I Became The Stepmother Of An Irrevocable Dark Family

“Stop screaming.
The people outside will barge in thinking that a dangerous thing happened inside.”

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“You thought I’d be scared of such things?”

“Then go ahead and scream more.
That way you won’t be able to step into this place ever again! Won’t it be fun to see you dragged out of here?”

I smiled brightly and gazed at them straight in the eye.
At the same time, I shook off my sister’s hand.

“Where do you think you’re touching? Jane Selen.”

“H-How dare you call my name like that?”

“Then how else should I call you?”

“You’re really crossing the line!”

“All of you should be careful.
If you remember where you are standing right now, and what kind of human being you are, you would not act so carelessly.
Remember well who and what brought me here in the first place.”

You sold Leona—the good girl who sacrificed everything for her family since childhood.

So I will bring justice to her.
I will avenge you Leona.

“Ahem, about that..”

“We couldn’t help it either.
My daughter, please trust us!”

Leona’s mother took out a handkerchief, dabbed her eyes with it as if trying to force tears.

It was a high quality silk handkerchief.
In order to get such precious and rare fabrics, usually commoners take the leftover fabrics to make a new one, but the handkerchief my mother used did not look like leftover fabric at all.
In short, it was obvious that she ate and lived well.

“Leona? How long will you continue to pretend not to know us?”

Perhaps they decided coercion would be ineffective against me, so my parents immediately resorted to guilt-tripping me.

My mother pitifully looked down at her own clothes and Jane’s clothes, and my father showed his worn out shoes to me.

“This is how we live these days.”

“I couldn’t eat properly for a few days because there’s nothing to eat.”

“Stop pretending you don’t know us! Aren’t we a family?”

“Family? Of course we are! Don’t worry.
I won’t do that to my father, mother, and sister!”

After I said that, my mother immediately grabbed my hands.

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“That’s right! How have you been? Do you know how much your mother missed you?”

“I really missed my family, too.”

“You have always been a good child who put your family first! Last time we made a mistake.
We were just flustered.”

“Yes, you should sit down first.
I can’t just allow my family to stand up like that.”

Just like an obedient puppy, my parents sat on a chair next to me at the same time.
Their eyes twinkled.
Only Jane sat down haughtily, crossing her legs.

“You seem to be doing well, my dear daughter.”

Their acting skill was out of this world.

My mother trembled from her fingertips, acting all pitiful.
As if it wasn’t enough, she stroked my hand gently.

“Mother is worried about you a lot.”

“Yeah.
Your mother couldn’t sleep well because she was worried.”

“Your father as well.
He’s so worried everyday, pacing up and down anxiously, deliberating whether we should visit you to see if you’re really doing well or not.”
I was curious as to how long they would keep up with this nonsense, so I gave a noncommittal response, and they kept on babbling as if thinking that I fell for their performance.

In the meantime, my head filled with Leona’s memories of her sacrifices for her family.

The reason why Leona is shorter than her biological sister, Jane, and the reason why she is unusually thinner must have been due to her childhood suffering.

None of the humans in her family seemed to regard Leona as a family.
She was simply an obedient slave to them.

It’s hard to believe such disgusting humans moved their mouths so shamelessly in front of me now.

How amusing.

“I see that you’ve suffered a lot, both father and mother.
But sister….I guess you’ve been living well.”

As if trying to get her to play along with their facade, my mother pulled Jane’s arm without any hesitation.

“Argh! It hurts!”

“Hurry up and say something!”

“Dad, Mom.
Don’t you think something is off? She’s been hostile toward us until just now.
Isn’t it weird that she is listening to us so suddenly?”

Jane accurately grasped the whole situation, but the Selens did not back down.

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“Be quiet! Leona is a good child, so she lets us slide!”

“That’s right.
So, Jane, you should talk about how you’re doing these days.”

“Ha.
Are you both stupid? Her smile gets wider each time we speak!”

However, no one listened to Jane.
As if he felt talking to Jane was futile, my father turned his head toward me hurriedly.

“Your sister is sick these days.”

“D-Dad!”

“That’s why she’s been acting that way.
She was out of her mind because she couldn’t eat well.
So don’t mind her, Leona!”

“That’s right.
Your sister can’t sleep well these days.
She’s worried that you’re having a hard time in the castle…”

It got more difficult to hold back my laughter.

“But I heard they held a party for you, so I thought you must be doing well.”

“Then again, if it’s a party for you, you should’ve invited us as your family.
Why didn’t you invite us?”

“Did the Duke prevent you from doing that?”

“Oh, that seems to be the case.”

I hurriedly covered my mouth, pretending to not know anything.

“Honey, I told you so! It’s so unlike Leona to not invite us, so I told you to just go to the party, didn’t I?”

“True.
We should’ve done that.
As expected, there’s no way you didn’t invite us on purpose.
You’ve always been a good daughter! Such a good daughter who put her family first!”

I could tell what kind of human being they were at a glance.

Still, I tried to listen more, but I soon dropped my intention due to frustration.

“So, are you telling me that all of you can’t eat properly now, is that it?”

“Yeah.
Just look at my shoes! I don’t even have money to buy shoes! Look at your mother and sister! They couldn’t even wash their dresses, let alone buy new ones!”

A slightly upgraded performance from last time.
This time, they even dressed poorly as if they planned to deceive me.

But their faces were very oily, indicating they were eating better than I did.
They wore shabby clothes and shoes, but they didn’t look at all malnourished.

I applauded Leona’s family with my utmost sincerity as they had been presenting a wonderful performance until the very end.

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Clap, clap-

“W-What’s wrong, Leona?”

“I was surprised.
You did pretty well this time.
I truly didn’t expect that you would go this far.”

“What do you mean by that? Leona, you weren’t like this before! It pained your heart to see your parents like this, and you would take off your shoes to give to us! You were that kind of child!”

I shook my head toward the Selen couple, who remained unaware of the situation.

“You’ve already sold such a kind child.
It’s funny how you sold me and claim to be my family now.
Still, I have to give credit to Jane Selen…the only one clever enough to grasp the situation.”

Totally missing the sarcasm in my remark, Jane wrinkled her nose behind the Selen couple, giving them a mocking face.

“I told you so! She’s weird!”

“Leona…what’s wrong with you, hmm?”

“My daughter wasn’t like this!”

“That’s right.
Your daughter wasn’t like this.
She was a child who sacrificed her entire life for you.
And you were the ones who sold that child.
If I visited you not as a duchess, but as a beggar, would you still welcome me as your daughter?”

After hesitating a moment, my father shamelessly nodded.

“Of course! You’re my daughter after all!”

“O-Of course! Even so, I would have welcomed you with all my heart!”

“That’s funny.
You’re so good at lying.”

“What do you mean by lying? We didn’t lie at all!”

The pair screamed at the same time, lashing out at others for their own mistakes.

“So you didn’t lie at all? Those clothes and shoes aren’t fake either?”

“Of course! Leona, I can’t believe you suspected us!”

“Yeah.
You’re not usually like this!”

“I’m sick of it! You’ve been repeating the same thing all the time.
I don’t want to listen anymore.
I mean, it’s pretty obvious that those clothes and shoes are all lies.
The handkerchief held by Mrs.
Selen proves it.
Are you still going to deny it?”

All eyes turned to her hand.
It was a silk handkerchief that looked new.

“This is….!”

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“Stop making excuses!”

“…Leona! What you said to your father was quite rude.”

“Did you forget where you are and who I am? I’m a duchess.
The moment you sold me to this place, I arrived here as Leona, not Leona Selen.”

“A-Are you going to throw away your family name?!”

“Of course.
I don’t have to be nice to the family who did nothing for me.”

It might have been different if it was the original Leona, but currently, it wasn’t Leona sitting here.
The current Leona was meaner than anyone else.

This family was nothing but a tool to avenge the real Leona.

There was no reason to be nice to humans who worked a good child to death.

“Ha….D-Did you say we never did anything for you?!”

“Put your hand on your chest and tell me honestly.
Have you ever done something for me?”

“That’s….”

My mother, who had been agonizing for a long time, nodded vigorously as if she just remembered something.

“Yes, didn’t I call a doctor for you before you were sold?!”

“Doctor?”

Doctor? Is Leona sick?

I hadn’t heard anything about this before.
Why isn’t there anything like that explained in the novel? So I waited for their explanation.
As if she found a glimmer of hope, my mother raised her voice.

“You often fainted suddenly.”

“Is that why you didn’t know why we sold you? You’ve been acting all high and mighty just because you’re a duchess.
The clinic said you’re going to die soon.
So we sold you—”

“Jane! Be quiet!”

The mother hurriedly covered Jane’s mouth.

“What…? Did you say I’m going to die soon?”

“…Because you collapsed twice in a week, when usually it only happened once or twice a month.
Of course, you might not remember fainting, because you would get up like a doll and continue working as usual.
I haven’t called a doctor since.”