The Male Lead’s Fake Sister - Chapter 44

Deception.

Tidwell couldn’t help but laugh inwardly when such a word issued from Ravia’s mouth.

‘Deception, huh? You have quite the nerve to say that when you were the one who fed me sleeping pills.’

No. It was hilarious how she went a roundabout way just to justify her action. It was even more hilarious when he recalled the visitor to the mansion in the afternoon when Ravia left.

“Ah, we meet again, Little Duke of Leontine.”

“….Leticia.”

Beautiful golden eyes and flowing pink hair.

A woman with her long wavy hair pulled into a half ponytail smiled ardently at Tidwell.

He was getting ready to go out then and was startled by the unanticipated guest.

What is Primadonna Leticia doing in the Leontine residence?

“We met not too long ago, but I didn’t expect to see you again like this.”

“I feel the same way. What brings you here?”

“Ah, that’s…”

A shy blush rose on Leticia’s cheeks at Tidwell’s friendly answer.

“I need to speak with Miss Ravia on an urgent matter.”

Ravia.

Tidwell’s perfect smile narrowly cracked upon hearing that name from Leticia. Of course, it was only a split second, so even Tidwell himself wasn’t conscious of it.

“…Do you have an appointment with my sister?”

“There’s no appointment or such. I just came because of an urgent matter .”

“Ah, is that so? I talked to my sister last night, but she didn’t say anything about your visit.”

“Oh…”

“Indeed, my sister isn’t someone who would head outside when there’s an appointment to attend to. You said it was urgent, too. I’m sorry for telling you this.”

So quit talking about my sister and get lost.

Tidwell meant to say that, but Leticia seemed to misunderstand.

“No, it’s fine. Thank you for comforting me. I’m really fine….”

It was far from comforting. To make it worse, she became even more sullen for some reason.

Does this insignificant woman know how many emotional changes she went through in this short period of time?

‘First, she smiled, then got embarrassed, and now she’s sullen.’

It was annoyingly obvious. What’s more, the ‘kind gentleman’ façade he had been playing required him to not leave the sullen lady alone.

But Tidwell failed to recall that he was annoyed by Ravia’s stony feelings just a few hours ago.

If anyone heard his thoughts, they would think that Tidwell was a fickle person.

‘I need to turn Leticia to my side anyway.’

Even though he was annoyed, Tidwell remained friendly toward her.

“If it’s really urgent, I can deliver your message to my sister.”

“W-Will that be okay? I’m afraid of being impolite…”

“It’s not very polite to step into the residence without a prior appointment, however, you will be excused since I can attest that you were in an urgent need.”

So don’t hesitate to bring up the matter.

Perhaps she could read Tidwell’s mind, but Leticia’s face quickly beamed with delight.

“Thank you, Little Duke is so kind!”

“Do I look like that?”

“Of course. Ah, here it is. The reason I came today is….this.”

Leticia rummaged in her bag and took out an envelope.

“I suddenly got mail from the bank today.”

“May I take a look?”

“Ah…You may.”

Leticia sounded a little hesitant at first, but she quickly nodded since it would be in Tidwell’s hands anyway.

There were two pieces inside the envelope, one of them was a certificate issued by the bank.

The content was like this:

“A check issued in Leontine’s name was received by the bank, but the check did not have Leontine’s seal. Is that the issue?”

“That’s right. It’s a check that Miss Ravia gave me as a donation, but it seems like she forgot to seal it. In the enclosed letter, they said if they didn’t receive Leontine’s seal by tomorrow, there could be a problem….”

At Leticia’s explanation, Tidwell took out another piece of paper enclosed in the envelope. And without difficulty, he was able to confirm the truth behind the crisis that befell Leticia.

‘Aha.’

The handwriting on the enclosed letter belonged to none other than Ravia.

“Leticia. Do you know who wrote this letter?”

“I’m not sure…wouldn’t it be written by a banker? Why are you asking that?”

“It’s nothing. I just think the banker had poor handwriting.” Tidwell replied with a grin.

The handwriting on the enclosed letter was very bad. The shape was uneven and most of the letters were crookedly written. Upon a quick glance, it must have been written by a person who had just learned how to write.

But there was a slight ink smudge from left to right. Even in the first sentence, the smudging was quite severe.

‘As if a person who is not used to writing with their left hand made a mistake when they began writing this.’

However, up to this point, it could appear like the clumsy handwriting of a left-handed person, but there was a noticeable part after that.

There was a similar pattern in the writing.

Some of the letters were embellished with adornments that weren’t necessary for reading. It was commonly referred to as noble handwriting.

Only Tidwell, who lived as a commoner and suddenly entered the noble community, would notice the difference.

Looking at the clues so far, it was not difficult to reach a conclusion.

‘It’s unnatural that a person who learned noble handwriting was this bad at writing.’

If so, it could be inferred that the person who wrote this letter was not left-handed to begin with and purposely wrote with their left hand to create the bad handwriting.

Nevertheless, some of the pattern remained, and the handwriting was slightly smeared on those particular letters.

Most importantly, the writing style of letters L, I, M, and N was familiar. The curvy parts were elongated upward or downward, respectively.

Even the check in question was issued in Leontine’s name.

After putting it together, the clues led to one person.

Ravia Leontine.

Of course, there was a question that hadn’t been resolved yet.

For example, a certificate issued by a bank.

Because it was impossible for Ravia to forge that. However, there’s always a way.

‘Maybe she cut off the recipient’s name on a letter that came to the Leontine residence and sent it to Leticia.’

The part that writes down the recipient was at the top of the certificate, so anyone could manipulate it by cutting a small section on the upper part.

To sum everything up, the story went like this.

You gave an incomplete check to this woman on purpose, and used it to call her to the residence.

Ravia Leontine wasn’t someone who would make such a mistake with a check.

But why? Even if he had met her only a few times, he would know that Leticia was really fond of Ravia.

Those sparkling eyes whenever she saw Ravia and that concerned voice whenever she called Ravia’s name was undeniably obvious.

If Ravia called Leticia to the residence, she would happily run here, so was it necessary to go through this kind of trouble?

No. If Ravia had intended to meet Leticia, she wouldn’t have called her in such a cumbersome way. And she wouldn’t head out after calling the woman to the residence.

In other words, Ravia had no intention of meeting Leticia.

When he came to that conclusion, Tidwell took his eyes off the letter and stared at her.

That honest expression.

He recalled Ravia’s relieved face when she saw Leticia last night. As if she had been waiting for this moment, she asked Tidwell to escort Leticia and left.

Only then did Tidwell realize the reason Ravia called Leticia in such a difficult way.

The one that was bound to meet Leticia at the residence was, in fact, Tidwell himself.

So it was an extension of what happened that night.

Ravia purposely set him up to meet Leticia.

Then she used a round-about way to hide the fact and called her here.

Upon realizing that fact, another question came to his mind.

Why Leticia? Is it because I said I liked Primadonna Leticia? In what way would it benefit her if I meet Leticia?

Assuming that I like Leticia and meeting her is the best way to tie my feet, how would my sister benefit from that?

‘…Haha.’

What a silly question.

It was to make her breathe easier, of course.

She fed him sleeping pills, called Leticia to tie his feet…everything was leading to the same thing.

She plotted everything in order to escape his grasp.

In the end, Ravia was moving as he wanted.

She coveted the successor position and turned against him just as he wanted.

But why did such a clear and simple fact kindle his anger like this?