I’m The Real Daughter, But I Don’t Want To Go Back To The Duke’s Estate - Chapter 44
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Anyway, if you’re going to eat, sit down and eat. What if you spill it?”
“What’s wrong with spilling a little?”
“No. The Princess of Lusert must always be perfect.”
Cecilia answered curtly and looked down at the ice cream in her hand with a complicated expression.
“Actually, eating ice cream outside like this is also ridiculous…”
“…”
I see.
Cecilia must have always lived under that kind of pressure.
Milena, who had been quietly watching Cecilia’s elegant profile, suddenly spoke up.
“Even if you weren’t the Princess of Lusert, you’d still just be my sister.”
“…What?”
“I don’t like you because you’re a princess. I like you because you’re a good person.”
At those words, Cecilia responded defensively.
“What do you know about me?”
“At the very least, I know you’re a kind person.”
“Kind?”
Cecilia let out a hollow laugh as if she found it absurd.
But Milena looked straight at Cecilia with unwavering eyes.
“Yes. Even when I was a maid, you took care of all my difficult circumstances.”
“…”
“Take when you caught me crying, for example. Normally, you would have fired me or monitored me 24 hours a day to keep me quiet.”
Milena, who had been speaking rapidly, took a deep breath.
“But you didn’t do that. You just made me your personal maid.”
“That was…”
“And when I told you I was worried about Mother, you even arranged for me to freely come and go. Isn’t that right?”
Milena asked emphatically.
Meanwhile, Cecilia, who heard those words, let out a small laugh.
“You really say whatever comes to mind, don’t you?”
Perhaps Milena could say such kind words because she was the Duke’s ‘real daughter.’
Still, she was honestly grateful that Milena said such things.
Meanwhile, Milena, who was irritated by the lukewarm response, whirled around to face Cecilia.
“It’s not just saying whatever comes to mind…!”
The problem was that in her momentum, the chocolate ice cream in Milena’s hand went splat and fell.
The ice cream left a brown stain on Cecilia’s dress and died a glorious death.
A cold silence fell.
“…”
“…”
A chill ran down my spine as if I’d been doused with cold water.
Milena creakily lifted her head.
“S-Sister…?”
“Milena.”
Cecilia, who had been quietly looking down at the stain on her chest, scolded in an ominous voice.
“What… exactly did you just do?”
“S-Sister. I mean, this was an accident…!”
Just as Milena was frantically making excuses, not knowing what to do.
Cecilia, with an unreadable expression, raised the hand holding her ice cream.
“Hmph.”
She smeared ice cream on Milena’s cheek.
‘Huh?’
At this completely unexpected situation, Milena blinked blankly.
Did Cecilia just… play a prank on me by putting ice cream on my face?
At the same time, Cecilia said with an expressionless face.
“Revenge.”
“…”
It was true that when you’re too surprised, words don’t come out of your mouth.
Milena stared at Cecilia with her eyes wide like a startled rabbit.
“Where do you think I’m from?”
“…”
“I’m from an orphanage.”
Cecilia shrugged smugly and declared confidently.
“I’m one step ahead of you when it comes to childish pranks like this. So don’t even think about trying to beat your sister. Got it?”
At that moment.
Green eyes glinted dangerously.
Milena wiped off the ice cream on her cheek and rubbed her hand on Cecilia’s cheek.
Cecilia, shocked, involuntarily raised her voice.
“W-What are you doing…!”
“Sister.”
Milena smiled brightly with a crazed expression.
“Try to catch me?”
With those words, Milena started running away frantically.
Cecilia, who had been quietly watching Milena disappear into the distance, rubbed her cheek.
Melted ice cream came off stickily.
At the same time, her pretty blue-green eyes flashed brightly.
“You, stop right there!”
Cecilia ran like she was truly mad.
At the sight of her chasing closely behind, the smile gradually disappeared from Milena’s face.
Milena, who had turned pale, put strength into her legs.
S-Scary!
* * *
And so, about 10 minutes later.
The two disheveled girls were sprawled on a bench, breathing heavily.
“Huff, huff, gasp… Why are you so fast, Sister…”
“You, you’re the one… huff, anyone would think I was trying to eat you alive…”
“That’s because you were chasing me so terrifyingly…”
“Well, why did you put ice cream on my face…”
Both girls had disheveled hair and completely wrinkled dress hems.
Their shoes and the ends of their dresses were covered in dirt.
Cecilia, who belatedly regained her senses, looked like she was about to cry.
“W-What should I do about this?”
Cecilia frantically brushed at her dress, which was a mess of ice cream stains and dirt.
But far from getting clean, the stains were getting even bigger.
“What is this… my dignity as a princess…”
But then.
A calm voice called out to Cecilia.
“Sister Cecilia.”
Cecilia looked up as if enchanted.
In the golden burning twilight.
Milena was looking straight at her.
“No matter how hard I try, I probably won’t be able to completely understand your heart.”
“…Milena.”
“It’s probably because our positions are fundamentally different. To be more precise, it’s likely because I have more peace of mind.”
Milena took a deep breath.
Ever since she first met Cecilia, she spoke the words she had kept buried in her heart all this time.
“After all, I’m the Duke’s biological daughter.”
“….”
Cecilia pressed her lips tightly together.
Milena was like spring sunshine.
She instantly found the shadows that Cecilia had tried so hard to hide and shone bright light upon them.
And so, like lingering snow melting in sunlight, her pent-up emotions helplessly melted away as well.
“Still, I… I hope you can put your mind at ease, even just a little.”
Milena smiled awkwardly.
“How could anyone always be perfect? It’s okay to act undignified sometimes.”
“But then the family would be disappointed…”
“Of course I understand why you’d worry about that. But you know what I think?”
Milena’s smile deepened slightly.
“I think family isn’t a relationship where you struggle desperately to show each other perfect sides.”
“….”
“Rather, isn’t it a relationship where you reveal your most vulnerable parts, sometimes get angry or cry… and honestly clash with each other?”
Milena shrugged her shoulders lightly.
“At least that’s how it was with me and my mother.”
The person Milena called ‘mother’ here was probably that adoptive mother who had raised young Milena with love.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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