I knew that Cecily was completely mistaken, so I understood her being very angry with me, but to slap me like this? It didn’t even turn out to be true that I ordered Misa!

It’s not right. I clenched my fists and glared at Cecily.

Behind Cecily, servants were looking this way nervously. 

“What are you doing now?”

“Why? Compared to what you did to me, isn’t this nothing?”

Are you talking informally now?    

As a princess, she should have received a high level of etiquette education, but what she was doing now was a mess. That’s how much anger she had toward me.

“I understand your anger, but… I didn’t kill your child.”

“Ha! There’s clear evidence and you say it’s a misunderstanding? It’s not true? Do you think I’ll believe that?”

Are you going to come out like that till the end?

Even if I understood her feelings, it couldn’t be good to keep listening to her informal speech.

As I was about to say a word, I calmed myself down again, reminding myself that she had lost her child.

Let’s not talk anymore.

Keeping talking only hurt each other’s feelings more. There was nothing to gain.

“Let’s talk about it later.”  

I was not feeling well, so I tried to avoid it, but Cecily didn’t let me go. 

“Where are you going?!”

Cecily roughly pulled me and raised her hand again.

Is she trying to slap me again? Not a chance. 

Tak-!

I grabbed her hand as it came down quickly. 

Cecily’s eyes widened and then narrowed again. 

“You dare block my hand?”

“Dare? Do you think you deserve to do that to me? You, a commoner, to me, a noble?”

A spark flashed in Cecily’s eyes.

“You had killed my child and you said that?” 

“Do you have proof that I did it?”

I was going to do it moderately, but if she kept coming out like that, I also didn’t want to keep suffering.

“I said if you have any proof that I killed your child.”

“Ha, are you pretending not to know? You even had the abortion drug!”

“But I wasn’t the one who gave it to you. I don’t think Misa did it either, but even if she did, there’s no evidence that implies it has anything to do with me, right?”

Cecily, who was staring at me as if she was going to eat me right away, suddenly began to burst into tears.

Why is she like that all of a sudden?

“Let go of her hand right now, Leila.”

I was wondering, but when I saw Philen appear, I understood right away.

She’s trying to screw me up.

“Phil!”

Cecily called out to Philen pitifully, with tears dripping down like chicken droppings.

“I told you to let go of her hand.”

Philen said in a threatening voice.

As soon as I let go of her hand, Cecily ran over to Philen, with tears in her eyes, and fell into his arms.

Philen patted Cecily’s back affectionately and glared at me.

“You make trouble as soon as you come back, huh?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Why is Cecily crying like this then?”

“You should ask her, not me.”

For a moment, Philen’s eyebrows narrowed, then his gaze shifted from me to Cecily.

“What happened?”

I really didn’t expect him to ask her. It was surprising. If it had been in the past, he would have unconditionally covered for Cecily and said I was wrong.

“She doesn’t admit her fault! My child, she killed our child and yet she brazenly raised her head…!”

Her body, which had been trembling, shook violently.

“Cecily!”

Soon Cecily fainted and fell into Philen’s arms.

If losing consciousness when the timing was good was a skill, she seemed to be having that skill.

Philen, who was holding her, shouted urgently.

“Call the doctor right now!”

The people who were standing began to move in a hurry.

Philen went up the stairs holding Cecily and stopped halfway to look at me.

“…” 

He didn’t say anything, he just looked at me, but I seemed to know what he was trying to say.

Obviously, he wanted to bully me. By saying the absurd remark, ‘isn’t Cecily pitiful?’, just like in the past. 

“…butler.”

That’s what I thought, but… 

“Show Leila her room.”

After a moment of silence, the words that came out of Philen’s mouth were unexpected.

Everyone looked at Philen in surprise as if they also thought so. So was the butler.

“You didn’t hear me?”

“Ah, I’ll show her right away.”

What on earth is he thinking?

I couldn’t understand Philen’s behavior at all, so I stared at his back as he went up the stairs. And without giving me a single glance, Philen disappeared to the second floor.

“My Lady, let’s go.”

“…okay.”

Today wasn’t the first time Philen had acted out of common sense. It happened often, so it wasn’t something special to think about or worry about.

I cleared my thoughts about Philen and followed the butler.

The butler led me to the room I used to use.

I threw all my stuff away before I left, so I thought a lot would have changed, but it’s still the same. Bedspread, chair cushions, cosmetics, and even the small vase on the side table.

Even if I tried to decorate it as same as possible, it couldn’t be this same.

Don’t tell me…

I opened the dresser drawer. Inside were the ornaments I had previously received from the previous duchess williot. And also the handkerchief she embroidered herself.

“Did you not throw away any of my belongings?”

I was already sure in my mind, but I asked the butler just in case. Unsurprisingly, the butler answered yes.

“I’m sure I had already told you to throw them all away when I left the mansion though.”

“But the Duke told us to keep them all. He said you would definitely come back.”

A faint smile spread over the butler’s wrinkled face.

“I am so glad you are back, My Lady.”

“It’s too early to be happy.”

Because I’m not fully back yet.

If I could reveal the truth that Misa and I were innocent, I was going to leave the mansion immediately. But if I fail…

“Your complexion looks bad, if you feel uncomfortable…”

“It’s nothing.”

I haven’t even started yet, so let’s not feel depressed. Don’t they say words become seeds?

I tried hard to shake off my anxious thoughts.

“It’s lunchtime soon, what would you like to eat?”

“I’m going to skip.”

My physical condition was at its worst, and my mood also went downhill. In such a state, it was obvious that if I ate something, I would just get indigestion.

“Can I just bring some soup?”

“It’s okay. More than that, there is something I want to ask you.”

“You can ask me anything, My Lady.”

“It’s about Misa’s suicide.”

As the friendly smile disappeared, the butler’s face turned pale instantly. The reaction of the servant standing behind the butler was not much different.

“My Lady, that’s…”

“I’m not the culprit.”

The help of the butler, the mansion’s general manager, was absolutely necessary to find out what had happened at the Williot mansion.

“Of course, I know it’s hard to believe. How could you believe me when that woman took the abortion drug I had and gave birth to a stillborn child?”

“My Lady…”

“But I am innocent. I never let Misa do that.”

I was going to say that there was no way that Misa would have done such a thing, but I held it in because it seemed too early to say that now.

“I want to prove to the Duke that I’m innocent. I don’t want to let misunderstandings pile up like this.”

Because that’s when the connection between him and me is completely cut off.

“So please, Butler. Please help me prove my innocence.”

I took the butler’s hand and asked earnestly. The butler thought for a moment in silence and then nodded.

“I understand. If that’s the case, I should definitely help you.”

“Thank you.”

“No need to thank me. How can I help you?”

“First of all, I want to hear about what happened that day.”

The butler let out a long sigh and recounted everything that had happened that day.

*****

It was when Kalian lay on the sofa and closed his tired eyes for a moment.

Tok tok-

“Your Majesty, it is Noah.”

Noah was the knight who he entrusted with Leila’s investigation.

Is the investigation finally over? 

Kalian’s eyelids went up smoothly.

“Come in.”

Noah bowed politely to Kalian and held out the report he had brought. It was as thick as a book.

It’s thicker than I thought.

That meant Leila’s past wasn’t so flat. It made him not feel very good.

Kalian began to read the report.

From the time Leila was born, the events that had taken place until now were arranged in order.

The words such as her birth mother was a maid and illegitimate child, written on the front page, caught his eyes. It wasn’t surprising, because he already knew it.

Kalian quickly scanned the report.

His loose eyes hardened as the papers flipped over.

By the time he reached the last part, the aura surrounding him had subsided. The paper he was holding was crumpled and wrinkled.

BANG-

After reading the report, Kalian slammed the desk hard and stood up.

Papers flew down at his violent gestures.

“Where is Hiltine?”

A terrifying murderous intent pierced his complexion terribly. Even Noah, a knight who had been on the battlefield for a long time, had difficulty bearing his murderous intent.

Noah answered with a slightly pale face.

“If it’s the leader, he was at the training ground…”

Before Noah’s words were finished, Kalian left the office.

As Noah reported, Hiltine was practicing swordsmanship at the training ground. There were also other Crowd Knights members there.

After a while, when Kalian entered the training ground, everyone greeted him politely. 

Without greeting them back, Kalian went straight to Hiltine. His fierce blue eyes seemed to pierce Hiltine at any moment.

The knights, who sensed the unusual atmosphere, kept their mouths shut and only looked at each other’s eyes.

“Hiltine.”

His parted lips turned to a cold smirk.

“Is there something you need to tell me?”