Days passed after the moment I heard Marianne sobbing inside her room.
And in the end, I did nothing.
I wanted to reach out, but she was already far beyond my reach. Far beyond what I was capable of handling.
I drifted through the days like a tree branch floating in a river, unsure of what I should do, what I can do, and what I must do.
Of course, I wanted to help her. She was my sister, after all. The one person I looked up to, the only one I truly considered family.
But with how I was, the chances of me making any difference were simply… far-fetched.
I didn't understand politics. I couldn't read people the way she did. Every decision Marianne made seemed to lead to the best possible outcome, while I hesitated at every crossroads. Afraid of risks, of failure.
To even deserve standing beside her. Carrying the weight of the Auclait legacy alongside her required adaptability, intelligence, decisiveness.
The ability to stand on one's own two feet without faltering.
All of which Marianne had already developed—
while I remained stuck in my own small, protected world.
Even knowing that, I still couldn't push myself to become someone who belonged by her side.
I didn't.
Because unlike my older sister, I break easily.
No matter how much I wanted to deny it, that was the truth. So while I wallowed in my own incompetence, she continued moving forward. Stepping out into the world, gaining recognition, fame… and perhaps power.
Something had to change.
It had to.
It started with replacing the time I used to spend reading with studying. Learning what I needed to go out and become someone who mattered.
Like everyone else, I began with my routine. Waking up early had already been drilled into me as a child, but what came after had always been empty.
So I filled it.
A few minutes of exercise to wake myself up properly.
Water instead of coffee.
At school, instead of simply remaining as an impassive participant, I slowly began to raise my hand whenever the teacher asked questions, took the initiative during group activities.
Marianne was far more capable than I was, yes. But that didn't necessarily mean I was incapable simply because I was unable to match my older sister. After all, the Auclaits valued education under influence, power, and control.
My change was slowly recognized by my classmates at first.
"Ari-ari, what gives?" Angel said, walking over before turning the seat in front of me in my direction.
"What do you mean?" I tilted my head slightly.
"It's just… something about you changed," she added. I raised an eyebrow.
"Like?"
"Like… now, you're not just burying your head in your books anymore," Angel commented, her eyes drifting from my posture to my hands, then back up.
"And the air around you feels… less intimidating? Back then you always seemed like you were carrying the whole world on your shoulders," her posture straightened, voice flattening. Like she was mimicking someone important.
"You know, something like this,"
"Did I really come across like that?"
Her demeanor came back, then nodded as she pointed at me, booping my nose gently.
"Yup, you looked totally out of touch to be honest," she shrugged, then leaned back on her seat.
"But I guess that's just high society pushing down on people involved with them, huh… I get it."
Of course, she was right. That was simply how high society functioned.
Image dictated influence, influence became power, and power was what allowed someone to act without ever needing anyone's permission or approval.
I smiled at her words, there was nothing more to say.
In-between the lapses in my routine, I often stayed inside the library of the Auclait main estate, flipping through hundreds, if not thousands of pages about the family's history as well as our political standing.
It was there that I learned the family had retreated from overt political influence a century after the Revolution, redirecting its focus entirely toward the company.
A global logistics enterprise that had already been operating since the early 1800s, quietly embedding itself into the backbone of trade and industry.
During the rare moments Marianne stayed at the estate, I tried to strike up conversations, ones she often brushed off. It only made me realize how wide the rift between us had grown without me noticing.
But every time she did, when she turned away, thinking I wasn't looking; her jaw tightened, her hands curling into fists before she walked off.
I knew, of course. It wasn't to ostracize me. Not when her eyes glistened whenever she looked at me, the way her gaze softened even as she said, "Let's talk later. I have things to do."
And then she would turn away. And we wouldn't talk at all.
"It's not the time yet…" I muttered to myself every time Marianne brushed me off.
"I still need the family to see me…" I repeated, again and again. Until one day I realized I was already sketching entire structural formulas for a long-term plan proposal while sitting alone in my room.
I kept digging through books, at school, in the estate. I started talking to others. Our parents. The branch families. Even our grandparents.
And then, our grandmother suddenly decided—
"Arianne…" she murmured. "You should accompany your father to work next week. Learn what you can."
She paused.
"And prove me wrong."
It was the first time grandmother looked at me without disappointment lurking beneath those dark, empty eyes. I would have backed down if she had said that to me in the past, if she challenged me then.
I didn't say anything. Just a nod as I placed my hand over hers, my grip firm while I maintained eye contact with her. The same eyes that struck my deepest parts the moment I saw it back then… no longer felt like an unseen force pressing on me.
The next day followed shortly.
As grandmother had instructed, I went with my father. Except, instead of expecting him to be in front of a screen almost all day… it was… different.
"Ah, Mr. Michel, how is business going?" a man with that obvious fake smile said.
"All is good, Mr. Aoyama, how's Hinami doing?" dad replied, short. Somewhat conversational.
"The young lady is currently taking care of everything just fine, and with lady Marianne's guidance, she will most likely take over the conglomerate sooner or later." he shook my dad's hand. Then turned to me.
"You must be lady Arianne, right?"
I paused, then nodded.
"That would be me, yes…"
He then nodded, lowering his head slightly before turning to dad.
Dad made me sit on the couch in front of his desk while he spoke with the man, about things I only half understood.
Fragments reached me.
Waste material.
Local rivers.
Near power plants.
I stared down at my hands.
I knew running a company was never clean. I knew someone always paid the price.
But hearing it said so casually, spoken through smiles and laughter, made my stomach turn.
I glanced at them from the corner of my eye as they laughed, as if the potential harm to entire communities was little more than an inconvenience.
Then another name surfaced.
Louyan Enterprises.
My breath caught.
I had read about it during late nights in the estate library, flipping through old ledgers and corporate histories.
And I remembered two girls speaking in hushed tones.
The Li Group.
House Li.
I froze.
Mei…?
My gaze dropped back to the floor.
Hinami… Mei…
Shuisho International. Louyan.
Names that belonged in textbooks. Conglomerates that shaped markets.
And Marianne called them her friends.
No.
They weren't just friends.
They were allies.