Age 14 part 1
When I turned fourteen, I took the entrance exam for Manches Academy, attended by most nobles of this country. At this academy, I would learn various things and magic that I couldn't get from a private tutor. It is also open to commoners, and talented students could enroll as scholarship students with tuition fee waivers.
On the day of the results announcement, there was buzzing and excitement from the morning itself.
Even though it was just to see the results, my busy parents and brother joined me for breakfast. For some reason, they also decided to come with me to see the results. I was so happy that I felt like I was floating. Although Clew had gone out somewhere since the morning and wasn't there, I thought he might be hanging back since my parents and brother were with me.
Perhaps I should have realized something was wrong at that moment. Because I knew the truth. That I wasn't really part of this family.
But I naively thought there was still time. I wanted to live with my current family for as long as possible.
Even though I knew it was selfish. When I considered my counterpart, I should have revealed the truth when I found out that I wasn't really part of this family.
Not many people were there to see the results. Nobles seemed to have their servants check for them, so my family stood out quite a bit.
"Did they come to see the results for brother as well?"
"No, they must have asked one of the servants."
"Then why did they come together with us as a family today?"
"It's strange, but both our parents and I had the same dream. A fairy with blue hair appeared and said something interesting would happen if we went to see the results ourselves. It was just a dream, but it intrigued us. So we decided to come along."
A fairy with blue hair? Not Clew.
My head was pounding.
This must be punishment. Punishment for keeping silent all this time. Why didn't I speak up sooner? It was because I didn't want to be separated from my family. But that wasn't the main reason.
I knew that the Sennet Marquis family valued bloodline. Even if they raised a daughter for fourteen years, if they found out she wasn't related by blood, they could easily discard her. I was afraid of how my family would react. How would they look at me?
These were people who would consider sending me away just because I looked different. I had known what would happen.
I was afraid of my parents' gazes. I didn't want them to look at me as if I were a stranger. But that was my selfishness, and it was a disservice to Annette.
As soon as I heard that Clew knew where Annette was, I should have gone to meet her. If I had done that, I could have learned that Annette was taking the academy exam and heard her thoughts. But I was too selfish to do anything, I was now facing divine punishment.
We made our way to see the results. Since carriages couldn't pass through, our family had to walk together. I couldn't say I wanted to go back home now. Even if I pretended to be sick... it wouldn't work. They could see through a fake illness immediately. My parents and brother were specialists in healing magic, and there were many servants as well, so I couldn't escape.
As I walked, holding my pounding heart, my parents suddenly stopped, and I almost bumped into them.
When I peered through the gaps, I saw a girl around my age. She was dressed poorly but exuded an inexplicable aura, and looked exactly like my mother.
(Oh, that’s Annette. She looks so much like Mother.)
"…Annette."
I found myself muttering.
Mother was the first to move.
"Oh, my daughter. It was a mistake after all. We've been looking for you."
Mother embraced the bewildered Annette, crying. Mother had never hugged me like that. It wasn't because of my appearance; it was because I wasn't her daughter. Maybe she instinctively knew.
I don't remember much of what happened afterward. My parents and brother took the bewildered Annette back to the mansion, not paying any attention to me. I felt rooted to the spot, unable to follow.
‘What will you do now?’
How much time had passed? Clew's voice snapped me back to reality.
‘Clew! You were watching?’
Clew, who was supposed to be out on some errand, had somehow come to my side out of nowhere.
‘Standing here won’t change anything. Why don't you go and see your real family?’
Clew didn't answer my question and instead asked what I would do next. He had been saying there was a possibility I could continue to be raised as before, but he seemed to understand from my parents’ attitude that it was impossible.
‘I’m waiting for my brother.’
‘Do you think he’ll come to get you? If he intended to, he wouldn’t have left you behind.’
I knew that without Clue telling me. My brother left without saying a word to me. I felt rejected and couldn't call out to him.
‘I know. But I want to wait a little longer. My brother has always been my hero. I want to believe he won’t abandon me, his sister for fourteen years, even if we aren’t related by blood. Because if it were me, I would never abandon my brother, even if I found out he was a commoner with no blood relation. So…’
I didn’t cry. I had decided not to cry in front of others. My brother said he didn’t like crying faces, so I always cried where no one could see me. So I could not cry now. If my brother came to get me and saw me crying, he would surely dislike it. I wouldn’t cry until I lay down on my bed in my room.
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