Burning The House Of Cards: taking revenge on my billionaire family
Chapter 26 - 25. Home Sweet Home

Chapter 26: Chapter 25. Home Sweet Home

"She’s what?!" Mason slammed the car seat’s armrest when his secretary gave him more news about Lee Seul-ah.

After dinner with his fiancee, he had to immediately head on a business trip in another province, so it wasn’t until the next day that he heard about Seul-ah’s accident.

"It took them a while to find her because the 119 call was too vague," the secretary continued the report carefully. "But they found her in a hospital around 3 in the morning. She was in a bad mood, however, so it was hard to question her about what happened, Sir..."

"Don’t give me excuses! Just tell me what you found!" Mason glared at his staff impatiently. Who cared what she was saying--the security team was paid to find out stuff even through lies.

"Well..." the secretary looked rather uncomfortable. "The car was crashing on xx-bridge, so...we assumed she was triggered by the trauma of her past accident, Sir."

Mason frowned. "She went there voluntarily?"

"We’ve only partially recovered the black box’s recording, but it seemed like she was going around after spending some time in Helios. Perhaps she didn’t realize the path she was taking would lead to that bridge--it was already five years since she had been here after all," the secretary added quickly. "Or so the security team told me...Sir."

"But she’s fine?" Mason asked impatiently.

"Some scraps and it seemed like her leg was sprained badly."

"And they all real?"

"We sent our own doctor after taking her home, and the doctor said they are."

The secretary showed him the medical record and Mason let out a sigh of relief. At least her face wasn’t damaged or anything, except for the little scrap on her forehead that could easily be covered by her fringe.

"She refused to return to her old room, and demanded to use the annex," the secretary continued. "She was already there before anyone could argue."

Mason clicked his tongue, but knowing where Seul-ah crashed her car, he could understand her tantrum. The annex was where her mother used to live before the divorce, so it was probably for sentimental value.

"How’s her mood?" Mason asked while rubbing his lips in contemplation.

"They said she looked gloomy, Sir..." the secretary glanced at his note. "She refused everyone you sent to assist her, and only allowed some house staff to clean the annex."

Mason furrowed his brow deeper and clicked his tongue in annoyance. Ah...why was she acting so difficult? But then again...she seemed to be depressed about her mother, so a bit of a tantrum was acceptable.

Moreover...

"Let her do what she wants for now," Mason decided.

It would be better for him if she continued to drown in sorrow. Mason leaned back and smiled deeply, already thinking about seeing his sweet little Seul-ah.

"Ah..." the secretary exclaimed softly. "She told everyone that she’ll be using ’Sarah’ from now on, Sir."

Mason sighed. Maybe he had been indulging the girl too much.

* * *

After coming back from the hospital and throwing a huge tantrum about the living arrangement, Sarah had been spending the morning catching up for more sleeping time, and then sunk herself in the sofa and played games. She was only casually fiddling with it though, waiting for an inevitable visit.

The first visit, unexpectedly, was made by the family’s doctor. Just by the way the doctor questioned her, Sarah knew that the man was there not to treat her, but to check whether her wound was genuine or not.

Well, fortunately, they were all real—although obviously not caused by crashing into a bridge. But getting chased by a truck should be counted as a traffic accident too...right? So technically she wasn’t even lying.

The one who visited her after that was someone she didn’t think would come. Well, not now, at the very least.

The woman sauntered in with poise. Her whole appearance was glamorous and expensive, yet still elegant, thankfully. The light brown hair flowed down like silky, shining rivulets. Sarah calculated that the money that went into making that hair look the way it was could be used to purchase another car.

She stopped beside the couch, looking up and down at Sarah with a haughty face. The pretty makeup couldn’t hide the disdain on her face, and Sarah threw everything back with the best, prettiest smile she had in her arsenal.

"Hello, Eonni," Sarah used her nicest voice, trained through her acting lesson for the past five years, glancing at the entrance of the building. She didn’t spot any of her sister’s entourage, and her mind quickly spun.

This could be an opportunity.

Amber would have hissed and frowned if she didn’t remember her hard work in maintaining her image. "That’s the only thing you could say after arriving without showing your face in the big house?"

Sarah, still keeping her smile, just turned her gaze towards the screen again. "Then you should have waited until I show my face, unnie," she said lazily, sinking even more to the couch just to give that unbothered effect. "But I see that you missed me too much."

"You—" Amber almost yelled; but she stopped herself in time, crossing her arm while staring at her sister sharply. "So it’s true that you’ve changed."

The old Lee Seul-ah would never talk back like this; she would either just smile politely or ignore her altogether. Old Seul-ah would never initiate or respond to conflict.

But then again, the old Seul-ah would never go straight to the annex building without properly coming through the main house and greeting everyone like the good girl she was raised to be.

The old Seul-ah was so obedient that she would come to a bar she never visited before just because her older sister ordered her to. The old Seul-ah would just sigh inwardly while getting treated like a maid, fetching drinks and snacks, providing silly entertainment like a clown, and taking care of her drunk sister. The old Seul-ah would just stay still as she was smacked in the head and slapped on the cheek for barely existing.

But that was the old Seul-ah.

Not Sarah.

"Changed?" Sarah tilted her head, an overly innocent look plastered on her face to the point that it felt insulting for how blatantly fake it was. "I’m just being a good girl and becoming what my family always wants me to be."

Weren’t they the ones who wanted to see her downfall? To see her as a trash that would not hog the interest of the board of directors?

They should have praised her, really, for fulfilling that on her own.

This time, Amber couldn’t help but frown. She must have known that it was her eldest brother’s work that Lee Seul-ah could change this much. And she knew that all of her siblings were happy with that—either those who aimed for the heir position, or those who were just envious of Sarah’s good, perfect image of a daughter.

But it was different with Amber. Her dislike of Sarah didn’t stem from successorship or how perfect she seemed to be. It was something more basic—and probably pettish.

Sarah was pretty.

For SH Group which still maintained its patriarchal system, only the male children could have a chance in the inheritance war. As the eldest daughter, she had no claim over the family’s future head position. But it wasn’t like she minded that; she could have the money without the responsibility for it, living like a modern princess. So who cared about being an heir or had a good position in the company or whatever? All she wanted was to be pampered and fawned upon.

But Sarah...how could a homely girl steal more spotlight than her? Whenever there was an event that the HS Group’s children had to attend together, people glanced at Seul-ah more than at Wonyoung. It was infuriating—totally humiliating!

For Amber, Sarah was boring—always clean, always proper, using the clothes and the style her attendants prepared for her. She was perfect for appeasing the board of directors, but had no style or personality. Even then, somehow, people still whispered about how she was pretty and whatever—even men who should covet Amber instead.

And now...now that girl came back without that boring look. With colored hair and piercings; with inked skin and a nonchalant attitude. She might no longer be the perfect child the family groomed her to be, but she also became more attractive, more alluring, and more infuriating for her older sister.

"Do you think people would treat you better if you act like this?" Amber sneered. "Do you think they’ll see you as harmless and start to like you?"

Sarah smirked. "What people?"

Amber frowned and clicked her tongue. "Lee Seul-ah, you don’t even have a supporter anymore, so what are you acting cocky for? No one likes you here."

"It’s Sarah," Sarah smiled, pushing the button on her controller.

"What?"

"I go by Sarah now, please remember that."

Amber looked at the girl in a mix of bewilderment and annoyance. Sarah smiled; she would like to say that she didn’t need people to like her, or that she didn’t really want to stay there. She didn’t care much about the status or prestige that these people coveted. She never meant to be considered prettier than her sister either.

But it amused her that someone would dislike her because of something out of her control—and it made her want to annoy Amber even more.

"You see, Unnie, I don’t think that’s true that no one likes me here," she said while curling her eyes.

"What kind of delusion are you—"

"At the very least," Sarah glanced at her sister, giving her best smile, "Mason oppa seems to like me more than you."

A rather long silence ensued, before a loud sound of laughter came out of the older girl. She looked at the still-smiling Sarah as if the younger was crazy.

"Oh God, do you think Oppa liked you just because he’d been taking care of you?" she cackled again, and her practiced, elegant posture vanished. "Wake up, Lee Seul-ah! Surely you’re not that dumb?"

The smile on Sarah’s face didn’t falter. It wasn’t a fake smile either. She just enjoyed the picture of Amber’s crumbling expression later on—although it might sacrifice her dignity and corrode her mental state for a little bit.

"You don’t believe it? And I told you it’s Sarah."

"Who the fuck cares?! It’s you that need to stop believing such nonsense—"

"Then would you like to see it for yourself?" Sarah asked, with a deep smile and a low, firm voice full of confidence.

Something inside that smile made Amber stop and stare inquisitively. There was that spark of brilliance inside Sarah’s black eyes that reminded her that the girl might be trash now, but not necessarily dumb.

"You’re seriously considering it?" Amber was astonished. The girl might be confident, but might also be a lunatic.

"That’s why I told you to see it for yourself," Sarah shrugged, glancing at the window that showed the pathway toward the annex. "Perfect timing, he is here."

Amber whipped her head and widened her eyes she saw the man’s silhouette outside the window. She looked at Sarah then, eyebrow raised.

"I suggest you hide somewhere, Unnie," Sarah leaned her head back into the couch, eyebrow raised as if challenging her. "If you want to see how delusional I am."

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