Chapter 71
Nanael had a tendency to obsess terrifyingly once she targeted someone to torment.
Now, it seemed like she wanted to harass me purely for her own sake, regardless of Alferen.
After rubbing his face dryly and sighing heavily for a while, Adrian pulled me into his embrace.
“I’m sorry, Rodellia. It was all for your sake.”
His hand gently stroked my back, as if to say we were on your side, and there were reasons for everything.
He seemed worried that I might misunderstand the family because of this.
It was a truly foolish concern.
I knew full well that my family loved me.
If anything, their love had always been excessive, never lacking even once.
I hugged Adrian back in return.
“Yeah. So tell me now. Without holding anything back.”
Once I laid out the welcome mat, Adrian opened up easily.
“Do you remember that time we had an accident while climbing trees? You got hurt pretty badly back then.”
“I do. I was so frustrated because you didn’t get hurt at all.”
Moreover, that was the day I’d recalled my past life.
It had also been the catalyst for breaking off Alferen and Nanael’s engagement, putting me one step further from my poisoned ending.
“But why bring up that day all of a sudden?”
“That was exactly the day. The day we erased your memories. You weren’t climbing trees with me back then.”
Adrian relayed the facts as carefully as possible to minimize my shock.
Ten years ago, I apparently had a one and only friend.
Her name was Jessica Miranda.
From the moment they first met, the two had stuck together like best friends, earning the adoration of the adults.
But no one knew. That Jessica Miranda was slyly stoking Rodellia Peris’s sense of inferiority, gnawing away at her self-esteem.
To a ten-year-old child, a friend was absolute.
Jessica was a cunning kid who enjoyed manipulating that aspect at her whim.
“Looking back, it was after you started hanging out with her that you noticeably became quieter.”
At the time, Adrian had been too busy preparing for the academy to pay much attention to me.
Indeed, Adrian and I had only really grown close starting from when I was twelve, after recalling my past life.
Before that, we’d been as distant as any typical siblings.
Then suddenly, Adrian started being affectionate, and naturally, we became as close as we are now.
‘And in the original story, he was a siscon, so I never felt anything odd about it.’
But to think the reason Adrian began treating me well was because of Jessica Miranda?
“It was an extremely cold day. You’d gone out to meet Jessica Miranda and were taking too long to return, so Mother ordered me to go fetch you.”
Adrian’s face twisted as if even recalling it was unpleasant.
“Normally, I’d have made an excuse about homework and sent a servant, but that day, I’d finished my tasks early, so I went myself. When I arrived, you were already precariously balanced on a tree branch, desperately trying to grab something.”
“And then I fell.”
On that freezing day, a twelve-year-old girl had climbed a large tree.
Even as she fell, what she clutched dearly was her cherished doll.
“I heard from Mei later. That girl had been bullying you and laughing about it. It was Jessica who’d thrown the doll up into the tree. She and her friends were giggling as they watched you climb up to retrieve it.”
When Adrian glanced at Mei, she wiped at her eyes.
Back then, as a mere low-ranking maid, Mei had known the truth but had nowhere to report it.
Without evidence, accusing a noble could cost her job and even lead to a beating.
Fortunately, since Adrian had discovered it at the scene, Mei’s testimony gained weight, and in recognition of her merit, she became my personal maid.
“If I’d sent someone else in my place that day, you probably would have kept enduring the bullying without even realizing it.”
Adrian grimaced, as if the mere thought was horrifying.
“But as soon as you woke up, you asked for Jessica Miranda. Saying you had to apologize, that she was your only friend. Insisting it was all a misunderstanding.”
Seeing me defend my abuser had apparently broken my parents’ hearts.
Especially since the Miranda County had already admitted fault, revealing all her past misdeeds.
Once Father learned everything, he quietly banished the Miranda County from the capital.
He’d wanted to punish them publicly, but he took that measure out of concern that his heartbroken daughter might be hurt again.
The county wrote a pledge that Jessica Miranda would never appear before me again and departed for their territory.
With the instigator’s family driven out, the group that had sided with her naturally backed off.
Some families, realizing the gravity, voluntarily left the capital, and apologies followed one after another.
Even that wasn’t satisfying enough for the duke, who had to swallow his rage every day.
Even after somehow resolving the incident, the problem remained.
The wounds of the one left behind hadn’t healed.
“You completely broke down when you learned that the reason people around you distanced themselves was because of Jessica. You said you didn’t need friends anymore and refused to leave your room.”
It had been too much for a twelve-year-old child to bear.
To discover that the warm words of comfort from her supposed best friend had all been fake.
That the subtle avoidance from others had actually been her closest friend’s scheme.
The daughter, who had lost her words from the shock, withered away day by day, and in the end, the duke decided to erase the existence of Jessica Miranda entirely—it was, in a way, an inevitable choice.
“We hoped you’d be okay if we kept it a secret for life. You must be angry that we erased your memories without permission, right?”
Adrian wore an expression like he wasn’t sure how I’d react.
Yet his face showed not a hint of regret, as if he’d do the same thing again if given the chance.
And after hearing the whole story, I felt strangely relieved.
I’d always wondered why Rodellia Peris in the original story had turned out that way.
How she could be so twisted despite growing up in a happy family.
Moreover, I’d always felt this odd disgust and rejection toward the word “friend” myself.
Fitting Jessica Miranda into all those questions resolved them.
‘In the original story, it mentioned that Rodellia always had a friend by her side.’
I’d thought it was some nameless extra.
But to learn she was actually the worst villain who’d ruined my life.
Even without remembering, the wounds from that friend lingered, subconsciously making me think “I won’t make friends.”
Recalling my past life in the midst of that must have played a part too.
The moment I faced her in the drawing room, a shiver ran through me like goosebumps.
It was only natural to feel an unknown fear toward someone who seemed like a stranger.
But once I realized it wasn’t mere fear but anger, I was no longer afraid.
“So, the girl I thought was my best friend was actually a villain trying to manipulate me?”
At my confirming question, Adrian clenched his fist.
“They’ll pay the proper price for breaking the pledge.”
Adrian looked ready to storm the palace right then and drag Jessica out.
It made sense—they’d been sent away leniently, only to crawl back to the capital in less than ten years.
And teaming up with Nanael, of all people?
It was obvious without seeing it. She probably thought the ducal family had unjustly driven out the county.
Eight years was plenty of time to romanticize her own actions, wasn’t it?
‘Jessica Miranda, you’ve made a huge mistake.’
It would have been better for her to stay quietly in her peaceful territory when she’d been let off easy.
Now that I knew the full story, I wanted to give back as good as I’d gotten.
“Where’s that pledge? No, I need to see how it was handled back then.”
They think they can crawl out because we let them off nicely? Treating us like fools?
I absolutely can’t let this slide!
