Chapter 33

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Chapter 33

An angry voice was heard, as if it was a great offense that I ignored her. But for a moment, her voice returned to normal again, and she smiled towards Bleon. She was in his presence, so she was conscious of Bleon so much that it was clear that she was holding in her temper.

“Astell. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, so why are you leaving already?”

With a pretentious tone, Julia held my arm tightly so that I could not leave. Without realizing it, I pulled my arm out of her hand, as if something bad was on it. At the gesture of my refusal, an angry light flashed over her face for a moment and then disappeared.

“This older sister of yours is so happy to have met you, yet you don’t even want to talk anymore. Are you going to be so cruel, Astell?”

Julia raised her lips and spoke to me, but her gaze was not on me.

“I have a place to go right now.”

“Is it urgent? Where?”

“I don’t think there is any reason for me to tell you.”

I looked at her with an indifferent and determined expression.

“Hmm… Astell. You’ve changed quite a bit since we haven’t seen each other.”

As expected, family was a family. She immediately recognized Astell’s change. Julia was looking at me with a relaxed expression on her face, with her eyes down as if my appearance wasn’t the same.

“It’s been a long time.”

I used time as an excuse to explain the reason for my change.

“Yes. A lot of time has passed. So how about stopping by the house? I will formally invite you and the Duke to the mansion.”

“What?”

I can’t believe she was inviting us to the mansion. So you mean I have to use my two feet towards where Astell’s family is?

“Mother and father miss you a lot too. Of course, the same goes for our brothers.”

Lies.

Julia’s statement that they missed Astell would be a lie.

But why? Why did she want to invite us to the mansion? I’ve been feeling that Julia was looking at Bleon strangely since before. I was almost certain that her purpose was not me, but Bleon. Of course, to disgrace me in front of Bleon would also be part of her plan.

I thought for a moment that I should go back and do some research on Julia, investigating the impressions on her displeased face and I pondered for a moment what to say. But suddenly, I felt Bleon’s grip over my hand tighten a little. He replied dryly.

“I’m sorry, but we’ve only been to the capital for a while, so we’ll be returning soon.”

It was a polite refusal to say that he would not accept the invitation. Looking up at Bleon, his expression also hardened. Bleon looked down at me as if he felt my gaze on him, and he smiled reassuringly as he patted my hand. Somehow, this gave me a lot of courage. And as I suddenly remembered my decision when I first came here, I slowly opened my mouth.

“Sure. Send an invitation. For some reason, I want to see my family after a long time.”

At my answer, Bleon glanced over at me, half surprised and half worried. I looked up at him, smiled and nodded my head. It meant I was alright.

“Right. I understand. I’ll go back today and send it right away.”

Julia answered with a triumphant expression.

“It’s gonna be fun. right?”

At the same time, she had a sneer that did not suit her beautiful appearance at all.

“Yes, of course. Then, we’ll be on our way.”

“Yes. Take care, Duke, and see you soon.”

So we said goodbyes and parted ways, and even then, Julia’s eyes were still fixed on Bleon. After this unexpected meeting with Julia, we decided to go back to the mansion after going where we had originally planned to go.

All of a sudden, my body and mind were exhausted and my good mood was shot. And I had to go back and gather information while recalling the memories of Astell’s family.

Meeting Astell’s family was something I didn’t expect. I didn’t think we’d bump into Julia today. Of course, if we had ever met later, I would have clenched my teeth and said that I would get revenge instead of Astell, but I didn’t know that we would actually meet, or that we would have to meet on such short notice.

But I will meet Astell’s family soon. I don’t know when. It could be tomorrow. So I didn’t have time to waste outside like this because I needed more information to deal with them.

“Wife…?”

As soon as we got into the carriage, I was immersed in thoughts and fell into my own world for a while, and Bleon called me. I regained my composure and immediately looked at him.

“Are you okay, Wife…?”

Bleon asked me carefully, with a face full of concern and worry.

“Yes. I’m fine. Maybe we should stay here a little longer.”

I replied with a smile to him as a sign of reassurance.

“But…”

“I’m really okay. I know what the Duke is worried about, but I have you, right?”

“Yes. Don’t forget that I’m always by your side.”

“I will.”

After that, Bleon no longer talked to me about meeting Julia, and we exchanged casual conversations as usual.

After the carriage arrived at the ducal residence, I quickly headed to the study. I told Bleon that I had some work to do on my own for a while, so he should go to sleep first.

Bleon gave me a look of disapproval, but he didn’t reply back or hold me back, so I walked into the study and sat down on a chair. Then I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to remember, pulling out things about Astell’s family in my head.

First, Marquis Daniel Heines. He was Astell’s father. He was a typical man with a lust for material wealth and power. He would do anything for his own success and career, so it’s likely that he didn’t care about his family at all except for himself. He wouldn’t know that Astell was being bullied by her siblings, or if he did, he didn’t even care about such annoyances, so it’s very likely that he didn’t know.

Then, Marchioness Kylene Hines. She was Astell’s mother, and she was the pinnacle of superficiality. She had a gorgeous appearance and she had no doubts that her children would also inherit her looks.

But when Astell was born, she refused to acknowledge how her daughter did not live up to her expectations, and she poured her dissatisfaction towards Astell’s appearance—as natural as breathing. Perhaps she didn’t know that the Heines siblings isolated and bullied Astell, but I’m pretty sure their mother’s influence had a lot to do with it.

And Lucas Hines, the eldest of the Heins family and one of Astell’s older twin brothers. He was one of those humans who lacked emotions from an early age. He didn’t allow anyone or even his parents to step into his boundaries, and he hated seeing things not going according to plan. He did not harass Astell because he was blunt, arrogant, callous, and spoke very little, but he blatantly ignored and hated her. Perhaps, for him, such feelings were not limited to Astell, but to everyone except himself.

But the other twin, Michael Heines, was the complete opposite. Although Michael was prodigal and lighter than a feather, he had the disposition to do lowly things for the sake of achieving his own goals and purposes without hesitation. He was the person who, along with Julia, harassed Astell the most.

And I met Julia Heines today. Like Kylene, it was not an exaggeration to say that what she considered to be the highest value in her entire life was her beauty. She was also so greedy that unless she was the center of the group, she wouldn’t stand for it. And apart from that, she was a creature of jealousy.

Finally, Helena Heines. She was the youngest of the Heines Marquisate, and since she was the youngest, you would think that she would have received the most love, but from the beginning, this family lacked affection and care so there was no such thing. Instead, Helena was so keen on survival that she was very quick on catching on about who she should best follow and who to isolate in the household.

‘What a piece of work, this family.’

How could every single one of them be such trash? As I recalled the details of Astell’s family, the first thought that came to mind was that all of the family members were all less than human.

A power-hungry father who is indifferent to his family, a mother who discriminates against her children by appearance, a ruthless first brother, a vile second brother, a greedy older sister, and an opportunistic younger sister… Perhaps it was impossible from the beginning for Astell to grow up normally in this kind of household.

‘Incredible. Really, a piece of work.’

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