Sins of Childhood
Translated by: ME
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*****
「I believe it all started when you fell into the river, did it not?」
At Eides’s question, Wellmy found herself drifting back to those days.
It was her second-oldest memory of her sister, preserved with vivid clarity. Her oldest memory, of course, was the very first time they met.
(So beautiful.)
Wellmy had wondered if a girl that lovely could truly exist in this world. Lola had been so kind then; at the time, Wellmy hadn't even considered what her sister might actually think of her. She was simply happy that Lola was being friendly, and they played together often.
Back then, there was still an old nanny—the woman who had served as a wet nurse to Lola’s late mother. She had watched over the two of them.
Yes, that second memory—the fall into the river—happened shortly after that nanny left. The old woman, claiming her body was too frail with age to continue, had stroked both their heads one last time with a look of lingering regret.
「Please, live in harmony together,」 she had said. It was only two months later, during the winter, that news came of the nanny's passing.
Wellmy had always loved collecting pretty stones. On the day she fell into the river, she had invited her sister and a new maid to go out with her. She had spotted some stones on a riverbank that was a bit difficult to reach. Though her sister tried to stop her, warning that it was dangerous, Wellmy insisted she would be fine... and then her foot slipped.
It was a shallow area, fortunately, but Wellmy was soaked to the bone and came down with a fever. Through a haze of fading consciousness, she heard her parents’ voices at her bedside, berating her sister. 「This is your fault!」
「No, it's not. Sister tried to stop me,」 Wellmy had said, but she was ignored.
Then, through her blurred vision, she saw her parents' faces—and a shiver ran down her spine.
Their eyes were mocking. It was an expression that suggested they had finally, at long last, found a reason to corner and torment her sister. Their faces showed anger, but Wellmy could somehow tell that, deep down, they were wearing diabolical grins.
(Who are these people?)
It felt to Wellmy as if some unknown demons had possessed her parents. Her sister, who merely hung her head with a sorrowful face, hadn't noticed.
Eventually, as if bored of the verbal abuse and physical strikes, her parents left. After that, Lola stayed up all night tending to Wellmy, alongside the young girl who was the new maid.
Kind sister.
Devoted sister.
「I'm so sorry,」 Lola had whispered, even though her own cheek was a painful, angry red from where her mother had slapped her.
(I'm scared.)
Wellmy had been terrified of her parents, who used her as a shield to act "angry" while actually neglecting her in her fever—all so their malice could be directed at Lola.
Recalling this, Wellmy let a lie slip from her lips.
「It was only natural they were angry. After all, I fell into that river because of my sister.」
「The maid who was with Lola that day says otherwise.」
The maid from that day. Oleia, who was two years older than Wellmy, had accompanied Lola when she went to Eides’s estate.
Come to think of it, Oleia's treatment had also worsened starting that day. That was why Wellmy had told her parents to make Oleia the exclusive maid for her sister in the detached building.
Following Eides’s gaze, Oleia—with her black hair and small, delicate face—stepped forward silently from behind the Barons. She looked at Wellmy with quiet, steady eyes.
Wellmy twisted her face into an expression of loathing.
「My, Oleia... did you really tell such a lie?」
「It is no lie, Miss Wellmy. On that day, you ignored my lady’s attempts to stop you and headed for the riverbank on your own. You fell of your own accord.」
Wellmy averted her eyes from the maid, whose voice rang out with clear, dignified strength, and looked toward Eides.
「Can you really take the word of such an incompetent maid seriously? A man of your stature, Lord Eides...」
Whatever he thought of Wellmy’s continued insolence in using his name, he chose not to address it, seemingly intent on moving the conversation forward.
「And so, having begun your abuse of Lola, you all started by stripping her of her possessions, did you not?」
Wellmy was undoubtedly the one who had triggered that. Because her parents’ treatment of her sister was growing more horrific by the day.
It began with taking Lola's things.
When Wellmy had remarked on the necklace hanging from Lola’s neck—「It's always so beautiful, isn't it?」—her mother had spoken up before her sister could even respond.
『You're right. It would surely look much better on Wellmy.』
That was what she had said.
Wellmy hadn't intended for that to happen. Lola’s face had turned even paler than Wellmy’s own wide-eyed shock. Even as Lola pleaded through tears that it was a memento of her mother, their mother wouldn't listen. It was handed over to a stunned Wellmy.
Even being told, 『From today on, this is yours,』 Wellmy felt nothing but internal resistance.
(No. This belongs to my sister.)
Even as she said it to herself, she could easily imagine that if she returned it, her mother would fly into a rage and claim she had "stolen" it. So, turning her eyes away from her grieving sister, she took it back to her room and tucked it into the very back of her treasure chest.
She promised herself she would return it one day, when she was an adult and things were safe.
Lola’s dresses, everything—from that day on, they all became Wellmy’s. It was pointless to return clothes she had outgrown, but every other small accessory was tucked away, bit by bit.
—And then, on the day her sister left.
Among those accessories, Wellmy had gathered items of value, along with jewels she had bought using money she’d saved from selling the outgrown dresses. She packed them all into a small pouch.
Including, of course, the memento necklace left by Lola’s mother.
She had quietly handed the pouch to Oleia and given her an order. Wearing the most wicked smirk she could muster, she had said, 「Plant this in her luggage so it looks like my sister stole it.」
「Stripped? Is it not my sister who is acting like a common thief?」
Just as Wellmy had intended, her sister was wearing the memento necklace today.
「That necklace was a gift from my sister to me, Lord Eides. Why is it around her neck now? ...Did she not steal it when she left the house?」
At those words, the surrounding nobles began to buzz with whispers. Eides, however, simply laughed it off.
「Every piece of jewelry she brought with her was engraved with a magic-concealed ownership seal. —And every single one reads 'Lola Ernest'.」
The room erupted in even louder murmurs. Wellmy gritted her teeth and furrowed her brow.
「Goldray...!」
She spat the butler’s name with performative venom.
Whenever she went out to buy jewelry, she had always taken him with her. Or, when she invited jewelers to the manor, she made sure he was by her side.
—Though every ownership seal engraved on those jewels was a name Wellmy herself had signed.
She had done it to ensure Lola would have at least some wealth left to her name. It was only natural that every jewel she had entrusted to Oleia bore Lola’s name.
With Wellmy’s current attitude, the onlookers would surely think, "The butler arranged it that way." Once they learned of the condemnation to come, they certainly wouldn't speak ill of him. They would think a loyal butler had acted on behalf of the rightful, persecuted heir.
「To even attempt to frame Lola for crimes she did not commit... How wretched. But then, a wretched mind is often a careless one.」
Responding internally to Eides’s cruel smirk with one of her own, Wellmy looked down, feigning bitter frustration.
The play of condemnation was far from over. This was truly only the beginning.
*****
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