Chapter 25
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Chapter 25
Sally and the Nanny's eyes gleamed with unmistakable satisfaction at the sight.
Only then did I understand.
'They've set a trap to drive me out...!'
Why would they go to such lengths?
Indignation surged within me, but appealing to emotion would change nothing.
What mattered more was―
'Will Rachel truly believe in me...?'
Though I'd grown close to Rachel recently, that made this all the more perilous.
He might think I'd exploited his trust to lower his guard, and orchestrated this entire scheme.
Furthermore....
I was the one who'd suggested we visit the Corridor, and I was the one who'd asked him to find a book in the Library.
"See? You did steal it!"
Sally seized Rachel's hairpin and cried out, ensuring the passing servants heard every word.
"And what's this scrap of paper doing here? You planned to hide the hairpin with it from the start, didn't you?"
"Vivian, I never took you for such a cunning child."
As Sally and the Nanny united in their loud accusations, servants began gathering from all directions.
My heart thundered against my ribs as my mind went blank at the murmuring voices.
'Calm down. Stay composed and think of a way to prove my innocence....'
Just as I was forcing myself to think clearly, a familiar voice came from behind.
"What is this commotion?"
At the Duke's appearance, the atmosphere shifted abruptly silent, and everyone hastily straightened with deference.
"Your Grace."
"Margaret. What reason do you have for disciplining this child?"
"Just now, this child came out of the young lady's room together, but returned alone and allegedly stole something. So we were interrogating her...."
"Do you have evidence? You haven't been pressing the child based on mere suspicion, have you?"
"Here, Your Grace! The young lady's hairpin was found in her bag."
Sally swiftly presented Rachel's hairpin to the Duke.
The Duke examined the hairpin and me alternately with his characteristically cold gaze, then asked.
"Vivian. Did you truly steal this?"
Sally interjected immediately.
"I saw it, Your Grace. Look, this strange scrap of paper―she planned from the start to hide it―"
"Sally."
The Duke cut off Sally's words with a stern voice.
Though he'd merely spoken her name, the overwhelming pressure silenced her at once.
"I asked Vivian."
The Duke said this while looking directly at me, waiting for my response.
But....
'No matter how I think about it, there's no way to prove my innocence.'
All I could do was claim through words alone that I was wronged, that I hadn't done it.
"I was...."
Just as I opened my mouth to protest my innocence.
"I gave it to her."
Rachel's hand grasped mine firmly, positioning himself between the Duke and me.
As if shielding me from the Duke himself.
I stared at Rachel's back in astonishment.
'Rachel... protected me in front of the Duke?'
Suddenly, Rachel's earlier words echoed in my mind.
[Grandfather wouldn't approve. I'm the one honoring Mother's memory.]
Rachel had always feared his grandfather—so much so that he wouldn't speak a single word to the Duke.
Yet that same Rachel had stepped forward to protect me.
He had believed in me.
"I didn't realize I needed the Nanny's permission to give my own things to my friend."
Rachel turned to face the Nanny and Sally with cold eyes as he spoke.
I could see that not only I, but the Nanny and Sally as well flinched in surprise.
It made sense—this was the first time Rachel had shown such hostility toward the Nanny and Sally.
Though the Nanny seemed momentarily flustered, she quickly regained her composure and gently soothed Rachel.
"Young master, a good friend isn't one who merely overlooks a friend's mistakes. A true friend must also know how to point out when a friend has erred."
"A true friend also believes in and helps their friend when they're treated unfairly."
Rachel's rebuttal to the Nanny sounded strangely familiar.
Of course it did. Because that was....
[If a friend is treated unfairly, you don't run away—you believe in them and help them.]
Words I had once spoken to Rachel, promising to be on his side.
So Rachel was now using those very words to protect me.
Only then did I truly understand.
'I thought that by becoming friends with Rachel, I had gained someone absolutely on my side....'
But I too had gained someone who would believe in me, my ally, in any circumstance.
"W-what is all this then? Why would you carry these around in a bag?"
As Rachel's words made the Nanny hesitate, Sally kicked the fallen paper flowers on the floor and shouted at me.
I flinched and glanced nervously at the Duke and Rachel.
'I was the one who suggested giving flowers to Mother....'
Rachel didn't want the Duke to discover that he was honoring Mother's memory.
Though I didn't know why, if Rachel didn't wish it, I wanted to protect this secret at all costs.
Just as I opened my mouth to come up with a plausible excuse.
"We made flowers together to give to Mother. I put them in my bag to hide them so we could place them in the Corridor."
At Rachel's honest answer, one of the Duke's eyebrows rose.
"Today? Why not tomorrow?"
Rachel stared at the Duke for a moment, then lowered his gaze and answered quietly.
"...Because I didn't think you would approve, Grandfather."
At those words, the Duke's pupils began to tremble.
His gaze shifted between the paper flowers scattered messily at our feet and Rachel.
As silence settled over the corridor, the Butler quickly took control of the situation.
"It seems Vivian's false accusation has been cleared. Let us all return to our posts."
The servants who had gathered at the commotion dispersed promptly.
The Nanny and Sally, whose plan to drive me away had unraveled, glared at me with eyes that could kill.
The Butler spoke to Sally with gentle firmness.
"Sally. You nearly framed Vivian with false charges—apologize properly."
But Sally ignored his words and turned to flee.
"Sally!"
Watching the Nanny slip away under the pretense of chasing after Sally, I let out a scoff.
'If they were the type to apologize sincerely, they wouldn't have slandered me in the first place.'
And so everyone returned to their places.
Now only Rachel, myself, the Duke, and the Butler remained in the corridor.
I stole a cautious glance at the Duke.
The Duke was watching Rachel with slightly furrowed eyes.
'Since Rachel didn't want the Duke to discover his tribute to his mother... will he scold him?'
If so, this time I would shield Rachel!
As I resolved this, Rachel avoided the Duke's gaze and pulled my hand urgently.
"Let's go. You should have left for home long ago."
"Huh? Um..."
As I was being dragged away by Rachel while reading the tension between him and the Duke, something crunched beneath my feet.
Rachel, the Duke, and I all looked down at the floor at once.
The paper flowers we had made together to honor Rachel's mother lay devastated, crushed beyond recognition.
I crouched down and began gathering the flowers that still retained some semblance of form.
Then Rachel grabbed my shoulder.
"...What are you doing right now?"
"We promised to give these to your mother. If I can gather the ones that are still intact—"
"That's enough. Just go."
Rachel pulled my hand away roughly, as if desperate to escape this moment.
Because of that, the flowers I had carefully gathered scattered again. My heart ached at the sight.
It felt as though Rachel's sincere desire to honor his mother was being trampled.
'Rachel's sincerity deserves better than this.'
With each fallen flower, I recalled the anecdotes about his mother that Rachel had shared while making them.
'When he spoke of those memories... he looked happy.'
Unlike his usual dry, unreadable expression, in those moments when he spoke of his mother, he seemed like a child my own age.
'I cannot allow that heart, those memories, to be trampled.'
Just as I was pulling my hand free from Rachel's grip to gather the flowers again, the Duke's voice reached us.
"...Rachel."
At that call, Rachel's gesture to help me up faltered.
"Tomorrow, will you come to the Garden with me."
Rachel didn't look at the Duke, but I, gazing up at him, could see it.
Those eyes, so strikingly similar to Rachel's own, were submerged in a sorrow as deep and fathomless as the sea.
Meeting that gaze, I too received what felt less like a request and more like a command.
"Vivian, come with us."
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