I Don’t Trust My Twin Sister

No one thought she would make that choice. Neither Ian nor Benson were able to react. Except for one person

 

“It’s not too late.”

 

A tired, tired voice. A person with a cozy voice that only one person in the world can produce.

 

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

 

Viscount Ajstain smiled softly, holding Ercia in one arm, ignoring the dagger that pierced his palm. Ercia and Lawrence had no choice but to freeze in shock as their faces were covered in cold sweat and blood. Viscount Ajstain looked at his twin daughters whom he loved and then smiled.

 

“It’s been a while since we fought. Have you ever had an argument?”

 

Lawrence was the first to react to the voice. She let out a scream and jumped up from her seat and approached Viscount Ajstain. He slashed the sword from top to bottom with all his might, so that half of the dagger was lodged in Viscount Ajstain’s palm. Blood flowed from the wound like a waterfall.

 

“Ha, ha, grandfather! Grandpa… The hand… The hand! The hand, the hand!”

 

Unlike Lawrence, who was examining Viscount Ajstain’s hands, Ercia looked at him blankly. Viscount Ajstain smiled at Lawrence and then looked at Ercia blankly. Then she unwrapped her arms from around her waist and gently wiped the blood from Ercia’s face with the sleeve of her dress. When she wiped the sticky blood with her sleeve, it spread as if it had been waiting and made her face dirty.

 

“Oh my… I did something terrible to my pretty face. It spread all over.”

 

“Gr… Grandpa…?”

 

When Ercia called out to grandfather, he gently accepted her.

 

“Grandpa is here. So don’t cry.”

 

Ercia bit her lip as her hand wiped away her slowly flowing tears. Her pale face and turning blue lips looked very distressed.

 

“Uh… how… how did we get here…”

 

“You seem to be having a hard time these days, and you look like you have a lot to worry about.”

 

“I know everything about our granddaughter. I know everything about Ercia and Lawrence. Even though I can’t be your mom and dad, at least I know what you are thinking and what you are worried about. I know very well, so don’t be sad. It’s my choice.”

 

“But… But the hand…”

 

He smiled softly.

 

“If I can stop my granddaughter from getting hurt, I don’t mind getting a hundred more hurts like this.”

 

“Grandfather…”

 

Viscount Ajstain smiled softly and held Ercia in his arms once again. He smiled weakly as he looked at Ercia, who was starting to cry like a small child. Ercia didn’t know why her grandfather was here. My grandfather’s white face seemed pitiful. Even in moments like these, the words spoken to me were gentle. Even though he had given up everything and stayed away from his family, his embrace was warm. I couldn’t hold back the sobs, like a child whining in the comfort of knowing that this was all coming to an end.

 

“Now you’re finally letting me hear your crying voice.”

 

“Ugh… Hoah, hoheuk! Ahhh! Ahhh!”

 

At her pitiful cry, which was almost like a scream, Viscount Ajstain smiled. He patted his little granddaughter’s back.

 

“…I’m sorry, Ercia.”

 

“Grandpa…..Budge… Hmm….”

 

In the end, after turning around, the place I arrived at was no other place. It was in the arms of Viscount Ajstain, the fence of his family… It was in the hands of my older sister and grandfather.

 

* * *

 

Lawrence looked at the scene and thought. In the end, Ercia’s choice was also a decision that did not escape the shackles of caring for her family. Even though that decision came from the complacent and foolish thought that if she gave up her life, her family would become peaceful, she also did not want to destroy Ajstain herself. As Ercia was embraced by her family, her frozen time began to turn again. She is her twin sister who was once in the spotlight as a genius girl and was the successor to the family. But she was too young to give up all her space to her older sister and go into her secret place. Loneliness, solitude, and a sense of loss that even adults could not handle caused the young girl to struggle to prove her existence. The past story revealed by Viscount Ajstain made her sister think big things. Ian’s eyes were calm as he looked at Viscount Ajstain, who was lying there trying to stop her bleeding, and her twin sister, who was crying next to her.

 

There was no room for third parties to intervene in the family’s story. Just make room for me. He called his lieutenants and gave them instructions to find the whereabouts of his son, Theses, who had disappeared before he knew it. He was a talented person who disappeared so quickly that he could not even feel it with his own senses. He could guess that it wasn’t an ordinary bet. Ian, who went out to take care of the rest for Lawrence, who was spending time with her family, withdrew her troops and urgently called a doctor and a priest. He then gave instructions to bring a carriage to transport Viscount Ajstain to the castle. Ian’s eyes were depressed as he quietly looked up at the sky. No matter how well the situation ended, he couldn’t hide his confusion. He didn’t think it was a good thing to see the woman he loved crying. He was just frustrated by his helplessness and being unable to do anything. It was a feeling he had never felt before. He was painfully feeling what it meant to just let go and watch.

 

“…The night is cold.”

 

Summer still seemed far away.

 

* * *

 

After talking a lot, I sat quietly next to my grandfather, who took sleeping pills and fell asleep. I felt like I was in a daze after crying for a long time. I looked at my grandfather blankly and then glanced at my palm again. It was sad to see him wrapped in bandages. When Ercia was unable to stop what she was doing and was just watching, the grandfather appeared from the darkness and blocked the sword her younger sister was swinging with his palm. Thankfully, nothing major happened, but it was hard to see my grandfather in pain. The doctor who performed the surgery said that recovery would be so slow that he would probably not be able to hold a pen for a year. That meant his grandfather’s work would almost come to a halt. Until just now, I was just hoping that there was nothing wrong with my hand, but now that I was thinking like this, I thought it was truly inhumane.

 

As I stroked his hair and sighed, I heard a voice from next to me.

 

“Don’t worry.”

 

“…what?”

 

As she rolled her eyes, Ercia, who had been looking at her grandfather with an indifferent expression, looked at me. Green eyes that looked like mine felt unfamiliar. It was only then that I realized that we had never really looked into each other’s eyes and talked like this.

 

“I will take care of all the work that my grandfather used to do.”

 

“…Is it possible?”

 

If I take on all that work, I’ll probably die. I thought that I might be burdened with heavy work every day. I had a lot of work ahead of me right now, so taking on my grandfather’s work was almost unreasonable. Final approval cannot be delegated to Butler Fievel. I thought about asking Ian for help, but it didn’t seem right so I stopped. Although she was grateful for Ercia’s words, she was equally worried. It was almost impossible for Ercia, who had no experience in the front line, to take on her grandfather’s work. When I looked at him with concerned eyes, my younger sister’s lips, which had been closed upright, slightly rose.

 

“It’s okay. If you learn a little bit, you can catch up again. If you learn it from your grandfather, you will quickly master it within a month or two, so don’t worry.”

 

My grandfather’s words came back to her again. Even before she fell asleep after taking sleeping pills, her grandfather told her about Ersia and me, saying that she was very intelligent and smart. She said the story of Ercia sacrificing herself as a child was true, and that she felt responsible for Ercia not being sick and not being able to come out of her room. I closed my eyes and buried my head in my knees. My grandfather’s voice seemed to resonate.

 

“My son and his wife… After your parents died, I wandered around and there was a big reason why I couldn’t take care of Ercia. I didn’t have the time to care about my young granddaughter. I felt the sadness of losing my children and I was just struggling to escape the pain, and when I came to, you were separated… Lawrence a heavy responsibility, and Ercia was in a dark and gloomy room. I’m trapped in.”

 

The grandfather took a deep breath and smiled faintly.

 

“Even though the doctors and priests said there was nothing wrong with Ercia, I asked her to write a line or two to make it seem like she was sick. That way, you would know to be at peace. But all of that was a burden to you. I’m sorry.”

 

My grandfather closed his eyes as he looked at Ercia crying.

 

“She was very hurtful at such a young age. Please do not forgive her grandfather who drove her young granddaughter to this end, giving up everything for her sister who was suffering.”

 

“It’s not your fault, Grandpa… It’s just…”

 

“Instead, please forgive Laurencia, who doesn’t remember anything. After her parents died, Laurencia also had no place to find rest and peace, so she wandered and erased everything. I was careless. I was indifferent. I was stupid for not being able to comfort the wounds of my granddaughters who lost their parents at a young age. I was so tired of crying and crying every day that I ended up burying the past in my memories. I can’t stand being locked in a room and not being able to come out anymore. Ercia, please forgive Laurencia, and Laurencia, please forgive Ercia for all her sins…”

 

After letting out a rough breath, the grandfather quietly closed his eyes.

 

“Grandfather knew it all. Ercia, granddaughter knows you’re by no means a bad child. I knew that you had a bomb, much less that you would not set it off. My voice echoed Laurencia’s anxiety. It’s no different than aggravating it… but I waited because I believed that there would come a time when I would have to have this conversation with you. So, don’t forgive this ugly me.”

 

The sight of my grandfather slowly closing his eyes and falling asleep, perhaps due to exhaustion at the end of a long conversation, was clear. In the end, I had run away in the past and was trying to run away this time too. It’s not even cowardly. I had no right to blame Ersia. I laughed out of bitterness.

 

“I hated you, Ercia. Ever since I was little, I hated you for coveting and taking everything I had, and I really hated you for taking all of my mother’s last belongings. But even so, I felt a sense of responsibility to take care of you when you were weak. I gave up on myself and lived for my family.”

 

Laughter broke out again. Rubbing her hair, she sighed at how pitiful she was.

 

“But that wasn’t it. I made the decision and gave the answer on my own without even asking you. I didn’t look at other facts and only trusted my own judgment. So… like this. It must have been done.”

 

I turned my head and looked at Ercia. I saw the profile of my younger sister, who was quietly looking at her grandfather. Does that kid look like that? Do I look like that? He smiled bitterly.

 

“I still don’t remember that day. I probably won’t be able to remember it for the rest of my life. But I will try to remember. No matter when the time comes, I will definitely remember and apologize again then. So, Ercia.”

 

I smiled weakly at the eyes looking at me.

 

“I hope you can give me the answer I couldn’t give back then.”

 

I wondered if my sister’s silent eyes were shaking, so I looked down again. Her tightly closed lips and motionless expression made her look like a doll. Ercia, a doll with no emotions, looked at her grandfather and rolled her eyes slightly.

 

“Grandpa really knew everything. That I had a bomb and that I wouldn’t be able to set it off. Is this a tragedy or a hopeful fairy tale?”

 

“Maybe it’s both.”

 

“I don’t read children’s books. In fairy tales, the villain always meets a miserable end. Death or imprisonment. That’s what I always thought of as a role. I was just born as a twin brother, but naturally I became a sinner and will probably spend the rest of my life like that. I thought that was how I would live. So, if I was going to live as a sinner, I wanted this play to end in a tragedy where the main characters die and I die.”

 

Ha, Ercia’s expression relaxed along with her sigh.

 

“But I wasn’t the villain.”

 

My hand gently stroked my grandfather’s arm.

 

“Grandpa took that role for me. So I can’t play a villain. So I have to find a new role. A new role that is neither a villain nor a protagonist. I don’t know what that will be, but until then…”

 

She grinned at me.

 

“It would be good to fill in the role of grandfather for a while. Then, we might still be able to say that we are family.”

 

“I guess so…?”

 

“After that… I have to think about what role I can take on and what role I would be best suited for.”

 

Ercia withdrew her hand and stroked her hair behind her, leaning her body against her chair. Ercia’s eyes seemed to come to life little by little as she looked up at the ceiling. Her mouth curved softly into a smile.

 

“I feel like I’m home now.”

 

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Translator Note: