“Evangeline Seymour, loss due to poor performance ends in forfeit, how far will Olivia Blanchet’s unstoppable victory streak go.”

Evangeline threw the newspaper at the maid’s face.

“Did you handle it properly?”

Unable to believe the reality, Evangeline was badgering the maid.

Fortunately, her strength hadn’t fully recovered yet, otherwise she might have grabbed a vase instead of just paper.

“I, I definitely switched the water bottle. Really, young lady. You saw it.”

“Do you think I had the presence of mind to notice that in that situation?”

Her hand trembling with anger, Evangeline massaged her throbbing forehead, still feeling the effects of the drug.

Stupid thing.

She wanted to beat and chase her out right away, but fearing the maid might hold a grudge and spread word of yesterday’s events, she only took away the gold bars.

“Young lady. Please calm down.”

“How can I calm down now?”

As Evangeline shrieked, the startled maid stepped back, hunching her shoulders.

Getting excited made her breathless again and her temperature rise. Evangeline glared at the maid with narrowed eyes.

It was then that a knock was heard in the desolate hospital room.

“It, it seems the master has arrived.”

The maid who had been watching Evangeline’s mood quickly ran to the door.

Thinking that even Olivia Blanchet would be welcome if someone came to rescue her from this thin ice, she opened the hospital room door wide.

“Who is… oh…”

“Hello.”

The neat voice sounded like clear water.

The maid who had frozen as if seeing a ghost at the sight of Olivia Blanchet finally moved her lips after a while.

“Y-young lady. Miss Blanchet is here.”

It was late afternoon when the sunlight streaming through the hospital room window stretched long.

Olivia knew the reason why Evangeline had collapsed.

It was certainly not heatstroke as the newspaper article claimed. In fact, she had come to visit to confirm something.

“Miss Seymour.”

Olivia, who had been silent all along, opened her lips.

Evangeline, sitting up against the bed headboard, faced the woman with great tension.

What business brought her here? Was she really so pure and harmless as to be concerned about the health of a stranger she had only met once?

The eyes filled with the yellowing sunlight looked extremely kind.

“Aren’t you curious about how Miss Seymour lost consciousness?”

“…”

“Ah! You must already know.”

In an instant, the transformed gaze pierced through Evangeline and struck her.

Feeling as if being pushed off a cliff, Evangeline instinctively clutched at her blanket.

Though highly suspicious, could this woman really have done it?

How?

Evangeline hardened her gaze as she met Olivia’s eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Miss Blanchet. I wasn’t feeling well even before the match. You know that, don’t you?”

Not fully grasping the situation, Evangeline flatly denied it for now.

“I should have forfeited. I pushed myself too hard. As a fellow player, you must understand. How hard it is to give up.”

A crisis was also an opportunity.

Depending on what this woman said next, it seemed possible to pin this incident on Olivia Blanchet.

It wouldn’t be strange if a woman known as a shameless vixen had put drugs in her opponent’s water bottle, blinded by her competitive spirit.

But Evangeline’s face turned pale at the words that followed.

“There was a witness. Someone who saw your maid switching the water bottles.”

“!”

The hand gripping the edge of the white blanket trembled with shock, but there was no time to even register it.

“Were you instructed by Princess Anblyn?”

“!”

Words that made her doubt her ears were heard.

Not only had she betrayed the princess’s expectations, but the noble princess’s honor was being tarnished.

In that moment, fear swept over her that the golden staircase leading her to high society would crumble like sand and disappear into dust.

“That’s an absurd speculation. It has nothing to do with the princess. It was purely due to my own greed.”

Evangeline inadvertently confessed. Then those azure eyes collided with hers directly.

Even though she was telling the truth, she felt a chill as if a cold air was circling around her heart.

“You have no reason to do that at all. Especially not someone like you.”

Evangeline struggled to maintain her composure and spoke forcefully. She even managed to put on an elegant smile.

“Exactly.”

Olivia, who had been quietly listening, readily agreed.

Evangeline felt relieved. At least she was a woman who knew her place and could be reasoned with somewhat. At least until the next words followed.

“Because you didn’t want to lose to someone like me.”

The round eyes staring at Evangeline slowly curved. Her crimson lips rose in a graceful line.

“That’s what I think. What about you, Miss Seymour?”

Olivia calmly cornered Evangeline. Though her voice was calm, the questions that flew at her were sharp.

Meeting those blue eyes she had thought harmless, Evangeline felt as if she were being sucked into a deep abyss.

“…It has nothing to do with the princess. I just… wanted to beat you and prove my skills.”

Now Evangeline only hoped that the fire between her and Olivia wouldn’t spread to Princess Anblyn.

If she incurred both indifference and anger, her dream of high society would be over for good.

“That’s something you shouldn’t have done.”

“I think I’ve already been punished enough for it.”

My goodness. Madam Lauren was like that, and so was Evangeline Seymour. Was shamelessness a national characteristic of the British?

Olivia let out a short sigh, exasperated, as she rose from her seat.

“I hope I won’t see Miss Seymour on the tennis court anymore.”

“Why should I do that?”

“Because you’re not qualified.”

“I could sue you for setting this up. There are plenty of people who would claim to be witnesses for a few coins.”

Evangeline’s eyes filled with venom as she hit a dead end.

But that was only for a moment, as Evangeline soon looked up at her with a dumb expression.

“You didn’t think I could do what you could do?”

Olivia Blanchet was quietly smiling.

The sky beyond the window was already tinged pink. Olivia’s gaze, which had seemed endlessly benevolent, sank.

“I wonder what kind of statement that witness will make.”

The gaze that had been looking down at the cooled teacup turned to Evangeline.

“Where do you think your maid is now?”

“…”

Evangeline felt goosebumps all over her body for a moment. She suddenly remembered the maid she had sent away so they could talk privately.

Could it be? Had she come to persuade the maid?

Her breath came out in ragged gasps of anger. She tasted blood in her mouth as she ground her teeth.

“I intended to show mercy to Miss Seymour. But I was mistaken. I understand your intentions well. We’ll see each other in court next time. Take care of yourself.”

Olivia turned away coldly.

Evangeline became frightened. Everything seemed hopeless.

High society would never accept the daughter of a merchant family involved in such an unsavory incident.

If she couldn’t mix with their world anyway, it would be foolish to let this woman leave like this.

The end justifies the means.

“The princess.”

The sound of heels about to leave the hospital room stopped at the urgent cry.

“Princess Anblyn ordered it. …She said she would accept me as a member of the Royal Tennis Club.”

Olivia slowly turned around.

“She asked me to get rid of you…”

The differently colored sunbeams dyed Olivia’s white blouse pink.

Eyes sparkling like silver scales on a lake gazed at Evangeline.

“Do you have anything else to say?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Olivia nodded with a softened smile.

“That statement just now. Can I trust you to testify to it in court?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Oh, and your maid won’t be coming back. Find a new one.”

With a grin, Olivia left the hospital room.

Following Angela Burkin, now Evangeline Seymour.

The noose around Princess Anblyn’s neck was tightening one by one.

In the midst of yesterday’s commotion, Olivia had seen it. When Anne turned her head to see if the medical staff she had gone to call were coming, she saw someone placing a water bottle on the bench where she had been sitting, glimpsed through the crowd.

‘I was wrong to tamper with the item. But I only put it back because that maid’s behavior was suspicious. I had no other intentions. Really.’

The stadium staff strongly denied it.

A lie.

Olivia was certain.

She judged that when the woman instructed by Princess Anblyn was caught in the act, she naturally framed Miss Seymour, who was about to have a match with her.

Of course, she had thrown out the water and thoroughly washed the bottle before refilling it with fresh water.

And yet.

She never expected Evangeline Seymour to collapse.

The road to the finals seemed too treacherous. But she wasn’t alone.

Olivia, who had stopped at a window in the corridor overlooking the hospital’s quaint garden, shyly waved her raised hand.

Edgar, sitting on the white fountain in the middle of the garden, was looking up at her with a smile.

After watching that scene for a while, Olivia began running down the sunset-dyed hospital corridor.

Towards the man waiting for her.

When Johan arrived at Greathill close to midnight, a telegram was waiting for him. The one he had been waiting for all day.

His hazy eyes immediately sharpened. Sinking into the plush leather sofa, Johan scanned the telegram with a calm gaze.

Morris clicked his tongue at the clearly different look in his eyes compared to when he dealt with letters from Her Majesty the Queen or speeches by the Crown Prince.

The encoded message roughly meant this:

Target of surveillance, Evangeline Seymour.

Eliminate potential threat.

Ensure VIP safety.

It was a message from the sparrow he had placed for surveillance purposes beyond just monitoring after Princess Anblyn’s kidnapping incident.

Checking the codename, it was an agent deployed at Dumblin Stadium.

“Morris.”

“Yes.”

“Investigate whether Princess Anblyn is involved.”

The flickering gaslight flowed along his sharp facial features. Johan tilted his head back, covering his eyes with his hand.

“If there’s no connection, create one. By any means necessary.”

Diane Brook was enough.

The person who ruined Olivia’s life and damaged her soul was.

For that reason, Johan had no intention of forgiving Anblyn Grace Brit.