I Am Not a Vicious Stepsister! - Chapter 4

313 opened the panel and found that the progress for the first “rebellion” plot point was maxed out. Its tone was subtle as it remarked, “So, even a solution that isn’t a fierce vent of anger works, huh?”

“Does that mean I can just breeze through tasks like this from now on?” Modesty could sense the reluctance in the system’s notification of success. It seemed the Small World Management Center behind the system had some reservations about this approach. It likely wouldn’t fly a second time.

Since their cooperation was ongoing, they still needed to maintain a good rapport.

“The Management Center sent a message. They said that since this was your first attempt at ‘skipping class,’ they’ll let it slide, but for future plots, even if you don’t want to follow the standard procedure, you’ll have to find a more logical way to resolve things,” System 313 read the freshly received email to her.

The sound gave Modesty a headache. She rolled her eyes and rubbed her temples. “Fine, I get it. It just means the judging will be stricter next time.”

The Rodney family banquet was held within the Quqi Orange District, though the specific venue was a castle.

Ni Songan remembered it. The book mentioned that the entire Quqi Orange District belonged to the Rodney family, covering a massive area where each branch had built their own houses to facilitate visiting one another.

The castle named Leonore was undoubtedly the most eye-catching landmark in the district.

From the villa where Ni Songan and Modesty lived, they could see its silhouette in the distance, looking grand and imposing. On a clear day, Leonore Castle looked as dreamy and beautiful as something out of a fairy tale.

The day before the banquet, two formal outfits, identical in style but different in color and size—were delivered to Ni Songan and Modesty.

It happened that Modesty was looking for Ni Songan to help explain some homework problems, so they decided to try the clothes on first. If they didn’t fit, there would still be time to find a tailor for alterations.

They decided to change in Modesty’s walk-in closet. Modesty went in first while Ni Songan waited outside for her turn.

The clothes were prepared by Althea, and the colors had been picked for Ni Songan by Ni Tianjiao. Ni Songan ran her hand over the collar, focusing her gaze on the blue tailcoat.

The hem featured a black-to-blue gradient, and the subtle shimmer in the fabric wasn’t overly flashy, revealing its exquisite detail only upon closer inspection. The shirt collar was a cascade of ruffled lace, and a heavy yellow gemstone hung from the necktie, refracting dazzling light under the room’s lamps.

Ni Songan wanted to study the details a bit longer, but Modesty had already walked out of the closet. It seemed she hadn’t lingered inside to admire the effect at all.

However, when Ni Songan saw the girl before her, her mouth hung open slightly in involuntary praise. “This outfit really suits you. You look wonderful.”

She was a bit lost for words, unsure of how best to compliment Modesty.

The blonde, blue-eyed youth looked like an aristocrat straight out of an oil painting. The intricate, dark red formal wear made her look incredibly elegant and noble. Her fingers were slender, and the pale skin of her wrists showed the faint trace of bluish-purple veins.

Her brows were slightly arched, her eye sockets deep, and her lashes long and thick. Under her eyes were the faint dark circles common among students who stayed up late. With a straight nose and bright teeth, she held her chin slightly tilted, exuding pride in every movement.

And Modesty’s family background certainly gave her the capital for such confidence.

After thinking it over, Ni Songan finally came up with a perfectly apt description for Modesty—a medieval vampire noble.

Specifically, the natural shadows formed by her sharp bone structure, combined with her unique aura, made her look exactly like the brooding, obsessive vampire princess people imagined—noble, beautiful, and mysteriously elusive.

Reason was the only thing stopping Ni Songan from losing control and pouncing on Modesty to pinch her cheeks, but internally, she was screaming like a groundhog.

Countless words of praise were on the tip of her tongue, yet Ni Songan felt too shy to say them. Her eyes darted around as she grabbed her own outfit and bolted into the dressing room to cool down.

A bewildered Modesty was left behind. The youth, who had wanted to ask her stepsister how the outfit looked, could only swallow her words and wait for Ni Songan to come back out.

“Does this look okay?” Ni Songan wasn’t used to dressing like this. In her past life, her style leaned toward professional commuting, where durability and quality were the key factors.

Dresses as gorgeous and delicate as the one she was wearing had never existed in her wardrobe; they were too fragile.

Consequently, as she fumbled her way into the outfit for the first time, Ni Songan felt uneasy. The gemstone at the cream-colored lace tie, in particular, restricted her collar with its undeniable weight, pressing the fabric tight against her neck.

Modesty, by contrast, seemed perfectly accustomed to it. Ni Songan checked herself in the mirror a few times, and seeing no obvious issues, she went out to ask Modesty for a second opinion.

The girl, who had been leaning on the sofa scrolling through a tablet, heard the movement and stood up. The sound of her heels on the floor was crisp.

“It looks great. You’re very beautiful, Sister,” Modesty praised sincerely.

She wasn’t lying to her stepsister. Modesty had never seen someone with Ni Songan’s features within the Rodney family.

Although there were students of various ethnicities at Kejiduos International School, Modesty had never found black hair and black eyes particularly special, but Ni Songan seemed different.

When she first officially met the person who was to become her stepsister, Modesty had noticed her cascading black hair and her exceptionally bright eyes, which seemed filled with curiosity about this new place. Their respective mothers were on stage taking vows and exchanging rings, while the two children below shared a fleeting glance—or rather, Ni Songan had looked away first, while Modesty had not.

Her greedy gaze had climbed over Ni Songan’s body, inch by inch.

Modesty couldn’t help but take a step forward. The distant figure from the wedding began to overlap with the Ni Songan standing before her now. She reached out to smooth a non-existent wrinkle on the other’s clothes, her tone lifting slightly. “Trust me, you will be radiant tonight.”

Soft, curly long hair hung by the side of Ni Songan’s face. Her features looked as if they had been meticulously sketched by a goddess who couldn’t bear to leave a single flaw. The deep red of her lips was perhaps the most striking color on her face, yet her gaze remained cool, maintaining a clear distance from the world.

A flash of excitement, hard to catch, flickered in those blue eyes. Modesty smiled and linked arms with her, her voice intimate. “Let’s go. We can head to Leonore Castle early. The view is better there, perfect for having afternoon tea while we wait for the banquet to start.”

In the gardens of Leonore Castle, Ni Songan and Modesty sat together in the sunlight.

After expressing her curiosity to Modesty, Ni Songan learned that this banquet was a regular event hosted by the Rodney family to maintain their connections. In the terms of her previous life, it was like a holiday reunion dinner, though the timing of the Rodney family’s banquets was decided differently.

“By the way, Sister, I don’t think I’ve ever visited South Province University. Can I go there to find you when I’m bored?” Modesty set down her teacup. The dark brown tea rippled slightly, reflecting a pair of smiling eyes.

Ni Songan pondered the request for a moment, not giving an immediate answer. She said vaguely, “Maybe. I’ll have to see how busy my schoolwork is then.”

Explaining problems to Modesty was fine, chatting with her was fine… but taking her for a tour of South Province University? That was a bit inconvenient for Ni Songan. She wasn’t even fully familiar with the campus herself, so how could she show someone around?

More importantly, South Province University was the only place where Ni Songan could stay away from the original plot. For safety’s sake, it was better not to bring Modesty there.

But then she realized that the plot had already been pretty much derailed by her actions anyway.

Catching the disappointed look in Modesty’s eyes, Ni Songan pursed her lips awkwardly. “If… you contact me in advance, I might be able to find some time.”

The moment the words left her mouth, Ni Songan wanted to scream at the sky. Heavens, she really couldn’t bear to reject such a well-behaved and cute little sister. No one could be that heartless!

Having her wish granted, Modesty’s mood instantly turned from cloudy to sunny, and she happily started a new topic with Ni Songan.

As their chat ended, a servant arrived in the garden to remind them that the banquet would begin in ten minutes.

This kind of family gathering was boring, at least for Ni Songan.

Althea once again introduced Ni Tianjiao and Ni Songan to everyone in the Rodney family. Then, a swarm of people rushed up to greet Ni Songan warmly, making her head spin as she tried to remember all the faces.

She took advantage of a gap to escape the banquet hall, hiding in a lounge on the second floor.

As luck would have it, she couldn’t find the light switch by the door. While feeling around in the dark, she accidentally tripped. She managed to keep a firm grip on her wine glass, but the juice inside splashed out.

Enduring the sticky discomfort, Ni Songan took a few more steps and finally found the switch.

Once the lights were on, she hurried to the bathroom to wash the juice off her hands. Ni Songan stared at the small amount of liquid left in the glass, frowning as she sniffed it. She still couldn’t reconcile the sweet scent with that slimy texture. Thinking about it actually made her feel a bit nauseous, so she simply poured the juice into the toilet and flushed it away.

From the lounge outside, a familiar voice reached her ears.

“Althea, I feel so strange,” a woman’s voice said, sounding rather spooked. It was Ni Songan’s current mother, Ni Tianjiao.

Althea seemed to be comforting her, speaking very softly. In any case, Ni Songan couldn’t hear her clearly from the bathroom.

It wasn’t right to eavesdrop on her mothers’ conversation, and since she was finished cleaning up, Ni Songan prepared to walk out and remind them that someone else was in the room.

But in the next second, what Ni Tianjiao said caused Ni Songan to nearly drop the glass in her hand.

She heard her mother say, “What should I do, Althea? I feel like Eloise isn’t her old self anymore. Is it just me?”

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