Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Reynold shoved a finger in his ear and wiggled it around as if he found our conversation boring. “Since you were supposed to be Ivonne’s replacement, I expected you to at least do a decent job of acting like her.”

I’d apologized as sincerely as I knew how, but he just continued. “Instead I have to hear about the stupid chimpanzee girl threatening people with a crossbow and put up with you dragging some worthless slave into the manor. As if you hadn’t damaged our reputation enough already.”

All I got in return for my apology was his contempt and derision. “How long do I have to put up with watching you strut around the manor?” Reynold asked with a twisted grin. His expression reminded me of someone.

“Why do I have to come home to a f*cking pauper wandering about the house?”

A memory of his voice came to me unbidden. I’d never been able to retaliate or point out that I didn’t want to see their faces, either. It might have gotten me kicked out, after all.

“A... replacement?” Why did he have to drag up memories of the past I’d only just managed to forget? “When did you treat me even as well as you would a replacement?”

My tongue was moving on its own, as though the words “stupid chimpanzee girl” had flipped a switch in me.

Reynold—who’d ignored my apology altogether—immediately growled back, “You were nothing but a homeless pauper. But here, you’re treated like my father’s daughter. What more do you want? Do you expect to be treated like a princess? Like an empress consort, perhaps?”

“Sure. Why don’t we give that a try?”

“What... did you say?”

“Who knows? Maybe if you please me, I’ll make an attempt at mimicking your missing sister for your sake,” I mocked, my teeth gritted and my emotional state a tattered mess. Reynold’s mocking smile was slowly slipping from his face, and I could practically feel the temperature dropping. We’d been simply quarreling before, but now he looked seconds away from tearing me apart.

“You...” he said, his voice deep and subdued. Then the thing I feared the most happened.

Affection Score minus 2%

“You better watch that mouth of yours. How dare you—”

“Why should I? I have every right to say what I please,” I interrupted.

“What?”

“Do you think you’re the only one between the two of us who is filled with hate?” I could picture a 12-year-old Penelope in my mind. I knew I should quit while I was still ahead, but I couldn’t stop. “I feel the same way. If I’d known that I’d be starved in this grand duke’s house, I would have refused to come no matter how much he tried convincing me.”

“Penelope Eckhart,” Reynold growled.

“How did I force him to adopt me, you ask? There was nothing to it, really. I acted like the homeless pauper you accused me of being.”

“That’s enough,” Reynold threatened.

Affection Score minus 1%

The affection score dropped again. He appeared both angry and stunned at the same time. It had always been their privilege to use sarcasm and mockery as a weapon against me, after all. I wasn’t surprised that he was dumbstruck, since Penelope had always screamed and thrown herself at people the moment she got angry. Maybe he was disconcerted because I’d transformed so suddenly, abandoning my cautious apologies. I was sick and tired of his nonsense.

“I was so poor that I couldn’t even hold a funeral for my mom. I starved for days. Did you know that? Then your father came and asked me to go with him while calling me his daughter.” Reynold stayed silent, so I continued. “Have you ever drank rainwater while sitting next to a rotting corpse?”

Slowly the mental image of Penelope at 12 years old transformed, and all I could see was myself at 14. “Or had to eat leftover food out of the trash? What about forcing yourself to eat something so rotten it barely looks like food at all, just to stay alive? You haven’t, have you? Not even once.”

“Hey...”

“You ask why I wished that your sister would never return?”

Affection Score minus 1%

[Affection Score 4%]

His affection score had almost completely disappeared in the blink of an eye. I had to shut up and beg for forgiveness if I wanted to live. “I was afraid of going back.” But instead of begging for my life, I chose to let the fear and desperation I’d kept hidden away come pouring out.

I knew that Penelope must have felt those same emotions when she had prayed to the gods, wishing for the duke’s real daughter to never return. “A life where I spent all day looking down, my greatest wish finding someone’s leftovers in the dirt. I was afraid of returning to that life.”

“Penelope...” Reynold’s voice sounded choked. “Speak, I’m listening.”

My quiet outpouring of emotion was over. I stared at him, chest heaving. I was no longer afraid of dying if his affection for me plummeted into the negatives. If it came to it, I would die without regret. For the foolish Penelope, who’d grown up drowning in rage and hatred. Finally, Reynold spoke.

“I...”

I said nothing and waited quietly for the end to come. The numbers above his head blinked rapidly.

[Affection Score 7%]

“I didn’t...” Reynold, his expression rigid, couldn’t seem to find words. I understood why. The experiences I’d described were something from a world so very distant from Reynold’s own. He hesitated for a long time before finally speaking, “I didn’t know you had such a difficult childhood.”

The tables had turned very quickly. It was now Reynold who was sweating, struggling to find the words to say.

“Of course, you didn’t.”

“Penelope...” Reynold’s voice sounded choked.

“You probably thought I was an evil, manipulative child who plotted to win over the duke and take your sister’s place.”

“That’s...”

“It’s time you learned the truth,” I stared at him with cold, dead eyes. “When you accused me of stealing that necklace, I was just a 12-year-old commoner who didn’t even know how to read.”

Reynold, who’d been about to speak, slowly closed his mouth. I could see the disbelief blooming in his eyes, but it didn’t satisfy me in the least.

At that moment, a whizzing, crackling sound exploded through the quiet. The roar of noise filled the air coming from the window behind Reynold. While I’d wasted time on this meaningless exchange the sun had set, and the sky was dark. With loud popping sounds, the fireworks had begun.

We gazed at each other in silence as the fireworks filled the sky with beautiful splashes of light. The different colors lit the planes of Reynold’s face before vanishing again with each explosion. Perhaps it was the play of light that made his face appear twisted in some kind of complicated emotion as he gazed at me. The numbers hovering above his pink hair flickered again.

[Affection Score 14%]

His affection for me had risen tremendously. A white dialogue window appeared.

<SYSTEM>

Quest successful: [Go to the festival] with [Reynold].

<SYSTEM>

Accept the reward?

[Yes. / No.]

I laughed bitterly to myself. The unwelcome notification brought a hollow smile to my face. So all that matters is succeeding at the quest? Even if his affection score flops? In the end, I had no choice but to press [Yes.] despite quivering with rage at the idea.

<SYSTEM>

You have gained [Affection score +3%] for [Reynold] and a [Crossbow] as your reward.

Seeing his affection score rise again, I felt any urge to fight die like a candle fizzing out. The beautiful fireworks continued to whiz and pop, uncaring of my tumultuous emotions.

“The worst thing that would happen if I’m sent away now is that I’d return to being a poor commoner,” I muttered to myself between the crackling of the fireworks. “You always make me feel like I’m beneath you, like some kind of disgusting street urchin that ranks lower than a slave.”

Reynold’s hesitant expression contorted into a grimace. It was probably at this precise moment that I began to imagine what my life would be like if I left the manor. I stared at him with eyes as dry as ash, before turning away.

“Penelope!” he called, quickly reaching out to try and stop me from leaving. However, I left the attic without giving him so much as a glance. Descending the dark stone stairs, I considered Reynold’s increased affection and the conversation I’d impulsively initiated with him.

[Affection Score 17%]

The reward was very generous, considering I’d been prepared to die for confronting him. Of course, what I’d told him about Penelope’s past was a web of excellent lies. How am I supposed to know anything about her past if it wasn’t explained in the game? Drinking rainwater while sitting next to a corpse, eating cold leftovers—all of that was only a guess at what her life must have been like. It... definitely hadn’t been my own story.

* * *

It didn’t take long before the reward promised for completing Reynold’s festival quest arrived.