Wellmy and Lola
Translated by: ME
-Horizontal.jpg)
*****
「Lola Ernest, daughter of Earl Ernest! I am breaking my engagement with you!」
When Irvine, who had been my sister’s fiancé, made that declaration with a mocking sneer at the academy’s graduation party, Wellmy Ernest felt a surge of absolute, utter exhilaration.
As she basked in the moment, Irvine’s arm draped around her shoulder, Wellmy watched her half-sister. Lola simply cast her eyes down with a look of profound sorrow.
「I’m not marrying a plain, boring, filthy eyesore like you. I’m getting engaged to Myy! Earl Ernest has already given his blessing!」
(I wonder how my dear sister felt, hearing that?)
Lola was skin and bones, her hair a dull, matted gray, riddled with split ends. Beneath thick, unsightly black-rimmed glasses, deep dark circles shadowed her sickly pale, rough skin. Her drab dress was a hand-me-down, several seasons out of date, paired with antique, tarnished accessories.
In stark contrast, her younger sister Wellmy was a vision of radiant platinum blonde hair that fell in glossy, luminous waves. Her polished, snow-white skin and protected-yet-alluring beauty were framed by a brand-new, cutting-edge gown and high-end jewelry that sparkled with the brilliance befitting a grand ball.
In terms of academics, Lola was mediocre at best, scraping through in the lower-middle tier, while Wellmy’s grades were consistently near the top of the class.
(Seriously, I wonder what could possibly be going through her head right now?)
The mere thought made Wellmy’s lips curl into a smirk. When they had arrived at the party, Irvine had escorted Wellmy, completely ignoring his actual fiancée. Lola had entered the hall entirely alone, forced to endure the whispers and pointed fingers as her fiancé walked in with another woman—specifically, her own younger sister.
(Poor, pathetic sister.)
After Irvine delivered his cold rejection, Lola merely whispered a single, 「I understand.」
She bowed her head and made her exit. Two people—a daughter of a viscount and a son of a penniless baron, her only friends—immediately followed after her. That part was a bit annoying, but at the time, it felt like a trivial detail.
(Go ahead, resent me. Hate me from the bottom of your heart.)
In truth, Wellmy hoped Lola’s blood was boiling with rage.
***
The life she shared with her sister would end today.
Only half a month had passed since the engagement was broken at the party. From the second-floor balcony, Wellmy looked down as her sister emerged from the dilapidated detached building where she had lived in isolation. Carrying only a small bundle of luggage, Lola began to walk toward the gate.
Aside from Wellmy, who watched with a broad, triumphant smile, the only person there to see her off was the butler. Lola—who had been relentlessly berated as "useless," "unpleasant," and "unmarriageable"—was being sent away to her new fiancé’s house in a small, weathered carriage, accompanied by a single maid.
She had been sold.
She was going to the estate of Eides Ormirage, the Magus Lord, a man who had offered a staggering sum as a "dowry" to the House of Ernest. Her parents had even signed a document stating "no treatment of her is off-limits" before shipping her off to a man famous for his hatred of women and social gatherings.
The rumors in high society were terrifying: the Magus Lord was a man of peerless beauty and the greatest magical power of the age, yet he was cold-blooded and ruthless. People whispered that only tragedy awaited Lola. She would be discarded immediately, or perhaps used as a human guinea pig for his magical experiments. Some even feared he would be so violent that she would soon be unrecognizable.
Just last night, their father had told Lola, 「Even if he throws you out, don't you dare crawl back here. There is no longer a place for you in this house.」
Watching the carriage carry her away, Wellmy turned back into the main manor with a skip in her step. Wellmy had been in a wonderful mood since the graduation party, but today felt like the ultimate cleansing of her soul.
(Farewell, sister.)
Today, she would dress up and go buy some expensive jewelry. Since a massive amount of money had just come in from selling her sister, surely her father would laugh and overlook a little extravagance.
Today was the greatest day of Wellmy's life.
(And it would remain so... right up until the moment she was shoved into the depths of shock six months later.)
***
Wellmy Ernest had been born a commoner.
Back then, she had no surname, just "Wellmy," living a life that was neither rich nor poor with her mother. Her mother, after all, was the Earl’s mistress.
The turning point came when she was eight. The Earl's first wife—Lola’s mother—passed away from illness, and Wellmy’s mother was brought in as the second wife. Apparently, the relatives refused to recognize a commoner as a Countess, but her father had forced it through. In exchange, he had been cut off by every single branch of the family tree.
Perhaps the decline of the House of Ernest began at that very moment.
When they first met, Lola performed a perfect curtsy. Her silver hair was glossy and flowed like silk. Her beautiful purple eyes were a sign of immense magical power. She was a true noble daughter, her skin seemingly glowing with light. The girl, who introduced herself with a smile, was radiant. She looked at Wellmy with innocent eyes that seemed to have never known hardship.
「Nice to meet you, Wellmy.」
(What was she feeling then? Smiling and speaking to the child of the mistress who had helped betray her own mother?)
Lola tried to be as kind as possible to Wellmy, while Wellmy simply dragged her around and made her do whatever she wanted. The way they were treated only truly shifted when they were ten.
The difference in the parents’ affection had been visible in small ways before, but the decisive moment came when Wellmy fell into a river while playing with Lola and developed a high fever. The parents blamed Lola. 「Wellmy is in this state because you lured her out to play!」 they screamed.
From then on, they no longer played together.
First, anything Wellmy wanted was taken from Lola. Jewelry that had been a memento of Lola’s mother became Wellmy’s. Lola was frequently denied meals as "discipline." Eventually, she was forced to wear servant’s clothes and do housework like a maid. She was no longer allowed to eat at the table with the family.
Around that time, Wellmy began to constantly pick apart Lola’s appearance.
「Hey, Father. Sister’s hair color is an eyesore.」
Once she said that, Lola was forced to dye her hair. She wasn't even allowed to comb it anymore, until it became a dull, split-ended mess of gray.
「Hey, Mother. Sister is glaring at me. Maybe her eyesight is failing?」
Once she said that, Lola was forced into chunky black-rimmed glasses and forbidden from taking them off. Seeing her sister become thin and wretched, Wellmy was satisfied and delivered the final blow.
「Hey, Father, Mother. I don’t want to look at someone as filthy as her.」
Instead of working like a servant, Lola was locked away in a detached building that was scorching in the summer and freezing in the winter. She was forbidden from leaving without permission. Lola’s old room became Wellmy’s. The more wretched Lola became, the more beautiful Wellmy grew.
Wellmy was given expensive dresses and praised for having a beauty that didn't pale even beside a princess. They complimented her "sun-kissed hair" that shone like an angel’s halo. They praised her vermillion eyes as "vivid jewels that brighten the hearts of those who see them."
Just before they reached the age to enter the aristocratic academy, Lola was engaged to Irvine. Irvine was the second son of a wealthy Viscount family that was soon to be elevated to Earldom. Apparently, the families had been close for years.
The parents happily accepted the proposal for him to marry into the family—he had wanted to marry the beautiful Lola he remembered from years ago—but they never let him see her. When Irvine finally faced Lola at the academy, his disappointment was palpable. He grumbled about it at every opportunity.
「I never imagined Lola would turn into a woman like that,」 he would say.
He grew to openly loathe her, treating her with coldness whenever she spoke to him. Wellmy chose that time to cozy up to him. She acted sweet and showed him affection; he was only too happy to fall for it.
Wellmy had told her sister, 「Don't come near me or Irvine at school.」 So they were never together, but whenever they passed each other in the halls, Wellmy would pointedly lean on Irvine, flaunting their intimacy.
「If only it had been you, Wellmy,」 Irvine would say, and it made Wellmy feel wonderful every time.
When a certain Viscount’s daughter dared to ask Wellmy why she was being so clingy with her sister's fiancé, Wellmy simply said, 「If you want to be that obsessed with etiquette, why don't you go hang out with my sister?」 and cut her out of the social circle. The girls she kept around her were all on her side.
Because Irvine spread nasty rumors and belittled Lola, she had almost no friends at school. Occasionally Wellmy saw her in the library with the son of a penniless Baron, but she had Irvine put a stop to it.
「Don't go talking to another man's fiancée without permission,」 Irvine would bark, only then asserting his "ownership" of her as his property. He used a connection he didn't even care about as a shield to ensure she remained isolated.
Since Lola had been saddled with more and more work, they often shared a carriage to the library so she could borrow books needed for their father's business. Lola didn't have the right to use a carriage on her own.
By the time they were halfway through their years at the academy, Lola was being forced by their father to handle a massive amount of paperwork and chores in her shack, leaving her perpetually sleep-deprived. This, of course, only made her look more haggard and dull.
One day, that Baron’s son—who apparently still talked to her in secret—had the nerve to offer his opinion.
「If you hate Lola so much, why do you bother her this much?」 he asked.
Wellmy didn't like the directness in his eyes, so she replied with a thin smile.
「Because she's too good for a coward like you.」
He was a small fry who couldn't even talk back to Irvine.
By then, it was an open secret that Irvine was pleading with both sets of parents to change his fiancée. His target, of course, was Wellmy. Their father and mother were also moving to transfer the status of heir from Lola to Wellmy.
Even so, did a penniless Baron's son really think he was a match for the daughter of an Earl, however poorly treated she might be? That was her assessment of him, but for some reason, he looked slightly surprised by Wellmy’s words.
(If her chastity were even slightly doubted, Lola wouldn’t sell for a high price, after all.)
As long as she was an Earl’s daughter, there were plenty of places to sell her, no matter how wretched she looked.
It was at a ball meant for finding such a buyer that Wellmy happened to meet the Magus Lord. A man of terrifying beauty and a bone-chilling expression, he possessed the same purple eyes that indicated high magical power, just like her sister. He showed absolutely no interest in Wellmy, so despite his attractive face and status, she didn't care—yet, for some reason, it grated on her nerves. Irvine had misunderstood her gaze, sulking and asking, 「Are you charmed by a man other than me?」 so it was a hassle to lean on him and coax him back into a good mood.
After that, Wellmy continued as she always had.
She scoured shops for accessories and dresses with her mother, had her maids polish her skin, and honed her beauty further. Money was needed to sustain such a lifestyle, but a buyer for her sister was hard to find at balls—she simply looked too miserable.
Furthermore, Wellmy couldn't allow her grades to fall below her sister's, regardless of her own beauty and popularity. Wellmy had to surpass her sister in every single category. So, she made Lola an offer. Precisely because she recognized that Lola was smarter than her.
「Hey, Sister. Submit all your reports under my name. I’ll submit mine under yours.」
Lola had no right to refuse Wellmy’s "request," delivered with a sweet smile. Wellmy still had to do the written exams herself, but between Lola—who was sleep-deprived and helping with the estate's work—and Wellmy, who had all the free time in the world and could turn in whatever half-hearted reports she wanted, the advantage was obviously Wellmy’s.
In the end, she pushed thoughts of her sister—used by her father and Wellmy, losing everything at the party, and sold off—to the corner of her mind. She spent the next six months preparing for her own wedding.
Then one day, she heard a rumor.
The rumor was that Lola had appeared at a ball with the Magus Lord, and the two seemed quite intimate. Wellmy laughed off the stories of her becoming unrecognizably beautiful. Irvine laughed too, saying, 「There’s no way.」
But then, at the shop where she went to have her wedding dress tailored, Wellmy ran into her sister.
Lola had regained her flowing silver hair, her purple eyes, and her glowing skin. Her body looked much healthier. She stood quietly beside that Magus Lord with the freezing beauty.
「Is that... Lola...? No way...」 Irvine had muttered, dazed. The two entered a high-end boutique, and even after they parted, Irvine remained preoccupied with her. Wellmy, annoyed, simply ignored him.
Since Lola had left, Wellmy was being forced to help with their father’s work, and he had started nagging her about not spending so much money. Life was becoming busier and poorer. The fighting between her father and mother was becoming constant.
She was always tired, the house was tense, and things weren't going well with Irvine. All of it fueled her foul mood. Yet, as the wedding drew closer, her spirits began to lift.
That was when the invitation arrived. Along with a request from the Magus Lord to discuss Lola’s dowry—which had never been paid despite repeated demands—there was an invitation to a night party to celebrate their engagement.
The parents and Wellmy dressed themselves as lavishly as possible and headed to the Magus Lord’s estate. Unaware of the despair waiting for them. Still believing that hope remained.
***
For some reason, many people had been gathered at the party.
There were the faces of the cronies she had known at the academy, the Viscount’s daughter who had lectured her, and even the penniless Baron’s son. There were people who seemed to be their parents, and even high-ranking nobles whose faces everyone knew.
Eventually, the host, the Magus Lord, who had been attending to guests alone, made an announcement.
「Allow me to introduce the fiancée of the House of Ormirage.」
As he said this, he led Lola out by the hand. She was unrecognizably elegant, dressed in stunning attire. The room buzzed; people whispered that she looked like a goddess. Then, the first dance between Lola—the star of the evening—and the Magus Lord began.
Everyone let out a collective sigh of awe, mesmerized by the sheer grace of their dance.
Her father’s eyes were wide with shock. Her mother glared at Lola with eyes full of hatred. Irvine stared at Lola as if he couldn’t look away, his expression filled with regret, as if realizing exactly how great a prize he had let slip through his fingers.
When the dance ended and the Magus Lord gave his greetings, the room erupted in praise. Wellmy saw the Viscount’s daughter and the Baron’s son standing naturally beside Lola, almost like a guard of honor.
Wellmy stepped forward, a smile on her lips.
「My, sister... aren't you ashamed to be accompanied by people of such low status? It lowers the dignity you've worked so hard to fake with those clothes.」
The room went deathly silent.
The Viscount’s daughter and the Baron’s son shot her cold looks. But even colder were the Magus Lord’s bluish-purple eyes, which were now locked onto Wellmy.
Lola cast her eyes down sadly at Wellmy’s remark.
「Wellmy... they are my precious friends. Please don't speak of them that way.」
「Oh, but isn't it the truth? A Viscount’s daughter with nothing but guts and a cowardly Baron’s son. Well, I suppose they’re a perfect match for a sister who doesn't belong at Lord Eides’ side anyway.」
「Hold your tongue, Wellmy Ernest.」
A voice like absolute zero cut her off, making her mouth snap shut instinctively.
「Do you think you can insult Lola in this place and leave unscathed?」
「My, what do you mean, Lord Eides? I was merely stating facts.」
Wellmy spoke with a flattering smile, but Eides didn't move a single muscle of his iron-mask expression as he continued flatly.
「I don't recall giving you permission to use my name. —You fool, who did nothing but torment Lola.」
Wellmy’s smile deepened at his words.
「Oh, you must be mistaken, Lord Eides. I never tormented my sister. I don't know what kind of lies someone has fed you...」
She placed a hand to her cheek with a look of genuine concern, glancing toward Lola and the other two.
「I told you not to use my name. It seems you're deaf as well. I have already finished investigating every single one of your family’s misdeeds.」
「Please, don't say such frightening things. We haven't done anything. Right, Father? Mother?」
When Wellmy turned to them for agreement, her parents found their courage and nodded vigorously.
「That's right, Magus Lord! We never mistreated Lola!」
「If anything, we were the ones troubled by that girl, who spent all our money without ever doing a lick of work!」
「Honestly, Lola! Just because you’ve cleaned yourself up by tricking the Magus Lord into pitying you, it doesn't mean your character has changed at all!」
However, their words didn't seem to move the Magus Lord in the slightest. Instead, he narrowed his eyes, a faint, cruel smile playing on his lips.
「Hoh. Very well. Then, as a bit of entertainment, I shall expose your crimes, one by one.」
At those words from Eides Ormirage, the Magus Lord...
Wellmy trembled with a joy that came from the depths of her soul, forcing herself to keep her face from breaking into a grin.
Now, the condemnation would begin.
—All according to Wellmy’s plan.
*****
Thank you for reading. If you want to help my hobby please download and install LDP9 with my link down below. Just Click the small yellow LDPlayer Banner.
OR
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel
-Horizontal.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment