Chapter 1

"Father!"

Leslie's crying did not reach the man who looked at her at the end of the bridge.

"Mother, sister Eli…!".

She called every family member's name, but they only stared at her silently.

They watched Leslie being dragged into a fire as a sacrifice with calm eyes, not thinking about moving.

And those gazes became blades that pierced her small body.

There was a strange pavilion in the middle of the bridge, and it contained fearsome dark flames burning with force.

Leslie was being dragged into that fire pit step by step.

"Aug…"

She tried to hold on to the bridge railing, but the thin railing did not support her.

From the start, this year twelve-year-old Leslie always endured being beaten unfairly.

On top of that, the mother told her she must be beautiful for 'that day' and so she was dressed, only fed with water and soup for many days, while handcuffed

'You've got to be beautiful. Understand? Be beautiful.'

Watching her mother constantly beautifying her, Leslie realized that there was a turning point.

Could it be that you finally look at me well? The possibility was small, but sweet hopes have small expectations.

But that day is the day when she would become a sacrifice for sister Eli.

"Mother… Father…"

I tried to shout again, but I didn't get an answer. Flying by, in its announcement now seemingly irritated eyes.

"…What are they doing?"

As Eli had spoken out loud with a colorful lace-colored fan, Marquis Sperado also urged the servants to drag Leslie with a loud voice.

"Throw her in already! If the sun sets before you finish this, I will shove you in the firepit as well!"

"N- No. Please, please…"

She looked at the servant's familiar face pitifully, but the answer wasn't what she wanted.

"Keuk, I'm sorry. Miss Leslie…"

Leslie could not resist the idiotic power of the servant who pulled the string caught in the neck, saying that he was sorry.

However-

As a last resort, she tried to put my fingernails on the floor, but they did not fit in the stones.

Only a strange sound echoed, and only the wrinkles between the three people standing on the other side of the room were produced.

"Calmly… Follow me!"

Hate! Leslie, who reached the entrance to the pavilion filled with fire, with her last forces, she hugged the pillars for dear life.

'I don't want to die!'

I want to live. Even if I dedicated my whole life for sister Eli, even if sister was my only reason for existence. Still.

"I want to live ...."

In the end, tears flowed down my neck and desperately stream down my cheeks.

"Please…"

Eventually, the servant stopped his hand, which was pushing her roughly into the pavilion.

The majority of the people in the place turned their heads to the desperate wish of life of a child who was only twelve years old, except for the Marquis, the madam, and Eli.

Rather, it aroused their anger.

"Tch, you useless fools."

After taking the spear from one of the guards standing beside him, he approached with big strides.

"Father…"

Leslie looked up to him earnestly, then-

Fwak!

He pushed her daughter into the fire pit with the spear.

"Don't you know that you dying in the place of your sister is your destiny?! Pathetic thing, you're useless!"

Just in case you haven't picked it up. The weak hope that I had, in any case, disappeared with the pain that I felt in the back of my back.

"KYAAA!"

Leslie screamed in a flame that caught herself as if they were waiting for it.

Am I going to die like this?

A sacrifice for sister Eli, will I die like this, to forever live in the fire?

'No!'

Leslie tried to squeeze out her last strength, but the flames on her clumsy clothes did not let her go.

Numerous ribbons that hung in the body quickly burned in flames.

Suddenly I heard a voice in my ears as my whole body flashed and I was trying to put my mind to the heat and the pain.

「You, run away.」

What is this sound? Even before thinking, the small hands in the fire pushed her.

Creak.

A gigantic power pushed Leslie into the fire and the huge glass window covering the pavilion started to twist.

Watching the sacrifice dying, the giant window cracked open easier than I thought.

Then, through the crack, Leslie's body slipped away. For a few days, she had only eaten potato soup, enough to keep her alive.

"No!"

The family who tried to watch Leslie's end screamed.

The screams weren't for their youngest daughter, but for the desperation that the 'usable sacrifice' vanished without its usefulness.

Listening to the scream that filled the cliff, Leslie laughed spontaneously in pain. What kind of life did I live in the meantime?

A life dedicated to my sister, I did not live my life thoroughly to support my sister.

Marquis has always treated her like a piece of trash. Couldn't know why.

'I heard you talked back to your sister. You are useless. There will be no food for you today. And don't even think about leaving your room.'

It was Leslie who had to eat three days a week to get her work done every time she saw her. And it was the same with her mother who harassed her.

Every night she came to visit and scratched her self-esteem.

'Leslie, the tutor said you couldn't properly answer the question?'

'It's because I haven't learned it yet…'

'Answer, don't talk back to me! The only useful part about you is studying! You should at least be able to do these measly things to support your sister!"

And many occasions, they hit her until she broke.

In addition, sister Eli quickly grasped the atmosphere of the house and tormented her.

Whether Eli had fallen, whether she had bitten her tongue while eating, whether her embroidery gets stuck, or it rains when she decided to go on a picnic, it was all Leslie's fault.

Once, Leslie translated God's words in a meeting in which Eli participated, and returned cold eyes.

Eli was wrong, but it was Leslie's fault.

'You deliberately mistranslated god's words to embarrass me in front of all those people.'

'N- No. Sister, you're wrong. I was a mistake. I swear.'

It wasn't her fault, but Leslie bowed her head. If she rebelled here, she'd get a bigger punishment.

'It's not about mistakes, Leslie. I have still been embarrassed, and that alone has enough reason to punish you. You didn't use yourself to the fullest? You are here for me.'

As she followed her parents' tone and grabbed her hair and shook her head, her head was dumped by a bunch of balls, and Leslie had one of her heads empty, but the bouncy hands did not think to fall.

After apologizing for the numerous mistakes, Eli's heart needed to get better, and Leslie could rest a bit. Even in a tiny, old attic.

Taking it out on the child, that's Leslie. Which was also a sacrifice for her sister, the same as trash.

'I was naive.'

I shouldn't have hoped. I want to live.

Even though I would soon fall into the ground and die, my happiest moments didn't come to mind.

Only the first time I ate bread full of jam and butter came to my mind as a happy memory. That was all.

A falling sensation underneath. Leslie clutched her eyes as water started to accumulate in her eyes.

I want to live.

Only that thought dominated Leslie's head, and the odd darkness, as it responded to it, enveloped her tiny body falling under the cliff.

Bang!

With a big roar, Leslie's body rested under the cliff.

***

'Me too.'

Leslie looked at Eli, who was laughing brightly under the gleaming light.

Marquis Sperado treasured that dazzlingly beautiful sister that shone alone.

'I'm like that too.'

Shiny eyes as embroidered precious emeralds, with silky hair that enriches the heart, and a white, beautifully radiant skin that does not see the sunlight.

The beauty with a porcelain-like complexion, and a bright smile, it was enough to draw the heart of the Imperial prince.

Marquis Sperado Marquis and Marchioness dearly loved and cared for Eli, and Eli shone more brilliantly as a part of their love.

The three people seemed like a really friendly family. A perfect family without a spot of impurities.

Leslie always had to look at them from a distance.

'I want to be loved that way too.'

But it was only a hopeless wish, Leslie knew it so well.

***

"..."

I saw a familiar room with a familiar ceiling when I opened my eyes.

Leslie's room was the narrowest and smallest attic room Maquis Sperado owned.

The smell of mold and dust reaches the nose, and it made a sense of reality come.

You lived. You survived.

Leslie repeatedly blinked her eyes and tears started flowing. It was a horrible experience, and she did not want to suffer it again.

And Leslie certainly realized this.

'No one really thought I was part of the family.'

Tears flowed and the pillow was wet, and soon the sound of the whirling flowed out through the small lips.

She tried to hold it in, but sounds came out while Leslie had her face buried in the pillow.

How long has she been trying. In order not to ruin the Sperado's name, how much she stroked to get closer to Eli and to meet her father and mother's expectation.

All hope and all the expectations I have borne have been shattered, my heart was so sad.

Sacrifice. That's what they called her.

Lelie looked at her hands without understanding. She put her fingernails in a stone bridge so they were all broken.

And there was a throbbing part in the back of her hand.

She could see that there was a bruise even if she did not look in the mirror.

That was the mark Marquis Sperado put on her when he pushed her into the fire.

Leslie whispered to all the pain and injury.

'You are not a child.' she said.

She wanted to deny it, but there was no way to do so, and the hopeless Leslie buried her face in the pillow and shed a tear.

A sad cry came through the door, but nobody came to her room.

She cried alone for a long time, crying and crying, and after the tears were shed dry, Leslie lifted her head.

It was time to choose. Whether you want to stay here with your family or live a different life.

The answer was already there.

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