I’m The Real Daughter, But I Don’t Want To Go Back To The Duke’s Estate - Chapter 56

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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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The fragrant aroma of tea wafted gently through the tea room.

Sweet desserts whetted the appetite, and the chairs with backrests were also very comfortable.

It was the perfect environment for sisters to have a pleasant conversation together.

However, the atmosphere was quite chilly.

That was because Milena was glaring with fierce eyes while pressing Cecilia, who sat across from her.

“So. Then.”

At her younger sister’s voice breaking into staccato, Cecilia quietly averted her gaze.

“Are you really not going to tell me?”

“…”

Cecilia just stared intently at the teacup in her hands for no reason.

Milena let out a deep sigh.

“Look, it’s not that I don’t understand how you feel, Sister. But it would be better to just get it off your chest…”

Just as Milena was trying to persuade Cecilia once again.

Bang!

The door opened without even a knock.

The two startled people turned toward the door.

The Countess of Lusert was looking at Cecilia with a pale face.

“M-Mother?”

Cecilia stood up hesitantly with a puzzled expression.

“What’s wrong? You said you had plans to go out today…”

But the Duchess didn’t answer that question.

Instead, she strode over to Cecilia and immediately rolled up her daughter’s sleeves.

The flustered Cecilia tried somehow to stop the Duchess.

“Wait, why are you doing this…!”

“Cecilia.”

At that cold call, Cecilia’s shoulders stiffened with a start.

The Duchess applied pressure to the hand holding Cecilia’s arm.

“Stay still.”

With those words.

The Duchess took out a tube of ointment from her bosom.

Cecilia froze in place, blankly watching as the Duchess applied the ointment to her arm.

A moment later.

The Duchess bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood.

Because bruises had appeared in blotchy patches on what had been white and smooth skin.

After staring down at those injured spots for a while, the Duchess asked in a suppressed voice.

“Why is your arm like this?”

“…”

Cecilia, who had been looking around with frightened eyes, made eye contact with Milena.

Milena nodded slightly with a firm expression.

It meant that since things had come to this, she should just speak honestly.

‘Is it really okay to tell her?’

Cecilia glanced at the Duchess’s reaction.

Facing her mother’s rigidly hardened expression, a long-standing sense of pressure washed over her.

If she made a mistake, she might disappoint her mother once again.

But.

‘Right now… Milena is by my side.’

Honestly, she was terribly afraid.

If Mother looked at her with disappointed eyes, she wasn’t confident she wouldn’t crumble.

Still, at least Milena wouldn’t be disappointed.

At least that child would listen to her voice.

Taking a short deep breath, Cecilia opened her mouth with difficulty.

“A-Actually… while taking lessons with my teacher…”

“…”

The Duchess’s expression became very strange after hearing Cecilia’s continued words.

It clearly wasn’t an expression of someone who believed what she was saying.

Cecilia’s heart sank with a thud.

‘Did I speak for nothing?’

At the same time, the Duchess spoke as if trying to reason with her.

“Child, why are you saying such things?”

“M-Mother.”

“Your teacher cares for you very much. Even this time with you harming yourself, the teacher was so worried that she told me about it.”

Cecilia’s blue-green eyes trembled violently for a moment.

“…Self-harm?”

“Yes. The teacher said that you’ve seemed to be having a very difficult time emotionally lately.”

The Duchess’s eyes as she nodded were filled only with worry for Cecilia.

“Is there some kind of problem?”

“…”

In response to that question, Cecilia’s expression crumbled like a sandcastle on the shore.

What was the point of their relationship improving compared to before?

Mother still… wouldn’t listen to her at all.

‘Even if I tried my whole life, Mother probably wouldn’t hear my words at all.’

Cecilia felt a suffocating feeling as if her throat was being strangled.

What would happen next was obvious.

The situation would end with this misunderstanding intact.

Nothing would change…

“Sister Cecilia!”

At the voice urgently calling her name, Cecilia suddenly came to her senses.

When she turned her gaze, she saw Milena looking at her with an urgent expression.

“Sister, if it’s hard for you to speak, I’ll tell Mother for you.”

“…Milena.”

Cecilia clenched her fists tightly.

Milena continued earnestly.

“I heard your whole story, Sister. So…”

Don’t give up this time.

The clear green eyes looking straight at her seemed to whisper that.

Cecilia’s gaze gradually became firm.

“What on earth are you talking about?”

Meanwhile, the Duchess looked back and forth between the two with a bewildered expression.

“Milena, do you know something?”

“Yes, I do.”

Milena nodded resolutely.

It was do or die anyway.

Since the Countess of Seres had already put up a smokescreen, she had to somehow persuade the Duchess here.

‘But what should I say?’

Self-harm.

She thought she had caught evidence through the ointment, but she didn’t expect them to counterattack like this!

Just as Milena was desperately racking her brain.

“Milena.”

Suddenly a quiet voice rang out.

It was Cecilia.

“Sorry, but could you help me? I want to undo the buttons on my back.”

…Why buttons all of a sudden?

Milena looked at Cecilia with that meaning clearly in her eyes.

But Cecilia seemed serious.

She gathered her long hair that had been flowing down her back and pulled it to the front of her chest.

Then she turned around gracefully toward Milena.

“There is.”

A suppressed voice flowed out quietly from beneath her slightly lowered head.

Milena tilted her head.

“What is?”

“…Evidence that I didn’t harm myself.”

Milena flinched for a moment.

That meant.

Cecilia had finally decided to take an active stance.

“Please wait a moment.”

Milena began unbuttoning one by one with a resolute expression.

Soon, the fabric rustled and fell away.

A pale, delicate back was revealed.

At first glance, nothing seemed particularly wrong.

However.

“Could you touch there once?”

At those words, Milena carefully caressed Cecilia’s back.

At the same time, her eyes widened greatly.

“Sister, this is…!”

She felt a raised mark protruding in a straight line across the back.

It wasn’t very visible to the naked eye, but when light hit it, there was a white line drawn straight across.

It looked like a mark from being struck with something like a long pointer.

‘This… is similar to the wounds remaining on Cecilia’s arms overall.’

However, this wound seemed to be from flesh that had torn long ago and healed, leaving a scar.

Did that mean she had been receiving corporal punishment for such a long time?

Milena clenched her teeth tightly.

“This spot… was where I first received ‘teaching’ from my teacher.”

Cecilia spoke calmly.

“At first, the teacher would usually administer corporal punishment to my back. Probably because it was a less visible area.”

“….”

The Duchess couldn’t even breathe properly and kept her gaze fixed solely on Cecilia.

Cecilia continued with a sigh mixed in her words.

“Each time, she told me to undress so the dress wouldn’t get ruined, but later that must have become somewhat bothersome for her.”

“….”

“After you brought that ointment… the areas of corporal punishment changed to my arms or shins.”

Cecilia was not a fool.

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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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