Chapter 79: Reversal (1)

Dawn was breaking, and a pale glow seeped through the gaps in the curtains.

Mahina looked at the hazy, desolate sky outside, her chest feeling as heavy as a ball of water-soaked cotton.

She sighed softly, carefully moving the damp pillow to the nightstand and smoothing the wrinkles on the sheet.

Her head throbbed, as if someone were stirring a blunt instrument in her temples.

She rubbed her temples hard, trying to ease the dizziness and pain. After a deep sigh, she touched the red, swollen bags under her eyes.

‘Merlin.’

Just thinking of the name made her heart ache as if it were being put through a meat grinder.

Even so, Mahina still had things she had to do today.

Mahina sat before the vanity, looking at the woman in the mirror who was as haggard as a ghost, and sighed once more.

“I should reduce the swelling first… I’ll be laughed at if I look like this.”

She decided to get her emotions under control, reduce the puffiness around her eyes, and use makeup to conceal her flaws.

A slow, soft knock came from the door. Before Mahina could respond, the door opened.

It was Ruby.

Mahina’s gaze instantly turned cold, as if an ice wall had been erected between them.

“Why are you still coming here?”

Ruby looked at Mahina’s eyes, which were so swollen she could barely open them, and a flash of heartache crossed her features. However, she quickly lowered her eyes and bowed respectfully.

“Miss, did you not sleep well last night?”

“You don’t need to call me that anymore, and you don’t need to come back.”

After a simple cold compress treatment, Mahina picked up a comb. In the mirror, her hair was a tangled mess, much like her current life—impossible to untangle and difficult to set right.

“Let me help you.”

Mahina’s hand pulled away from Ruby’s touch. The teeth of the comb scraped across her scalp, causing a brief pang of pain.

“It is not necessary.”

“But…”

“There are no buts. I will soon no longer be the young lady of the Duke’s Family, so there is no need to serve me. You don’t have to look for me every day, and you don’t have to stay by my side.”

Ruby’s voice was very soft.

“The Duke likely won’t agree to severing ties.”

“Whether he agrees or not doesn’t matter. I was an adopted daughter from the start, and I don’t share their blood. Besides, severing ties is a one-sided matter. I don’t need his consent. It is a fact that I will abandon the name and never return to that house again.”

The room fell into a deathly silence.

Ruby was silent for a moment as she looked at Mahina, whom she had spent every day and night with.

“Even as a friend, can’t I comb your hair? Mahina?”

Mahina lowered her head, her fingers tightly gripping the edge of the dressing table. “You are one of the Talans. It is no longer appropriate for us to be close.”

Mahina had already decided to cut ties with the Talan family.

Since Ruby was a member of a family that had served the Talans for generations, she was naturally included on the list of people to be cut off.

“Then, at least for the last time, let me do your hair and makeup, Mahina.”

This time, Mahina did not refuse. Having just smoothed out her hair, she placed the comb gently on the vanity.

Having spent years by Mahina’s side, Ruby knew exactly how to handle her hair and which styles suited her best. It had become a force of habit.

The comb glided through the strands of hair like fingers playing a silent song of farewell.

Mahina sat quietly with her eyes closed to rest, feeling Ruby’s meticulous movements and the comfort of the warm little hands sliding across her scalp.

“Is Merlinlia still not awake?”

“Yes…”

“You got up so early because you wanted to see her before school, right?”

“Yes.”

“Mahina…”

“Just… don’t say it.”

After finishing the hairstyle, Ruby began to apply Mahina’s makeup.

Looking at the red, swollen corners of her eyes and the bags beneath them, Ruby couldn’t help but take a sharp breath.

“Did you not sleep the entire night?”

“How could I possibly sleep?”

“I know I’m not qualified to talk about the past.”

Mahina looked at herself in the mirror and found she had nothing to say. No matter how miserable she was, it was only what she deserved.

Merlin had said that after being abandoned, it was painful—so painful that she cried herself to sleep and couldn’t rest during the night.

At the time, Mahina had also been in pain because she believed she had been betrayed, but it hadn’t reached the point where she couldn’t sleep. She had even thought there was a bit of relief in her heart, thinking she could start a new life.

Back then, did Merlin also watch the sky slowly brighten like this? Did she also feel as if her heart were being torn apart?

No, the pain she felt now was likely not even one 10,000th of what Merlin had felt then.

‘Don’t act like a victim, Mahina!’

“But you are also a victim. You were deceived, too.”

“I am not a victim… I am Merlin’s perpetrator. Besides, it is a fact that I failed to protect her in the dungeon, and it’s a fact that I hurt her over and over again.”

When Mahina had seen Merlin’s abdomen pierced with a large hole to protect her, her heart had nearly shattered.

In that moment, no betrayal, conflict, or hatred mattered anymore.

Ruby opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

‘Merlin… you really are so foolish.’

‘Hurt by a heartless, wicked woman like me, yet you were still willing to almost throw your life away for me.’

‘And what about me? Back at the Academy, I used the worst, most hurtful excuses to stab her in the heart again and again.’

Tears once again surged uncontrollably in Mahina’s eyes, threatening to break through the dam.

At the very end, Merlin had said with her own mouth that her lack of mana was her greatest pain. In truth, the old Mahina had known that fact, which was why she had used that reason to drive her away.

Ruby hurriedly pressed her fingertips against the corners of Mahina’s eyes, her voice carrying a hint of a sob.

“Mahina… hold it in, or the makeup will be ruined.”

The makeup was finally finished.

Mahina tilted her head back, blinking desperately to force back the bitterness.

The person in the mirror looked exquisite, noble, and flawless, as if her broken soul had been resealed in fine porcelain.

“Then, I will be going now.”

Ruby knew that she could no longer stand by Mahina’s side. Since her final wish had been granted, leaving was the only option.

“Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

“Merlin will wake up soon. Didn’t Her Highness Ophelia say there was nothing wrong with Merlin’s body? All that’s left is to wait for the soul to recover.”

“The soul… is the biggest problem.”

“Merlin will definitely wake up. Don’t you go to see her every day?”

“That’s just self-satisfaction. Maybe it’s because I annoy her every day that she won’t wake up.”

Ruby knew that nothing she said would make a difference now.

As a maid of the Talan family, it would not be good to maintain a close relationship with her.

It was better to part ways decently like this.

“Mahina, be happy.”

*Click.*

The door closed.

Only the deathly still air remained in the room.

Mahina looked at herself in the mirror, her fingers gently stroking the cold glass. She did not respond.

‘Do I even have the right to be happy?’

Though Merlin had said something similar once.