Seeing me dazed, my foster mother, Marlene Stanley grabbed my hand, comforting me, "Cecilia, what's wrong? From now on, you and Susana are both my daughters."
I tried to pull my hand away, but they took my actions as displeasure.
My brother stormed in from outside, not even asking a question before accusing Susana. "Did you bully Cecilia the moment you came back? Don't you dare throw your weight around! Cecilia is my sister!"
They protected me, fearing I'd be upset by Susana's return.
Onlookers praised Matthew and Marlene for their generosity, treating me, the fake daughter, as their own.
The Stanley family welcomed Susana but abandoned her in the back courtyard. The maids and servants, following their masters' lead, treated her poorly.
"Don't worry, everything is still yours, even Silas," my brother reassured me.
"Really?" I sneered, meeting his gaze.
Susana was the true daughter, and the betrothal was between the Stanley and Conway families.
The bride had to be the blood of the Stanley family, and I was not.
That evening, they hosted a banquet for Susana.
I smelled a unique rose scent on her. It was the finest fragrance in the capital, more valuable than gold.
It was heavy on her. The atmosphere was tense, but my brother instinctively gave Susana a piece of meat.
"My hand slipped. Cecilia, have a drumstick," he said, putting a large drumstick in my bowl.
I said nothing, and they were all worried about my discomfort.
In the next moment, one after another, they collapsed. The poison from the black market worked quickly.
They were poisoned within moments, slumped over the table.
I stood up and started cutting off Susana's butterfly birthmark right in front of them.
Her pupils dilated, and blood spurted out.
"You ungrateful wretch, what are you doing?"
"Shut up!" I said, coldly smiling as I brought the knife down. "Why bring back a daughter who should have died? Father, mother, brother, don't you agree?"
I killed them all and thoughtfully hung each corpse in the corridor.
This scene was something I had seen when I was eight.
I laughed.
Silas and the others were terrified by my laughter, breaking down and asking why.
"Silas, a person who killed her mother and sister is naturally evil. Why do you ask?" I looked at him, my eyes filled with complex emotions.