The Male Lead’s Fake Sister - Chapter 60

Chapter 60

Ravia knew what sort of human Herod was.

‘Herod looks quite dignified at first glance.’

The Orpheus may not be a very distinguished noble family, but a noble family is still a noble family, after all.

He was born rich and noble, very different from Tidwell, who barely elevated his status after wandering around the slums.

He had the typical complacency of those who have lived leisurely throughout their lives.

Seeking amusement to ease their boredom.

And arrogance.

In fact, it wasn’t only limited to Herod. That was the case for most nobles, including Ravia herself.

So Herod’s mentality wasn’t much different from that of Ravia.

Prideful.

The petty pride of those who fool others rather than being fooled by someone.

Herod would think he did a good job fooling Ravia.

Orpheus was a lower-ranking noble family that happened to hide many secrets.

Herod would never expect Ravia to be able to distinguish two men who have the same red hair and red eyes. He probably thought she wouldn’t know that Quincy even existed.

So if she purposely mentioned that name to Herod, then…

“Quincy Orpheus. Do you address your own brother in such a polite manner?”

“….How do you know my name?”

The answer was bound to come out right away.

Looking at the no longer smiling Herod, Ravia shrugged lightly.
“It’s a pity that you thought I wouldn’t know.”

“…..Because people in Orpheus are not that well-known.”

“That’s right, but isn’t it essential to learn about your marriage partner?”

Ravia took a step forward and continued calmly.

“I believe ‘trust’ is the most important thing in a relationship.”

“Would someone who values ‘trust’ dig into her partner’s background?”

“As I should. I’m not a fool who trusts something that I don’t know about. I’m only an outsider, you see. We even tied the shoelace on our shoes, so digging into my partner in order to trust him is not such a big deal, is it?”

Unconditional trust without a safety net was something that only a kid would do.

With each word she spoke, Ravia narrowed her distance to Herod.

There was no illumination beyond the light leaking through the gap under the fence and dim candles installed around the surrounding area, so the red hall was covered in heavy darkness.

Herod slowly took a step closer toward her.

The sound of footsteps which previously were muffled by the carpet, was now getting clearer. As well as Ravia’s voice gradually getting exceptionally clear.

When the hem of her dress touched the tip of Herod’s shoes, Ravia finally said.

“Aren’t we already past doing such a childish act like this? Don’t you think so, Herod?”

Ravia’s indifferent gaze slowly rose to match Herod’s.

Ravia seemed calm, contemplative and even deceitful, while Herod’s red eyes shone like a beast lurking, waiting to jump his prey.

It didn’t take long for Herod, whose eyes opened wide for a split second, to narrow them once more.

Haha.

As a dry laugh escaped his mouth, Herod touched his forehead.

“I’ve had my suspicions. As expected, you already knew.”

“I’m sorry if you thought that you could fool me forever.”

“Goodness….It’s a bit of a pity that I feel like I’ve managed to fool you every time.”

“I’m also sorry that I’m being inconsiderate of your situation. Now that you’ve been caught, I’d like you to tell me why you came to see me.”

“Haha. I’m upset if you say it so coldly like that, *Chunhee.”

(T/N : 춘희 means spring lady or the lady of the camellias, an original novel that was adapted into opera La Traviata)

Ravia narrowed her eyes at Herod as he tried to change the subject in a playful manner.

Chunhee meant the Lady of the Camellias, which referred to the main character of La Traviata, Violetta.

Looking back, he didn’t always refer to Ravia by her name or by her title, Princess Leontine.

He always used the name he spouted on the first day they met. Either ‘A lost woman’ or ‘La Traviata.’

So Ravia furrowed her brows and asked.

“…Do I still look like I’m lost in your eyes?”

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“Do you have the confidence to say that you’re not?” He returned.

Then he reached into his sleeve and pulled something out.

He was holding an earring. It was something familiar to Ravia.

Ravia recognized the earring and blurted out without realizing.

“That earring…”

“It was submitted to my stolen goods store about a week ago. There’s only one piece of this in this empire, so my staff recognized it right away and sent it to me.”

It was definitely Orpheus’ item, but the staff said it wasn’t stolen.

Recalling what happened that day, Herod continued without waiting for an answer.

“This is what they said in the letter. A blonde woman with striking eyes left this earring there.”

“Are you implying that it was me?”

“Because there’s no way it wasn’t you. But don’t you think something is strange?”

“…What is?”

“It was too obvious.”

Ravia’s brows creased more deeply, but Herod didn’t stop talking.

“If I were you, when I look for a stolen goods dealer in the underworld- no, at least, I’ll try to cover myself as much as I can when stepping into the underworld.”

It was common sense to wear a wig or cover her face.

Herod had heard only a small part of Ravia’s conversation with Tidwell at Velocio Theater, but it was enough to discern the whole situation.

Ravia knew about Tidwell’s identity as the head of an underworld organization, and in her attempt to escape, she contacted Herod to offer a contract marriage.

So why did Ravia, who was well aware of the situation, deliberately step into the underworld, which was no different than entering Tidwell’s front yard?

From here, Herod concluded that he should change the question.

“I know that you’re not a fool or careless, so you can’t say that you forgot and let your guard down for a moment.”

So there was only one answer.

Herod twisted the corners of his mouth, clasping the earring on his palm.

“It’s possible that you deliberately exposed yourself to me.”

“You’re more delusional than I thought. I was going to meet you soon even if I didn’t move first. Do I really need to expose myself to you in that situation?”

“Of course you do. You knew that I wasn’t the one you met all this time.”

Ravia’s eyes grew bigger at Herod’s words. When he saw such a clear affirmation, he continued as if he already expected it from the beginning.

“You asked why I wanted to see you today, right? It’s simple. I want to make sure that my hypothesis is correct.”

“….Hypothesis?”

“You must have found the earring from my dear partner, right?”

Ravia nodded instead of answering. As he had nothing to hide, Herod laid out more hypotheses.

“You were probably confused after finding this earring. I’m sure you wanted to know why Tidwell had the earring that ‘Herod’ wore and what kind of situation you are in. Am I right?”

“Your hypothesis is not that praiseworthy.”

“Of course, that’s not all. What’s important is that you left this earring at Bluewell’s stolen goods store.”

Herod smiled as he returned the earring to his sleeve.

“Why would you leave your earring with a stolen goods dealer rather than a jeweler? And you had to go to Bluewell street of all places.”

“…I thought the stolen goods store would have more information about you.”

“If you came to the stolen goods store backed by the underworld, it means your visit would be easily discovered by me or Tidwell. So does it make sense to visit without even covering yourself?”

Let’s just be honest, Chunhee.

With a smirk, Herod leaned closer to Ravia and whispered.

“In order to figure out the meaning of the earring, you surely used a very straightforward method.”

That is, by returning the earring straight to the owner.

Ravia returned the earring to Herod, deliberately exposing herself so she would be targeted. It was so obvious that anyone would figure out her identity right away.

Then from Herod’s perspective, Ravia was the one who brought the earring, so he had no choice but to act like a thief caught in the act. He either tries to explain about the earring directly, or stops using it to continue fooling Ravia.

‘She made me feel ashamed of myself.’

Even so, he didn’t have a clue how things had progressed so complicatedly, and even his earring came back to him through Ravia’s hand.

He could only assume that Ravia knew that it wasn’t Herod whom she met in the Velocio Theater.

So Ravia sent the message by returning Herod’s earring.

To you, who lied to me. I want you to confess.

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