Chapter 1
The magnolia bloomed.
Adrina Grimaldi quietly looked up at the tree.
Unable to bear the weight of the accumulated snow, the branches bent and the white flowers drooped. While magnolias signaled the end of winter, they didn’t necessarily mark the beginning of spring.
Snow fell despite it not being the season for it. Amidst the snowflakes swirling in the strong wind, magnolia petals twisted and fell as if dancing, as if mourning his death.
The pristine white petals and the carpet-like white snow quickly became soiled under people’s feet.
People clung to the body of a man of an ambiguous age, neither boy nor young man, crying out in denial. Wails of grief echoed throughout the mansion. Some were plunged into sorrow, some denied the death, and others sought someone to blame.
“It’s because you’re cursed!”
That was directed at Adrina.
“Adrian died because of you!”
People pointed fingers at the woman, saying it was because she was born. The Count had shut himself in his study for some unknown reason and wouldn’t come out.
“Because you were born!”
How unchanging they were.
Adrina inadvertently let out a small laugh at the consistency of the people of this family. That quiet sound created a moment of silence, followed by another outburst of screams and curses. But new curses had no impact on a body already cursed.
“Give me back my Adrian!”
Yes, it’s all because of me.
Adrian Grimaldi’s death came without warning.
Like a curse.
No matter how much everyone shouted that he couldn’t be dead, no matter how much they denied his death, they couldn’t reverse the cooling body. A blue color of death spread over what was once pristine white skin. It was surreal.
As the funeral proceeded, the pain of those who couldn’t accept the death settled low over the mansion. It was heavy and damp like fog, choking off breath. Adrina couldn’t understand her own emotions. Whether it was sadness, pain, a sense of loss, or if she felt nothing at all.
She couldn’t properly understand her own feelings.
Adrian Grimaldi’s funeral was held three days later.
In the still-open coffin lay a young man who looked exactly like Adrina. The blue skin lying on pristine white cloth seemed strangely awkward. The armful of magnolia flowers didn’t suit him. Tears flowed and laments multiplied amidst the grief. Then someone spoke up.
“It should have been you instead.”
It was a very small voice, but enough to start the blame.
“Yes, you should have died.”
You are Adrian’s curse. That small voice seemed to buzz and then grow louder. Non-physical words entangled people. The malice of people seemed almost physically visible.
The malice mixed into the white fog hanging in the air and headed towards Adrina. But Adrina made no response. She just stood straight, looking at the blue face. Identical to her own.
“Why couldn’t you have died!”
Poor little brother.
They say when favoritism persists towards only one person, both the favored and the unfavored become unhappy. Adrian must have been as unhappy as Adrina was miserable. But Adrina thought that now Adrian had escaped that yoke, he must be at ease.
Adrina made no response. She quietly observed the people who were picking up stones from the ground and shouting “Why couldn’t you have died!” at her, her expression unchanging. She didn’t know how she should respond in this situation.
A stone fell with a thud in front of Adrina. The Countess, unable to hide her anger, bent down again to pick up another stone. The thrown stone didn’t even come close to Adrina.
Weak strength, the flower of the mansion. The beautiful face of the Countess seemed to have withered with Adrian’s death. The withered flower spewed curses.
Unlike those under the veil of sorrow, Adrina felt like a lone observer existing in a remote place. She thought Adrian would feel the same.
At that moment, Count Grimaldi, who was thought not to come, arrived. The face of the man who stepped out of the carriage didn’t look like someone who had lost a child.
The Count approached slowly. The Countess went to the Count, glancing at Adrina. As if to say, what are you going to do with that child who has neither blood nor tears? However, the Count gave the Countess a single glance before standing in front of Adrina.
“Your hair has grown quite long since I last saw you, Adi.”
It was an incongruous statement.
“Is everyone making such a fuss just because a mere girl died?”
Everyone turned at the following words.
“Isn’t that right, Adrian?”
At the Count’s words, Adrina’s gaze settled on the corpse and then fell away.
Everyone here knew that Adrian Grimaldi had died. But Count Grimaldi—her father—called her Adrian. As the Count placed his hand on her shoulder and called “Adi,” Adrina’s lips moved slightly.
Her father had never once called her Adi.
Both Adrian and Adrina used the nickname ‘Adi’, but it was used as if it were a nickname only for Adrian. So Adrina doubted whether that address was directed at her.
The only one who had called her Adi was the now-dead Adrian. Her expression, which seemed about to crumble at the name she would never hear again, hardened once more at the Count’s next words.
“Isn’t it fortunate that the family curse has disappeared?”
The woman was given a name that seemed to cling to the man like a shadow.
“No, it would be proper to rejoice.”
There shouldn’t have been a name for her. Like a part of Adrian, the name Adrina was put on paper, but no one ever called her by it. Everyone referred to her as ‘you’, ‘that thing’, ‘curse bundle’, and so on.
“Isn’t that right?”
Adrina easily grasped the Count’s intention.
Adrina is Adrian’s curse. In this country, all those born as twins are cursed by witches. So when Adrina was born a twin, she should have been abandoned or killed.
She could feel the meaning in the gazes of others settling on her. It should have been her who died, not Adrian. But Count Spencer Grimaldi’s words, rather than saying you should have died, said that you didn’t die.
“Your younger sister was weak of body.”
It made her aware of her position and place.
“Yes, as a man, you shouldn’t show your sorrow.”
I should have died. No, I did die.
The Count grasped Adrina’s long hair and lifted it. As if unsatisfied with it, the Count took out his dagger and cut off Adrina’s hair right there.
The long hair fell with a rustle. What he couldn’t hold in his hand settled on the snow. The Count threw the hair he was holding onto Adrian’s corpse as if it were disgusting, then dusted off his hands.
People were repulsed by the hair covering Adrian’s body, but didn’t even think of touching it.
Adrina looked at Adrian covered with her hair.
Adrian’s corpse was a mess, covered with her hair. Adrina gathered the scattered hair on the corpse with her hands and arranged it. Her hair covered Adrian like a blanket.
As Adrina stepped back, people cried again looking at Adrian’s face. As if the cursed strands covering him were pitiful and sad.
“Let’s end the farewells here.”
At the Count’s words, the coffin lid was closed. Servants nailed it shut.
“How long do you intend to fuss over a mere girl?”
You know what, Adi? I actually wanted everything you had.
“Stop idling and find your place.”
That must have been the problem.
“The same goes for you.”
Actually, I wanted to be you.
“Adrian.”
But I didn’t want to become you like this.
“You should find your place.”
At Spencer’s words, Adrina raised her head. Confusion was evident in the gazes of those looking at her and her father. The Countess, unable to even shed empty tears, looked at the two with red resentment.
What must Count Grimaldi have been thinking while shut away in his study? Did he ponder how to revive his only son who had died and this family? Did he consider how to maintain sovereignty and power? Was the result.
“Yes.”
To kill Adrina Grimaldi?
“That’s right, Father.”
However, Adrina was no different from the Count.
Adi.
“We can’t stay sad about Adrina’s death forever.”
I only became you after I died.
“We need to let her go now.”
At Adrina’s words, people drew in their breath, and Spencer Grimaldi looked satisfied.
Snow falls. While the hammering continues, snow piles up on the coffin lid. The coffin descends deep into the ground.
Flowers, snow, people’s despair and sorrow are buried along with the soil.
Adrina Grimaldi died.
It was the curse of twins.
People will probably think it’s fortunate. That it was Adrina who died, not Adrian. The Count, without giving a glance to the descending coffin, called out to Adrina, “Adi.”
“Ride with me.”
At the command that sounded like an invitation, Adrina slowly moved. For the first time, Adrina rode in the same carriage as the Count. As the carriage moved, the Count spoke.
“Who do you think we should entrust with the epitaph for Adrina’s gravestone?”
Adrina raised her head at the unexpected question. There was no change in the Count’s expression. Adrina couldn’t hide the laughter that inexplicably bubbled up.
“I’ll look for a skilled artisan in the territory.”
The Count’s gaze swept over Adi’s entire body at the voice tinged with laughter.
“Since she died on the day the magnolias bloomed, it might be good to engrave a magnolia decoration.”
After saying this, Adrina looked out the carriage window. The Countess had collapsed on the covered soil. Her grief-stricken voice couldn’t pass through the window. She could only see her mouthing Adrian’s name.
“A magnolia decoration, is it? Very well. Do as you wish.”
Adrina shifted her gaze at the Count’s words. Just as Adrina seemed to find the Count unexpected, the Count also looked at Adrina with an unexpected gaze. Then, with a slight smile, the Count said,
“It’s fortunate that Adi died.”
Whether that Adi meant Adrian or Adrina.
Whatever the case, Adi Grimaldi thought the same.
It’s fortunate that Adi Grimaldi died. Extremely so.
