Chapter 4

Chapter 4

꒦︶꒷‧₊★₊‧꒷︶꒷‧₊ଓ₊‧꒷︶꒷‧₊★₊‧꒷︶꒦

·  · ୨୧ ·  ·

[pr/n: Some adult language is present, readers – you were warned, proceed at your own will].

(Ronnie’s POV)

The day I went out without permission, Allen had listened to Leo’s scolding on my behalf. I never asked for him to cover me, but Allen was very accustomed to being blamed with my faults. Allen had said that he had taken Ronnie out to see the market, and seems used to lying.

Despite Allen’s efforts, Leo punished both Allen and I. He said that the problem also lies with me as well. Leo was very strict with his punishment, especially to us who were already 13 years old, and gave us the task of weeding the garden.

Of course, I didn’t mean the whole garden. They sectioned out a very small area versus the whole garden which was a little too much for a child to do some weeding.

If this was the original Ronnie, normally she would pretend to say yes in front of her father but let Allen do it on his own. I didn’t want to do that.

On the day for weed extraction, I headed directly to where the punishment would take place and wore comfortable clothes for it. Contrary to my plan to come earlier than Allen and do all of the work that needs to be done, Allen was already there working hard with a dirt and grim on his face.

I felt sorry for him since he was sweating so hard. That only showed how hard he was working to pluck out the weeds. I immediately took out a handkerchief from my pocket and handed it to Allen. Allen looked at me, startled by my sudden appearance.

“Are you here to monitor my work?”

Allen didn’t seem to think that I would help him even if he died from sheer exhaustion. I moved the handkerchief towards Allen’s face, since he disregarded the handkerchief from my hand and I wiped the dirt off his face. Allen looked at me with an expressionless face, as if to say ‘What the hell is she doing?’.

“We were punished together, but why are you doing it all by yourself?”

“You’ve never helped me before.”

He looked at me with an incomprehensible look in his eyes. Well, yeah…I couldn’t blame him for thinking that way since Ronnie normally does things on a whim and passes all the blame to Allen.

Allen was used to being punished for things that he didn’t do. Of course he must have thought that I purposely went out that day just to get him scolded.

I was upset that this little child had learned to accept the injustices done to him from such a young age. I crouched across from him and said.

“I’m really sorry for everything that I did to you in the past. I apologize once again for being so mean to you.”

“Why are you doing this all of a sudden? Just act like you normally do. Don’t go around confusing people just because you feel like it.”

When I apologized, Allen repeated his words with a firmer resoluteness than before. Although he was still young, he could not completely hide his agitation. HIs voice was full of emotion.

I didn’t know what to say to Allen. It was also ridiculous to come out and say, ‘I’m not the real Ronnie’.

People would normally only change drastically if they were in extreme shock or that they were dying. It wouldn’t make any sense to say, ‘Actually I’m going to die soon’  just to prove that I’m a changed person.

There is only one way for me to make this work.

I spoke to Allen with a serious look in my eyes. I also didn’t forget to portray an anxious expression, as if I had experienced something very frightening.

“Actually…the day before I scared Sasha, I had a dream that Sasha had attacked me and had eaten me while resenting me. That was why when I saw her on the lake, I couldn’t help but remembered that awful dream.”

“…..”

“The feeling of being eaten alive was so vivid that I thought that I would honestly die that way.”

“…So, you regret your past actions just because you thought that you were going to die?”

“That’s right! As expected, my Allen is so smart.””

“………”

[pr/n: no…no same Allen same hahaha.]

“Was that really hard to believe? Well…it wasn’t easy for a 13 years old child like me to experience such a frightening dream and you saw it too. I put Sasha down after I realized what I was doing. If it was like before, would I have done that?”

Allen immediately shook his head at my words. Not a single hesitation was found.

Wow…well Ronnie was really that type of a person.

I described at length just how terrifying and scary my dream was. To also divert his attention, I focused on how I had become a changed person.

Allen’s eyes darkened as I continued to talk, but I decided to ignore his reaction for now. Since Ronnie, just like Allen, was a child of a newly established country.

[pr/n: newly established country aka manhwa she was assisting with drawing.]

Until now, Ronnie had been harassing Allen tenaciously but at the level of an immature child. Of course, it got stronger and stronger until Allen eventually got tired of it.

Since I’m not the original Ronnie, it wasn’t too late for me to completely change our relationship status.

I will continue to repent my wrongdoings. Of course it was a childlike atonement since I’m only 13 years old. To fully prove to him that I have changed, I have to start doing my homework for today.

“That’s right. Since I want to get along with you, I’ll be pulling out my fair share of weeds for today!”

“So that you would believe me, I’ll tell my father that you completed the majority of the work all on your own.”

But Allen wouldn’t believe anything that I have said and only shook his head repeatedly. I took the weeds from his hand and pointed at a nearby tree.

“Allen, please rest over there and I’ll do the rest.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“Tsk! Why don’t you trust your older sister for once.”

“What the hell is with the older sister….”

Allen looked at me with a displeased look as I pushed him towards the nearby tree.

Just how many weeds were pulled out with that (*)fern-like hand? In fact, his hands were a bit bigger than a normal child for me to say that, but it looks so cute. Like my favorite bean ponds.

(TN: (*)Fern-like hand means that his hand was like a baby’s hand.)

Honestly, when I said that I would also do his part also, upon looking at what was left he had already accomplished more than his fair share. I rolled up my sleeves and started to vigorously pull out the weeds from the lined spot.

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚ????ɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Ronnie’s POV)

‘Just why are there so many weeds in here?!’

I realized not long after I started working, that Ronnie only had the stamina of a child.

There wasn’t much strength in my hands for me to continue pulling out the remaining weeds.

If I was still Sohee then I would have done this with ease, but Ronnie doesn’t have the same strength.

The original Ronnie was immune to this kind of work since she always had Allen complete all the punishments given to her on behalf of her. And now, even though I’m wearing gloves, my hands began to ache.

This body wasn’t used to any kind of labor.

‘Ugh.’

After I plucked half of the weeds, I tried to take a small break. Allen, who was watching me, came up to me and clicked his tongue. I felt embarrassed to be caught resting as I secretly bowed my head, I immediately picked up from where I left off and continued with my work.

Allen approached me and took my hand as if telling me to stop. Surprised by the sudden contact, I looked at him with a startled face.

In fact, about halfway through my work, I had already begun to struggle. I was already thinking of how to ask him, ‘I’m sorry, but can we do it again together.’

But then I decided not to. I already gave my word and I can’t go back on it now. As I was shocked from his touch, I gasped and tried to pull back my hand to continue.

“Um…I can do it alone!”

Since I still have the facade that I would continue doing it, I complained a little about Allen’s help.

“Just catch your breath and take a break.”

Allen answered me in a blunt tone and continued pulling the weeds. Upon realizing his words, I wiped away the sweat with my handkerchief and took a deep breath.

After experiencing this kind of labor, from now on at dinner, I will always say a prayer to all the farmers who worked hard to provide the crops.

Taking a quick breather, I crouched back down and pulled the remaining weeds. Allen continued his weeding and looked at me several times but I pretended not to say and didn’t say anything.

I quietly continued to pull out the weeds. To be fair, since I had no remaining strength left, it was really hard to talk to Allen even if I wanted to.

“I’m done!”

As I shouted hurray while panting heavily, the weeds that I had in my hands were thrown upwards in a celebration. Allen looked at me with a very puzzled expression.

He’s no longer asking about why I am doing this. Perhaps to the extent, he had already accepted my perfect persuasion strategy. No…

In fact, maybe he already gave up since he thought that it was just useless talk?

[pr/n: chances are high that’s the case.]

I put my hands down and laid down on the grass. It’s already lunch time and I didn’t have much strength to move.

Just how did Allen manage to do all of this up until now?!

Allen then looked at me intently as I laid on the grass.

I smiled brightly at Allen, as if telling him that we are finally done! It was a smile of joy. But when I saw his appearance I couldn’t help but laugh.

Allen frowned as he brushed off the dirt from his clothes. Thanks to that, I caught a speck of dust in my throat.

“Uck! Stay still, I’ll brush off the dirt for you.”

“No, I’m going back.”

After he said that, Allen immediately took a step back. I shouted at Allen, who was now running away from me.

“Wait! We’re going to have lunch anyway. So let’s go together!”

But Allen did not stop until I could no longer see his back. He was such a cold-hearted guy.

Is this why they say that eating rice after hard work made the food become deliciously sweet? Is this the same rice that I usually eat?

[pr/n: usually after completing something, it almost feels like a well deserved reward for all the hard work and efforts you did to complete the task.]

I reflected while eating the white rice on my plate. As I have been working hard and hadn’t eaten anything all morning, the rice just melted in my mouth.

Allen didn’t come to the dining room to eat, but I’m not sure if he was already eating in his room. I tried to reexamine what happened this morning, and wondered if I made any mistakes earlier? Was it because I laughed at him?

For a person who doesn’t usually laugh, he might have been creeped out when he saw me laughing sheepishly. I contemplated with a serious demeanour as I continued to chew on the rice.

Gale looked at me suspiciously. He was monitoring me studiously, regardless of whether it was rice or meat that went into my mouth.

“Sister…what’s wrong with you?”

“What do you mean?”

When I smiled and asked, Gale slammed his fork down on the table to convey his dissatisfaction.

“You have been acting very strange these days. Starting with asking me to call that idiot as ‘older brother’.”

“What’s so strange about that?”

“I’ve seen it all before. You would always punish Allen without our father’s knowledge, but today you tried to do everything for him!”

When did he see that?

I clicked my tongue as I remembered Gale, who would always secretly monitor my actions behind my back. Of course, he would definitely question why his sister suddenly changed in a very strange way.

However, even though I know Ronnie’s personality, it doesn’t mean that I have the acting abilities to perfectly imitate her behavior. Even if I could, I didn’t want to be like Ronnie.

Just like what I said to Allen, I told the same story that Shasha camein my dream and killed me with a very serious tone.

After listening to my story, Gale frowned and said,

“Just tell me if you don’t want to talk to me! You don’t have to make up such nonsense!”

“But I’m not lying. Even Allen believed me.”

“What? Shit…. No way. Older brother Allen?! You mean to tell me that you already told him about your dream first before me?”

Wait…his reasons for being angry are a bit weird. Thinking about how much of a siscon Gale is, helped me remember how much he hated Allen in the original story.

Just because his sister was very interested in Allen.

If I showed off that I liked Allen more for no reason, it might prove to be an obstacle to Allen’s school life.

I scratched my head and placed a piece of meat I had been saving onto Gale’s plate. Food was the best way to soothe a child.

“This is your sister’s favorite part.”

“….Ah, I mean! Then why did you give me this! Just why…”

Gale grumbled while eating the food that was considered as his sister’s favorite food. Seeing his flushed cheeks, he looked as if he didn’t know how to be angry now.

As expected, it was just a simple 10 years old issue.

Seeing Gale like that, I couldn’t help but smile at my little brother. Gale’s puffed cheeks stopped moving when he heard me laughing.

“Tsk! You’ve really gotten weird!”

Gale freaked out and dropped his fork as he watched me smile. When the noise was heard, one of the maids entered the dining room cautiously. The maid quietly picked up the fork and put down a new one, avoiding looking at Gale and I.

Hey, you don’t have to be so careful…

She was the maid who felt uncomfortable with me the other day. So I called out the name that I heard others call her, and expressed my gratitude.

“Thank you, Vivi.”

“Gasp!”

Vivi was startled by the sound of her name being called and dropped the fork that she was holding. A heavy silence lingered in the dining room.

I lived here for about a month now and it was like that every time. I even had an ominous thought of, ‘Should I just act it out like the real Ronnie?’

But of course that was just an empty thought.

I picked up the fork that Vivi had dropped and handed it back to her, while smiling brightly. Vivi suddenly paled as if she had met the grim reaper.

I’m starting to get very tired of trying to change their perspective of me. I put a lot of effort in just to prove that Ronnie’s atonement was sincere and started to change for the better.

TO BE CONTINUED….