Missing Cinderella

“… Noona.”

Siella silently looked at Edwin, who called out to her with a pale face, and then sat down.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine, but….”

Edwin didn’t speak for a while, gazing at Siella’s exhausted face. It was clear that something had happened to her, but he wasn’t sure if this was the right time to ask her about that. He felt bad that he asked Siella to come. It was only appropriate to do so for someone with a purpose to come though….

“… Thank you for coming, noona.”

“I should come see the patient.” Siella shook her head and said in a soft voice. “I would feel so uncomfortable knowing that you collapsed again when you came to see me.”

Edwin felt warmth at Siella’s affectionate words. Tears threatened to fall, but he desperately held them back.  He looked back at Camellia and opened his mouth. 

“Camellia noona, please leave us alone for a while.”

Camellia looked surprised, as if she hadn’t expected Edwin to say such a thing. 

“Is this… something I shouldn’t hear?”

“Yes.” Edwin replied without hesitation, and Camellia looked even more surprised. “Please get out of the room for a moment.”

“…”

As Edwin clearly stated his request once again, Camellia stood there, speechless, before stammering. 

“Alright… got it.” After saying that, Camellia bit her lip and added, “But if anything happens, you should call me right away. I will be standing right outside the door.”

“Mm.”

As Camellia left the room, Siella struggled to get up and sat down as Edwin stared at her. Siella walked over to him to tell him to lie back down, but before she could speak, he was the first one to do so. 

“I saw that man’s face.”

Sitting on the chair at the foot of the bed, Siella paused and looked at Edwin. He had a very serious expression on his face, like someone telling her something crucial. 

Siella sat back down and asked, “… That man?”

“That guy who was hanging around your bedroom the other day.” Edwin answered right away. “I saw his face clearly this time.”

Siella mulled over Edwin’s words. It was out of the blue that she wondered if she misheard Edwin. After a few moments of silence as she thought over what Edwin said, she opened her mouth. 

“What you saw this time….”

“Yesterday, that man was snooping in front of noona’s bedroom again.” Edwin eagerly spoke with parched and dried lips. “But that man wasn’t alone yesterday.”

“…”

“There were two of them.”

Siella remained speechless and simply listened to Edwin. 

“The two of them were loitering in front of your bedroom.”

“…”

“They looked really close.”

In short, Edwin’s words means that there was another person cooperating in Kyle’s plan. Siella dropped her trembling hands under her chair so Edwin wouldn’t notice.

“I know the name of one of them.” In a voice barely audible like a whisper, Edwin said, “Dennis.”

It was none other than the butler, Dennis – the man who had been unkind to Siella was cooperating with Kyle. 

“Other than Dennis, I don’t know the name of the man I saw in the garden a few times. I do recognize his face.”

While Siella was stunned by this revelation, Edwinn continued speaking. 

“As soon as the man saw me, he pushed me against the wall, so I hit my head and lost consciousness.”

“…”

“But there’s nothing wrong with my memory, much to my relief.”

Siella felt like such a horrible monster herself for just wanting to leave quietly, instead of uncovering the spy Kyle planted in the mansion. If only she had found out who the man, told Eschert and gotten rid of him, Edwin wouldn’t have gotten hurt like this. 

‘Even if I try to find that man now, I won’t be able to find him.’

Perhaps the man had already run away. After he fled the mansion, Dennis would have pretended to stumble upon the unconscious Edwin. Maybe he had even taken another step and tried to frame Siella as the culprit for harming Edwin. 

‘No, I’m sure he did.’

It must have been that way looking back at Eschert’s reaction yesterday. It wasn’t difficult for Siella to predict what would happen after Edwin’s collapse. But there was one remaining question.

“I don’t think he never thought that you would never wake up, but why did the butler did that?”

After Siella said as if muttering to herself, Edwin replied. 

“I think I know why.”

Siella turned her head to look at Edwin. 

In a very upset and teary expression, Edwin said, “People here don’t believe what you say.”

“…”

“There isn’t a single person here who believes you.”

So Dennis must have thought that it would be easy to blame Siella for Edwin’s injuries. 

“No one believes you, and no one wants to believe you. Even the Duke, he doesn’t believe you.”

Siella couldn’t say anything. To think that the young Edwin could see that, how ridiculously had she lived and been treated all these years?

“It’s like that with everyone. They don’t even try to listen to what you have to say.”

“…”

“Everyone seemed like a group of people who had a part of their head broken.”

Siella stared blankly at Edwin as he spoke slowly, and then he burst out crying when he finally couldn’t hold it in. 

“They ignore noona… everyone just….”

“…”

“That’s why….”

After muttering ‘so’ over and over again, Edwin added in a trembling voice, “That’s why you are leaving….”

Siella pressed her two hands against the corners of her hot eyes. She felt as if words were going to come out of her mouth at any moment, so she bit down on her lower lip with strength, knowing that she had to hold them back somehow. 

“I read your letter.” Edwin continued in a shaking voice, “I like noona. Because I like you, I want to have my meals with you, talk to you and all that.”

“…”

“But….”

“…”

“Because I like you, I don’t think I should keep holding onto you.”

Siella couldn’t say anything, as if she had forgotten how to speak. 

“Because I know that living here with me… is too hard for you.”

“…”

“Because if you live here, you will keep getting sick… because you won’t be able to eat and sleep well.”

Edwin finally wiped away the tears that ran down his cheeks with his sleeves and bravely said, “I will tell the Duke who attacked me, and clear up all the misunderstandings about you. You can go, noona.”

“…”

“You can leave, and foolish people will regret it. They will surely regret it.”

The Duke as well. 

They won’t realize until much later what they’ve missed because of their ridiculous misunderstanding – because they are foolish. They won’t realize until much, much later how badly they’ve behaved. 

“Noona is really a good person.”

“…”

“People who are mean to good people will get their retribution someday.” Edwin smiled brightly at Siella, then quickly added, “I just want noona to be happy.”

At those words, Siella finally burst into tears. 

I thought I had forgotten how to cry after so many years of not crying, but that wasn’t the case. 

Siella cried out loud, feeling so grateful and sorry for the sweet child who genuinely cared for her. She cried like that for a long time, unable to stop, until she realized that she hadn’t been able to hold it together after everything that had happened. 

After crying for so long, she realized that what Edwin said was right – only she could make herself happy. She suddenly had the crazy confidence that she could make herself happy – only herself – not foolish people. 

It was the afternoon of the next day, two days later, when Eschert returned. 

(T/N: I’ve just finished watching ‘Love You Seven Times,’ so I shouldn’t be crying, but why does Edwin’s sweet and affectionate words make me want to cry again? [boohoo])