clothes, checking her gifts, and having lunch and dinner with her family.
Alicia stood up suddenly.
Her loving mother.
Her sweet sister.
She had received so much from them that she had to repay them somehow.
To do that, she needed to correct the wrongs first.
Standing in front of the frame, Alicia faced it directly.
“…Mom, don’t worry. I’ll fix everything. With Sister, I…”
I’ll protect her.
After bowing and turning around, Alicia walked away.
Ta-dak, ta-dak.
Her steps no longer stumbled as her feet firmly met the ground.
In her mind, she kept replaying Daniel’s words from a few days ago.
“You said that your nanny was there when the baby was delivered, right? So, what if… What if she’s involved in the incident since she was the one who delivered the child? Maybe she left some clues.”
Clues left by Katie.
With a determined step, she left the room.
“…Haa…”
Her breath, which had been forcibly expelled, thickened.
Beyond her faint breath, the night sky was filled with clouds.
Soon, snowflakes began to fall gently.
What an unbearably beautiful night it was.
* * *
Alicia hurriedly opened the closet door upon reaching her room.
A memory that was almost forgotten, from about ten years ago.
On her tenth birthday, Katie had hidden something in her closet.
“Until I ask you to look, you must never open it. Do you understand?”
Alicia nodded again and again because she was afraid of the nanny’s whispering voice, smiling instead.
She remembered the effort she made to forget that day and resist her curiosity.
Even that memory was only now coming back to her.
Alicia pushed aside the clothes and felt around the bottom of the closet.
After rummaging around for a while, her fingertips found something peculiar.
‘It’s this…’
Without hesitation, Alicia inserted her fingers into the small crevice.
“Ugh.”
Her finger was scratched against the rough wood, but she wiped the blood from her dress and tried again.
She ran her finger along the small gap, and the board started to rise, and she inserted her other hand under the open board after several attempts.
Her hand was scraped, but she didn’t care.
After trying a few more times in the empty space, she felt two things.
Both were taken out, and the board was put back in place.
One was a small gem, and the other was a diary.
Gulp.
She unconsciously gulped.
Though the gem and diary seemed unfamiliar at first glance, upon closer inspection, they looked strangely familiar.
The reason they looked familiar was that Katie had hidden these things from her ten years ago.
Her trembling hand stopped and touched the diary.
She was feeling faint.
As she exhaled, her breath was shaky.
“Huu…”
After taking a deep breath several times, Alicia’s hand finally moved.
With a fluttering sound, the cover of the diary turned over.
Blank pages.
The more she turned, the more blank pages she found.
As the blank pages repeated, she felt a strange mixture of emotions.
The desire for there to be nothing and the hope for something to come out both coexisted in her heart.
And.
The fluttering of the pages stopped.
What caught her eye was a handwriting that’s familiar, but one that she hadn’t seen in a quite some time.
Day XX Month XX of the Year XX
I went to the Duchy’s large city for some errands, and there I met Jianne for the first time in a long while.
I immediately asked why she ran away without telling anyone like that, but then she said was with child.
It was His Grace the Duke’s child.
Finally, the long-hidden truth was unveiled.
The sky was a piercing shade of blue, almost icy in its coldness.
The wintry air made the heavens seem even more frigid.
As she gazed at the sporadic clusters of pale clouds, it wouldn’t have been surprising if snowflakes began to fall.
“Snow…”
Alicia’s eyes, fixated on the sky, slowly closed. Under her lowered eyelids, she imagined delicate snowflakes drifting down.
Alicia loved snow. It was beautiful.
She loved beautiful things.
She had the capacity to appreciate beauty. But now, she…
Her closed eyes reopened, and a faint, wistful smile adorned her lips.
Crunch, crunch.
The sound of footsteps on the cold ground echoed around her. A particularly dazzling pink dress was dragged across the floor.
Today was her birthday.
Strangely, no, it was perfectly reasonable, but she didn’t feel happy at all.
* * *
“Happy birthday, Alicia.”
“Happy birthday, Alicia.”
“Alicia, happy birthday.”
Today was a day filled with unbridled joy.
Despite their usual awkwardness when gathered together, the family atmosphere had lightened significantly compared to Rosetta’s birthday a few weeks ago.
Everyone lovingly whispered their birthday wishes to her, and each of them genuinely smiled.
Even their usually stoic father wore a subtle smile, reminding her how much she was loved.
Alicia should have been overjoyed, laughing until tears streamed down her face… if she were her usual self.
But today, Alicia was not herself.
She couldn’t fully enjoy the happiness because she carried a secret that’s much too heavy to bear.
As her family grew more affectionate, her dreams constricted around her neck even tighter.
She feared the bitterness that followed this sweetness.
The more intense the sweetness, the stronger the bitterness.
Yet, she had already kept this secret hidden for a long time.
Smiling became so easy for her, while feigning happiness and naivety became second nature.
“Everyone, thank you so much for the well wishes. I’m so happy.”
Ever so naturally, Alicia made herself part of this harmonious family.
‘Disgusting.’
Beyond the smiling lips, she swallowed the nausea and disgust she felt towards herself, again and again.
* * *
The disguised joyful dinner finally came to an end, and Alicia was granted access to the secret study once more.
Just like with Rosetta, Duke Valentine took her hand and acted as her guide. After repeating the same explanation he had given before, he carefully left Alicia alone in the room.
Left to her own devices, Alicia explored the secret study with tentative footsteps.
Being alone allowed her to finally breathe without restraint.
“The book of aspirations…”
Now that she could breathe freely, she took in the room filled with books.
Alicia had always loved reading, so being surrounded by books brought a strange sense of calm.
At least her heart wasn’t pounding.
Alicia’s hand gently brushed the bookshelves. She contemplated the idea of occasionally coming here.
However, her hazy smile and contemplations were abruptly interrupted.
Her round eyes focused on something, and her golden irises began to tremble uncontrollably.
Her face turned pale, almost sickly. It was so white that it bordered on gray.
Alicia took faltering steps, her movements erratic.
“Ahh!”
Finally, her ankle twisted, and she fell to the ground. Thankfully, she managed to catch herself with her hands, but she couldn’t avoid her knees hitting the floor.
She cradled her aching knee and slowly raised her head.
Her golden irises wavered uncontrollably.
A face so pale, almost sickly pale, and a ghastly expression.
Alicia crawled on the floor like a living corpse, struggling to regain her balance.
“Mom…”
A tiny voice quivered from her pale, almost colorless lips. Simultaneously, tears welled up in her eyes, which had never ceased crying every night.
Plik, plik.
Tears that had collected on her eyelashes cascaded down.
They flowed down her cheeks and dripped onto the floor.
Her hand on the ground curled into a tight fist.
Scrape—
Her fingernail scraped the floor.
Alicia’s gaze remained fixed in one place.
Her mother, smiling kindly at her.
Her dearly missed mother, whom she met in her dreams every day.
Mom.
But maybe…
‘Maybe, my real mother isn’t her… but my sister’s…’
“Hiic.”
Alicia covered her mouth with her hand.
A sensation, whether nausea or sobbing, surged in her throat.
The relentless suffocation in her throat left her breathless.
Alicia gritted her teeth behind her white lips.
She kept her head down, her forehead touching the floor.
“…Sorry… I’m sorry, Mom. Mother… Mom… I’m so sorry.”
An apology for the loss filled the empty space.
Alicia’s white teeth bit her lips as she gasped for air.
She groped her way to her neck, grasping the necklace she wore.
Earlier this morning,
Rosetta had given it to her as a present when she came to Alicia’s room personally.
“You were the first to wish me a happy birthday, so I wanted to do the same.”
Rosetta had said, offering the necklace.
It was a necklace with a large yellow gem embedded in it.
“How is it? Do you like it?”
“Yes, Sister… It’s really beautiful.”
“I’m glad. Here, let me put it on for you.”
With her gentle words, Rosetta had hung the necklace around Alicia’s neck.
“Alicia.”
“Yes, Sister.”
“Happy birthday. I always wish for your happiness. So, I’ll be on your side no matter what.”
“……”
“No matter what happens, I’ll protect you. So, you have to be happy.”
Alicia couldn’t say anything in response.
She just bit her lips to keep from crying.
With both hands on her face, she nodded repeatedly.
After Rosetta left the room, Alicia made up her mind.
To reveal the entire truth.
Only after confirming that it was indeed the truth.
As vivid as the dream had been, it was still just a dream, for now.
Alicia was somewhat convinced by her recurring dream, but telling other people that she saw it in her dreams would only bring confusion.
She needed concrete evidence.
So, she spent the entire morning racking her brain, but remembering the details of an event she didn’t fully know was not an easy task.
In the end, she arrived at this secret library after washing up, changing her clothes, checking her gifts, and having lunch and dinner with her family.
Alicia stood up suddenly.
Her loving mother.
Her sweet sister.
She had received so much from them that she had to repay them somehow.
To do that, she needed to correct the wrongs first.
Standing in front of the frame, Alicia faced it directly.
“…Mom, don’t worry. I’ll fix everything. With Sister, I…”
I’ll protect her.
After bowing and turning around, Alicia walked away.
Ta-dak, ta-dak.
Her steps no longer stumbled as her feet firmly met the ground.
In her mind, she kept replaying Daniel’s words from a few days ago.
“You said that your nanny was there when the baby was delivered, right? So, what if… What if she’s involved in the incident since she was the one who delivered the child? Maybe she left some clues.”
Clues left by Katie.
With a determined step, she left the room.
“…Haa…”
Her breath, which had been forcibly expelled, thickened.
Beyond her faint breath, the night sky was filled with clouds.
Soon, snowflakes began to fall gently.
What an unbearably beautiful night it was.
* * *
Alicia hurriedly opened the closet door upon reaching her room.
A memory that was almost forgotten, from about ten years ago.
On her tenth birthday, Katie had hidden something in her closet.
“Until I ask you to look, you must never open it. Do you understand?”
Alicia nodded again and again because she was afraid of the nanny’s whispering voice, smiling instead.
She remembered the effort she made to forget that day and resist her curiosity.
Even that memory was only now coming back to her.
Alicia pushed aside the clothes and felt around the bottom of the closet.
After rummaging around for a while, her fingertips found something peculiar.
‘It’s this…’
Without hesitation, Alicia inserted her fingers into the small crevice.
“Ugh.”
Her finger was scratched against the rough wood, but she wiped the blood from her dress and tried again.
She ran her finger along the small gap, and the board started to rise, and she inserted her other hand under the open board after several attempts.
Her hand was scraped, but she didn’t care.
After trying a few more times in the empty space, she felt two things.
Both were taken out, and the board was put back in place.
One was a small gem, and the other was a diary.
Gulp.
She unconsciously gulped.
Though the gem and diary seemed unfamiliar at first glance, upon closer inspection, they looked strangely familiar.
The reason they looked familiar was that Katie had hidden these things from her ten years ago.
Her trembling hand stopped and touched the diary.
She was feeling faint.
As she exhaled, her breath was shaky.
“Huu…”
After taking a deep breath several times, Alicia’s hand finally moved.
With a fluttering sound, the cover of the diary turned over.
Blank pages.
The more she turned, the more blank pages she found.
As the blank pages repeated, she felt a strange mixture of emotions.
The desire for there to be nothing and the hope for something to come out both coexisted in her heart.
And.
The fluttering of the pages stopped.
What caught her eye was a handwriting that’s familiar, but one that she hadn’t seen in a quite some time.
Day XX Month XX of the Year XX
I went to the Duchy’s large city for some errands, and there I met Jianne for the first time in a long while.
I immediately asked why she ran away without telling anyone like that, but then she said was with child.
It was His Grace the Duke’s child.
Finally, the long-hidden truth was unveiled.
