Beneath the moonlight, ripples drew upon the surface of the clear lake. It was cold.

How could this feeling be expressed?

She said that she wanted to be happy, but she had long since forgotten how to be happy. It’s possible to breathe on land, but she had long since forgotten how to breathe.

Goodwill received from other people sometimes served as violence as well. Or, it could prove to be overly addictive.

Violet trusted Mary, her maid.

She cared for those who had faith in her as well. Even so, she also knew that those people were the same ones who used to curse her and talk about her behind her back.

Faith and trust were such shallow things.

“You should be prohibited from coming to this place.”

“…I heard that you’re leaving tomorrow. I won’t be able to talk to you outside of today.”

So, Violet knew well enough that this sweet, addictive goodwill could change at any given time.

Aileen, who she met here, seemed to have something in mind.

The girl had many small scratches here and there, as if she had walked through a rough path in order to get here somehow without being seen by other people.

Ruined by the sudden change of her surroundings, the girl glared scathingly at Violet.

Green eyes, seemingly calm but just beneath the surface, there was a simmering outburst of anger.

And purple eyes, subdued and indifferent.

“You’re here to talk, huh. What is it that you have to say to me?”

“I hate you.”

“How honest. Even though you’re the child who used to follow me around, saying, ‘I want to be close to you, Sister.’”

Her laughter reached Aileen’s ears. It was both a sneer and a self-deprecating laugh.

Violet slowly drew nearer to Aileen.

“You’re hurt. If the child loved by everyone gets hurt like this, they’ll all be sad.”

“Don’t touch me!”

With the moon’s glow falling down, the pale hand that was struck suddenly flashed.

Aileen made a low growling sound, eyes glinting ferociously.

“Always that attitude of yours, always.”

Aileen gnashed her teeth.

“Why are you acting as if you’re doing well all by yourself? Just pretend to be such a lofty noble, just show how arrogant you are, just show how much you look down at people…”

At that, interest glimmered in Violet’s eyes.

The sweet, lovely young miss of the household was not here.

Now in front of Aileen’s true face, Violet smiled.

“I didn’t really want to talk to you because I personally had nothing to say. But now, I’m a little interested.”

“Don’t pretend to be well!”

“Go ahead, then. Say what you want to say.”

Violet’s smile provoked Aileen once again. Clearly, it was a sneer.

Without realizing it, Aileen took a step back. All her thoughts were evident in her eyes—she looked exactly like a person who wanted to kill someone.

“It was like that from the beginning. You’ve always been so detestable! You know what? I hate you so damn much. The way you pretended to be so proud all by yourself, the way you looked at people to say that they don’t deserve that position, the way you struggled so hard to be loved yet acted so prideful. I hate it all!”

“What a coincidence. I hate you, too.”

Violet smiled as she took another step closer to Aileen.

And the girl took a step back. As Violet raised one hand, Aileen flinched reflexively and covered her face with her arms.

However, Violet merely removed a single leaf that was stuck in Aileen’s hair.

“W-Why…! Why are you making that face! Just swear. Swear at me! Curse at me for being dirty and vulgar, for being a fool that’s eating away at the prestige of the family!”

“I didn’t know you had a predilection for being cursed at. Is that what you’re here to say?”

Aileen’s voice was echoing throughout the forest.

Violet gave the girl a haughty smirk.

“You, I seriously hate you… It’s supposed to be mine—my place. It just, it just so happened that you were born with that blood… If my father had met someone else and lived well, that place—”

Her anger eventually burst and led to tears. The girl shouted viciously with a poisonous look in her eyes, but nevertheless, that face of hers still looked lovely.

“It was originally my place! The position of being a ducal lady, people’s concern and love, those abilities, everything’s supposed to be mine!”

“……”

“It’s supposed to be mind. So I made it mine. What’s the problem then? You’ve lived well all this time anyway!”

Aileen uttered the words with shrieks, and as her tears overtook, it was all swallowed by the silence of the night.

Violet laughed.

“You don’t even know what you’ve done! It’s originally mine. It’s mine. It was mine…”

“You’re saying such amusing things.”

“Amusing? Right now, you…”

“Right. So you say that the position of ducal lady was originally yours?”

It was the same arrogant smile that Aileen so abhorred. The noble grace that she could never have, even if she wanted to.

Faced with the very image that she hated the most, Aileen’s eyes bristled with fury.

Violet whispered softly towards the girl.

“Do you really think so?”

“……”

“That it’s originally your place.”

Though indifferent, the voice carried undeniable intensity.

Yes, perhaps. The esteemed daughter of the Everett Duchy could have been Aileen.

Violet might have been born as just a child of a branch family, and she might have been raised to be appropriately coddled. Then, she might have married into a prestigious aristocratic household.

And Aileen might have been the ducal lady of Everett.

But all this did not happen.

What would have happened if Aileen’s father had not told the former duke that he had fallen in love? If he did not choose to marry a woman of lowly status, and if he did not relinquish his position as the duchy’s successor?

Aileen would not have been born at all.

It was a meaningless argument. Aileen’s words were nothing but delusion.

“You know, I’ve always wondered—why in the world are you doing this to me, why do you hate me so much that you feel so impatient when you couldn’t drag me down.”