The Male Lead’s Fake Sister - Chapter 34
It wasn’t that surprising since Tidwell knew he had constantly gotten on Ravia’s nerves.
‘So you know who I am, Sister.’
Moreover, he hit the back of her head several times already.
Her failure to sign the contract with Herod would have been a major source of anxiety, so it was quite a drastic measure for Ravia to directly lay her hands on Tidwell.
Considering how hard Tidwell had been trying to aggravate her, the fact that only now he finally got a response from her was remarkable.
However, it wasn’t Ravia’s change itself that surprised him the most.
‘I thought I’d feel good if I led her to change.’
It was his own reaction toward the change. As stated earlier, Tidwell knew that he would face this change eventually.
Since he was the first person to notice Ravia’s sheer resentment toward him, which even Ravia herself didn’t realize.
Ravia might not be fully aware of it, but the emotion she felt right now was disappointment for opening her heart to Tidwell unwittingly.
The ambiguity between her built-up resentment toward Tidwell and the impulse to invite Tidwell to her room when the mansion was empty.
She locked all her emotions inside and dismissed Tidwell’s every action as mere acting, but her brother was quite persistent. He poured his affection on her.
Eventually, the latch in her heart slowly opened.
Of course, the credit did not belong to Tidwell alone. He was helped by the situation.
Ravia felt isolated when even the trusted Herod started to plot behind her back.
Ironically, the one who never left her side, Tidwell, was the one who set up this situation.
In addition, he had witnessed Ravia’s affectionate side, which he always denied before.
Being affectionate means that person was thirsty for affection.
After discovering that Ravia knew his real identity and how desperate she was to act affectionately toward him, he finally understood why he was so attracted to her.
‘At first, I thought I was attracted to her abstinence.’
Tidwell believed that humans and greed were interchangeable, and Ravia was the first person in his life who seemed to have no desire.
But it wasn’t that she felt no desire.
People without desire wouldn’t act that desperately.
Tidwell had simply failed to recognize her desire.
-I just…want to leave this place and live without anyone looking down on me…it’s enough for me if I could live and find love.
-I’m going to leave Leontine. Forever.
In retrospect, Ravia had always been blunt about her desires. About the life she wanted to achieve.
Therefore, Tidwell needed to reevaluate the reason for his attraction to Ravia.
Ravia was the first person in Tidwell’s life who did not collide with his desires.
However, that alone still wouldn’t give him a sufficient explanation. He needed one more word to complete it.
Ravia was the first ‘loner’ in Tidwell’s life who did not collide with his desires.
A person so isolated and alone all her life to the point she no longer grasped the meaning of loneliness.
It took a lot of effort for a person who is always alone to be affectionate.
She lived her whole life judged by others as a cold-hearted person and came to believe in the truth of that judgment, that she was indeed a cold-hearted person.
In other words, Ravia was actually very lonely, she craved affection just as much as she was affectionate toward him, and she was filled with desire.
How would Tidwell feel when he found out that he was the only one who noticed a fact that she herself failed to recognize?
An impeccably beautiful woman. A woman who seemed to crumble with the slightest force. A woman who was so wary and clever that no one dared to unravel her deepest mind.
What he felt watching the situation where he was bound by the absurd shackle called ‘sibling,’ yet stuck to her side…
…he bet even the Pygmalion’s sculpture couldn’t be as perfect as the ‘Ravia’ he owned.
(TN/N: Pygmalion was a sculptor who carved a woman statue and fell in love with his own creation.)
So Tidwell blended into Ravia’s daily life.
He spent time with Ravia getting her accustomed to his company. It wasn’t that important whether Ravia actually believed in his kindness or not.
Because a human body is frailer than expected, it’ll easily adapt to change no matter how wary one might be.
Tidwell’s purpose was simple.
‘For my sister to change.’
While she didn’t mind being alone and was reluctant to spend time with Tidwell, she had gradually gotten used to his presence without her realizing it.
He noticed she started to make minor objections over something that had been no problem in the past.
Someone who remained silent even when her hand was cut by a knife now whimpered in pain over a papercut.
Last night, Tidwell’s plan yielded results.
Ravia invited him to her room. He was convinced that Ravia’s impulse actually stemmed from her desire to not be alone.
But when he found out that beyond that impulse she hid a knife meant to hurt him, he felt a little…
‘How unpleasant….’
Perhaps he was immersed in this ‘sibling’ act more than he expected. He didn’t know that taming Ravia by breaking into her daily life meant that he was tamed by her in turn.
He was mistaken in thinking he completely grasped her innermost thoughts and oversaw her changes.
If he had tried to aggravate Ravia more, the result might have been different.
‘I can’t help it that my sister is more tolerant than I thought.’
Of course, part of it was because Tidwell did not overly pressure Ravia to prevent her from resorting to extreme measures.
However, this wasn’t the first time Tidwell had pressured people.
He used to see people’s eyes turn red as they spewed all kinds of curses if he only gave them a little pressure.
Even those who pretended to be calm eventually burst in anger.
None of them could withstand Tidwell as much as Ravia did.
Tidwell wondered what kind of drug Ravia would feed him after ending her long patience, given her stubbornness.
Was it poison? Or did she get Dark Flower?
Maybe it was a boring sleeping pill.
Tidwell was resistant to most drugs, so he was quite relaxed.
Except there was something that bothered him like a thorn in his mouth.
The teacup eventually fell after engaging in a casual conversation.
The liquid spilled out and the cup bottom was exposed in plain sight. Next thing he knew, he was confronted with a thin neck that could be seized with one hand and breath as thin as her slender neck.
A body that reacted sensitively to the slightest graze of his fingertips.
Unlike his scarred body she had flawless skin like an undisturbed snowy field.
How could he excise this filthy lust toward the woman before him?
What kind of younger brother harbored these kinds of thoughts toward his sister?
Had it not been for her attempt to poison him, he would probably have had a hard time remaining detached from the emotional current.
‘I deliberately made an opening for her, but she only fed me a sleeping pill.’
When he secretly dipped his ring in the tea she poured, he almost burst into laughter when the color changed.
The ring’s jewel turned red in poison and would turn black touching Dark Flower. Otherwise, the jewel turns purple for other drugs.
The jewel in his ring turned purple.
Genuinely disappointed, Tidwell wanted to shake her thin shoulders and ask her like a maniac.
‘Sister, don’t you hate me that much yet? You shouldn’t feed me this kind of thing, you should feed me poison! You won’t get another chance to alter my drink!’
At the very least, she could’ve gotten a poison that was somehow effective on him and shoved it down his throat.
It wasn’t the time for her to be so generous.
‘Did I treat you too kindly?’
Ravia. Ravia.
Dear my sister! How much should I strangle you?
Will there come a day…when you look at me with eyes filled with emotion?