She's Not Our Daughter! Ch 43

A Confrontation Between Two Men with Sierra in the Middle

An hour passed inside the carriage. Sierra sat on pins and needles. Abel's energy level remained incredibly high.

[Abel] "Noona and I are incredibly close!"

[Cassius] "Ah, yes."

[Abel] "How close, you ask? Back in Sufe Village, where we lived together, goodness! People even mistook us for a newlywed couple! Haha!"

We weren't like that, Abel......!

Abel, the kind and lovely puppy, unintentionally triggered Cassius' jealousy. Veins bulged on his temple.

Sierra prided herself on her lack of tact, yet his irritation stood out clearly.

He shouldn't emphasize that.......

To a cute puppy like Abel, the idea of someone hating him was impossible to comprehend. Because he liked Sierra, he wanted to become friends with Cassius, who shared a past connection with her.

Come to think of it, my sister mentioned that Abel is a puppy shapeshifter who failed the magic tower guard dog tryouts.

He lost the guard dog spot because he loved people too much. Sierra recalled Abel's past from a video recording her sister once showed her to help manage him. It captured his days as a young puppy.

[Guard] "Abel! Bite!"

[Abel] "N-No! The thief might get hurt!"

[Guard] "You're a magic tower guard dog, and that guy is a spy! You have to bite!"

[Abel] "B-But still....... People shouldn't get hurt! I'll do it as painlessly as possible......."

The video ended with the guard sighing at the whimpering Abel. However, her sister also mentioned that the current Abel differed entirely from back then. She added that she took in Abel after his failure, raised and educated him, and gave him strict mental training so Sierra could rest easy.

The mental training my sister gave him didn't work well. His true nature remains unchanged.

Sierra pressed her hand to her forehead and shook her head. Even back then, Abel was something else.

[Abel] "Ah, why are you so quiet? Haha, it's a funny story, right?"

[Cassius] "......It is amusing."

Cassius turned his gaze toward Sierra. When Cassius ignored him, Abel let out a deflated sigh and stared out the window with a disappointed face.

Sierra's gaze clouded over the completely cheerful Abel.

[Abel] "Oh, right! Should we shake hands?"

He extended his hand toward Cassius. Cassius looked down at the hand and curled one corner of his mouth. It was an undeniable sneer, but…….

[Abel] "Oh? You're smiling?"

The cheerful Abel grinned and shook his hand several times.

Abel is strong.......

To Sierra, who continuously monitored their exchange, Abel currently cut the figure of the absolute strongest being in this world.

[Abel] "Haha! Seeing your smile brings a smile to my lips too. Right, Noona?"

Cassius spoke, completely unable to endure it any longer.

[Cassius] "Noona?"

[Abel] "Yes? What about it?"

Abel shrugged, entirely oblivious to Cassius' feelings. He clapped his hands together and shouted.

[Abel] "Is the title 'Noona' strange?"

[Cassius] "You two sound close."

[Abel] "Ah, yes! We are incredibly close! Hehe!"

An imaginary tail wagged behind his back. Meanwhile, sparks flew from Cassius' eyes.

Danger loomed. The vehicle held a time bomb five seconds from exploding?

But Sierra guessed wrong. Cassius closed and opened his eyes, let out a long sigh, and murmured.

[Cassius] "While I was gone......."

His voice trembled, and he slumped. Abel asked back with a puzzled face.

[Abel] "Pardon?"

[Sierra] "Cassius?"

Sierra offered a gentle warning, worried that a grit-toothed Cassius might cause an accident by striking Abel.

Cassius stared at her with a pained face and murmured.

[Cassius] "It is nothing, Sierra. I was merely thinking how grateful I am that he looked after you."

His trembling voice and sigh-like tone exposed his inner suffering. This time, even the famously tactless Abel blinked in confusion.

[Abel] "Uh...... well......."

[Cassius] "When Sierra endured a grueling period."

[Abel] "Yes! I indeed helped Noona a lot when she faced those hard times!"

Abel nodded eagerly, keeping up the friendly tone. Sierra wore a puzzled expression as the two played off each other.

[Sierra] "Wait, my life wasn't hard."

Abel checked Cassius' reaction and whispered carefully to Sierra.

[Abel] "Noona, you struggled when your rent fell behind, and you had to go burn that old man Scrooge's mustache."

[Sierra] "Ah."

Sierra snapped her gaze toward Cassius. Those words definitely reached his ears.

How embarrassing!

Instead of making further excuses, she scratched her temple and resolved to give up.

[Sierra] "Well, yes, I suppose that counts as a hard time......."

Abel grinned and nodded vigorously at her words, while Cassius' expression grew even more grim.

At Cassius' sullen face, Abel blinked and spoke cautiously.

[Abel] "But you know, looking at you two now, Noona and the Duke look great together!"

[Cassius] "......What?"

Meeting Cassius' troubled eyes, Abel spoke cheerfully.

[Abel] "You two match perfectly!"

At that moment, Cassius suddenly whipped his gaze toward Sierra. His eyes locked with hers, who stared at him blankly.

Sierra hurriedly turned toward the window. Her ears burned bright red.

This is crazy.......

While Sierra and Cassius fell silent and Abel kept chattering, the carriage gradually slowed down. The sound of horse hooves faded away. Sierra lifted the window curtain.

A signpost reading "Sebor Village" appeared alongside a strange, exotic village landscape.

They finally arrived at the village where her sister had vanished.

I will find my sister now!

Determination flared in her eyes.

---

Abel headed west, while Cassius and Sierra headed east. They estimated the entire search would take about an hour.

The east side has a walking path and scattered houses.

Just entering the walking path, Sierra stared down at the map she brought along. Sebor Village was exceptionally small, even more compact than Sufe Village.

They said this place is famous for producing mana stones.

Sebor Village gained its fame not because it belonged to the imperial family, but because its local specialty was mana stones. The imperial palace prioritized securing both mana stones and mages from the Magic Tower above all else, so the Crown Prince's designation of Sebor Village as his private estate followed a natural progression.

It is suspicious that my sister disappeared in this village, though.

Her older sister, Amille, possessed immense magical power that rendered such stones useless.

Holding the detection potion, Sierra psyched herself up internally and looked at Cassius.

[Sierra] "Ah, Hanael's mother went missing, so I need to find her using this. It's a trace detection potion."

[Cassius] "Very well."

He looked as though he had much to say, but he kept his mouth shut and nodded.

Sierra lowered her head and let the potion fall to the ground, drop by drop.

If her sister had passed through this area recently, the potion would react to her mana, sending up a whirlwind of mist the moment it touched the ground.

Since there's no reaction, she either never came here or visited a long time ago.

But there was no need to worry. Sierra clenched her fists and strode deeper into the path.

They marched deep into the forest. Cassius also held a potion bottle, scattering drops around them as they walked. Yet, no trace of her sister appeared, and Sierra's anxiety steadily mounted.

[Cassius] "Take it easy. We still have plenty of time. Seeing you suffer like this...... breaks my heart."

He gently brushed back her stray hairs. His hesitant touch, filled with unsaid apologies, triggered a sense of déjà vu in Sierra.

He feels guilty again because of our conversation in the carriage earlier.

She raised her eyes, firmly grasped his hand, and grinned.

[Sierra] "I've been living perfectly fine, so don't worry about it. Just focus on helping me with what I need right now."

[Cassius] "All right."

[Sierra] "Good."

After wandering for a while longer, Sierra stopped walking as the sky darkened.

Cassius, who had silently assisted her without asking a single question, gripped the potion vial tightly, looked at Sierra, and murmured.

[Cassius] "Do you remember?"

He brought up an unexpected topic in a low voice.

[Cassius] "Our kiss."

She recalled a past she had completely buried. The memory of their kiss replayed in her mind.

It happened back when they chose to date...... after their one-night stand. Cassius had looked overjoyed, while a strange excitement gripped Sierra despite knowing she had to break up with him.

Only then did the walking path they once shared emerge from the depths of her distant memories.

[Sierra] "The kiss we shared while walking, you mean."

Five years ago, they walked along a path just like this one. They talked for a long time until they reached a deserted stretch. Coincidentally, a small festival took place nearby; as darkness fell, fireworks erupted in the distance.

[Cassius] "Should we kiss?"

[Sierra] "......What?"

Back then, he possessed an aggressive yet tender charm. He was an innocent, inexperienced man who couldn't even look her straight in the face. Yet, his gaze remained profoundly serious. Though poised to say, I won't kiss you if you dislike it, he suddenly set his lips and stepped closer.

[Cassius] "No, I am going to kiss you."

Back then, Sierra closed her eyes. Now, she blinked and closed them again.

Even with her eyes closed, his presence loomed over her as he stood perfectly still. She swallowed hard in the tense silence.

Why on earth did he bring this up right now......?

Surprisingly, she didn't dislike his sudden temptation. She squeezed her eyes shut, opened them, and looked up at him.

His lips slowly drew nearer. Unable to think of pulling away, Sierra opened her eyes involuntarily and fixed her gaze back on his lips.

The current situation brought them, quite unexpectedly, to the brink of a kiss. Sierra held her breath and began counting down internally.

5, 4, 3, 2.......

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