They Were Still Smearing Me After Death

“You gave it to me. Why do you want it back?”

Anna sounded displeased.

“Stop talking and bring it. I’ll wait downstairs. And bring the contract Stella prepared. Get it stamped with the company seal first.”

The elevator arrived.

Julian stepped inside.

“Make sure the project lead has been changed to my name.”

I didn’t follow him.

I stood outside, staring coldly.

The heavy doors slowly closed, shutting out that shameless face that made me want to vomit.

I returned to the hospital room.

“Stella.”

The duchess sat beside the bed and gently stroked the woman’s head.

Compassion filled her eyes.

“Don’t worry. I’ll find you the best doctors. From now on, you’re my goddaughter. For the rest of your life, if anyone dares hurt you, they’ll answer to me.”

My chest ached.

The kinder she was, the worse I felt.

I could only watch Julian use her.

I couldn’t do a thing.

“Your Grace!”

Pearl, who had followed us the whole way, finally lost her composure at the thought of the duchess taking me as a goddaughter.

“Stella isn’t my biological sister. She came from an orphanage. A filthy orphanage. Half the children there were born to women sleeping around with anyone who’d have them. Who knows what hereditary diseases they might have?”

“Shut your mouth!”

I wanted to tear it off her face.

She could insult me. I could treat it as a dog barking.

But how dare she insult my mother?

The duchess turned to her, her tone difficult to read.

“You seem to think very little of Stella’s background. If that’s how your family feels, why adopt her? You already had a son and a daughter.”

“I don’t know. That was my parents’ and my brother’s idea.”

Pearl moved shamelessly closer and slipped a hand around her arm.

“You don’t really know Stella.”

The attendant started forward to remove her.

A look from the duchess stopped her.

Those sea-blue eyes narrowed slightly.

Her expression shifted.

“Is that so? Then tell me.”

I drew closer too.

I wanted to hear what Pearl would accuse me of now.

She looked at “me” in the bed and bit her lip as if the words were painful to say.

“I don’t want to speak badly of my sister. Family problems should stay private. But I can’t bear to watch her fool you the way she’s fooled my brother.”

The duchess looked skeptical.

“Be specific. What has she done?”

Pearl sighed.

“She grew up in an orphanage. It’s understandable that she’s a little selfish and cold. When we were children, she used to bully me behind our parents’ backs. Take my toys. A few times, I woke in the middle of the night and found her standing beside my bed, staring at me.”

Her voice grew tremulous.

“She’d say she wished she were the only daughter in the family.”

She threw herself into the performance.

She even squeezed out a couple of aggrieved tears.

“I’ve always been softhearted. I felt sorry for her because of where she came from, so I let her have her way. I never imagined she’d be shameless enough to spend all those years secretly seducing my brother.”