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"Until the verdict is reached, you'll have to stay in prison. But just hold out until the end of the Founding Festival. It won't be much longer, so please hang in there."
"You'll really send me to the convent, right? I won't actually be going to prison?"
"Yes, that's correct. I will keep my promise, but you must ensure your testimony is truthful and clear."
Honestly, he wanted to snap, "It's just a prison for nobles, why are you whining like it's the end of the world?" But considering how crucial Giselle's testimony was for this case, he had no choice but to put up with it.
'Yeah, at the very least, she's earned the favor of getting it reduced to a convent stay."
Seraphina's testimony had helped as well, but nothing could outweigh the confession of the actual perpetrator.
Thanks to that confession, Giselle would be sent to a convent instead of prison, while Audrey and Evelyn would be imprisoned.
Thinking about everything that still needed to be done made Achilles's head throb. He stifled a yawn and climbed into the carriage headed for the knight order.
He'd been so busy lately that he hadn't even been home, and it had already been several days since he last saw Ariette.
It was already hard enough to get in touch with her thanks to their father and older brother interfering. On top of that, Ariette had been spending almost all her evenings in the annex learning etiquette from Seraphina. There were even times he couldn't hear her voice at all.
'Well, I guess it's a good thing Arie is making friends. It really is good, but still…'
Thinking back to their academy days, Achilles still felt guilty. Because of his rash actions back then, Ariette ended up isolated, unable to make friends and forced to focus only on studying.
But now that she was spending all her time with her new friend and he couldn't even see her face, he found himself, despite knowing how childish it was, working even harder just to get Seraphina out of the house sooner.
"Once this is all over, maybe I should take Arie out horseback riding."
With thoughts of his sister giving him renewed energy, Achilles stretched and got fired up again.
***
The noble-exclusive prison was a luxurious place, equipped with high-quality beds, fine furniture, and meals that met aristocratic standards.
The doors were barred with iron grills, but thick curtains were usually drawn over them, offering at least a semblance of privacy.
However, for a debutante of high society, being imprisoned at all was no different than social death. The environment meant nothing to Audrey.
"Your meal."
The guard placed the food on the table, but Audrey just sat on her bed, murmuring to herself without responding.
"Why… How did it come to this? Where did everything go wrong?"
She was the precious daughter of Count Wallace. Her family had held the position of Knight Commander for four generations, one of the most powerful old noble lineages in the capital. Among nobles her age, there was no one as accomplished or admired as she was.
So why on earth was she the one sitting in a prison cell? It should've been that lowborn nouveau riche girl rotting here, not her.
"Why didn't Father do anything this time? He should've sent knights to cover this up like always. Why didn't he help me at all?"
Audrey had witnessed her father frame and ruin families that stood in her way on multiple occasions.
She knew well that the knights sometimes obeyed her father over even the emperor's commands.
So, naturally, she thought this situation would be easily dealt with too. If her father gave the order, he could shift the blame onto that gemstone peddler's daughter, the thorn in her side, and get away with it.
Sure, the newspapers painted that nouveau riche girl as the victim, but her mother had already started swaying social opinion. Audrey believed that in a matter of time, people would trust the word of the Wallaces over some article in a tabloid.
But none of what Audrey believed in had come to pass.
Her father had changed his plan, choosing to cut ties by throwing Giselle under the bus instead of fighting for her. Her mother had agreed.*
Audrey didn't particularly mind sacrificing Giselle. Nobles like her were used to keeping disposable people around, those who could do the dirty work and then be discarded when needed.
Besides, Giselle had proven herself completely useless. Audrey had hoped she might be competent enough to keep around after Giselle's name appeared in Lucinella's records, but unlike Evelyn, she never had any good ideas. She was always ruled by her emotions, constantly getting into fights with nouveau riche girls or whining.
Still, Audrey had trusted her enough to put her in charge of purchasing Invidia. And when Giselle hesitated, asking if it was really okay, Audrey had reassured her, boldly claiming her father would clean things up no matter what.
Even so, things had turned out like this. All that remained for Giselle was to admit to the crime and go to prison. Still, Audrey had believed that her father would at least arrange for her to be smuggled out partway through. She'd assumed Giselle would obediently accept that offer.
But in the end, Giselle betrayed her, and Audrey ended up locked away in prison. Her father and mother were probably in the cells next door, though she couldn't hear them.
'This can't be real. I'm the daughter of the Knight Commander. I was supposed to become the crown princess. How could I end up here? How is that even possible?'
Ever since she'd glimpsed Matthias from afar as a young child, Audrey had dreamed of becoming the crown princess. There weren't any girls her age from marquess-level or higher noble families in the capital, so it wasn't entirely unrealistic.
For him, she'd diligently studied etiquette under private tutors. She had even started her own social circle, thinking it was important to learn how to manage subordinates before stepping into the role of crown princess.
She bestowed kindness upon her followers, and anyone who got in her way or irritated her was publicly humiliated or bullied until they left on their own.
She had done all this, put in all that effort, for the day of the royal presentation. But at the ball, her name wasn't even called.
The first name announced had been Letticia Sharon, that gemstone peddler's daughter, draped in flashy jewels to draw attention.
Sure, her mother was from a grand noble family, but the other half of her blood came from a nouveau riche. Her family had only held a noble title for two generations.
And yet, that kind of girl was announced alongside Audrey as one of the potential "diamonds" and even got to dance with the crown prince before her.
That alone had been enough to enrage her, but even the second name called wasn't hers.
It was Seraphina Eskis, her cousin who had come to the capital from the western provinces to make her social debut.
"That's it. It's all because of Seraphina. If only she hadn't come. If only she weren't here…"
"…So that's how you really felt."
A chilling voice cut through the stillness of the room that had been filled with only Audrey's muttering.
"Y-you…!"
Audrey shot to her feet and glared through the iron bars on the door at the pair of emerald eyes staring back at her.
Seraphina stood there in the same plain, unadorned dress she'd worn in court earlier, but her posture, straight-backed and composed, was the very image of noble dignity. No matter how hard Audrey tried to puff out her chest and hold her head high, she couldn't even come close to matching Seraphina's natural grace.
It was as if Seraphina were silently declaring that she, not Audrey, was the one who truly carried noble blood in her veins.
"I thought it might've been you… but now that I know for sure, I don't know how to feel. Did you hate me that much? Enough to want me dead?"
"Don't talk like that! I never tried to kill you!"
It was true, Audrey had never intended to kill Seraphina. She wasn't insane enough to murder the daughter of a great lord.
She only wanted to humiliate Seraphina at the concert. She couldn't stand seeing her gather people under the banner of some lofty ideal, captivate everyone with a flawless performance, and casually engage the crown prince in conversation by bringing up a visit to an orphanage.
"You said you were allergic. That even a single sip would make it hard for you to breathe. You were supposed to collapse before going on stage, then I could go up instead, perform, and receive the applause. So why did you still go on stage? Why?"
If Seraphina and Letticia's performance had been canceled, the next scheduled performance, Audrey, Giselle, and Evelyn's, would have had to be pushed forward. Letticia had already had a solo act once; another would cause whispers, even if she was a Diamond.
Besides, if someone collapsed, even someone as brash as Letticia, who'd once thrown tea at someone, would surely panic and be unable to react properly.
Audrey had calculated everything. She would keep her composure and seize control, earning the reputation of the one who rescued the concert, not either of the two Diamonds.
But Seraphina had gone on stage anyway, and the plan fell apart. Audrey had begun to panic, wondering if the plan had failed, until Letticia returned to the dressing room, announced that Seraphina had collapsed, and immediately started issuing orders.
Giselle and Evelyn tried to undermine Letticia's commands and help Audrey regain control, but Letticia, vulgar as ever, shut them down with harsh scolding and sharp words.
Then Dayna Hailey, Letticia's glorified handmaiden, stepped in to mediate and support Letticia, leaving Audrey with no opportunity to act.
Left with no other choice, Audrey went up on stage to perform. She had to calm the now-agitated Giselle and Evelyn, check on Seraphina's condition, and somehow make it through the rest of the concert.
But then Seraphina went and told the crown prince that she had collapsed due to her health, and even brought up the orphanage visit, only further irritating him and throwing everything into even greater disarray.
🍓; *Chose to abandon Giselle, possibly blaming or sacrificing her, in order to protect himself or gain something. Instead of defending or standing up for her, he used her as a scapegoat or let her suffer the consequences so he wouldn't have to.
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1 Comments
She's so shallow and the plan really wasn't well-thought out smh. Thanks so much for translating!!
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