#27. I’m Sorry

“Partanie!”

Having finished his rationalization, Taran called out the name that somehow felt unfamiliar on his tongue with a bright smile.

“Y-Your Highness the Grand Duke!”

“Lord Taran!”

“We pay our respects to Your Highness……!”

Only then did the servants in the bedroom recognize the two Dragonias and kneel, bowing their heads. The maid who had been feeding porridge to the lady did the same.

“……”

Partanie, who had been blankly opening her mouth, slowly turned her head.

The first thing visible was her eyes.

Blue like other Dragonias, but with a faint pink tinge toward the center of the iris that appeared purple depending on the angle—mysterious and enchanting eyes.

Her upturned eyes looked both lovely and dignified like a cat’s, and her distinct eyebrows leading to her straight nose filled her small face that resembled a quail’s egg.

Her abundant blue-purple hair cascaded like waves down her deer-like long, elegant neck, wrapping around her thin, almost emaciated body.

Like a delicately crafted glass doll, she gave off a precarious atmosphere as if she might break at the slightest touch.

Taran hesitated.

‘Was the child…… always like this?’

The girl, extremely beautiful yet equally fragile-looking, felt strangely unfamiliar.

Taran suddenly realized that he had never properly looked directly at his youngest sister, the one called “Partanie,” face to face like this.

‘……No, I have.’

The first time…… when Father brought her. Taran remembered the small silhouette in the Grand Duke’s arms.

Even then, Partanie had been small and delicate, but when all eyes turned toward her, she seemed to shrink even smaller, curling up as if bewildered.

Moreover, her poorly groomed hair was so abundant that it practically buried its owner.

‘Our eyes met during that time.’

It was when he had been staring indifferently, thinking, what a strange-looking child.

Between the blue-purple hair hanging like grape vines, her eyes caught him.

They were the familiar blue color, but with a unique iris that spread a light red from the pupil outward.

The moment she saw him, Taran frowned.

Red eyes were the symbol of the Phoenix ducal family ruling the Southwest.

Of course, there were many people with red irises besides those from the Southwest Phoenix.

But in the Northwest Dragonia, red irises weren’t common, so Taran instinctively felt displeasure.

As if sensing his reaction, the child quickly lowered her head.

From then on, she couldn’t easily make eye contact with others. She didn’t even neatly arrange her disheveled hair that covered her vision.

That was all Taran remembered.

He was unaware that he had later scolded her, saying “What’s with that distracting appearance,” or that Partanie, unable to cover her eyes with her hair anymore, began to look at the floor when walking.

He didn’t know that people mocked her, clicking their tongues and saying, “Despite being the lady of Dragonia, she’s incomparably servile.”

He only thought that her current appearance, groomed by the servants’ hands, looked nice, and that the eyes he had once openly shown displeasure toward now possessed a unique beauty.

‘She should have looked like this all along.’

Objectively, Partanie was a pretty girl despite her sickly appearance.

Comparable to himself and his other siblings.

Why she never properly maintained such a lovely appearance, always looking shabby and miserable……

‘Ah, is this also because of Penelope?’

Yes, that must be it.

If Penelope tormented her to the point of openly trying to freeze her to death, how could she have had the energy to maintain her appearance?

Just as Taran was feeling slightly guilty at this new realization and resolving to “take good care of her from now on,” about to call out to Partanie—

“……away.”

The face that Taran had thought pretty just a second ago contorted with wariness.

“Stay away from me!”

Taran flinched, having expected Partanie to smile brightly and be delighted at their arrival.

With trembling hands, she gripped a blunt knife from the tray that had held her porridge as a makeshift weapon, and shouted sharply like a cat with its fur standing on end.

“What is it this time? Wasn’t tormenting me to death enough?”

The intangible words stabbed Taran’s heart like a blade. His chest tightened, and he stared at Partanie, unable to speak.

Her shoulders trembled violently with tension.

Her face didn’t hide an ounce of wariness.

Tears pooled in her eyes, clouded with anger, sadness, and shock.

At that moment—

‘Please abandon me.’

The desperate cry that Partanie had uttered when facing death echoed again in his mind.

‘Rather, kill me……’

Only then did Taran realize, as if struck by a blunt object to the back of his head.

The person the dying girl had rejected and pushed away until the very end was none other than themselves.

‘Wh…… why?’

Taran’s first reaction to this realization was bewilderment. This wasn’t the Partanie he remembered.

‘Brother Taran!’

The Partanie who would persistently follow him, trying to exchange even a single word despite his refusal to properly acknowledge her.

The child who would sparkle her large eyes with undisguised joy whenever their gazes happened to meet.

His youngest sister who, no matter how much he pushed her away, played with her, or hurt her, would always approach him first like a roly-poly toy.

Like a newborn duckling imprinting on its protector, or a puppy following its owner, Partanie had clung to them so blindly and devotedly.

She had wanted to be loved so badly.

‘She definitely was like that……’

Yet now, such hostile eyes.

A face that seemed to hate them……

Unlike the bewildered Taran, the Grand Duke of Dragonia’s gaze deepened. He extended his hand toward Partanie and spoke calmly.

“Partanie, calm down.”

But it had the opposite effect.

“……Calm down?”

Partanie’s face contorted mercilessly.

Though she knew she could no longer deny it, she still didn’t want to accept that she had truly returned to Dragonia.

She wanted to reject it.

“What are you trying to take from me now?”

Because her past life had been so painful and Dragonia so terrible.

She already knew she couldn’t escape it.

Everything—that this was her reality, and that she now had to let go of her life as Yeon Bora and live as Partanie of Dragonia.

‘Actually, I knew from the beginning.’

Knowing everything but endlessly denying it had been a kind of defense mechanism. The belief that ‘returning here is just a nightmare, and I can go back to reality.’

Without such self-deception, she simply couldn’t endure……

Partanie gritted her teeth. Her tear-blurred vision trembled.

Until now, that thin defense mechanism had allowed her to deal with Taran, Penelope, and the people of Dragonia relatively calmly.

‘No matter what I do, this is just a dream. I’ll wake up soon.’

Because she had already died.

Because she had been reborn in another world.

That’s why she remained composed no matter what happened, and even when she felt unpleasant or angry, she wasn’t controlled by those emotions.

It was just a waste of energy to be seriously emotional about a mere dream. To escape hallucinations, one must maintain an attitude of detachment.

‘But it wasn’t a hallucination.’

It wasn’t a nightmare.

She had finally returned to the family from her past life who had driven her to death……

The terrifying reality she had only imagined was now right in front of her. Faced with a situation she didn’t want to acknowledge, Partanie lashed out.

“Is there something left to exploit from me?”

Please, someone tell me it’s a lie.

I lived well. In a completely different world where you didn’t exist.

I built a solid life where I never again yearned for anyone’s affection or depended on others’ hearts, standing firmly on my own.

So why, who dared to take that life away from me?

What did I do so wrong?

“After tormenting me until I died, that still wasn’t enough?”

The Dragonia clan who had exploited her to the bone, tormented her, and ultimately abandoned her even in the face of death.

Realizing that she had once again faced the family who had treated her affection more worthlessly than anyone else, Partanie lost all her previous composure and fell into a state of panic.

And she returned to the moment of death she had experienced in the snowy mountains.

The suffocating despair she felt while dying and the resentment that was more painful than death itself.

“Why are you doing this to me, what did I do so wrong, why did you go that far……!”

Plop, tears fell.

Faced with the sorrow emanating from the girl’s body, Taran unconsciously cried out.

“I…… I’m sorry!”

At that moment, Partanie flinched.

Seeing her reaction as if this was the correct answer, Taran poured out words hastily, as if relieved.

“Pe-Penelope…… I knew Aunt was treating you badly, I’m sorry I didn’t help you sooner.”

His speech was disorganized.

Taran didn’t even register the Grand Duke’s gaze. He wasn’t even aware of what he himself was saying.

“But from now on, this won’t happen again.”

However, he could feel Partanie’s gaze gradually turning toward him.

Yes, he should apologize for this first. How much must she have suffered and been frightened by Penelope to act like this?

“Penelope has been punished and imprisoned in the underground dungeon now……”

Taran, about to say that she would never torment her again, hesitated.

For some reason, his gaze gradually failed to meet Partanie’s and dropped lower.

‘Is that really all you think?’

Is your only mistake that you didn’t stop Penelope?

Unable to speak due to the whispers rising from deep within his heart, Taran fell silent.

It was then.

“So?”

A cold, mocking voice reached his ears.

“Penelope is the only culprit, and you were merely ignorant?”

Taran unconsciously raised his head.

The mysteriously beautiful eyes he had admired now gazed at him with an icy light.

“Don’t make me laugh.”