Chapter 1

“Syri, what are you doing? Bring him to me now.”

“Syriana, please…!”

Shedding big drops of tears, the boy desperately grabbed my dress in sorrow, but I just threw a glance at him with lifeless eyes.

He just turned fourteen, but unlike others his age, the boy looked somehow mature and enigmatic. His dazzling purple eyes captivated everyone who met his eyes. Only the people in this house were the ones who stayed indifferent to his charm.

As if he had read their nonchalant expressions, the boy begged me again. It was such a and desperate sight as if his life depended on me.

“Please…”

“Syri, won’t you bring Agester before my eyes? He must be schooled, but he doesn’t seem to listen at all.”

Duke Melfort stared at me with her dark-gray eyes, which had the same color as her hair. Her overwhelmingly cold eyes reflected my face which looked similar to hers.

“Come on, my sweet daughter,” she said.

The lady had such charisma, overpowering someone with just the look in her eyes. She eventually became the duke because of such ability; it was not hard to see why the throne fell onto her, not her male siblings.

“Syriana, please… Please don’t send me to her.”

“Give up. You’ve done enough, Agester,” I replied, but Agester was still holding my dress tightly. I tried hard to pull my skirt hem out of his grip, but it didn’t come out an inch from his hand.

If I were him, I would just run away instead of grabbing someone else’s dress just to beg for help. Well, it would not always end up successful, but escaping from this situation would perhaps buy more time.

“Tsk tsk, my daughter is too tenderhearted,” said Duke Melfort, then she pointed her chin at Agester.

The servants, who seemed to have understood her intention, began to approach our sides.

Tap, tap, tap–their quick footsteps clicked and clacked unusually loud across the cold marble floor. The closer they got, the more Agester trembled in fear like a leaf. His fair white skin looked paler than usual.

Unfortunately, no one here would sympathize with him. That was because Duke Melfort only allowed people with similar viciousness as her in her vicinity–those who had no sympathy and were filled with sadistic thoughts.

“Mother, Agester doesn’t look good today. Why don’t we proceed with it later?”

“Doesn’t look good? Then the brainwashing session would work better today than usual,” replied Duke Melfort. She clapped as if brainwashing Agester was going to be better than she had expected. She let out a peal of unbearably cheerful laughter, a stark contrast from what was currently happening.

It was truly disgusting.

The actual message content Duke Melfort indoctrinated Agester through the brainwashing session was as follows:

● Obey the members of this family.

● And fall in love with Syriana, which was me.

They were all rubbish. No matter how much I got used to hearing those things every day, I couldn’t help myself frowning at those ridiculous rules. It was a painful endeavor for a little boy to undergo but was still inevitable for our family.

When I turned my eyes to Agester, the room of illusion came into view. It was a place particularly made for Agester to brainwash him every once a week.

Custom-made by Duke Melfort, the scented candle inside the room caused severe hallucinations in a person's head, enough to melt a person's brain. Thus, Agester should be confined in that room for a long time but the confinement shouldn’t take place too often.

The servants came right under our noses. As they approached me, they showed respect and courtesy. Then they grabbed Agester’s arms violently.

“No…! No!!!”

He struggled to pull his arms away from their grip, but the more he fought, the harsher the servants treated him.

The duke's servants didn’t give Agester a break, they just subdued him. Their merciless hands seized Agester’s head and shoved it onto the floor; his arms were pulled back so that he wouldn’t be able to budge at all.

As they performed those ruthless actions, Agester reacted more fiercely.

“Ouch!”

“Syriana…?”

Agester’s arm shortly escaped from their brutal grips and swept my ankle. My brows furrowed in surprise, which bewildered Agester.

All his attention was on me after I moaned for a second. The servants didn’t miss that chance. They overwhelmed Agester’s entire body and tied his arms firmly with a rope.

As if he was astounded by the fact that he hit me, Agester calmed down in a flash. The servants shoved his face down on the floor and took oppressive action to stop him from moving around. In that process, a few strands of Agester’s silky black hair fell off his scalp and scattered on the floor. All the while, his gaze was still fixed on me.

As I kept watching his pitiful glance, I felt guilty and averted my eyes away from him.

“Be mindful of bringing him to the room.”

Leaving that remark, I turned my back on the commotion.

There was nothing I could do for him. What else could a fourteen-year-old girl do in this situation?

It had been three years already since Agester got brainwashed. I wasn’t sure whether it worked or not, but at some point, he began to blush whenever he saw me. The process to make him fall in love with ‘Syriana’ might have worked, but other procedures didn't go so well since he wasn’t obeying our family at all.

Sometimes, it seemed better for Agester to completely get brainwashed. If that was the case, these cruel sessions wouldn’t continue anymore. Ironically, I wished brainwashing Agester didn't work until the end at the same time.

When Duke Melfort completely washed his brain, he would be living as her human puppet forever.

So exhausting…

Walking for quite a while as I was lost in thought, I finally arrived at my room. My mind needed to go blank, so I lay down on the bed. This warmth I felt inside the comforter didn’t belong to the coldness dominating this palace.

Staying in this room made me feel like I was outside Duke Melfort’s territory. Surrounded by warm, fuzzy feelings, I soon fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

‘Hmm…’

Something warm seemed to tickle my ankle. I took my foot out of ‘the thing’ annoyedly, but it grabbed my ankle again. Nonetheless, ‘the thing’ kept gripping my feet so I opened my eyes in the end.

“... Agester?”

He was the one who kept disturbing my ankle. As if my foot was a precious treasure, he held it with both hands.

“What are you doing?”

“... I’m sorry, Syriana.”

“Huh?”

“You were hurt earlier because of me.”

Oh… I guess he was talking about how he accidentally scratched my ankle while he struggled to get out of the servants’ grips.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

Perhaps the brainwashing went well?, Agester overreacted as if I could die from pricking myself on a thorn. He kept massaging my ankle gently with a concerned expression.

Seeing Agester treat me like a critical patient made me smirk since I never felt any pain. I rather felt dumbfounded. He should be worried about himself, not me. I couldn’t stop sneering at him with ridiculous eyes.

“Enough. It’s just a little scratch. Stop overreacting,” I responded, taking my ankle out of his grip.

As if he still had some lingering feelings about it, he couldn’t take his eyes off my ankle.

“I'm sorry, Syri. It's my fault,” Agester apologized, unusually calling my nickname. Then he began to shed beads of tears from his eyes.

The puzzling sight made me flinch. Why would a victim apologize to the perpetrator? It was such a weird situation.

“... I’m sorry, so please don’t leave me.”

Kneeling under my feet, Agester begged from the bottom of his heart. He continued to apologize and pleaded that I shouldn’t abandon him.

It looked so pitiful since Agester’s feelings weren’t real; they weren't his true emotions, a result of brainwashing. Agester feared getting thrown away from me because he believed he was in love with me.

Being in real love and just believing it was different. If he didn’t trust that he’s in love anymore, there wouldn’t be any feelings left for me.

Having those complicated thoughts in my mind, I patted his head. My fingers ran through the strands of his smooth, silky black hair. Enjoying the gentle touch around my hand, I calmed him down who was crying in sorrow.

“Why don’t you sit beside me instead of doing that under my feet?” I asked.

Agester strained his shivering legs, stood up, and sat beside me. He was as obedient as a well-trained dog.

Perching on my bed, Agester stared at my red eyes with his blurry, glassy eyes. Dwelling upon my face with a wistful glance, he soon smiled with his eyes knitted into a crescent shape.

At that moment, time seemed to have stopped. The grin on his gorgeous face almost captivated me. I thought I got used to it, but maybe I was wrong. Every time I looked at his appearance, I always wondered how handsome he would become when he grew up.

“Syriana, do you mind if I hold your hands?”

“Do as you wish.”

As soon as I gave my consent, Agester quickly grabbed my hands. His big palm surrounded my slender hands, then Agester loosened up his grip carefully and cautiously, just in case he would hurt my hand.

Touching my hands, he suddenly lowered his head and gently kissed the back of my hand.

“Syriana,” he called, lifting his head up to look at me.

Agester's blurred eyes made me doubt if he would ever escape brainwashing one day. His loving glance confused my mind and provoked mixed feelings.