In my last life, I took pity on a young woman who was returning from rural work service and let her stay at our home.
The next morning, Katherine Harding stood there clutching the red camisole at her chest, sobbing that my brother had crept into her room in the middle of the night.
My brother had no way to defend himself. He could only marry her.
Not long after, I married my childhood friend, the boy I'd grown up with.
I never expected that after the wedding his whole nature would change, and the two of us would torment each other for the rest of our lives.
It was only right before I died that he told me the truth.
"Your brother ruined Katherine's whole life, so as his sister, you're the one who has to pay for it. Neither of you gets a peaceful end!"
When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment Katherine Harding came to ask if she could stay with us.
This time, I blocked her right there in the doorway.
"Sorry, it's not convenient for us. Go find someone else."
1
Katherine froze, then her eyes brimmed with tears. "Hilary Swanson, but out of everyone for miles around, I'm closest to you. If you won't take me in, no one else will either."
"We only met twice, back at the work camp where my brother did his service. We're not that close."
"I'll help you contact the neighborhood council. They're arranging places for anyone stranded by the storm."
It had been pouring rain for days. Every train and bus in the city had stopped running.
Katherine's home was over in the next county, and without transportation she couldn't get back.
In my last life, when Katherine showed up at my door, I agreed without a second thought.
And the very next day, she accused my brother of forcing himself on her.
My brother's first love broke up with him over it, and under all the outside pressure, he had no choice but to marry Katherine.
Having lost the woman he loved, my brother sank into misery after the wedding and drank every day.
Barely past thirty, he missed a step drunk one night, fell, cracked the back of his head, and died.
Katherine had an unhappy marriage and spent half her life a widow, and Roland Simmons laid every bit of it at my feet.
He married me, and then he never once touched me.
He also poisoned me. My whole body ached with no cause the doctors could find, until in the end my flesh festered and I died in agony.
"Hilary, I don't want to bother the neighborhood council. If it's not convenient for you, then never mind."
We lived in the back courtyard of a three-section shared courtyard house, and it just so happened a neighbor was there watching.
"Hilary, you've got so many empty rooms. The girl needs somewhere to stay, just let her. If I had that many spare rooms, I'd take in anyone who came."
That was Maya Finch from the middle courtyard. She'd always been jealous that our family had more rooms.
I ignored her and had just turned to go inside when I heard her shouting across the yard.
"Doesn't anyone have a spare room to let this poor girl stay one night! It's so sad, she can't get home, and when she asks to stay at the Swansons' they won't even have her!"
A neighbor answered at once.
"Come to my place, dear. My sister's living at the factory now, so her room's sitting empty."
I was instantly on guard.
As long as Katherine was staying somewhere in this courtyard, it didn't matter whose home it was, she could still frame my brother all the same.
If I couldn't dodge it, then let her come to me instead.
"Katherine."
I called her back.
"You'd better stay at our place after all. I wasn't thinking clearly just now."
