I'd Rather Abandon Than Be Abandoned

Chapter 2

Claudia’s maid, Mary…

She was one of the bad guys in the original book.

It was her role to follow Claudia’s order and harass Naila.

I was lost in a sudden thought when I saw her.

‘Isn’t it amazing? When I played as Naila in the game, Mary looked so mean…’

Now that I became Claudia, she didn’t look mean at all.

Rather, she looked like a cute, ordinary girl with brown hair.

“I think you need to be fast before Sir Luke yells at you! Because he arrived so fast!”

Mary stomped her foot and urged me.

My brother, Luke, and Naila seemed to have arrived at the venue.

I spent a lot of time in front of the mirror.

“Yes. I’ll be right down.”

I answered with a light smile, but Mary blushed for no reason.

Just by looking at her briefly, I could feel that she liked Claudia very much.

Indeed, hadn’t you done all sort of things to Naila according to Claudia’s orders?

It would be difficult to do unless she had an extraordinary sense of loyalty.

‘I’ll never make Mary do something bad this time.’

I couldn’t turn Mary, who followed me diligently, into a villain.

Of course, I’m not going to be a villain this time and get along with everyone so that I won’t go down into a tragic villainess death route in the future.

‘My first goal is to survive.’

That’s why I prepared the tea party now.

A tea party was essential to get close to my awkward step-sister.

But if I’m late, she would be resentful.

I grabbed the hem of my dress and hurried down to the garden.

“Have you been waiting long?”

When I went down and greeted them, Luke and Naila looked at me at the same time.
Unfortunately, I was seated far away from them.

It was because Luke, my real brother, sat next to Naila.

I recalled some of the conversations between Claudia and Luke.

[Claudia, do not harm Naila anymore. You look ugly.]
[Ha, harm? What does that mean? Did she swore at me when she talked with you?]
[Naila has done nothing wrong. She never said anything bad about you.]

With his gentle face, he spat out a biting remark.

[It’s you who isolated yourself, not Naila.]
[Brother…]
[If I see you bothering Naila again, I won’t let you go even if you’re my sister.]

After that, he became a reliable brother who protected Naila…as far as I remembered from the passage I read.

In other words, after being fed up with Claudia’s evil deeds, her brother came to hate her more and more.

And my memory was correct. Right now, he glared at me as hard as he could.

His eyes were out of sync with the sweet snacks in front of him.

‘I can’t believe you’re staring at your real sister like that. From his eye color to hair color, it was exactly like mine.’

It was kind of sad to see his hostility toward his own blood relative with the face that resembled mine.

“Stop glaring at me. I’m sorry for being late. No, actually, I’m not late. I’m right on time.”

I checked the clocktower of the mansion, and fortunately, I wasn’t late.

It’s just that they arrived too soon.

Luke snorted at my apology.

“Sorry? You apologizing in front of Naila is something that you never did until a month ago…Did you hit your head again?”

A month ago…when I first came to this world, of course, I was out of my mind.

‘Where am I? Who are you?’ I kept saying stuff like that.

Only now am I accepting my situation and pretending to be Claudia.

Either way, Luke still mentions what happened that day and doubted my mental state.

“I’ve never hit my head. What’s so weird about apologizing? And I told you a month ago it was because I was still half asleep.”
“I don’t care, so tell me what kind of tricks you’re playing.”
“…What do you mean by tricks?”
“You don’t even like to have dinner with Naila, do you? There must be a reason why you called us.”

From Luke’s eyes, I could read his deep distrust towards me.

“After hearing that, we’re both thinking of going back. I’m just curious about what tricks you have up your sleeve this time. I’m not interested in a stupid tea party.”

Originally, I tried to make Luke go to my side.

But looking at his attitude now, I wondered if that would be possible.

‘What should I do…? So unlucky. I think he’s going to disturb me when I’m trying to make Naila take my side.’

I was contemplating for a while and sighed.

Then I leaned back comfortably at the chair.

“Why don’t you go back first, brother?”
“What?”
“You said it was a stupid tea party. Is there any need for you to stay?”

The original Claudia wanted to take Luke back from Naila.

So even though she was harassing Naila, every time Luke appeared, she acted cute like a kitten.

He must be shocked that Claudia suddenly changed her attitude.

Luke’s trembling eyes reflected his feelings.

“…What?”

It’s annoying but I was kind enough to return the favor.

“I don’t care if you’re here or not. If you’re bored, you can just leave. I have an important matter to discuss…but I can just tell Naila about it. It doesn’t matter.”
“If I go, you may do something to Naila.”

Because of his devotion to Naila, it seemed like he was fighting a witch in his own imagination.

So I didn’t answer.

Of course, one of the reasons I couldn’t answer was that I had a bite of a cake.

In the midst of the terrible silence, he burst into laughter.

“Oh, I see now. Why you are suddenly acting like this.”
“Hmm?”
“You must be afraid that the Crown Prince will be taken by Naila, aren’t you? His Highness values Naila more than you, after all.”
“…”
“You’re thinking of pestering the weak-hearted Naila to give up on His Highness, aren’t you?”

As I listened to his words, I suddenly remembered this game’s main setting.

‘Oh, right. Claudia and Naila were competing for the Crown Prince’s affection, weren’t they?’

Claudia had been chosen as the match of the Crown Prince ever since she was a baby.
It was because of the promise the Emperor made to his loyal subjects….. In this case, it was Claudia’s father.

Should I be glad to hear that?

Claudia did not reject her marriage partner, the Crown Prince.

Rather, she loved him wholeheartedly.

The problem was, he fell in love with Naila instead of the descendant of the Duke, Claudia.

Claudia and Naila had no choice but to be rivals in love.

‘Indeed, it’s only given that Luke was suspicious of me. Everyone knows that the Crown Prince loves Naila more. In fact, Claudia always keeps Naila in check.’

I tried to accept it, but it made me feel dirty again.

‘Still, you have such a dirty mouth…’

My insides started to boil.

Luke was trying to aggravate me further.

“It’s too late to pretend to be nice now. The wise prince knows of your dirty heart. Even if you tried to make Naila give up on him, His Highness’ heart cannot-”
“I was going to tell you that I wanted to break up my engagement with His Highness though?”
“….What?”

I had no intention of dying from being caught between lovers.

My goal was to maintain a good relationship with them and to naturally break up my engagement.

In order to protect my life.

‘Of course, breaking up my engagement won’t happen quickly just because I want it.’

In this case, it could have been relatively easy because the Crown Prince also felt uncomfortable with me.

Luke, who didn’t know what I was thinking, was still dazed.

Even so, for a moment, doubts appeared in his eyes.

“What are you going to do after breaking your engagement?”
“I’m leaving to find the spirits. I hate clinging to a guy who doesn’t like me.”
“Spirit? I wonder if you really not on your right mind…? How are you going to find what all the empire’s leading scholars and knights couldn’t find?”

This game basically had a worldview with a fantasy element.

Unicorn, Dragon, Pegasus, Spirit, Fairy, God….

Such fantasy-like creatures existed.

Of course, it was hidden in a mysterious place, but it wasn’t a big deal to me.

It was because I played the game 200 times.

I knew the location of those spirits to some extent.

“You don’t have to know that, brother.”

When I said that and smiled, his face hardened.

I didn’t act cute like I used to, so he might be disappointed now.

Still, I had no thoughts of treating him nicely.

‘Luke deserved to be treated like this. The original Claudia pitifully begged for this bastard’s affection…but I don’t want to do that.’

For those who showed kindness to me, I will return it.

For those humans who showed unfounded malice to me, I will repay them with even more malice.

Luke sneered.

“Yeah, good luck with that. We’ll see if father will allow that stupid idea of yours.”
“Brother, you don’t have to worry about that either. As long as you don’t run to father and tell him.”

I took Luke’s words moderately and turned around.

“So, Naila. If you’ve had enough snacks, shall we walk a little? I’ll let you know how to collect spirits.”
“Huh? Did you just talk to me?”

Naila looked bewildered.

She didn’t think that I would talk to her.

Claudia had rarely called her first, so it was only natural for her to react that way.

“Of course, I’m talking to you. You’re the only Naila here. Come on, get up.”
“Ah…!”

I thought the awkwardness between us would be lessened if we took a walk, so I just recklessly dragged her.

Then we headed to the rose garden.

It would have been the perfect place to have a conversation as it was a garden with a rose tree that grew up high and wrapped around the room.

“…It’s a little quiet now.”

I sighed as soon as we arrived at the rose garden.

I already felt exhausted after dealing with Luke earlier.

I was really fortunate that he didn’t follow us here. It was worth it to come here so he couldn’t follow us here.

Soon, I turned to Naila.

“Now, shall we have a talk?”

What I want to say was from now on, let’s build up some friendship between sisters.

But it seemed as though to Naila, my suggestion sounded completely different.

“Okay, tell me. I’m ready for it.”