My Insolent Shadow - Chapter 43

Lady Catherine.

Her tear-filled eyes were already curved.

As if she had reached the conclusion she wanted.

Why go to such lengths?

Is it because she dislikes seeing me with Hael?

Or does she think I coveted something unsuitable, as the young master said?

“Are you saying I stole?”

Lady Catherine came closer, leaned in, and whispered in my ear.

“Then who else could it have been, if not you, here?”

Chills ran down my body, but I held onto my senses.

I couldn’t crumble here. This was the new foundation I had worked so hard to build.

I couldn’t let it all collapse like this in one moment.

If I were framed as the culprit here, I didn’t know what would happen not just to me, but to my mother as well.

“I didn’t do such a thing.”

Lady Catherine sneered beside me and added.

“Oh? Then you should be able to prove it.”

“Proof…”

“That pouch, may I take a look at it?”

What Lady Catherine pointed to was the silver pouch in my hand.

It was one of the gifts the young master had sent for today’s banquet.

I knew it was a trap, but had they even left evidence?

I had been carrying the pouch all day.

Except for just once. When I bumped into a servant coming out of the terrace and dropped the pouch.

‘Then was everything planned from that moment?’

‘Could even that maid Matil…’

As this dizzying thought flashed through my mind, our eyes met.

The pupils that had collided with me wavered, losing their way, then her face turned elsewhere.

Now I had no choice but to accept it.

That I had fallen into a perfect trap.

Where could Hael be now?

If it were Hael, he would at least assert my innocence, saying I hadn’t stolen anything.

But the Hael who would say such things was strolling outside with the young lady of the Velode family.

By now, they should have finished one round and more.

Perhaps even sending Hael out in the first place was all part of Lady Catherine’s intended plan.

Of course, I didn’t expect that even if he stepped in, he could stop Lady Catherine and settle this incident.

The moment the wedding ring comes out of this pouch, someone’s testimony won’t matter anymore.

Nevertheless… Hael was the only one I could lean on right now.

If it’s the words of her only son, the story might change.

A few seconds of standing blankly felt like years passing slowly.

Shouts asking why I couldn’t hand over the pouch were heard, blatant gazes landed on me, and words saying I must be the thief since I was standing there stupidly rang in my ears like tinnitus.

Throughout all this, the door did not open.

As I turned my head, unable to face that scene, my eyes met with the young master’s.

He was quietly looking at me.

An intrigued smile spread across his pale face.

It was clearly a mocking smile.

As if asking if I didn’t know this conclusion would come.

My clenched fist created wrinkles on my dress.

Meanwhile, the murmuring grew louder, and public opinion tilted towards Lady Catherine.

The pouch was dragged to the execution stand in an instant.

[This is the timeline separator]

Everything was flowing according to Cassian’s expectations.

Like a monotonous classical piece, boring but quite interesting in its development due to the excellent performer.

As expected, Lady Catherine’s wedding ring came out of the pouch.

At that sight, the nobles began to murmur.

Amidst it all, Yuriel makes excuses that won’t make a dent.

Saying she never even saw such a wedding ring.

That someone must have put it in there.

Of course, this is treated as nothing more than the last struggle of a thief.

In the midst of it all, the falsely accused thief is turning pale.

It’s the expected course and what I anticipated, so there’s nothing surprising.

When those emerald eyes shook and looked at me, I hesitated for a moment.

‘Should I save her?’

No. If I step in now, it won’t be fun.

That silver-haired one is probably taking a stroll far away with another young lady, completely unaware of this situation.

Shouldn’t that silver-haired one also have a chance to face this interesting incident?

How much of an illusion everything she believed she had perfectly resolved was.

That silver-haired one should have the right to know what kind of person his mother is.

Meanwhile, Yuriel’s desperation would also grow.

The lord and his wife, who had been glancing at me trying to gauge my reaction, now stepped forward, no longer hiding their furious expressions.

The sight of the lord and his wife saying they would call the officers.

Right. Things are more fun when they escalate. How could I cut off this interesting development here?

The teamwork of the two people sitting with their hands on the back of their necks was applause-worthy.

“To lay hands on someone else’s belongings.”

When Lady Resler says a word.

“We will take responsibility and thoroughly investigate this incident.”

The lord picks up on that. And then Lady Resler takes over again.

The sight of her wiping away nonexistent tears is quite a spectacle.

Looking at their current teamwork, they seem like a couple with excellent marital harmony.

As if the lord’s dirty gaze I saw one dawn was just an illusion.

It was a laughable matter.

Lady Resler continued her exaggerated confession without pause.

“We should have been more attentive, we’re truly sorry for allowing such an unfortunate incident to occur.”

The words that had been flowing about Yuriel’s identity were instantly transformed back into talk of theft, aided by these people’s excellent acting.

Well, it wasn’t surprising since I had anticipated it.

Of course, in this ridiculous play, there’s no room for Yuriel’s, that child’s explanation to be accepted.

The nobles in the hall all uniformly determined her to be a thief and buzzed with excitement.

The scenes I thought would be quite enjoyable weren’t that interesting when they actually unfolded before my eyes.

The feeling of watching the girl turn pale was unbearably crude.

I wonder if by tomorrow she’ll be caught by the officers, investigated, and confirmed as a thief.

What will happen to that girl then?

She’ll probably be driven out of this mansion, and from Alphonse territory too.

In reality, as the young master of Blanchet, Yuriel is the very existence that should be discarded.

Whether the theft is true or not, there’s no reason to keep a troublesome servant who tarnishes one’s reputation.

Yuriel’s tearful face flashed in Cassian’s gaze.

Simultaneously, a rather unpleasant future circled in his mind.

An Alphonse without that child.

And thus, his own end, left alone.

[This is the timeline separator]

Throughout being taken away in the hands of the officers, Yuriel felt the entire process was surreal.

She couldn’t write a single word on the document handed to her, asking her to detail the circumstances of the theft.

Circumstances? How could she write anything when she hadn’t stolen in the first place?

The officer’s face, as he thrust the document at her with gruff words, was visibly tired.

He rattled off threats that if she didn’t cooperate sincerely with the investigation, her sentence would increase.

‘Everything is already over, so the sentence…’

In the end, they locked Yuriel, who couldn’t do anything, in the internal detention cell.

Located underground, there wasn’t a single person there.

Curled up on the cold floor, tears flowed endlessly from Yuriel’s eyes.

Her delicate cheeks quickly turned miserably red.

Belated regret surged in like a tidal wave, uncontrollably.

‘If only I hadn’t met Hael, wouldn’t it have been alright?’

Remembering Lady Catherine’s piercing aura, she regretted meeting Hael.

She regretted it even more because she hadn’t known she would go this far.

Although she had been close to Hael until now, Lady Catherine had never tried to drive her out like this before.

As Yuriel bit her tongue, a new hypothesis flashed through her mind.

‘Could it be that Lady Catherine noticed that Hael sold Brit because of me?’

The more she pondered, there seemed to be no other reason.

‘If that’s true…’

Lady Catherine will never show leniency.

The more Hael tries to save her, the more she will do so.

Especially during this time when Hael should be getting along well with the real Velode baroness’s daughter, she will try to completely remove her as she’s just an obstacle.

Not only that. The face of Lady Resler, who had coldly dismissed her as a thief and con artist at the end, flashed by.

She clearly intended to cut her off.

She no longer seemed willing to keep her around while watching the young master’s reactions.

It was natural. That young master had stepped back like an observer in this incident, without making any particular mention.

Although she had prepared for such an ending from the moment she entered this place disguising her identity, she never imagined something like this would happen.

A sense of hopelessness washed over her, making it hard to breathe.

‘Mother probably doesn’t know about this yet.’

While she’s locked up here, could someone go to her mother and convey this shocking news?

Whether it’s Aunt Mary, the servant in charge of her mother, or even Lady Catherine, there were many who could deliver the message.

If her mother, whose health is already poor, hears such shocking news from someone else’s mouth, she might really collapse.

‘I hope at least that worst-case scenario doesn’t happen…’

At this moment, ridiculously, what came to mind was that young master.

She felt to her bones once again that without the young master, she truly was nothing.

If he were to step forward, couldn’t he nullify this entire situation?

Even if he couldn’t make everything as if it never happened, he might at least be able to protect her mother.

But there was no hope.

The young master who stood watching the situation as if observing was vivid. On top of that, the one who looked at her with disgust while talking about ‘that woman’ in the novel is overlaid.

As her thoughts deepened, speculation became certainty.

He will not come here.

Yuriel’s belief that he might come anyway was trampled mercilessly with each passing day.

Thus, three days passed without anyone looking for her.

The voices of the officers brushed past her dry ears.

“I heard the Blanchet young lord collapsed?”