MLIIWTFL Chapter 200

 200

To cover things up, they tried to claim that Seraphina had collapsed due to nerves and attempted to convince her to rest more, saying her body must still be weak.

But it was no use. Seraphina had already drawn too much public attention.

In the end, she had no choice but to confess the truth to her father and mother and ask for their help.

Her father flew into a rage and grabbed her by the hair, shaking her violently, but thankfully, her mother intervened, and she wasn't physically hurt.

Given the circumstances, she suggested they pin the blame on Letticia. She argued that, since Letticia came from a nouveau riche family, it would be natural for her to envy Seraphina.

But her father and mother dismissed that idea as nonsense.

"Maybe if Letticia Sharon were still a candidate to be crown princess, that might work. But now that she's already gone public with her relationship, who would find that believable?"

"Why wouldn't they? Even if she gave up the title, do you really think she wouldn't still be jealous of Seraphina? Her family, her bloodline, Seraphina surpasses her in every way!"

"And yet she received the first Diamond! Doesn't that show how society views her? Did you forget? Even if you combine all the suitors who came for you and Seraphina, it barely matches the number of gentlemen who visited her!"

"Still, there's no one else who would have any reason to harm Seraphina! Isn't the most important thing getting the Marquess of Eskis to believe it? Then we just need to make people think she did it before the Marquess arrives!"

After relentless persuasion, her father eventually gave secret orders to the knights, to make Letticia look like the culprit.

Her mother confined Seraphina to her room under the pretense of needing strict rest and assigned people to watch over her.

But those foolish knights couldn't even handle a simple task, pressuring Letticia, intimidating her, and catching her slip up.

Worse still, their blunder made it into the newspapers, and her name ended up being dragged through the mud by lowlifes.

People who knew absolutely nothing had the audacity to gossip about the treatment she received as the daughter of the knight commander.

On top of that, articles comparing her and Seraphina, and all sorts of rumors, started spreading.

Even the attempt to sway public opinion among the old noble families failed miserably.

Those families, many of whom were friendly with Countess Camilla Sharon, a fellow high noble like the Eskis family, sided with Letticia.

Her mother, who had once dominated the social scene, was no help either.

She attended a tea party with Countess Sharon and came back without accomplishing a thing.

With nothing going as planned, her father started drinking every day, tearing at his hair and muttering nonsense. Her mother became irritable and sensitive, yelling over the smallest things and going out less and less.

All of this happened because Seraphina forced herself to go on stage despite being ill.

"Was it that important to be the center of attention? Did you think showing your suffering on stage would earn people's sympathy? That if you played through your illness in front of His Highness, he'd be moved and choose you as his crown princess? Go ahead, say something!"

"…Is that really all you are?"

In her once-calm emerald eyes now flickered disappointment and scorn, a look she had never even shown to those vulgar social climbers.

"Lady Mortimer at least apologized and said she felt sorry when she saw me. But you… all you do is blame me for everything. Do you really not understand how horrible the thing you did was? Haven't you even thought about reflecting on your actions?"

"Don't act so high and mighty. You know just as well as I do that noble families are always locked in power struggles."

"Yes, they exist, even if they're not righteous. They're dishonest deeds committed to gain benefits by breaking the law."

Hearing Seraphina's quiet voice, heavy with contempt, Audrey screamed out in frustration.

"There you go again! Can't you say anything else? Responsibility, duty, 'a noble must act this way', you always talk like that! Always looking down on others, pretending like you're the only righteous one! You're like that even when we talk about the crown princess. No matter what I said, you always responded with something like, 'Rather than that…' and ruined the mood, acting like you were the only one with sense!"

Before their relationship soured, Audrey and Seraphina once discussed what it would be like to become the crown princess.

While Audrey excitedly said she'd wear the white lily tiara used in the royal wedding and honeymoon at the imperial family's southern island resort, Seraphina looked at her like she was a silly child.

Then, quoting scripture she'd read in theology lessons, she droned on about how a crown princess should be a role model for the people and have a vision for improving the Empire.

Later, she went so far as to talk about forming a club to teach etiquette to fallen nobles and commoners with no noble blood.

If they hadn't been cousins, Audrey would've cut her off completely.

"I've never lied. The position of crown princess comes with great duties and responsibilities. And if someone wants that position, they need to have the mindset to match it, that's still what I believe."

"You're still pretending to be good? It's disgusting, stop it already! Do you really think people praise you as a moral, noble highborn because you talk like that? No one believes a word you say! Everyone can see right through you, so why even bother lying like that?"

"…Audrey, how did you end up this broken? You used to say you'd become someone worthy of the daffodil, the symbol of Wallace. Is this what you call being noble?"

Seraphina's composed face now showed both exhaustion and pity.

That pitying look, like she was sympathizing, crushed Audrey's pride.

"This is all your fault! If you hadn't come to the capital, none of this would've happened! I would've been the Diamond, danced with His Highness, and maybe even caught his eye enough to become the crown princess!"

Audrey shouted, clutching the iron bars in front of her.

"Because of you, I became a complete laughingstock! When I entered the Academy, everyone expected I'd be the Diamond. But now they call me a daffodil blooming in the swan's shadow!"

Seraphina, who always looked down from above, couldn't possibly understand, 

The humiliation of being seen as equal to those she once thought beneath her.

The pain of having to endure sympathy disguised as kindness, and the mockery beneath it.

And worst of all, the agony of pretending everything was fine when the followers who once flattered her turned their backs to praise Seraphina instead.

Seraphina closed her eyes for a moment.

She was aware that Audrey was being mocked solely because she failed to become the Diamond.

She thought she could empathize with that pain.

"…Yes, if I hadn't come to the capital, you probably would have been the Diamond. You wouldn't have been subjected to all the ridicule and sneering. Maybe you even would have danced with His Highness the Crown Prince. That's why I felt sorry. If you had sincerely apologized, I would've wanted to understand you… even forgive you."

But seeing Audrey now, screaming like that Seraphina realized her sympathy had been superficial at best.

As Audrey said, Seraphina had never known what it was like to fall from grace.

"Then stop saying you're sorry and go tell everyone! Tell them I drank the tea alone, and that Audrey Wallace did nothing wrong!"

"I can forgive the wrong you did to me. But I cannot overlook the fact that you tried to frame Lady Sharon. That's not something that can be forgiven, not even by me."

At the mention of Letticia, Seraphina's resolve hardened.

Any hint of pity or regret vanished from her face.

"The Count will go down in history as the last knight commander from the Wallace family, disgraced and dismissed for corruption. And Sir Wallace? He'll never even dream of the knight commander's seat again."

Faced with Seraphina's cold, cutting words, Audrey collapsed to the floor.

"…No. No! I just need to get rid of you and that vulgar girl who stole everything from me. Then people will remember that I was always the greatest debutante. They'll stop laughing at me! They'll praise and admire me again, just like they used to. Everything will go back to how it was!"

Her frenzied denial, unable to accept reality, made her look like a madwoman. There was nothing noble or mystical left in the "daffodil of Wallace."

Watching her with sad eyes, Seraphina lowered the curtain, hiding the prison bars from view, and turned away.

If Audrey hadn't poisoned Seraphina with Invidia…

If she had turned herself in and accepted punishment…

If she hadn't tried to shift the blame to Letticia…

Then the Count of Wallace would still be serving as knight commander.

Audrey, too, would still hold her place as the cherished daffodil of the Wallace family.

But instead, Audrey had continued choosing the most foolish path, and in doing so, dragged her entire family into ruin.

Just like one of the other meanings of the daffodil: folly.

A pitiful end indeed.