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PSD Chapter 1

PSD Chapter 1

Enlightenment came in an instant.
The memorial service was taking place with an overwhelming orchestral funeral march filling the air.
It was the fifth memorial for her deceased sister. The ceremony was so grand that it consumed an entire year’s budget of the Great House.
Standing before her sister’s coffin, which had not yet returned to the earth due to a stubborn man, Milena suddenly realized.
No one will know… The coffin right in front of me…
Was empty.
She slowly blinked her long eyelashes, as if denying the hard-to-believe reality.
She didn’t even realize how tightly her hand was gripping. The stem of a white rose, its thorns neatly arranged, snapped in her hand. The flowers for the memorial fell uselessly to the ground.
When you offer the fifth white rose to my coffin, you’ll know the truth. This is such magic.
Milena, who had been gazing at the elaborate coffin absentmindedly, was causing a delay in the order of the ceremony. Despite the surrounding whispers, she remained motionless.
It had been five years since her sister’s death. No one had even thought to check the coffin.
Suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of memories, Milena pressed her mouth shut, trying to control her swirling stomach.
Milena. My poor little sister.
The fragmented memories rushed through her mind like a flood, overwhelming her.
I’ll come back. Whether you remember or not.
Her sister had said that in the past, standing before her coffin. Milena, even though she was clearly seeing her alive sister, had stared at the coffin.
She had thought her deceased sister was lying inside the empty coffin.
Yes, I was sure of it… She hadn’t noticed the contradiction. Didn’t she realize her sister was pretending to be dead?
She wobbled, her body unsteady, but a firm hand suddenly supported her waist.
“Milena.”
A voice so low, it seemed strange. She looked up at the sound, which now felt unfamiliar.
“Are you okay?”
A man, sculpted like the word “perfection” itself. His silver-gray eyes, cold like ice, peered through his pitch-black hair.
“….”
Ah, she muttered a shaky “I’m fine,” but then quickly closed her mouth again. She wasn’t fine at all. The shock from the sudden rush of memories was overwhelming.
“If you can’t stand, go back.”
It was his cold voice. Milena bit her lower lip.
Calion Luxen, the Grand Duke. He held a standing second to the Emperor in the Empire. A man Milena had desperately desired.
Her first love, her unrequited love. The man who had become her brother-in-law.
The memory of her sister’s disappearance suddenly made her heart tremble, seeing him in a different light.
Had she still been herself, she would have stubbornly insisted that she was fine and stayed by Calion’s side. She had been so deeply tied to him. But today, it was different.
“Yes, I’ll leave now.”
At Calion’s command, Milena left the memorial hall, something she would never do under normal circumstances.
The ceremony without the body continued, and the magic that had bound Milena was released against her will.
Yes, the magic had been undone. The flood of forgotten memories overwhelmed her, and the air became suffocating. The force of the magic had been so strong that it had altered her personality.
Milena slowly, deliberately walked toward the large opening, careful not to trip on the red carpet. Her legs felt weak, as if she might collapse at any moment.
The memorial for my living sister…
The haunting funeral march echoed behind her, intensifying.                                                             “Ha… ha…”
Everything was chaotic.
Milena left the memorial hall, trembling, clutching her skirt as she quickened her pace.
Fragmented memories came to her mind, and the thick fog in her head began to clear little by little.
Who am I?
She had been a cruel woman, clinging to her deceased sister’s husband.
But,
That’s not how I used to be.
Her breath came in short bursts, filled with confusion.
Before she knew it, she was running. She sprinted quickly toward the mansion, her actions so unrestrained that no one tried to stop her. They simply looked on as if this were just another one of her crazy stunts.
After all, who would consider a woman loving her sister’s husband sane?
Bang.
Milena entered her private room in the mansion, suppressing a scream.
The memory of her sister’s disappearance overwhelmed her, and all her thoughts and feelings twisted into something unrecognizable.
Twenty-eight years of life, everything she had ever felt was now being denied.
Had she ever felt like the world revolved around her sister?
She had. Everything in the world belonged to her sister.
Her parents’ love, the gaze of her beloved man, even the kindness of the servants.
At least in Milena’s world, the protagonist had always been Lariette.
Her sister had always been the one shining, compared to whom Milena had been invisible. Her sister, who was used to receiving everything, had always been bright and full of life. The whole world loved her sister.
Her sister’s marriage had been the same. Perfect from beginning to end. But behind that perfection, there was a dark secret.
The Grand Duke had fallen in love with her sister at first sight. To win Lariette, he had driven his family to ruin.
He had hastened the marriage by offering to repay the debts of the Count family.
Few knew that those debts had begun in a gambling den secretly run by Calion Luxen. Milena had only learned about it by chance.
To win his beloved, he didn’t care about his dignity or pride as a noble.
She had loved him. It was a pure, yet contradictory love because he was her sister’s man.
Milena now remembered the firm hand that had supported her waist at the memorial.
Normally, she would have blushed from the warmth of the touch through her dress. But now, it was different. She felt as though her face would burst.
I’m insane.
He was married. Her sister’s husband. How could she love her brother-in-law? What a cheap drama this was.
Ha.
Despite the grand memorial every year, Calion had never reported her sister’s death.
He had been mad enough to hold on to his wife’s corpse. She had loved him.
It was like being struck by lightning; everything was being reorganized in her mind, and doubts began to surface.
Her unrequited love, which had started when her sister had met a man over a decade ago, had been mistaken for something pure.
Looking back, her feelings seemed strange.
It’s magic.
Magic? Had her obsession with Calion all these years been due to magic?
The magic that had oppressed her had quietly vanished. The new, unfamiliar sensations felt strange, and the life she had lived in hatred and stubbornness seemed alien.
If this was all because of magic… What on earth did you do, sister?
Her life had been controlled by someone. Her sister had faked her death and disappeared.
When the coffin had been carried, the truth had been hidden. The coffin had always been empty.
It was no wonder Calion hadn’t known. The one who had helped her sister was a mage who had transcended human limits.
Such a mage had placed a spell on Milena as well.
I was under a spell.
She had lived like a wicked villain, not knowing it. Her true nature had been hidden beneath all the cruelty.
Unbelievable, Milena laughed bitterly and looked at her reflection in a full-length mirror. Her once dull, listless eyes now sparkled with new life. Her green eyes glowed, brighter than ever before.
She hadn’t realized it, but her appearance now seemed different.
She had always compared herself to her perfect sister and hated her looks.
Anyone could see she looked harsh, and her expression had always been stiff. She hadn’t looked beautiful, not like her sister, who had delicate, kind features.
Why did I keep belittling myself by comparing myself to my sister?
Now she saw it clearly: she was a beautiful woman, too. Her once gloomy demeanor didn’t hide her beauty.
Milena, do you know? Your misfortune was created by you.
Lariette’s voice echoed in her head, and Milena angrily ripped off the decoration from her hair.
Her green eyes burned with intensity, as if Lariette was right in front of her.
“I know. Lariette. I finally understand.”
Her pale blonde hair cascaded down her back, but unlike her sister’s golden locks, it shimmered with its own unique light. She wasn’t sad anymore.
She had only been a fool.
Her feelings for Calion had been in vain. The emotions that had controlled her faded away, and realizing the hidden truth allowed her to look at herself objectively for the first time.
She had been starving for his love, like a beast. But no more. Her obsessive fixation ended here.
She had never belonged here. Once her sister returned, everything would be perfect. Milena would be the one to leave.
Before that… she had to escape.
“Aunt?”
As she gathered her thoughts, the door opened cautiously without a knock.

 

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