Watching the two figures leave, Celitia let out a long breath.
Getting rid of those two was truly not easy.
Offending Sophia was just that—an offense. Anyway, the high and mighty princess and herself, the unwelcome eldest daughter of a viscount, would never have any meaningful interaction.
Her mood for sweeping disappeared entirely. Rubbing her temples, Celitia slowly walked back.
"Lily!"
A gentle female voice suddenly called from behind, using Celitia's nickname.
Softening her expression slightly, Celitia stopped and turned around.
"Luna..."
The girl who called out to Celitia was named Luna, the daughter of Celitia's nanny. She was a few months older than Celitia, and the two had always been very close.
Luna hurried over, took off her outer garment, and draped the still-warm clothing over Celitia's shoulders.
"Lily, you fell into water some days ago and your body still hasn't recovered, right? Now with the frost and heavy dew, you actually came out early in the morning to sweep. What if your illness gets worse?"
Luna's eyes were full of concern as she couldn't help but scold Celitia.
"Sweeping is something I should be doing. You're the young lady of the house; you shouldn't be doing such rough work. What Young Master Oral said that day was just out of anger, you can't take it seriously."
Celitia shook her head, her voice calm:
"I'm not the young lady of the house, and what Oral said wasn't out of anger... You should understand this, Luna."
Celitia was the daughter of Viscount Herbert and his first wife, while Oral was born to the second wife, the only son of the family and Celitia's younger brother.
Oral had inherited his father's blond hair and his mother's green eyes, combining the best features of both parents. As their only son, he naturally received all their love.
Even if he asked for the stars in the sky, Viscount Herbert would find a way to get them for him.
Celitia was completely the opposite of Oral.
She didn't resemble either parent much, and her hair and eye color were completely different from theirs.
Her light ashen gray curly hair with a cool tone could barely be explained by her mother's brown hair.
But those misty purple eyes were extremely rare throughout the entire Kingdom of Lansca.
Viscount Herbert suspected that his wife had been unfaithful, often speaking harshly to her, and he found everything about Celitia objectionable.
Lady Herbert's health was already poor, and after years of accumulated depression, she passed away when Celitia was only two years old.
After his first wife's death, Viscount Herbert married a new wife. The stepmother naturally rejected Celitia, a child without blood relation, and was particularly unkind to her.
Under these circumstances, Celitia could never have a normal growing environment.
Her father despised her, her stepmother scorned her, and the attitude of the master and mistress affected almost everyone in the household.
Not only did her brother often push, hit, and scold her, but even the servants didn't take her seriously.
Celitia had survived until now thanks to a few loyal servants left by her mother who protected her with their lives. Her nanny and Luna treated her like their own daughter and sister.
Hearing Celitia's words and recalling the many injustices over the years, Luna's eyes immediately reddened.
Luna threw her arms around Celitia, holding her tightly, and began to cry with intermittent sobs:
"If your mother knew how much you've suffered since she left, she would be heartbroken..."
Celitia felt somewhat awkward; she wasn't yet accustomed to her body and instinctively avoided contact with others.
Luna was good in every way, except that she was too emotionally sensitive. The slightest thing would make her empathize deeply, and then she would hold Celitia and cry her eyes out.
Celitia had no choice but to pat Luna's back repeatedly, trying to calm her emotions.
"Don't cry, Luna. I'm fine now. They won't hurt me anymore."
The former Celitia had desperately craved family affection and harbored many fantasies about those people... but she was different.
Hearing this, Luna cried even harder: "Wuuu... my poor Lily..."
"Ah, Luna..." Celitia became more helpless, patting her back while trying hard to change the subject.
"By the way, is Aunt Rebecca feeling better?"
Rebecca was Luna's mother and Celitia's nanny.
Recently, due to weather changes, Rebecca had fallen ill and had been bedridden for several days.
"After taking the medicine you gave her, Mom said she felt much better, and even her old ailments seemed to improve quite a bit."
Luna wiped away her tears, curiosity appearing on her face. "Lily, where did you buy your medicine? It's so amazing!"
"I'm glad it worked," Celitia smiled. "I bought some herbs from the pharmacy and, using knowledge from books, figured out how to mix them myself."
Celitia's words were half-true and half-false.
The Herbert household did indeed have many books, but that wasn't where Celitia had learned her skills.
When she first arrived in this world, Celitia had developed an interest in alchemy and spent much of her youth on it.
In this world, alchemy didn't just refer to the narrow concept of "turning non-gold substances into gold," but had a much broader meaning.
Anything involving "transformation of matter" could be categorized as alchemy.
The creation of medicines had been within Celitia's scope of study back then.
But she couldn't tell Luna the truth about this, including her previous knowledge of alchemy, which she glossed over by saying she had "read it in books."
"Lily is still so smart, unlike me with my slow mind. Even though you taught me to read, I still can't seem to learn properly."
Luna gently stroked her head.
"By my count, you'll soon be sixteen, reaching the age of marriage. Once your marriage is arranged, I'll beg the master to allow me to accompany you."
"Luna, I don't plan to marry."
Celitia felt awkward for a moment. She had never thought about such things; the word seemed truly frightening when applied to herself.
"However, I am indeed preparing to leave home. If you and Aunt Rebecca are willing, I'll definitely find a way to take you both away from here as well."
"Really?"
Luna's face showed longing.
"Will we be able to do what we want, just as you said?"
Celitia knew that Luna loved flowers and had always dreamed of opening a small flower shop in some corner.
"Yes," Celitia gently held Luna's hand. "In the future, we can do whatever we want."
Just as she finished speaking, an arrogant voice suddenly came from not far behind them:
"Do whatever you want? Like mother, like daughter, I'd say. You're probably planning to use that pretty face of yours to seduce several people, hoping to become some upper-class nobleman's mistress to improve your social standing, aren't you?"
"Young Master Oral!" Luna's face changed dramatically.
Celitia turned around and, sure enough, saw a golden-haired boy about thirteen or fourteen years old standing behind her, arms crossed, his face full of disdain.
It was her brother, Oral.