Chapter 25
Sally and the nanny’s eyes flickered strangely as they looked at me.
Only then did I realize.
“They set a trap to drive me out…!”
But why would they go this far?
A surge of emotion rose in my chest, but I knew appealing with feelings wouldn’t change anything.
What mattered more was―
“Will Rachel believe me…?”
We’d gotten much closer, but that made things even riskier.
She might think I had won her trust just to lower her guard and pull something like this.
Besides…
I was the one who suggested going to the corridor.
I was the one who asked her to look for books in the library.
“See? She stole it, didn’t she!”
Sally shouted, holding up Rachel’s hairpin for everyone passing by to hear.
“And what are all these scraps of paper? Don’t tell me you didn’t make them just to hide the hairpin in the first place!”
“Vivian, I didn’t take you for such a sly little thing.”
Sally and the nanny raised their voices together, ganging up on me until passing servants began to gather.
The murmuring voices made my heart pound and my head go blank.
“Calm down. Think. I need a way to prove I’m innocent…”
Just as I struggled to steady myself, I heard a familiar voice behind me.
“What is all this commotion?”
The Duke had arrived.
The atmosphere fell silent in an instant, and everyone hastily bowed.
“Your Grace.”
“Margaret. Why are you disciplining this child?”
“Not long ago, she came out of the room with the young lady. She returned alone, and now they say she stole something. I was questioning her about it…”
“Do you have proof? Surely you didn’t accuse her based on suspicion alone.”
“Here! I found the young lady’s hairpin in her bag!”
Sally quickly handed the Duke Rachel’s hairpin.
The Duke glanced coldly between the pin and me before asking:
“Vivian. Did you really steal this?”
Sally butted in at once.
“I saw it myself, Your Grace! Look, these scraps of paper―she planned it from the start to hide the pin―”
“Sally.”
The Duke cut her off with just her name, his voice stern.
That alone was enough to silence Sally under the crushing weight of his authority.
“I asked Vivian,” the Duke said, turning his eyes back to me. He was waiting for my answer.
But…
“There’s no way I can prove my innocence…”
All I could do was insist I hadn’t done it, claim I was being wronged.
“I…”
Just as I opened my mouth to plead,
“I gave it to her.”
Rachel’s hand tightened around mine as she stepped in front of me, blocking the Duke’s gaze as if shielding me.
I stared at her back in shock.
“Rachel… defended me in front of the Duke?”
Suddenly, I recalled what Rachel had told me earlier:
[Grandfather wouldn’t like it. Me mourning my mother.]
She had always been too afraid of the Duke to even speak to him.
And yet here she was, standing up for me.
She believed me.
“I didn’t know I needed the nanny’s permission to give my friend something of mine as a gift.”
Rachel’s eyes turned cold as she looked at the nanny and Sally.
I wasn’t the only one startled—both the nanny and Sally flinched as well.
It was the first time Rachel had ever shown hostility toward them.
But after a moment, the nanny regained her composure and spoke soothingly.
“Young lady, covering up your friend’s wrongdoing does not make you a good friend. A true friend points out her mistakes.”
“A true friend also believes and helps when her friend is wronged.”
Rachel’s words rang familiar.
Of course they did.
[If your friend is being treated unfairly, you don’t run away. You believe them and help them.]
Those were the very words I had once told Rachel, when I promised to be on her side.
Now she was repeating them—this time to protect me.
That’s when I realized.
“I thought that by becoming Rachel’s friend, I had gained someone who would always be on my side… but in truth, I had also gained someone who would believe me no matter what.”
“Then what about all this? Why do you carry this stuff in your bag?”
When the nanny faltered under Rachel’s words, Sally kicked the paper flowers scattered on the floor and shouted at me.
I froze, glancing nervously at both Rachel and the Duke.
“I was the one who suggested offering flowers to her mother…”
Rachel hadn’t wanted the Duke to know about her mourning.
I didn’t know why, but since she didn’t want it, I had to protect that secret.
I was just about to make up an excuse when―
“We made them for my mother. To sneak them to the corridor, we hid them in the bag.”
Rachel answered honestly.
The Duke’s brow arched.
“Today? Why not tomorrow?”
Rachel held his gaze for a moment before lowering her eyes.
“…Because I thought Grandfather wouldn’t approve.”
At that, the Duke’s eyes wavered.
His gaze drifted between the scattered paper flowers and Rachel.
A heavy silence hung in the corridor until the butler swiftly stepped in.
“It seems Miss Vivian’s innocence has been proven. Let us all return to our duties.”
The gathered servants dispersed.
The nanny and Sally, whose plan to frame me had failed, glared at me with looks that could kill.
The butler turned to Sally with gentle firmness.
“Sally. You nearly placed a false accusation on Vivian. Apologize properly.”
But Sally ignored him and fled.
“Sally!”
The nanny, feigning to chase after her, slipped away as well.
I snorted.
“As if they’d ever apologize sincerely. If they were capable of that, they wouldn’t have framed me in the first place.”
Soon, only Rachel, the Duke, the butler, and I remained in the corridor.
I stole a glance at the Duke.
He was looking at Rachel with a faint frown.
“If Rachel didn’t want him to know about her mourning… then maybe he’ll scold her now?”
If that happened, I was determined to protect her this time.
But before I could step forward, Rachel looked away from the Duke and tugged at my hand.
“Let’s go. You’re already late to head home.”
“Ah? Oh… okay.”
As she pulled me along, something crunched beneath my foot.
We all looked down.
The paper flowers Rachel and I had made for her mother were crushed and torn on the floor.
I crouched down, picking up the ones still intact.
Rachel grabbed my shoulder.
“…What are you doing?”
“We promised to offer these to your mother. At least the ones still good enough―”
“Forget it. Let’s just go.”
Rachel yanked my hand forcefully, as if desperate to escape the scene.
The flowers I had gathered slipped from my hands again. My heart ached at the sight.
It felt as though Rachel’s sincerity, her love for her mother, had been trampled on.
“Rachel’s feelings… they’re not this pathetic.”
Each flower reminded me of the stories Rachel had shared about her mother while we were making them.
“She looked so happy telling those stories… not like the detached Rachel everyone else sees, but like a girl my age.”
“I can’t let those feelings, those memories, be treated like nothing.”
I started to pull my hand free to pick them up again, when the Duke’s voice rang out.
“…Rachel.”
Rachel’s hand froze mid-motion.
“Tomorrow, will you come with me to the back garden?”
Rachel didn’t look up, but I did.
And I saw it.
Those eyes—so like Rachel’s own—were filled with a vast, sea-like sorrow.
His gaze met mine, and he gave me what felt like both an order and a plea.
“Vivian. You too.”
