Celebrity Lady - Chapter 25

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Celebrity Lady
Chapter 25
“Rubert.”
“Yes, brother.”
“Why are you like this…….”
……
“You look angry, don’t you? Your tone, your behavior — it’s not like you at all. So aggressive.”
Ha ha……
Ridiculous. I hadn’t even raised my voice; I’d simply said what needed saying.
Watching Biego grapple with confusion at my transformation was somehow bitter.
What had he wanted from his one and only sister? Did he expect me to remain timid forever, a stammering fool who couldn’t speak her mind?
“It was you who wanted a foolish sister who had a mouth but wouldn’t use it. So I’ve simply been obedient to please you all this time.”
……
“But after nearly dying once, a person’s heart changes. From now on, I intend to speak what I think and live my life.”
Biego stared at me blankly, his eyes closing slowly.
“I’m well aware that to you, only Lilia matters as a sister, and I’m beneath your notice. But when you hear only her words and come rushing over to scold me, it’s unpleasant. So please refrain from it going forward. You’re my brother, not my father — I have no wish to be lectured.”
“What are you talking about? You’re beneath my notice? You’re my sister, not Lilia.”
Pfft.
I laughed openly at him, then turned to look at Victor behind me.
“Did you hear? Brother finds himself pretty amusing, doesn’t he?”
Victor glanced away, tilted his lips, and shrugged his shoulders.
Perhaps sensing something from his two younger siblings’ reactions, Biego clenched his lips tightly.
After a long silence, he spoke.
“If there’s any point where I’ve hurt you by looking after only Lilia, I’m sorry. But I believed that I, in my own way, was paying attention to you as well, Rubert.”
Mm……
“Every time I tried to spend time with you, didn’t you seem uncomfortable? So whenever I came to see you, I felt awkward—”
“That’s right! I did!”
I smiled brightly and clapped my hands once.
“Every time you came looking for me, I deliberately made it seem like I was uncomfortable!”
For all I was saying, Biego wasn’t a bad brother.
He was someone who could worry about a sister confined to her room, too dull-bodied to set foot outside.
Someone who carved time from his schedule just to be a companion, visiting when he could find a moment.
“Why did I do that? Because instead of Father, who drank all day long, my poor brother was so buried in work that twenty-four hours weren’t enough. Yet still, I could see him restraining his exhaustion and visiting to look after his sister. I was sorry for that. I didn’t want you to have to.”
Rubert had always been so kind.
A child who never complained, no matter how much she missed the warmth of family.
A child who endured abuse and grief by reasoning that it wasn’t as hard as what her father bore in his sorrow.
A child who wanted nothing more than to play with her brother, yet hoped he could find rest in those moments instead.
I wanted everyone to know how much hardship that child, who had grown up far too soon, had borne in silence.
“I did it for you, brother. So you don’t need to worry that your sister is still so childish at fifteen.”
I added with a smile.
“Your sister has grown up enough that she won’t run crying to tattle about a single slap for something she deserved — far more so than those children.”
……
Biego gazed at me in shock for a long time, then slowly closed his eyes and drew a steady breath.
“I was wasting my consideration, wasn’t I? I wasn’t visiting your face out of obligation.”
“Half of it must have been obligation. You felt it too, didn’t you — that you favored the twins over me without realizing it. Trying to ease some petty guilt, perhaps.”
Biego stiffened.
“If they had hurt themselves playing, it would have been my responsibility for not watching them, wouldn’t it? Do you remember last year when Riky fell from a tree in the garden? You were angry at me then.”
……
“You woke me up and shouted just like you did today. I was so bewildered. I didn’t even know where Riky was playing.”
……
“But I just apologized and let it go. Now I regret it a little. I wanted to be mature, so I thought what’s fine is fine and accepted everything — but in the end, I became a scapegoat. I was punished for wrongs I didn’t commit, forced to bow my head.”
“Rubert—”
“Don’t call my name. Every time you do, I tremble inside, worrying what I’ve done wrong this time. I’m sick of it.”
Biego fell silent, his eyes wavering as he pressed his lips together. Point by point, he seemed to feel the weight of his mistakes.
“I’ve lived all these years with my mouth sealed, hoping just once to hear your praise.”
……
“I’m tired now. I’m stopping. Watching you coddle only Lilia, hurt again and again — I’m sick of it. Sick of myself for struggling to earn affection from someone like that.”
……
“Don’t use your occasional visits to me to wash away your petty guilt. Going forward, I’d prefer it if we didn’t see each other unnecessarily in this house.”
I walked past Biego, stepped toward the wide-open door, and grasped its handle, turning to look back at him.
At my silent dismissal, Biego still stared at me with wavering eyes, his lips trembling slightly.
He seemed to want to say something in his defense, but I averted my gaze before he could — and after a long silence, he slowly left the room.
Before I closed the door, I spoke.
“And brother — if you’re going to open a door before getting permission, a knock is rather meaningless.”
When I pointed out his failure to ask before entering my room, Biego flinched, startled by his own rudeness.
As he turned, meaning to respond, I made my point clear.
“Next time you come here with ‘business,’ I hope you’ll remember at least that much courtesy. That’s all.”
Bang.
I closed the door.
* * *
After the small commotion at the Duke’s Residence, that afternoon.
Crown Prince Lark’s Office.
Victor, who had come to report, stood dazed, lost in thought of Rubert.
“Well, those nuisances ate up quite a bit of time. Sorry, Victor.”
After sending Biego away and defiantly closing the door in his face, Rubert had smiled at me with refreshing cheer, as if asking what had happened.
‘That was exhilarating.’
Victor felt bewildered, but at the same time, a profound clarity swelled up in his chest.
It was undeniable that the eldest brother, Biego, favored the twins so much that it hurt his other siblings.
Even if there was a debt of gratitude to Molga, who had raised all three of them like her own from childhood……
‘Honestly, there was no need for him to make me or Ruby feel neglected. He’s reaped what he sowed.’
Yes. Truly exhilarating.
‘But how much has Ruby endured all this time, alone?’
His sister had said everything to his brother that she couldn’t have dared speak before — and in his absence, she had transformed into someone entirely different.
That she could burst like this, when she’d been so painfully timid — just how much had she been suffering?
Though his heart ached for her, Victor found himself genuinely delighted with this new Rubert.
It was satisfying to see her lash out at Biego without restraint, but what pleased him more was……
“So, brother, you said you had a favor to ask me, didn’t you? What is it?”
“Ah! That’s……, um, but first, you’re absolutely certain you’ve let go of your feelings for Cedric—”
“Brother.”
“Ah, um…….”
“After what you just saw, you must feel it too — that label of ‘the girl who’s been chasing him since she was eight’ has stuck to every situation I’m in. I’m thoroughly sick of it.”
“I, I see. Sorry for the misunderstanding.”
“So don’t mention even the first letter of Cedric’s name in front of me again. I’ve settled my heart on this — I’m done.”
Rubert, who used to shudder at the mere mention of Cedric!
Victor brightened, and spoke without hesitation.
“Thank goodness. Then let’s go out for dinner tonight. I want to introduce you to a friend.”
In truth, Victor had stopped by the Duke’s Residence without notice to fulfill Crown Prince Lark’s request to put in a good word for him with Rubert.
“……Who is this friend?”
“Actually, it’s His Highness the Crown Prince. He wanted to see your face once!”
But Rubert,
“What? The Crown Prince wants to see me? Why?”
“Huh? W, why? No, well, it’s just because I’m close to him, and um……, to get to know you, my sister…….”
“Oh! Um, I see.”
Seeing through Victor’s fumbling with a sharp gaze,
“Sorry, brother. I’m on a diet right now, so let’s have dinner another time.”
She immediately declined the dinner invitation.
“And look, I spent seven years chasing after someone. So now, men — all men — exhaust me. I don’t have time to meet them if I want to live my life splendidly.”
“……What?”
“Just that. Tell His Highness we can meet another time if the opportunity comes up.”
It wasn’t a simple dinner proposal — she’d sensed there was an ulterior motive to it.
Caught by Rubert’s pointed words, Victor had no choice but to agree and return.
“……Sir.”
……
“……Victor Sir.”
……
“Victor Sir!”
“Oh! Goodness!”
Victor, lost in thought, jumped in fright like a bird startled awake.
Looking up, Lark sat with his chin resting in his hand among towering stacks of documents, his brow raised.
“So because of the family quarrel, you got nervous and couldn’t even broach the subject with the lady?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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