CH 67

Who is the Fake Bride? (9)

“……”

Roelin clenched her teeth and rose herself with her arms still on the floor. She then looked at Erita with a pale face before she finally opened her mouth.

“What are you doing? Why did you even come here?”

Roelin couldn’t understand the nerve of that very person who sent her to Seroif as a mere substitute had to come all the way here. Roelin queried with one of her cheeks swollen—red, even. Then, Erita burrowed herself deep into the back while looking at Roelin with such cold eyes before she started twisting the corners of her mouth.

“You’ve become so happy now that you have coveted other people’s position.”

“……what the hell—”

“You really don’t know anything about what shame is, do you? If you covet and steal other people’s things, you should be very ashamed of yourself.”

Erita interrupted Roelin and put the blame on her. However, Roelin still couldn’t comprehend the words that her twin sister was actually saying. Then, Erita rose from her seat once again and uttered while pointing her finger straight at Roelin.

“You. You—the lewd you who have stolen your own sister’s man.”

“Wha, what?”

Roelin’s eyes instantly grew bigger. Her lips began to quiver with such utter astonishment.

“Now, those words……”

“Why? Did I say something wrong? That’s right. You stole my own proposal, used the fact that we are twins, tricked both my mother and brother, pretended to be me and finally, got yourself married like this. Are you still going to say no?”

“……How could you say that?”

Roelin clamped her lips in disbelief before she eventually managed to bring it up once more. However, Erita straight away opened her mouth again, regardless of appearance at all.

“I need to get everything right. Give me back my seat this instant.”

“Give it to you?”

“The seat you have right now. The seat as an Empress of the Seroif Empire. How dare you think it actually suits you? You don’t know your place.”

“……It was the older brother—the King, himself—who told me to come here instead.”

Roelin spoke slowly while hissing out with her teeth. Erita just smirked and tilted her head before she then asked.

“So, you don’t like it? Are you going to disobey me now?”

“……Yes, I don’t want to do that.”

Roelin had answered by herself before she bit into the flesh inside her mouth in surprise. She never imagined that she dared to say no. Moreover, how could she ever dream about the fact that she would reject her twin sister’s words right to her own face?

Nevertheless, before she could even think with her head, her mouth was already rejecting Erita’s words. Roelin soon continued, albeit while trembling.

“No, it’s…… This is my life that I’ve chosen. I just can’t abandon my life at the words of anyone else anymore.”

It was utterly miserable to become a stand-in for a faceless man. But Roelin still followed the command in order to escape from the prison-like Palace of Rakain itself. Even if it had been despairing, it was yet another life that she chose.

No, it was her very first time to actually ‘choose’ in her life.

Since birth, she was always ridiculed as a fake and had no choice but to live as if she was dead as well as a mere shadow of her twin sister. In fact, there was no such thing as a thought or even a will in her own life.

But it was different now. Although she had been living under Erita’s name, it happened to be still herself who was living this life now.

She couldn’t throw it all away now. She shook her head and took a step back. Then, as soon as she tried to ring the bell in order to call for the maid who was waiting outside, Erita’s mouth parted open.

“Really? Then, if I were to reveal this, how would the Emperor react in return?”

“……!”

“If he knows that you’ve deceived him and pretended to be a fraud—a fake bride. Don’t you think that is actually a lot of betrayal in play?”

Erita’s words immediately penetrated Roelin’s heart like a dagger. More precisely, it could be said that Erita had touched on her guilt. More often than not, she had already felt weighed down by the guilt of tricking Kergel.

Erita saw how Roelin’s face was turning pale and instantly continued along in high spirits.

“Take off your clothes.”

“……!”

“Oh, it must be difficult for you to take off your clothes because of the Count. Would you like to turn around for a moment then?”

Count McGree watched the whole situation unfold until then before he finally spoke.

“Princess, are you implying that you’re actually going to make a ‘switch’—”

“Of course. Is that not the simplest way? I’m seeking my place as the Empress. And that girl will soon be the attendant who’d follow you back to Rakain.”

Erita merely answered the Count’s question in a nonchalant tone. The Count grinned with perplexity before brushing off his face with his own two hands. Now he realized the reason why the Royal Daughter had come here and what her real intention was. It was both amazing and embarrassing as well. Nevertheless, he came back to his senses right away.

If the Royal Daughter had already made up her mind anyway, he would not have been able to prevent it at all.

If that proved to be so, all he had to do was to ‘change’ the Princess safely and return home as if nothing had ever happened.

……along with this fake Princess instead.

The fake Princess must then disappear from here in order to conceal the secret perfectly. The Count slowly glanced at Roelin before he narrowed his eyes.

“What are you doing? I told you to take your clothes off. Count, turn around. She’s just too shy to listen.”

“Oh, yes…”

“I don’t want to.”

As soon as the Count tried to respond to Erita’s words, Roelin’s calm voice could be heard first instead. Erita was looking at Count McGree before she turned to Roelin.

In return, Roelin stared at Erita with her pale, pallid face and continued once again.

“I’m not leaving.”

“What? Are you saying you’re going to disobey me? Which means it doesn’t matter if the Emperor actually knows about this secret, then?”

“It’s my fault for deceiving him. But I will still live by his side forever atoning for it.”

And yes, she would. Roelin eventually came across her true feelings as she spoke to Erita.

Apart from the guilt that she had felt for Kergel, she still wanted to live by his side for the rest of her own life.

It wasn’t just a feeling of mere liking. It was more of a desperate and greedy feeling than that.

Love.

If she didn’t call it love, what else could she really call it then?