Misfortune 105

Chapter 105

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"I'm sorry."

"What? What are you talking about?"

When Delnia suddenly apologized, Lena widened her eyes and asked in return.

"Back then, I was too late..."

Just from that, Lena seemed to realize when Delnia was referring to, and her expression immediately calmed down.

The last day Delnia had promised to come back for her while hiding in the cave.

Delnia had never forgotten that day for a single moment. It was a burden she would have to carry for the rest of her life, an original sin.

She couldn't shake the thought that she had pushed this child toward death.

"I wanted to apologize even if it meant dying."

She prayed that if God took pity on her soul destined for hell and gave her just one chance, she could meet Lena, who was in heaven.

She never dreamed that she would be able to speak to Lena in person while she was still alive.

"Miss."

At that moment, Lena gently placed her hand on Delnia's wrist as she repeated her apologies and spoke in a calm voice.

"I've been appointed as the branch manager of the Golden Wheel Trading Company's Brunois branch."  

Lena continued with her self-introduction, which might have sounded a bit out of the blue.  

"I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's a fairly large trading company. It's true that I was lucky, but I also worked hard to get to that position."

"...."

"Of course, it would be a lie to say that it was never difficult. Not everything was always good. But that's just how life is, isn't it?"

Lena, who had casually recounted the hardships of her life as if they were nothing, shrugged her shoulders lightly.

"Still, overall, I think I've done pretty well. Enough to confidently say I’ve become a decent adult.”  

Then Lena looked straight at Delnia and gave her a sly smile.  

“What do you think? Do I seem off to you?”  

Delnia shook her head without hesitation.  

No one could deny that Lena had grown into a far more admirable adult than herself. It was something to be truly grateful for.  

“Then there’s nothing for you to feel sorry about, right?”  

Despite her playful tone, Lena’s gaze was firm and unwavering.  

Delnia took a deep breath as she met Lena’s emerald-green eyes, which reminded her of a deep forest.

It felt as though fresh air was seeping into the darkest corners of her heart, where light had never reached and had continued to fester.

With a sense of relief, Delnia realized that she had finally let go of the burden that had weighed on her heart her entire life.

“I’m glad you’re safe.”

Delnia, finally freed from her sins, spoke with complete sincerity. It would have been impossible if Lena had not returned alive.

Then Lena smiled brightly.

In front of Lena's dazzling smile, Delnia felt that she could finally forgive her past self.

Her heart felt light as if it were flying, and her breath was more comfortable than ever before.

Therefore, she was able to return a proper smile to Lena for the first time.

***

"Brother!"

Lena, who had been having a serious conversation with Leticia, spotted Roan entering the mansion and called out loudly.

He glanced at the mysterious objects piled up on the table and turned his gaze to his sister, who was running toward him.

"You must be very busy. I was waiting just to see your face, but it's already this late."

Roan, who had returned after being out in the cold night air, nodded lightly instead of answering. Given the recent situation, he had been barely sleeping at the mansion.

"What are those things?"

When Roan asked, gesturing toward the table, Lena quickly replied.

"Oh, they're medicinal herbs that help restore energy. We selected only the best ones from our merchant guild. The young lady is too..."  

Lena covered the trailing end of her sentence with a deep sigh. As soon as Delnia was mentioned, Roan's lips tightened, but it didn't seem like he was showing his feelings.

“No, I tried not to pry, but I can’t stand it anymore. Why did you do that to the young lady?”  

Lena, who had been biting her lip, finally snapped, her patience exhausted.  

“It’s not like anyone else, but shouldn’t you be the one to treat the young lady that way?”  

“….”

“I understand that you misunderstood, and I appreciate you thinking of me… but this is too much. No matter what, how could you push someone to the point of death?”  

Even in the face of his sister’s blunt rebuke, Roan couldn’t find the words to defend himself.  

He didn’t resent Lena for not understanding his life, which had been spent struggling in despair after losing his entire family. There wasn’t a single word that was wrong. That’s why it hurt him even more.

Lena, who had been glaring at Roan with a frustrated expression as he silently endured like a criminal, sighed again.

“I was so excited to finally meet my brother. Do you know how I felt seeing the people I loved heading toward disaster?”

“….”

"And the reason is me… you did something unforgivable not only to the lady but also to me."

As she spoke, her emotions suddenly overwhelmed her, and tears welled up in her eyes. Those tears made Roan acutely aware of the terrible thing he had done.

"…I’m sorry."

A low, hoarse voice emerged from his lowered head.

Lena exhaled a sigh as if the floor were collapsing beneath her.

Though she couldn’t help but vent her anger, watching Roan apologize so readily didn’t make her feel entirely at ease.

“It’s fine.”

Lena snapped, unable to look at him any longer.

The tense atmosphere eased slightly. Still, Roan couldn’t bring himself to speak first and just stared blankly at Lena.  

“Why are you looking at me like that?”  

Unable to withstand his persistent gaze, Lena asked stubbornly.  

“Like that?”  

“Like you’re looking at something strange.”

Only then did Roan realize what expression he was making and awkwardly stroked his chin.  

"Just... I was wondering if the two of you... were ever close."  

Regardless of the atrocities he had committed against Delnia, it was an undeniable fact that she had often bullied Lena when they were children.

Therefore, it was natural to assume that Lena would not have any good feelings toward her.

“I never really hated her in the first place.”

However, Lena shrugged her shoulders casually, refuting his thoughts.

Then, she looked straight into Roan’s eyes, which were filled with confusion, and said,

"Now that I think about it, the lady wasn’t always so mean to me. When brother wasn't around, sh was often nice to me."

Roan immediately frowned as if he had heard something absurd. For some reason, seeing that expression, Lena was overcome with a strange feeling that made her unable to laugh or cry.

"She must have been jealous because brother only cared about me, so she acted that way. And when she felt sorry about it later, I pretended not to care and she treated me even better.”  

“….”  

“I’m not saying this to defend her. Among all the cold-hearted adults, she was the only one who treated us well.”  

Lena repeated her point as she recounted the old story.

“So even back then, I didn’t hate the lady that much. There were times when I resented her for trying to take my brother away from me… but… that was because she loved my brother so much.”

Lena paused for a moment. Then she looked sadly at the man, whose face seemed to be choked up at the mention of someone liking him.

"Every time she looked at my brother, I saw the young lady's eyes shining like the sun, and I couldn't hate her even if I wanted to."  

"..."  

"I couldn't help but know how much the young lady loved my brother."  

Lena didn't press him further about why he had done that to such a person. It was already clear that Roan was beating himself up over it.

In fact, Lena vaguely remembered how Roan had looked at Delnia in his childhood.  

Her brother was not the kind of person who would easily give in just because someone was stubborn. Lena herself was proof of that.  

So, in truth, what Roan had destroyed was not just Delnia. He had thoroughly crushed his past self as well.

Lena couldn't imagine how it felt to have to look back at the ruins he had created with his own feet. However, she knew that even without saying anything more, his heart was already in hell.

Moreover, no matter how pathetic he was, Roan was her only remaining blood relative. She couldn't just laugh at him like she would any other fool and brush him off.

Then what should she do?

After staring at Roan with a complicated expression and thinking hard, Lena remembered something and returned to the table.

Left alone, Roan stared blankly at Lena talking with Leticia. He waited until she took the tray from Leticia’s hands and came back to him.