The Curse of Being Hated Has Been Lifted

29 – The Enchanting Creature

Right after the trial, a woman suddenly approached Logan and knelt before him. Upon closer inspection, she looked a lot like Haru.

However, resembling didn’t mean identical. She wasn’t the Leah Haru known to Logan.

“Could it be Lena?”

“Yes, it’s been a while. Ara, my sister.”

“You don’t seem like the Lena I knew. Wasn’t this not your style?”

“I try to present myself as dignified as possible on official occasions. To be precise, I present myself in a way that resembles my dear sister, Leah Haru.”

“But why suddenly kneel to me?”

“The crimes committed by my sister are also the sins of our family. As her younger sister, I felt it necessary to apologize.”

As Logan looked at the politely bowing Lena Haru, his initial thought was that she seemed to have some utility.

She deeply buried her self-loathing, but for a brief moment, she had considered more than five ways to exploit her.

“I don’t want your apology. I wasn’t harassed by the aristocrat, but by Lea Haru as an individual.”

“You are the future leader of the family. It’s impossible to separate the family and the individual.”

“Get up for now. It attracts attention when people see you kneeling.”

When Logan gestured to Shohel, she lifted Lena to her feet.

They seemed quite close, addressing each other by their names.

“Are you here to aim for something?”

“I’m not aiming for anything. Unni, I’m just a tool of the family.”

Lena Haru had a striking resemblance to Lea Haru, enough to surprise anyone. If one looked closely, they could immediately notice the difference, but not many people could approach while someone was kneeling and apologizing. Hence, Lena Haru kneeling and apologizing to Logan might seem like Lea Haru’s apology to others.

“And the apology is sincere. I knew you thought I was trash, but I didn’t expect you to be so cruel.”

Her eyes seemed sincere, yet it was hard to believe her easily.

Logan wasn’t adept at deception, and he didn’t seem as frivolous as Lea Haru or Shohel, so lying would be easy for him.

“Come with me and let’s talk elsewhere.”

The place Shohel took them to was a café near the courthouse.

Since coffee was originally a luxury for the nobility, they entered a very luxurious café and immediately rented a room.

After Logan glanced at the bill, it was quite a burden even for someone making money from business, but Shohel didn’t care and took Logan, Lena Haru, and Anna, who was standing beside them, into the room.

“Explain what’s going on.”

“Just a moment before that…”

Lena Harue would take something out of her pocket and tie it around her head.

Her long, flowing hair transformed into a ponytail in an instant, and her style changed so drastically that it was hard to believe it was just a simple hairstyle change.

“I’m exhausted too, Unni.”

With her polite demeanor from earlier completely gone, she leaned on Shohel with an almost dying voice.

“These people from the Ga family have no talents, they just order Unni around. If Unni does something wrong, I have to clean up the mess. After a quiet period, now they’re saying I tormented an innocent person for a year. It’s driving me crazy.”

In the midst of her rapid outburst, Shohel held Lena Harue tightly and gently patted her back.

“Our Lena is kind, right? It must have been tough. How can Leah Harue’s gentleman be of any use other than being powerless?”

This kind of thing had happened more than once, and Shohel was familiar with comforting Lena Harue, who soon regained her composure.

“I’m sorry. It’s not just a day or two that has been ruined because of Unni.”

“It’s okay.”

Logan knew Harue’s personality well.

It seemed that her talent with the sword was not the only remarkable thing about her, and it was obvious how Harue would have treated her.

“I’m telling you this in case you misunderstand, but I came to apologize to Miss Asrian on the Ga family’s orders, but I’m genuinely sorry as well.”

Lena Harue, now with her hair tied up, even changed her way of speaking.

While she had been the epitome of a lady from a noble family earlier, now she looked more like a cousin’s younger sister.

“I mentioned it earlier, but I don’t really want your apology.”

“Still, I’m sorry. I know her temperament better than anyone. I can’t even begin to imagine how much you must have suffered.”

‘No matter how you look at it, she seems valuable, doesn’t she?’

Although he had only exacted revenge to damage her reputation, Logan ultimately aimed to bring Harue to ruin.

Lena Harue was the perfect pawn for his ultimate goal.

Lena knew a lot about Harue, harboring both hatred towards her and recognizing her as the heir of the Haru family. Considering Harue’s status as a successor of the Duke’s family, it seemed that Lena could be of help in controlling the Haru family’s resistance.

“You’ve been through a lot too,” Logan’s words made Shohel widen his eyes.

He couldn’t express his surprise physically, only through his eyes.

‘Didn’t expect this senior to say something so warm?’

Though he knew Logan was a warm-hearted person, even donating to orphans, seeing him speak such warm words was still oddly unsettling.

While Shohel remained flustered or silent, Logan continued conversing with Lena Harue.

“That girl can be a bit manic.”

“Do such things to your own sibling? Even divine punishment wouldn’t be enough.”

They quickly grew closer due to sharing similar pain.

The information Lena shared with Logan boiled down to two main points:

Firstly, Lena was less talented in swordsmanship compared to Harue, leading to significant discrimination within the family.

Secondly, she served as Harue’s aide and managed the family’s image in her absence.

In reality, she was being used as a tool by the family, devoid of her own life.

“I’m not using you.”

This wasn’t a one-sided exploitation benefiting only Logan.

Clearly, Lena could also gain something, perhaps find a path to redemption.

“Sob… Can I call you brother?”

“Call me whatever makes you comfortable.”

Words from someone who genuinely empathized with her pain easily broke down Lena’s emotional barriers.

Logan also felt a sense of camaraderie with Lena, so it could be genuine, not just acting, when he treated her like that.

“No, can I really allow you to call me ‘oppa’ so easily? You didn’t even allow it for me!”

“You never asked.”

“Can I call you ‘oppa’?”

“Of course not. It could lead to unnecessary misunderstandings since you and I are constantly together in the academy.”

Shohel’s lips puffed up sharply.

“Just call me comfortably, oppa.”

“Alright, Lena,”

When he even let go of the honorifics, Shohel’s expression was truly worth seeing.

“No… you’ve never called me by my name before…”

“You need to give permission for that.”

“Call me by my name.”

Shohel spoke with a voice devoid of any expectation.

“Sure, Arua.”

Suddenly, as Arua froze at Logan’s words in her ear, Lena intervened in the conversation.

Since they were the ones talking first, she had no reservations at all.

“Logan oppa seems like a remarkable person. Overcoming a difficult environment, managing a business…”

“I have a clear goal.”

“A clear goal?”

“Yeah, Stella, the culprit of the curse, is already dead and beyond revenge, but it’s not just Stella’s fault that messed up my life. My goal is to take revenge on them, to stand alone without the support of the family.”

I have no intention of keeping the name Asrian.

For a while, Asrian’s goal was to enjoy the advantage of being of noble birth and then discard the name Asrian once he matured enough, becoming a noble with a new name.

“Lena, do you have a goal? You wouldn’t just want a life where you’re used and manipulated by your family, would you?”

“I…”

Lena couldn’t continue speaking.

It was because she didn’t have a clear goal in mind.

“You may not have a clear goal right now, but you don’t want a life where you’re manipulated by your family, right?”

“No.”

“Then I’ll help you. I’ll help you break free from your family and from Leia Haru.”

With a confident voice, Logan spoke, and Lena found herself nodding without even realizing it.

And Anna, who had been watching this whole process from the side, remembered the nickname she had given Logan in her childhood.

“He is a monster that makes women fall for him.”