6.1 The Struggle of a Reincarnated Marquis’ Daughter
“Hm?”
Suddenly regaining consciousness, my eyes darted open. I glanced around. It seemed to be nighttime, and the room was lit by a soft light.
I saw pale faces. Some looked stunned and shocked. Many were kneeling on the floor, clinging to my bedside.
“Stepsister?”
“Milady!”
“Are you awake?”
“Older Sister Juliane!”
One after another, voices started to rise from all directions. Father, mother, Kyle, Sasha, Liz, Jack, and the head chef all let out sounds resembling a mix of crying, roaring, cheering, and other strange noises.
“I’m glad, Older Sister… Oh! I’m so glad! Y-you wouldn’t wake up for a week… What a relief, thank goodness…!” Sasha spoke tearfully, smiling like a flower.
“Huh? I’m still alive?”
I couldn’t help but speak in a drawn-out voice.
The people I cared about looked as if they had lost all their strength. Kyle was more than pale. His face was as white as a sheet.
They stared intently at me, unable to fully comprehend the situation. Everyone except me was laughing and bawling their eyes out.
“Older Sister, may I come in?”
On the second day after I regained consciousness, Sasha peeked in after a knock.
Ah, her smile is so cute…
“Come in.” I said, beckoning.
Sasha’s face lit up at my permission. She walked briskly toward me, like a small, adorable creature.
Thus, I asked her, “How is mother?”
“She seems to be doing much better. Father is taking care of her right now. He had me leave because he wanted to have a private moment with her.”
During the week I was in a mysterious coma, stranded between this world and the next, Father, Mother, Kyle, and Sasha felt trapped. However, they encouraged each other and finally united.
Distraught, my mother was exhausted and finally fell ill, but Sasha was there for her. For the first time, Kyle stood up to Father and told him the truth. The fact that they all slept and ate together around my bed also worked in their favor. Surprisingly, a friendly atmosphere was formed between the four of them.
In this regard, I thought it fortunate I came close to death. It might be a silver lining at best, but I was really happy about it.
“Uhm, this… I was told to deliver this to Older Sister.”
In Sasha’s hand was a small package tied with a ribbon.
Oh, a get-well gift from Lord Alfred… I accepted it with a smile.
As Sasha watched, I untied the ribbon on the package, and she let out a cheery voice.
“Wow, it’s so cute!”
What appeared was a choker made of black, shiny fabric. The design was simple, but a small gem had been set in the center.
I pulled over the jewelry box on the desk and opened the large lid. Inside were the various gifts from Alfred, who had been coming every day since the day after I collapsed. He had been turned away every time.
“Wow, everything is so pretty. Are these all get-well gifts from Lord Alfred? But I feel like these are a bit childish for my sister to wear…”
White ribbons, gloves, a bracelet that looked like a friendship bracelet, a small music box, anklets, earrings, and a necklace. While I was secretly excited, Sasha tilted her head to the side.
“They are, but it’s alright. These are tokens of sincerity. Maybe, or rather, I’m sure. I’m not really in a position to receive any of this, though.”
I gently caressed the ribbon and the wrapping paper that had come with the choker.
I never thought that Lord Alfred would end up taking the blame for driving me into that situation…
As soon as I woke up, Father and Mother knew there was something to my coma, and tried to get me to tell them all about it. I couldn’t say that it was because the memories of my previous life had returned, so I tried to avoid it by giving vague answers.
However, my parents didn’t give up. They questioned the servants, and turned my room upside down to see if they could find any clues. It was a real mess. All the things I’d been hiding came to light. Liz, Jack, and the head chef confessed about Gonzales while barely protecting my honor.
As they said, everything that is hidden will eventually come to light.
As a result, I was now under house arrest. Well, I had been in a coma for a week, so I didn’t have the strength to move around in the first place.
By the way, all my “strange behavior” was brushed off as “worried about my relationship with Alfred.” It wasn’t entirely wrong, but I couldn’t quite accept that they jumped to such a conclusion on their own. Also, I was perplexed by the new axis that was put forward in our house immediately afterwards, like “we shan’t never forgive His Highness Alfred!”
At this rate, Lord Alfred might say he’d “take responsibility.” I don’t really know if he’s supposed to. Besides, we’re still engaged…
I wanted Alfred to be happy. Hence, I needed to free him from my existence. Thinking about it made my heart ache.
A little while after Sasha had left, there was an extremely brusque knock on the door.
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