Chapter 2 – Disappearance

She remembered the Evil Duke wasn’t really evil.
He was just an unorthodox person who digressed a little from the story that was mainly about Amelia.

“He thought he was so perfect so he didn’t need Amelia’s comfort.” 

He certainly did have weaknesses, but they were far from feeling lonely and that didn’t help him connect with Amelia.
His weakness was making mistakes.

“That was because he believed he was so competent…” 

Amelia became aware of this side of him and seized the opportunity, making him incapable of processing rational thoughts and causing him to make a mistake.
He was inversely controlled by Amelia this time, so he confined himself in his house after that incident with a troubled heart.

“…” 

Laila found his reactions interesting, but at the same time, she was also scared.
There weren’t many people that Laila had met so far, but out of the ones she did, there was no one like him.
The people around her were portrayed as soft compared to him, but once they displayed their hatred, they were as cold as a winter storm.

Laila was at the center of that hatred, but the Evil Duke was portrayed as someone as cold as a snake who was guided by his self-interest.

“Would it be okay for me to talk to him?” 

She was a little bit scared of being held responsible for offending him all by herself, but she wasn’t worried.
The worst case scenario was the possibility of it incriminating others.

She couldn’t feel her fingers as she thought about it.

‘But…’ 

“I was told he was a person who wouldn’t be involved in personal feelings.” 

Except for his weakness of making mistakes, she assumed he would just listen to talks about the death of his acquaintance without batting an eye.
And…

“Even if he has a bad impression of me, he would use me if he needs me.” 

If she was her normal self, she wouldn’t have done anything like this, but at that moment, she was feeling more courageous as if she were led on by something.
She was too desperate to not give it a try.

Fortunately, there would be a ball tomorrow that the Evil Duke would attend.
She remembered hearing that the twin brothers would also be attending the ball around this time and meet Amelia there.
The Evil Duke would make his appearance too.

“Let’s do it,” Laila muttered in a shaky, but stern voice.

Act 1.
Encounter

There weren’t many things that Laila could possess.
She couldn’t complain when she barely had a place to sleep and food to eat.
It wasn’t an unordinary thing to discover an illegitimate child in aristocratic circles, but to the Estevan Duchy, the meaning was a lot different.

The Estevan Duchy was full of people who greatly loved the deceased Duchess.
The members were deeply hurt by the death of their precious Duchess, who passed from depression after the discovery of the Duke’s illegitimate child.

The precious Duchess struggled so much after finding out about the illegitimate child and ended up passing away.
This incident deeply scarred the Estevan Duchy.
The pain that the Duke and twin brothers bore was unimaginable, especially when it happened after the Duke had fallen into a trap where he ended up having the illegitimate child, Laila, whom he didn’t even want to have.

Laila already knew about this since she had heard so many times from so many people.
No one was being hesitant in sharing this with Laila from the family members of Estevan Duchy.

Laila already knew about this since she had heard about it so many times from so many people.
No one from the Estevan Duchy was hesitant in sharing this with her.

“…” 

Laila took deep breaths, trying to convince herself to escape from this situation.
It was hard to tell if she was feeling the shame or if she was just suffering.
When she thought about it, it was almost impossible for them to love Laila.
It was a different situation compared to when she was a burden to her foster parents earlier because she was an adopted child.

“I’m bad.” 

She thought it would have been better if she just didn’t exist.
She had stayed next to them until the end only because of her belief that they would cry for her when she died. 

This place was where she had dreamed of being and this time, she had unconditionally fallen for them, knowing that they were her real family, even if they were only half related.
She hated herself for being that way.

‘I’m pathetic.
So pathetic.’

She stopped what she was doing and stayed still for a while.

It was already getting dark outside.
Even though she was planning to just sneak in, her clothes were not fitting for the ball.
So, she was making something to fit in as much as she could.
She had to finish it before the ball started.

‘The ball.’ 

Yes, she was given a chance to at least make a difference in her life for a month.
All of a sudden, Laila came to her senses.

“…” 

The day she died, she had realized how much she had loved her family.
She also realized that loving them and wanting to be loved by them were somehow similar, but different.

Even if they didn’t love her, they were already precious in her heart.
She decided not to pressure them to love her because she loved them.
She realized that she had been acting ridiculous by trying to pressure them and asking for such things.

She didn’t want to admit that what she was doing was ridiculous, so she had kept bothering them for so long.
Now, she was accepting her reality…

“Oh…” 

Laila stared at the object in her hands that she was touching interestingly.
The only clean cloth that she was able to find was the bed sheet and she was sewing on it after removing it from the bed.
It was a fabric without any patterns, but new patterns were forming on it now.

“…” 

Laila tightly closed her lips and wore a stiffened expression as she curled up her skinny body and began to move her hands even quicker.
She didn’t need to worry about the pattern.
It would soon dry up and disappear.
She was determined to survive for a month and after that…

The grey eyes that held no liveliness did not waver even a bit.