The Male Lead’s Father Refuses to Break Off Our Engagement

Chapter 4

For some reason, Evelia was twisting her arm to free her wrist from him because of an ominous feeling.

“Sure, go ahead and ask that handsome Duke Adelhard for help.”

Derek pushed Evelia’s hand away with all his might. Her body tilted and Derek’s face slowly moved away.

It must have happened in an instant, but everything in front of me moved slowly.

Evelia reached out to grab the stair railing, but couldn’t reach it.

“Kyaaa!”

The moment she fell to the floor with the screams of the maids, Evelia lost consciousness.

 

* * *

 

“You must be So-yoon. Nice to meet you.”

The woman, her father’s friend, was beautiful and very pretty even through the young So-yoon’s eyes. She wasn’t just pretty with her face.

“You seem to like sausages. You can have mine, too.”

She was very affectionate towards So-yoon. She even gave her something to eat, and she even bought her hairpins and bracelets that So-yoon would like.

It was different from my dad, who was always blunt and busy, I couldn’t even see his face properly.

So-yoon fell in love with her at first sight as she smiled brightly at her.

Since her parents divorced when she was three years old, So-yoon, who had no mother since childhood, wanted her to become a mother.

As if reading her mind, she actually became her stepmother.

“Now you’re living with sister, your father, and So-yoon.”

It was really good at first. When I come back from school, I have someone who welcomes me, and I have someone to talk to about what happened at school.

My dad, who didn’t come home often, also showed up often. The desolate house was quickly filled with warm love.

Happy. So-yoon didn’t want to wake up if this was a dream.

But her happiness did not last long. Her stepmother had a child.

“So-yoon, you will have a younger brother. Will you take care of your brother?”

“Yes.”

At first, I was just happy to see my stepmother’s stomach slowly increasing. When her younger brother was born, she promised that she would listen better and help her a lot with the housework.

She never doubted that her stepmother would love her the same even after her little brother was born.

Until one day I overheard a conversation between my dad and my stepmother.

“I mean So-yoon. Can you leave her at a relative’s house for a while? My baby will be born soon, so how can I take care of So-yoon by myself?”

Hearing the voice coming through the closed door, So-yoon wondered if she had heard it wrong. But the stepmother’s voice continued.

“Leave her at a relative’s house, then why don’t you send her to a boarding school? They say that school dormitories are doing very well these days.”

And after a while, So-yoon was sent to her grandmother’s house as her stepmother suggested. After that, she lived in a dormitory for middle and high school, and lived on her own when she was a college student.

Occasionally, on special days, she would eat out with her family or go back to her parents’ house for a few days, but So-yoon felt awkward with her stepmother, her two younger siblings, and even her father.

Among the happy family, she was no different from an uninvited guest. Her family was perfect without her.

If that’s the case, I’d rather you not be nice to me. Why did she tell me to call her mom?

Why…

 

* * *

 

The memories that came to mind after a long time were not very pleasant. Evelia opened her eyes feeling even more depressed.

‘Why did I think of that person?’

Perhaps it was because I had come to see Ruth. In Ruth, who wants Evelia to be his stepmother, I see the appearance of ‘So-yoon’.

Evelia barely swallowed the curse that was about to jump out and stood up.

I had aches and pains all over my body. There was also a blue bruise on the wrist that Derek had grabbed.

‘At least, they took me to my room.’

Looking at the now familiar room, she remembered what had happened. Then she remembered Derek’s face and she gritted her teeth.

‘Derek, that bastard.’

Fortunately, there appeared to be no serious injuries.

However, the situation was so dangerous that a leg or an arm could have been broken.

If you were unlucky, you might have snapped your neck and died. Derek, an aspiring knight, would be well aware of that fact.

And yet he did it. That damn bastard!

Evelia was swallowing curses in her mouth when she heard a knock and the maid came in. She was Evelia’s only exclusive maid, Annie.

Sometimes Evelia would look at Annie and think, ‘What did she do to become Evelia’s exclusive maid?’

“Uh? Lady!”

Annie, who had quietly entered, made a fuss at Evelia, who was standing up.

“Are you okay? Do you have any pain anywhere?”

I fell down the stairs, how could it not hurt? Evelia struggled to swallow her pointed words.

Annie was not a bad-tempered child, if a bit clueless, and she must be worried about her again.

“I want to say I’m fine, but my body hurts a bit. What happened anyway?”

“Don’t you remember?”

Of course I remembered. I was just curious about how this accident was handled.

Annie seemed to have taken Evelia’s silence as an affirmation, and she explained it babbling.

“You slipped and fell while going up the stairs.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Master Derek said that.”

“Oh yeah. Derek…”

Damn bastard. Evelia is once again cursing at Derek on the inside when Annie hands her some medicine.

“This is a painkiller and this is a good medicine for muscle pain. The doctor said that there were no broken parts, so it would be better if you rested for a few days.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Having swallowed the pills, Evelia stared at Annie, who was examining herself carefully. Feeling the stare, Annie looked up and asked.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Why are you so nice to me? Even if you were nice to me, the Countess would only end up hating you.

I wanted to ask.

Naturally, there were no employees who were friendly to Evelia in this mansion.

What kind of employee would care about an illegitimate child living in this mansion? It was impossible to do that without being desperate to stay out of sight.

But Annie was different. She was kind to Evelia.

At first, she suspected that Annie might be the person Countess Venion had attached to her, but observations over the past week showed that Annie was really worried about her.

But instead of asking this question, I decided to ask something that had been bothering me for a while.

“What is that, anyway? Isn’t it a letter?”

Evelia winked at the envelope sticking out of Annie’s apron pocket, and Annie quickly pulled it out.

“Oh, I almost forgot. This is a letter from the Adelhards to the lady.”

“Really?”

Evelia thought that Cassis had sent an answer to her proposal to break up the engagement. However, the letter had a completely unexpected name written on it.

“Lucius Adelhard?”

It was a curly handwriting that was clearly written by a child.

What the hell is it written about? Evelia was so frightened that she couldn’t bear to open the letter.

“Lady?”

It was only after Annie, who found it odd, urged her to open it that she did.

 

[Dear Lady Evelia.

Hello. It’s Ruth.

I’m sorry I came to you suddenly earlier. I was wrong.

The teacher said that if you want to invite guests, you need to send an invitation. So I sent you an invitation.

I want to invite Evelia to my house again.

I’ll prepare more delicious cookies and milk. Will you come?

I will wait.]

 

Ruth’s face, who must have carefully written each letter with his tiny hand nervously, was right in front of her eyes.

‘It must have been cute.’

However, contrary to the excitement, a tear suddenly fell from her eyes.

‘Uh? Why am I crying?’

Evelia was taken aback and quickly wiped her eyes. But her tears, once bursting out, continued to flow.

She kept seeing her past self in Ruth. The young So-yoon had also written letters like this to her stepmother who had turned away from her.

No answer came back, but she held on to hope.

In the past, So-yoon had to pretend to be strong even when depressed, and pretend to be happy even when sad, in order not to be seen by people.

There was nothing wrong not living with my parents, but there were people who sometimes looked down at her.

I wanted to show them that I was living a good life.

I didn’t want to be called a child without parents, so I deliberately acted as if I was a brighter and kinder person.

But maybe it was because I didn’t have to hide my heart anymore.

Evelia eventually buried her face in the letter and cried.