Chapter 91: One Sided

Celestine nodded again, though the movement was weak, as if even admitting the truth had become difficult for her.

"I thought it would help divert their attention back toward me. If they believed I was the one with the healing ability, they wouldn’t have any reason to suspect you."

She lowered her gaze, her fingers twisting together nervously. "But Lumi, your power... since it was seen by so many people during the Hell Dungeon incident, I couldn’t keep hiding it anymore. Our parents have started to sense that something is wrong with my story."

Lumi lowered her gaze, her fingers curling slightly against her skirt as she tried to process everything Celestine had told her.

She understood why her twin had wanted to protect her, and perhaps, if she had been in Celestine’s position, she might have been afraid too. However, that didn’t mean the years of silence no longer hurt.

If Celestine had simply told her the truth back then, wouldn’t things have been different?

They could have discussed it together, figured out what to do, and perhaps even found a way to protect each other instead of allowing the distance between them to grow until they barely knew how to speak honestly to one another.

Or did Celestine really think she was so useless that she couldn’t even be trusted with a secret that concerned her own life?

The thought made Lumi’s chest ache.

"Couldn’t you have told me?" she asked quietly, lifting her eyes to meet Celestine’s. "If you were so worried about me, wouldn’t it have been better if we discussed it together? We could have figured something out instead of you making all the decisions on your own."

Celestine’s lips parted, but Lumi continued before she could answer, her voice trembling despite her efforts to remain calm.

"Or did you think I was too useless to help you? That I couldn’t do anything, so there was no point in telling me?"

"Lumi, that’s not what I—"

"Then what was it?" Lumi asked, unable to hide the hurt in her voice. "You knew I was involved, you knew my ability was the reason all of this was happening, and yet you still decided everything without me. How was I supposed to understand any of it when you wouldn’t even give me the chance?"

Celestine fell silent, her face paling as she listened.

For a moment, neither sister spoke.

Lumi could see the guilt in Celestine’s expression, but she didn’t know what to do with it. She had spent so many years wishing her twin would look at her the way she used to, wishing they could return to the days when Celestine would sneak into her room and share sweets with her beneath the blankets.

Now that she finally understood why their relationship had changed, she couldn’t help wondering whether things might have turned out differently if Celestine had trusted her enough to tell her the truth.

"I wasn’t trying to exclude you," Celestine finally whispered. "I just didn’t want you to get hurt."

"But I got hurt anyway," Lumi replied, her voice quiet but firm. "You wanted to protect me, but did you ever think about what would happen if our parents found out you had lied to them?"

Celestine’s expression stiffened.

"Because of that lie, they became suspicious of you, didn’t they? And when they started questioning you, you couldn’t tell them the truth, so you let them believe whatever you wanted them to believe." Lumi swallowed, her fingers curling against her skirt. "And when things went wrong, I was the one who got dragged into it. I was the one who got scolded, blamed, and beaten."

She lowered her head, struggling to keep her voice steady.

"I understand that you were afraid for me, Celestine, but... did you ever consider that the way you handled things might have made everything worse for me?"

Celestine lowered her head, unable to meet Lumi’s eyes.

"I didn’t think it would turn out this way," she admitted quietly. "I thought that if I took the blame and kept their attention on me, they would leave you alone. I thought I could handle everything myself, and that as long as you stayed out of it, you would be safe."

"But you didn’t handle everything yourself, did you?" Lumi asked, her voice trembling. "You were hiding things from them, hiding things from me, and hoping everything would somehow work out."

Celestine flinched slightly.

Lumi pressed her lips together, trying to hold back the emotions building inside her. She didn’t want to hurt her sister, but she was tired of pretending that good intentions could erase the consequences of someone’s actions.

"You might have been trying to protect me, but you weren’t the only one who suffered because of your decisions. When our parents became suspicious, when they were angry, when they needed someone to blame, I was still there. I had to face them too, Celestine. And unlike you, I didn’t even know why any of it was happening."

Her voice cracked at the end, and she quickly looked away.

"I was your sister. You could have trusted me enough to let me decide whether I wanted to help you, but you never gave me that choice."

Celestine’s eyes glistened, her hands tightening together in her lap.

"I know," she whispered. "I thought that since I was older—"

"By a few minutes, Celestine. Just a few minutes." Lumi let out a small, humorless laugh, though there was no amusement in her eyes. "And I’m sorry, but these nineteen years have been more painful than I can explain. I spent so much time wondering what I’d done wrong, why you grew distant, and whether I was really so useless that even my own twin didn’t think I was worth trusting."

Celestine’s face paled.

"I kept telling myself that perhaps you were simply tired of me, or that you had finally realized how embarrassing it was to have a sister like me. I never knew there was a reason behind it all, and you never gave me the chance to understand." Lumi lowered her gaze, blinking away the sting in her eyes. "You might have thought you were protecting me, but you left me alone to deal with everything else."

"Lumi..."

"I don’t want to blame you for everything, Celestine. I know our parents are responsible for the way they treated me, and I’m not saying you should have been able to stop them." She paused, gathering her courage before meeting her sister’s eyes again. "But you could have trusted me enough to let me stand beside you, instead of deciding that I was better off knowing nothing."

Celestine’s lips trembled, and for a moment, she looked as though she wanted to reach for Lumi’s hand. Yet she hesitated, seemingly uncertain whether she still had the right to do so.

"I really am sorry," she whispered.

Lumi looked at her for a long moment before quietly answering, "I know. But I’m still hurt."

She didn’t want Celestine to think that an apology could erase everything between them, just as she didn’t want her sister to believe that all those years of silence meant nothing to her.

Whatever happened next, she needed Celestine to understand that protecting someone didn’t mean taking away their right to choose, especially when both of them had been living with the consequences.