I Don't Trust My Twin Sister

“It’s been a while. Your Excellency, Duke Safeldrick. My name is Lawrence Ajstain.”

He was mesmerized by the way her beautiful black hair was slightly lifted to the side. Because it’s so beautiful? No, that was only for his wife. It was because he was embarrassed. Because she was not Ian, but a strange woman who got off the Berdian family’s carriage.

‘Fuck.’

An alarm bell rang in his head.

* * *

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. His Excellency, Duke Safeldrick, my name is Lawrence Ajstain.”

I looked at Duke Sapeldrick, who didn’t reply even though I greeted him gracefully. Why was he like that? I glanced back to see if something was strange. Ian, who had just gotten out of the wagon, approached me, tying the sleeves of his shirt. Ian also tilted his head and approached the veil and opened his mouth.

“It’s been a while. Duke Sapeldrick, hasn’t it been half a year?”

“Ah…”

Bale let out a low sigh, covered his face with his palms, and turned his head away. His gaze moved gently. At the end of his gaze, there was a beautiful woman dressed in splendor.

“Has Lady Nerdika been there too? It’s been a while.”

Even though Ian greeted her with a soft smile, Nerdika also stood still. Why were they like that? I rolled my eyes and looked at Ian, but he too just shook his head. Ian opened his mouth again.

“Do you remember what we talked about in a letter a while ago?”

“Correspondence? Correspondence what?”

“It’s a letter saying that there’s someone I’d like to introduce to the Duke.”

Duke Sapeldrick drew in his breath. He turned his head to look at him and narrowed his brows. His slightly crumpled expression and Lady Nerdika’s enchanted face looked exactly the same. Like father like daughter, their surprised faces were the same.

“That-that person was the Viscountess of Ajstain.”

“Well, that’s right. Haven’t you met Duke Sapeldrick before? Viscount Ajtain said so…”

“I met you. It was about 10 years ago. I was a very young girl back then…”

“It’s because it was 10 years ago. For now, the weather is cold, so I wonder if we can go in and share the details.”

Bale looked at me and Ian with a puzzled expression, then glanced at Nerdika before clearing his throat. Why was he like that?

“Yes, yes.”

Ian moved his feet following Duke Sapeldrick, who entered first. I tried to follow him too, but I turned my head away because I was worried about the young lady standing behind him. I wanted to do that, so I approached and tried to talk to her, but Ian’s voice was heard.

“Let’s go, Lawrence.”

“Yes? Ah…”

After hesitating for a moment at Ian’s call, I glanced back at the young lady and nodded. Well, it would be fine. I moved towards the mansion.

I walked down the hallway after entering the mansion with an antique feel. It was evident that he had worked very hard to prepare for the guest. Well, since the guest was the Grand Duke of the Duchy of Berdian, I wondered if it was natural. The mansion was so wide that the hallway leading to the drawing room was quite long. Duke Sapeldrick hesitated for a moment, holding on to the parlor door. When Ian asked why, the Duke turned his head to look at me and said,

“…Will the young lady come too?”

“Yes. I have something to tell you… Ah.”

As if he was asking something like that, he closed his mouth while answering naturally. I almost didn’t notice. Well, it would be embarrassing for me to hear the politics and top-secret matters of the top officials of the empire. Besides, the focus of the day, the military base, was one of the top secrets. Not being a military officer, I couldn’t intervene in the story. Besides, I wasn’t here looking for information. I’m here to talk about business. I didn’t want to get a headache from hearing things I shouldn’t have heard. So, with a smile, I took a step back and shook his hand.

“I can wait until the two of you have finished talking.”

I smiled lightly at his nod and took another step back. Duke Sapeldrick was a man famous for his brain. In fact, the business of the Duke of Sapeldrick’s family was quite large. He was resourceful and talented, so I tried several times to make deals, but it didn’t work out. The reason was simple. This was because most of the businesses that the Safeldrick family reached out to were related to the military.

Safeldrick’s business was to manufacture combat rations and armour, and to develop new weapons. As a result, ordinary aristocrats could not participate, and they tended to make contracts with the shamans or the country. Not too long ago, I heard a story from Ian that was pretty heartbreaking. He asked him out of the blue if he had any plans to expand the business. At first he was like, ‘Ian, no one else?’ I was surprised. He didn’t seem to be good at business at all, so I just skipped it, but what was this? It’s a business related to the Sapeldrick family. I immediately accepted it on the spot and came to visit them today. The Duke of Sapeldrick was someone my grandfather knew privately, but he still lacked information. That’s why I had no choice but to be careful with my behavior as much as possible.

“Miss Lawrence…?”

He said he was leading me to the guest room, but when I was following the butler, someone called me from behind. When he turned his head, he saw a young lady with a downcast expression.

“Ah, Lady Nerdika.”

I had only heard rumors about her. What was it? I remembered that it was a rumor about a man, but I couldn’t remember what it was. I want to remember only things related to business…

“What are you doing?”

Still, I knew that Duke Safeldrick’s love for his family was extraordinary. Besides, being his first daughter, how pampered she must have been. I didn’t want to look like a bad person, so I smiled broadly.

Nerdika looked at me hesitantly and carefully opened her mouth.

“Can we talk for a minute?”

Conversation? What kind of conversation? I stared at Nerdika’s face and nodded my head.

“A cup of tea, please.”

And walked behind Nerdika, who led her to her own room. What did she want to talk about?

Nerdika turned the doorknob as if she had arrived in her room, giving light instructions to the servant next to her.

“Come on in.”

I followed into her room as she entered first. It was a pretty fancy room. It’s called splendid to express it well, but it was the extreme of extravagance to express it as it was. My God, why did she put so many jewels on? The frame in which the picture hung was also set with jewels. All kinds of luxuries were on the jewelry box or on the table, as if to show off. Come to think of it, I had never been in a room with girls my age. If so, how about Ersia?

I was always used to meeting and treating people because of her business, so I rarely hung out with my peers. In general, it was very rare for young people to step into the business front.

‘I didn’t have any friends.’

When she thought about it, there were no people around me that I could call friends. Beralt and Ercia were all in a similar age. Bitterness came over me at the thought that there was no such thing inas my life.

“Sit down. You don’t have to stand idly by.” 

Nerdika’s voice made me free from my thoughts and I lowered my head. All over the body was exuding the tea that had grown preciously.

I slowly sat down on the opposite chair while staring at Nerdika.

“I don’t know if it will fit in your mouth. It’s quite rare.”

“I’ll have a good drink.”

I smiled, raised my teacup, and took a sip. Then I lightly sniffed the scent and set it down on the table.

“Is it the rooibos tea leaves that grow on Cecil Island? The color is unique.”

Rooibos was one of those teas that had a slightly cloudy red color. The taste was so-so, but it was widely used as a high-end luxury item because it was grown far away and returned. Some people said they liked it very fanatically, but the ladies didn’t like it because of the color. It was mainly used for entertainment by knights and high-ranking officials. I knew because I personally picked and prepared over 30 kinds of tea leaves to greet guests.

“…How did you do that?”

“Yes?”

“Oh, no.”

What, just? It was a sharp voice, but as I rolled my eyes, Nerdika slipped away from my gaze. I felt a strange sense of dejavu. It was the first time I had seen her, but somehow it felt familiar. What is this, what is this strange discomfort.  I forced my way out of the unpleasant feeling and raised my voice calmly.

“Why did you call me all of a sudden?”

“Wait.”

She raised her hand to block me and started staring at my face. What was this, I frowned slightly. I felt so rude. Then Nerdika nodded her head and spoke out.

“Please speak.”

“…What just happened?”

“Ah, fortune-telling is my hobby.”

“What’s the point?”

What’s the point? Was it a point to talk about yourself that you cut off other people’s words? The moment I wondered what kind of absurd treatment there was, Nerdika came up with an answer.

“Yes. If you look roughly at what kind of person that person is, it will come out…”

Nerdika was the type of human I hated the most. This has happened before. It was a pretty important contract, but I was told that it would be canceled the same day. I hurriedly visited and asked why, and the answer was that today’s divination was not good. How stupid it was!No matter how superstitious it may be, he never gave up his will, and in the end, the contract he had prepared for more than three months ended up being a piece of toilet paper. After that, I developed a very strong distrust of divination.

“Then how do I look?”

I wanted to get up right away, say nothing, and go out, but Ian’s face was on the stage and I had a contract, so I decided to endure it. However, as if to test my patience, Nerdika proudly raised her nose.

“They say you are strong.”

“Strong?”

“Yes. In other words, should I say a little cheeky?

Instantly, my expression contorted. To say that I looked strong among the noble ladies meant, in other words, that I was ruthless. No matter how good I was at controlling my emotions, it was something I couldn’t get used to hearing from strangers in front of me as saying that I was arrogant or overbearing. Seeing this crumpled, she hurriedly spoke.

“Ah, of course, it’s not that the young lady is like that, but the fortune telling says that. Hoho, don’t misunderstand.”

No misunderstanding, I was sure it was just one. That this woman was not very fond of me. It was the same with the tea. I’ve been watching closely since before, but Nerdika didn’t drink a single sip of tea. Of course, she didn’t really want to drink, but it was understandable if she was serving guests. But no one served rooibos when young women met and chatted. Normally young ladies preferred tea that was sweeter, more beautiful in color, and more fragrant. So I wondered if she wanted to drink it herself, but Nerdika didn’t even put the teacup to her mouth. I mean, it was for show.

Expensive teas were widely available. Although rooibos was a rare tea leaf, there were many more precious and valuable teas than this. But there was only one reason why she made rooibos tea.

‘She must be trying to provoke me.’

Maybe if I was confused because I didn’t know this tea, I would have thought of lowering it by saying, “I don’t know about this.” Besides, what is a dot? 

‘Let’s stay still.’

Speaking of dots, something came to mind. Pretty famous, that incident. I slightly rolled my eyes and examined Nerdika’s face. She was smiling softly, but she was by no means friendly towards me.

Nerdika, Nerdika Before returning, I memorized all the names of the Duchy while researching about Duke Sapeldrick. However, there was a reason why the name of Nerdika, which had no special advantages, was familiar. Since she inherited the family, she has never been particularly interested in society, so I didn’t know exactly, but I’ve heard of her lady’s name, Nerdika.

‘Incarnation of Jealousy’

It was a very popular name. There was an incident with Nerdika that gave her such a grotesque nickname, which revealed her maniacal obsession. She had a Count, a young and promising man at the time, who she threatened with falling if he did not marry her.

As it is now, and 10 years later, Duke Safeldrick was still holding the real power at the center of power, so the incident did not become a big problem. However, the incident made Nerdika notorious in the social circles. Besides, she was Nerdika, and she went around looking at the fortune-tellers. I didn’t know what was good about her, but she always had a unique ability to make people feel bad by doing something bad. Rumor has it that even when the third daughter of the Sapeldrick family celebrated her coming-of-age, she set the date for the divination. The coming-of-age ceremony was usually celebrated on the birthday of the debutant, but she dared to pick a different day. Yes, the socialite Nerdika was quite famous for causing such and such incidents. She was so focused on her business that even I, who had no interest in it, knew about it.

As facts came to mind one by one, I could guess why she called me here. My eyebrows twitched. This woman, she’s looking at me as a love rival.

“I’m interested in divination too. May I take a look at Nerdika’s cup?”

“Oh, is the young lady like that too?”

As if to her surprise, her eyes lit up and she put on a look of satisfaction. Did she like that I was acting kind? Well, how many people had such a hobby? I smiled and leaned my back slightly, examining Nerdika’s face carefully.

“You look taller when opening your mouth.”

“…mouth?”