Great Hill, which had darkened early due to the gloomy weather, felt eerie.

Diane, who had been staring at Johan’s shoe tips with lowered eyes, slowly raised her head.

She didn’t even give it a glance when it was actually hanging there.

He was truly a strange man. Of course, that was part of Duke Johan Leopold’s charm.

She had no choice but to take an extraordinary measure.

“It’s the painting by that artist.”

The end of his straight eyebrow raised as if asking, “Who?”

“Andreya Nikolai. The one I mentioned before.”

The artist I mentioned before…

Johan narrowed his brows and stared at the spot where Olivia’s portrait had hung. The Duke of Edinburgh, now hanging in its place, seemed to be saying with a dignified expression: “You fool.”

“Ah. That artist.”

One of the names he had dismissed, as if it didn’t matter as long as it wasn’t Edgar Lancaster Lancelot, came to mind.

It had been about three months since the wedding. Seeing the bare walls of Great Hill, which had no history in the Leopold ducal family, the crown prince had recommended this artist, clicking his tongue.

He added that he was a skilled artist who had graduated top of his class from the Royal Academy of Arts and won the grand prize at the Salon.

It didn’t matter who it was. Such a bothersome thing. So he delegated everything to Morris.

He had only received a report that he had commissioned three paintings and contracted for the artist to stay in the guest house for five months to work.

Johan slowly turned his head from where he had been staring, as if chasing Olivia’s afterimage, to glare at his own portrait.

He recalled the face of the man who had painted him.

He remembered a delicate appearance, like a bookworm who knew nothing but art. He had judged the man to be skilled upon seeing the completed painting.

For five months in the guest house…

Ha! Johan sneered.

He couldn’t have been more of a fool.

“Those.”

His eyes, full of annoyance, moved towards the paintings and then fell.

“Remove them all.”

Johan, his face devoid of any emotion, climbed the stairs towards his office.

The broad leaves of the decorative tropical plant adorning the corner of the landing seemed to cast shadows that grabbed at his ankles.

‘I love you.’

He felt dejected.

His wife’s ‘I love you’ might not have been a confession directed at him.

A woman sold for money, fallen into the dirty trap set by her grandfather. From Olivia’s perspective, he was merely a buyer who had purchased damaged goods to obtain a title.

So there was no reason at all for her to love him.

Shortly after the small commotion caused by the portraits, Morris called Diane Brook to his office.

“Please, sit down.”

Is there anyone who can perfectly hide their expression? If there is, it might be someone like Diane Brook, Morris thought as he watched the woman sitting across from him.

Whether she knew she had overstepped or not. Her attitude, as if nothing had happened, was brazen.

He had always disliked how she acted like the mistress of the duke’s household in place of the duchess since the duchess was here.

“I called you here to confirm a few things.”

“Please, go ahead.”

“About that day. The day of the lake incident.”

Diane Brook looked at Morris with an expression of surprise.

“Why suddenly about that day?”

“Could you tell me about Miss Brook’s schedule for that day in chronological order?”

Diane tried to erase her stiff expression and asked calmly.

“It’s not difficult to tell you… But it’s so sudden. Did something happen?”

“It’s the master’s order.”

“The Duke?”

Morris nodded.

“How strange. I wonder why he’s interested in that day’s events now.”

As Diane lowered her gaze slowly as if reminiscing about the past, her heart was beating rapidly. The lakeside shrouded in darkness unfolded before Diane’s eyes. The air felt heavy. The mist on the lake was damp.

Olivia didn’t know. That Diane had made a decision when she saw the job advertisement for the duke’s secretary in the newspaper.

Thoroughly, perfectly.

The decision to destroy her.

“…It was raining from the morning that day.”

Diane slowly began her story.

“Due to a carriage that had slipped on the wet road, traffic was completely jammed, and I arrived at work about thirty minutes late. I remember it clearly because it was the first time I was late since I started working at the duke’s residence. But it was an otherwise unremarkable day. For the duchess as well.”

Diane continued her story as if carefully going through it, and Morris jotted down notes in his notebook, occasionally glancing at her.

“When I arrived, there were two letters for the duchess. One was a letter of regards from the count’s family, and I don’t know about the other one because the sender wasn’t written. If I remember correctly, she seemed angry after reading that letter.”

“Do you have any idea who it might be from?”

“Of course I do. But for the sake of the duchess’s honor, please don’t ask any further. It’s just my guess after all. My thoughts aren’t important, right?”

It was a reference to Olivia’s lover. The sharp Morris couldn’t have misunderstood.

“This had happened a few times before, so I didn’t pay special attention to it.”

“Letters without a sender?”

“That’s right. It had happened a couple of times before.”

Diane made it seem as if these letters were farewell letters from lovers. She had an exceptional talent for crafting stories to her advantage in any situation.

“She skipped lunch, so when I brought food up, it seemed like she was crying. Since it wasn’t a good sight, I didn’t go in and just came back down.”

“Is that letter still kept somewhere?”

“No. She burned it.”

“I see…”

Morris trailed off with a disappointed look.

“She stayed in her bedroom, and when she called for me, I went up, and she said she wanted to have a summer dress made.”

“Was she alone in the bedroom?”

“She was with a maid.”

“Anything unusual?”

“She was a person with severe mood swings, so I didn’t feel anything particularly strange. You know, right?”

“Is the maid currently the one accompanying the duchess?”

“Yes. Her name was Anne, I think.”

“What time did Madame Gabrielle arrive?”

“She arrived around three o’clock. The duchess chose a dress from the new product catalog, and after remarking that she seemed to have lost some weight since last time, she took measurements again and left at a time that was probably just before five o’clock.”

Hmm, Morris hummed as he scratched his temple with the tip of his fountain pen.

“And then the incident occurred three hours later… What were you doing during that time, Miss Brook?”

“As I told you then, I was organizing statements in the office and left work just before six o’clock.”

“Then, I suppose you don’t know about the duchess’s whereabouts after that?”

“Unfortunately not. I should have stayed…”

Diane furrowed her brows as if blaming herself.

“I know that she usually stays at the mansion when it rains. Like a few days ago.”

“Of course. But that day, I had to go home because there was a matter to attend to.”

Silence fell between the two for a moment. Morris was looking at his notebook. The more he looked into the incident, the more unsettling aspects there were.

“Don’t you find it strange?”

Diane swallowed dry saliva inwardly and asked, trying to appear casual.

“What’s strange?”

“That someone planning to commit suicide would have a dress fitted.”

That’s how it seemed to Morris’s common sense. He guessed that the duke had also been bothered by this point and ordered the investigation. Such a reaction was also natural.

“Perhaps she developed the desire to die after having the dress fitted. She was an unpredictable person, you know. The former duchess.”

Diane spoke as if it was no big deal, with a subtly mocking tone.

Right. That’s why I disliked this woman. Morris realized anew as he continued with the next question.

“There was a maid who quit a few days after the incident. Do you know anything about her?”

She was said to be one of the assistant maids helping Mrs. Hannah, the head cook, in the kitchen.

“I heard she ran away in the middle of the night? The maids were saying she might have been pregnant. Isn’t that common?”

It’s not uncommon for servants to fall in love with each other. Most of the time they form families, but in cases where the partner is already married, maids often leave like this.

“Sigh…”

Morris exhaled deeply.

After starting the investigation, he had met with the head butler, the head maid, and now the duchess’s secretary, but there was nothing particularly fruitful.

“You may go now.”

Diane stood up. As she turned to leave, Morris spoke.

“Is it Delight?”

Diane turned her head and looked at Morris.

“The perfume.”

“Yes, that’s right. How did you know?”

Morris didn’t miss how the woman who had been imitating the elegant duchess flinched.

“I chose it as a birthday gift for the duchess. On the recommendation of a department store employee.”

“…”

“The master is such a busy person, after all.”

Morris smiled slightly.

Diane smiled, bowed, and left the office. She walked down the corridor with an upright posture and graceful steps.

As soon as she entered her room, her face turned bright red. Diane rushed to the dressing table with rough steps and threw the blue bottle into the trash can.

Madame Lauren came barging in again with the completed dress. It was around five o’clock in the afternoon, an hour before the ball.

“Oh my! Eve Lauren, of all people!”

Elaine exclaimed with an expression of awe.

The waist ornament of the green dress neatly laid out on the bed scattered light in a myriad of colors in the fading sunset.

Olivia, who had requested a simple silhouette with minimal exposure, stared at the dress with a somewhat embarrassed look. For some reason, there seemed to have been a slight communication problem with the designer.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and put it on. We’ll be late at this rate.”

Elaine, who had already finished her preparations and come over, gave a meaningful look to Marie and Anne.

“But…”

“Come on, hurry.”

Elaine grabbed Olivia’s arm, who was hesitating, with tremendous spirit and handed her over to Anne.

A moment later, Olivia came out of the dressing room.

As expected.

Exclamations of admiration flowed from here and there. The dress was perfect beyond measure.

In the golden sunlight, Olivia’s figure was dazzling.