The Male Lead’s Fake Sister - Chapter 51

As always, everything started with common greed.

When someone who desired higher status, wealth, honor, etc., and someone who benefitted from that desire, joined hands.

In this case, the former was the co-owner of the Rose Quartz company, which was operated by Tidwell’s father, Richter, and the latter was Marquis Callister.

The Rose Quartz’s co-owner, Leverant, was commonly referred to as the Black Beast.

He and Richter built the Rose Quartz until it became a top-tier company, but Leverant thought he deserved all the credit for the success of the company.

He thought he was the one who built the Rose Quartz from scratch, and Richter unfairly stole his credit and lived well by himself.

So Leverant wanted to kick Richter out and take over the Rose Quartz company. For him, that was the right thing to do.

But the phrase ‘kick him out’ was another way of saying that he would kill Richter. Because as the owner of a thriving business, Richter couldn’t suddenly leave the company on his own.

However, it was difficult for Leverant to eliminate Richter alone. There were many difficulties, but the biggest obstacle among them was how to conceal the murder.

Richter was a pretty well-known owner of a huge company, and his wealth was no match for Leverant’s.

In addition, Richter also had good connections, so even if he tried to turn the people to his side, he would fail miserably.

Leverant knew that it was impossible to cover up the murder completely when Richter was killed in a rather ‘suspicious accident’.

He decided to reach out to someone in a much higher position. A high-ranking person who couldn’t be touched by ‘Blue’ or people from lower class.

And he found the perfect person.

It was rumored that Marquis Callister emptied out his savings for relief aid every year, but he held powers and public trust just as much as he emptied his savings. He was the best person for Leverant’s plan.

-Marquis, I will give you my full support so you can conduct relief activities as much as you want.

-Even so, I don’t want to get involved in murder.

-Murder? It’s not like that at all. You just need to make a minor accident.

What he proposed was to ‘accidentally’ mix poison into the Richter family dinner.

At first, Marquis Callister refused the idea, but the oil lamp in an empty room accidentally fell and burned his entire mansion. So he had to sell his land immediately because he was in a difficult financial situation.

The proportion of relief aid was not much different from usual, but the income from his estate was low due to the bad harvest that year.

There was a little to no income due to the bad harvest, but his spending remained the same. Even his relief activity had become an insufferable burden that eventually ate away at him.

Marquis Callister, who was striving to end poverty, ironically failed to end his own poverty and joined hands with evil.

And so, everything happened on a Friday evening. At Tidwell’s family, there was a custom where they would always have a family dinner on Friday evening.

Leverant aimed for that time. He ordered a maid to put poison in the food, drop the oil-lamp on the floor and set it on fire. The amount of poisonous herbs added to the food was not enough to kill people at once.

Since the family ate the food in a relaxed manner, the effect wouldn’t take place so quickly. However, the flames surrounding the mansion would suffocate and kill them.

Even if there was someone who survived the fire and made it out alive, they would die when the poison spread throughout their body.

Leverant’s plan was perfect. But there was something he missed.

There was a kitchen elevator that was large enough for a teenager to ride. While the stairs were already engulfed in fire and the exit door was blocked, the young boy was able to escape using the elevator in the kitchen.

At last, Tidwell survived.

Just a while ago, his parents vomited blood and collapsed. At the same time, the fire suddenly engulfed the mansion with a loud noise.

Since that day, Tidwell had lived for revenge- or that’s what was described in [His and Her Spring].

‘So he would eventually discover who his enemy really is.’

That would only happen after quite some time. [His and Her Spring] took place after Leontine fell into Tidwell’s hand, after all.

The starting point is right after he found out the one who killed his family.

So if she could tell Tidwell the truth about Marquis Callister right now…he surely wouldn’t be able to ignore that fact.

And she had to use that chance to run away. From this sickening novel….and from this despicable man.

Ravia’s eyes turned toward Tidwell sleeping. The conversation they had before he fell asleep lingered in her ears.

After running away to the annex, they acted as if their intimate kiss earlier was a lie. As if they wanted to forget that fact, or turn a blind eye to the truth.

Tidwell spoke as gently and kindly as usual, and Ravia responded calmly.

However, Ravia’s bare feet were proof that they couldn’t possibly return to normal. It was proof that Tidwell, who never dropped her from his arms, had altered their relationship.

Nevertheless, the reason why they appeared as they normally would lay in the content of their conversation.

Since the relationship had changed, normally the topic of conversation would be different as well, but their conversation remained the same.

Tidwell sat one stair below Ravia and asked her so casually,

“Do you still hate me, Sister?”

No, it was a little heavier than usual. However, Ravia’s answer was rather relaxed.

“Do you still think that I hate you?”

Their passionate kiss, how their breath entangled, and how they ran to the annex were enough to answer his question.

Tidwell then replied with a small chuckle.

“Then why would you slap me in the face if you didn’t hate me?”

“It’s also my responsibility as an older sister to punish my brother’s misbehavior.”

“Then I don’t mind if I get scolded a little more.”

“Why?”

Are you going to kiss me again?

Tidwell understood her unspoken question and smiled leisurely while shaking his head.

“It’s definitely bad behavior to take my sister away and disturb her sleeping time.”

“Of course. I don’t think my father would be happy if he knew.”

What expression would Duke Leontine have when he knew that his only daughter and his adopted son were locking eyes so indecently?

It’s funny just to imagine it. So when a dry laugh escaped Ravia, Tidwell tilted his head and looked at her.

“Isn’t he leaving the residence soon?”

“Yeah. Then….you and I will be the only ones left here.”

“Will you let me kiss you again then?”

Tidwell asked with a strangely cold gaze. It seemed as if he urged her to say yes no matter what. He exuded the exact aura as when they were in the hallway of the main building back then.

You shouldn’t ask this kind of question out loud.

Ravia avoided answering by kissing Tidwell lightly,

Fortunately, Tidwell did not persist in his question, instead, he asked for Ravia’s hand as if he were a child. After a brief silence, he said in a tired voice.

“I haven’t slept for a few days, and I feel like I’m going to doze off even though you’re in front of me.”

“Are you going to sleep after disturbing my peaceful sleeping time?”

“…Usually, I couldn’t sleep well because of nightmares, but I wonder if my sister drove out my nightmares.”

Tidwell’s murmuring voice was drowsy, as if he would fall asleep soon enough. Before he knew it, he rested his head on Ravia’s knees and closed his eyes.

His submissive side was quite adorable, so Ravia brushed his hair and asked.

“What nightmare do you have?”

“It’s….always the same.”

A dream where he was left alone. Or a dream where he was ridiculed for being left alone.

A smile disappeared from Ravia’s mouth when she heard that. Funny enough, only then did Ravia realize that she had been smiling.

It was a burning realization as if she was set on fire.

….I guess I have been looking at the abyss for too long.

When she raised her head again, she got so deep that she couldn’t go any deeper, and the darkness greeted her.

Who said that it was the darkest before dawn?

Originally, Ravia intended to return to her room once Tidwell fell asleep, but she stayed by his side until dawn.

It’s still too dark outside.

She kept making excuses to herself, saying that she couldn’t get through this darkness and that she didn’t even have her slippers.

Eventually, Tidwell opened his eyes at dawn.

Unlike every morning when he was always alone, there was someone waiting for him. A woman who was always so cold and never sweet to him, asked with a faint smile.

“Did you have a nice dream?”

“…I don’t think I’m awake yet.”

What would it matter if her heart and mind were filled with questionable things?

Either way, there was nothing good to be had from mulling it over.

To think that she had this kind of thought when she planned to stab Tidwell’s eyes.

‘That doesn’t mean I will change anything.’

Suddenly, it occurred to her that her hand was stabbed, and Ravia quickly pulled her hand away from the man leaning on her legs.

She was thankful that Tidwell closed his eyes.