“What are you doing right now?”
The coolness in her voice felt even colder than the water that had just drenched me.
The midday sunlight that poured gently into the annex could not have made the place feel any warmer; instead, it seemed to grow even frostier.
Every servant present—except for me—froze in place.
They had spent the morning whispering about me, careful not to let a word of it reach the masters’ ears, yet now, at the sudden appearance of the young lady, they stiffened completely.
It was understandable. Since the events of last night—since the scandal had begun to spread—most of them hadn’t faced Lady Dianther in person.
No one could predict how the lady, whose fiancé had allegedly been taken by her own attendant, would react now.
The lady’s gaze swept over us quietly before she began walking toward us, her steps graceful and unhurried.
Her beautiful silver hair, cascading down to her waist, shimmered softly with each step.
It was hard to believe that this perfect figure was the same person entangled in such an unsightly scandal.
The servants, who had been staring in stunned silence, quickly bowed in greeting.
“L–Lady Dianther.”
“…Emily. What are you doing?”
The lady’s voice was as calm as ever, yet colder than usual when she addressed Emily.
That tone—that quiet frost—was far more terrifying.
Even I, who had come to understand her true nature to some degree, felt my heart tighten. I couldn’t imagine what Emily must be feeling.
As expected, Emily stiffened the moment she met the lady’s eyes. It looked as though she might burst into tears any second, though she somehow managed to hold them back.
Oh, please. I’m the one who wants to cry, so why are you about to?
“Th–that is, my lady… I… Amel…”
Emily stammered.
She was holding back tears but clearly losing her ability to think straight.
Even if she believed she had done nothing wrong, the lady’s icy gaze—shifting between me, dripping wet, and her—was enough to make her go pale.
Emily, who had spoken to me with such confidence moments ago, now trembled before our lady, unable to find her voice.
If you can’t take responsibility for your actions, why do them in the first place?
Emily admired our lady—I knew that much.
Just as I held my own complicated fondness for Lady Dianther, so did she.
There were some servants who whispered behind the lady’s back, calling her distant or cold—though I, who had come to know her, knew better—but in a grand estate like this, loyalty to one’s master was the foundation of survival.
And loyalty could not exist without affection. Whether love or hate, there had to be something.
Because Emily liked our lady, she was furious at me.
Because she felt betrayed—that someone like me had dared to approach the lady’s fiancé. Because she felt disappointed and angry as a fellow servant who had believed in me. Because she wanted to protect her lady.
Those were the reasons she spread rumors about me in the estate, stole my ruby necklace—though she probably didn’t even consider it theft since she meant to “return” it to the lady—and threw a bucket of water over my head.
In every way, it was the complete opposite of when Lady Hazel Luxan had poured champagne on me.
I understood Emily.
That was why I wasn’t so much angry as… simply tired of the situation.
…No, that’s a lie. I am angry. I’m human, after all.
Still, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment toward her.
If I were Emily, would I have done the same?
I wasn’t sure.
But one thing was certain: at this moment, to everyone here, I was the villainess. A shameless one at that.
And if I didn’t want to be thrown out of this mansion immediately, I had no choice but to keep playing the part.
Starting from my conversation with Meg earlier today, I had already begun to turn myself into someone shameless enough to survive.
Fortunately, only Emily and the lady had witnessed that scene last night—and Emily hadn’t even seen my face. I could only keep pushing forward with this bluff.
Then… was it Edward Callinan’s plan that my face couldn’t be seen that night?
Or was it merely coincidence?
Did anyone else see me at all?
…I had no way of knowing. The person who could answer that question wasn’t here.
“….”
Still, regardless of how much Emily admired the lady, their stations were oceans apart.
Sensing the cool tone and lack of warmth in the lady’s voice, Emily found herself unable to speak further.
No one made a sound. Not a whisper, not a shuffle.
The only thing audible was the steady drip, drip, drip of water falling from my soaked clothes.
The entire annex felt as if it were balancing precariously atop a sheet of thin ice.
Only Lady Dianther could break this silence.
“…Emily. Is that all? …Amel, what happened next?”
“…My lady…”
She had only repeated Emily’s words, but Emily’s face went even paler—paler than mine, though I was the one drenched in cold water.
She must have realized it was better to bow her head and apologize now rather than delay any longer.
“L–Lady Dianther, please forgive me for causing such a commotion in the annex.”
“I wasn’t asking for an apology. And I’m not interested in meaningless words.”
“….”
“Whatever the situation, I won’t be angry. So explain to me—what exactly am I looking at right now?”
The lady’s quiet command was calm but unmistakably firm. No one could defy it.
“T–that is, Amel—Amel Kiselle … she was seen with your fiancé last night, my lady. They were… behaving inappropriately. I was angry, and so… I threw water on her.”
“….”
The lady’s gaze moved from Emily to me, then down to the bucket lying by my feet.
“At the Callinan ball, you say? Inappropriate behavior? What exactly does that mean?”
“!”
When the lady fixed her gaze back on Emily, her expression unchanged, Emily looked utterly lost.
‘But… she was there! She saw it too!’
Emily must have been thinking.
‘Our lady saw everything. There’s no way she wouldn’t recognize Amel’s dress. So why… why is she acting like she doesn’t remember?’
Indeed, the lady was behaving as if she had no recollection of the event at all.
“Or perhaps…” the lady continued smoothly,
“you’re saying that my fiancé, Lord Edward Edwin Callinan, was seen kissing someone—and you mean to tell me that someone was Amel?”
The second wave of cold washed over the room. Everyone fell silent, even those who had been secretly holding their breath.
I looked at the lady in shock.
Emily had tried her best to phrase it vaguely, but Lady Dianther had laid the entire accusation bare in a single breath.
What are you planning to do… my lady?
“I found it curious,” the lady said quietly,
“that my servants seemed to know more about something I myself didn’t. So I asked the head maid about the source of the rumor. It didn’t take long to find out. It was you, Emily.”
“L–Lady Dianther, I—!”
“Whether what you’re saying is true or not is simple enough to confirm.”
Her voice was like ice. Turning away from Emily, she slowly walked toward me.
Dripping from head to toe, I could only look back at her as she stopped before me.
“Amel,” she said softly.
I met her clear, water-colored eyes.
“Was it you,” she asked,
“who was with Lord Callinan last night?”
“….”
“Answer me, Amel. Were you the one with him—or not?”
Our gazes locked. I drew a slow breath and answered firmly, my voice echoing unnaturally loud in the stillness of the annex.
“…No, my lady.”
In that silence, my words rang clear as crystal.
For the briefest moment, the corner of the lady’s gemlike lips curved faintly upward—a delicate trace of a smile that only I could see.
“I see.”
And my answer—was the right one.
