My Sister’s Man - Chapter 32

Larne sat on the couch in the break room and waited for Deron to send an attendant.  Her face was stuffy from the makeup that hadn’t yet been removed, and the heavy clothes made it impossible for Larne to move easily as if they were shackles. The lounge was illuminated with only a few dim lights.

 ‘… I’m tired.’

She lay on the sofa, her heavy eyelids barely lifted.

Knock.

She thought it would take some time, but she heard a knock on the door earlier than expected.  Larne stood up and slowly walked towards the door.

“Rene. It’s me.”

Her heart seemed to stop at the familiar yet friendly voice.  She wasn’t ready to talk to Aria just yet, but she didn’t know how to escape when her sister was at the door.  Like a person whose tongue had been cut off, Larne was speechless.

“……Are you still mad at me?  I know you don’t want to see my face  but can’t we just talk for a minute?”

Larne couldn’t understand Aria’s words, as she still couldn’t remember the past.

Why was she mad at Aria?

If one of them was at fault, of course it was Larne’s. Larne thought.

She stole Aria’s invitation, attended the masquerade, and in the name of her sister, not only she developed her love for a man, but also stole her fiancé and married him.

‘…Even if Aria’s fiancé was my first love.’

Anyone could see that Larne was wrong.

Larne, who had walked all the way to the door, hesitated for a moment.

In the first place, this was the duke’s lounge, so Aria could come in whenever she wanted. However, Aria didn’t open the door and asked her permission first.  It was very Aria-like.

“At that time, the fact that I proposed to be Leandro’s marriage partner was all for you.”

At Aria’s words, whose meaning was unknown to Larne, Larne opened the door to the lounge without her knowledge.

“What, what do you mean?”

Larne’s eyes shook slightly as she demanded an explanation.

Aria had a face that looked like she was about to cry. Her muttered words were enough to send Larne into confusion.

“I know that you’re going to die soon…  ”

Larne grabbed Aria’s arm and pulled her into the room. No matter how much time she had, she was worried that others would hear.

“Sister… How do you know that?”

Larne asked back, but what she got back was not an answer to the question.

“Uh, so… I think it would be nice if you had more time with your family…  I thought it would be nice.  Really…  I wouldn’t have done that if I knew he was the one you liked.”

***

“I think it would be good to bring Leandro, a rising aristocrat, into the imperial faction… he might one day become a Marquis.”

It was not the first time that Leandro was mentioned as the subject of a meeting held periodically by the Duke.

From the moment he stepped on the imperial road after making a remarkable contribution in the long war, the attention of the nobles was all focused on Leandro.  The behind-the-scenes work was fierce to attract the young man who had not yet been stained with politics to their faction at a low price.

“Honestly, Marquis Cartel would rise to a high position, but isn’t it a waste to send Aria to him?”

It was common to increase the family’s power through marriage.

“Then we should be holding out… Oh, there’s Larne.”

The reason why Marquis Cartel wanted to establish a relationship with the Duke was because he had an unprecedented rise in status, but was weak in power.  As long as the engagement was done properly, it didn’t matter who the opponent was.

“Let’s talk to the Marquis. Well, whoever it is, what we need is a marriage contract.”

“Then, we will negotiate with Larne about changing the partner of the Marquis’ marriage proposal.”

Standing in front of the conference room, Aria sighed at the outcome decided in a pre-determined order.  It was no coincidence that Aria overheard the meeting.

It was not difficult for her to know that the marriage proposal came from the Marquis of Cartel in the first place, and that her family also viewed marriage with him in a positive light.

Marriage with someone she did not love was something she had to accept since she was born into a noble family.

However, what Aria was concerned about was Larne.

From the time she was born, she was unwell, and there was not much she could do or want to do.

Also…Larne was locked in a small cage.

Perhaps, until her death, Larne would not know what condition she was in or how she was used.

Aria hated herself for knowing everything but was forced to be silent.

‘Still… Larne.’

To Aria, family was something she didn’t know how to define, but to Larne, who was sick, family was like everything in the world. Aria thought that letting Larne live in fantasy would be better than reminding her of the harsh reality.

‘I’d rather get married instead of Larne.’

In front of Larne, she showed the image of a friendly family, but the disgust that boiling inside her had already risen to the tip of her chin.

Perhaps her actions, pretending to be purely for Larne’s sake, may have been because she wanted to escape from this family.  Aria opened the door to the conference room with self mockery. At her sudden appearance, the expressions on the faces of the vassals were colored with bewilderment, but they didn’t dismiss her.

“I heard that a marriage proposal came for me from the Marquis of Cartel.”

Because she knew that Larne’s life was short. Aria wanted Larne to be happy for that short time.

“I want to marry the Marquis.”

Did he read the will behind Aria’s words, or was it because he belatedly felt sorry for Larne?  Her father, who somehow knew how to force Larne to marry the Marquis, pushed ahead with Aria and Leandro’s engagement unexpectedly and straightforwardly.

And, the day Aria first met Leandro.

She noticed something was wrong. It was the first time they met but the way Leandro looked at her was like they knew each other for a long time.

“I thought it was destiny.”

He held her hand with eyes full of affection and kissed the back of her hand.  Aria was taken aback by the affectionate greeting. But she managed to disguise her composure.

She suddenly remembered a year ago, when she had received an invitation to a masquerade ball and Larne went under her name.  She hadn’t received an invitation to a masquerade since then.  If she had gone instead of Larne…

Aria bit her lip.  Maybe Larne… She said she would not take off her mask and perhaps she had pretended to be Aria herself.

“Let’s not talk about what happened at the masquerade.”

It was almost like a gamble. Her heart skipped a beat at the lie she tried so hard to tell.

“…  I see.”

“I want to pretend that nothing happened that day.”

She could see Leandro was shock, but she couldn’t afford to care about him.

Leaving behind her first meeting and not knowing how to end it, she went to see Larne. Larne was also waiting for her.  As soon as the 4th floor door opened, she rushed to Aria.

“Oh, sister, I, I’m sorry.”

For some reason, she felt choked up at the sight of Larne spatting out an apology.

“Oh, sister, oh, what am I going to do?  I, I took sister’s invitation…  I pretended to be sister.”

Surprised, Larne hesitated and confessed what had happened.  The more she listened to the story, the more Aria felt the ground gradually disappear. What a small world.

Larne stole the invitation and went to a masquerade ball… Her hands trembled at the sight of Larne telling the story of where she met Leandro and she eventually fell in love with him.

“…I’m sorry I took it without permission. The debut was pushed back without any promise… and I thought I’d never see that person again.”

Seeing Larne speak while crying, Aria felt sorry rather than angry. Because she knew that Larne was almost engaged to Leandro.  Her head was pounding.

“It’s okay… I’m fine.” (Aria)

‘How about you?’  Aria swallowed her desire to ask. She wanted to ask if Larne would be okay with her getting engaged and married someone she (Larne) loved.

But asking that seemed somehow deceptive to Larne, so Aria finally swallowed the question.

“……Hu, ah, no.  I, I…”

Was it because she was afraid that Larne would be angry with her later when she learned the truth? Or was it because she knew why Larne’s debutante was pushed without promise?

 “Why have a debutante when she’s going to die soon? When Deron inherits the title, Larne will be gone. That too is soon coming.”

Aria’s stomach churned.

”I hope there won’t be any more…. masquerade balls.”

***