Chapter 28

As Cecilia had experienced in her past life, Caroline’s jealousy had a rather insidious aspect, making her difficult to handle.

‘What should I do? Pretend I didn’t see him and get up on my own?’

It would be awkward for him, but what Ulysses, Guinevere’s child, felt was none of her concern.

Her thoughts were fleeting, and Cecilia was about to push herself up from the ground when she was interrupted again.

This time, it was a much more intrusive hand.

It grabbed her arm and pulled her up before she could even react, not giving her a chance to refuse or get up on her own.

It was a brusque move, devoid of any semblance of consideration, snatching Cecilia away from Ulysses.

Bright red hair, vivid amber eyes.

Nigel Rosencrantz helped Cecilia up and walked away without a backward glance, flicking his hands as if he had touched something filthy.

‘Of course. You despise touching my body.’

Nigel loathed mistresses and their illegitimate children. His one-sided animosity towards Ulysses extended to Cecilia, a bastard of the Lasphilla family.

‘Despicable brat.’

‘Vile mongrel with dirty, commoner blood.’

Cecilia vividly remembered the words Nigel had spat at her during their first encounter when she was just eight years old.

Whenever Nigel visited the Lasphilla estate, Cecilia had to hide like a mouse. Encounters with him always resulted in unpleasant incidents.

‘Why visit every year if he detests me so much? So annoying.’

Things had quieted down after they grew up, but that didn’t mean Nigel had developed any fondness for her.

He probably just wanted to spite his half-brother, whom he despised more than another family’s bastard.

“Ulysses.”

Cecilia whispered to Ulysses, who stood with empty hands.

“How long do you intend to keep my sister waiting?”

Understanding her words, Ulysses raised his eyelids in surprise, and a faint sound escaped his stern lips, which seemed never to smile.

“You’ve become sharp.”

His voice was low, audible only to those close by. Then he turned away from Cecilia and extended his arm to Caroline.

Caroline, who had been uncomfortably watching the scene, now wore a bright expression as she placed her hand on Ulysses’s arm.

Cecilia followed them, muttering to herself,

‘Still the same. Repulsive fellow.’

***

“Oh, is that dresser still here?”
“Huh, the portrait’s been changed. I liked the old one better.”
“This frame is just like the one at our house, right? Nice, Adam and I use the same things.”

Guinevere strolled through the Coffret Manor corridors as if it were her own home, even on the short walk to the dining room.

In reality, it really was almost her home. Until Marquis Rosencrantz’s first wife passed away, two guest rooms in this place belonged to her and her son.

Back then, Ulysses’s situation was even worse than Cecilia’s. Although Cecilia was later acknowledged by her father and officially registered in the Lasphilla family, Ulysses couldn’t even reveal his lineage.

Cecilia often compared herself to Ulysses in her youth, even feeling a semblance of sympathy. He was one of the few people she thought worthy of her sympathy.

Initially, she liked him and hoped they could find solace in each other.

But Ulysses disliked her approach. When she tried to get closer, offering tea or sweets, Ulysses would stand up abruptly and leave.

Once, driven by curiosity, she asked him,

‘Do you dislike me?’

‘Not particularly.’

‘Then why do you avoid me whenever you see me…?’

‘That’s because…’

Young Ulysses closed his book and faced her.

‘You keep treating me as if we’re the same.’

‘….’

‘I’m different from you. Both my mother and father were nobles. Understand?’

He echoed the words he had heard from Nigel and threw them back at her.

‘You mongrel.’

In the end, Ulysses was right. Soon, he became the legitimate son of the marquis and gained stability far surpassing Cecilia’s.

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mikan

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