Ariadne gently placed Arabella’s hand, marked with nail scratches, back in its place. She neatly crossed the fernlike fingers and stroked Arabella’s cheek one more time.

The sensation was different from when she was alive, but it was a cheek she would never touch again.

And then, Ariadne, standing on the platform, abruptly turned around. Her eyes seethed with burning anger.

“What happened before this child died?”

The first person Ariadne questioned was the housemaid, who was politely holding her lips tight. The maid was the one who found Arabella first.

“There, there was a bit of a commotion, and I heard a thud! When I went out, Miss Arabella was on the floor….”

Ariadne sneered coldly. As if a person would fall by themselves.

“Weren’t you fighting with Miss Isabella just before you fell?”

Isabella was utterly shocked, and right behind her, both Lucrezia and Isabella, surprised, exchanged glances.

‘How did this girl know?’

‘She was out and just got home! When did she have a chance to hear it? No, was there even a witness?’

Watching Lucrezia and Isabella, mother and daughter exchanging glances, Ariadne descended the platform without hesitation and approached Isabella with bold steps. Then she slapped Isabella’s cheek.

Whack!

Caught off guard, Isabella’s head swung to the right. She gripped her left cheek, threw a resentful glance at Ariadne, and screamed in surprise.

“What are you doing!”

Ariadne stood still and yelled back.

“Are you even human?”

“What are you talking about?!”

“You pushed Arabella!”

“!”

Arabella lost her balance and fell during a fight with Isabella.

Ariadne thought Isabella’s act was nothing less than murder.

But Isabella thought what she had done was a perfect crime.

“What nonsense are you talking about! What have I done! How could I make such a horrific accusation?!”

But Ariadne did not waver in the least. She snorted at Isabella, who was worse than a brute, and lashed out at her.

“You! If you have eyes, look properly!”

Ariadne forcibly grabbed Isabella and dragged her forward. Isabella struggled, not wanting to go, but could not overcome Ariadne’s strength, as if she had grown strong with anger.

The place where Ariadne dragged Isabella was in front of the coffin where Arabella lay.

Ariadne lifted Arabella’s hand and showed it to Isabella. The nail marks, not long since injured, were visible.

“In this house, who else but you could dare leave a scratch mark on Arabella?”

Ariadne brought her face right in front of Isabella’s and growled.

“You pushed Arabella when you lost your footing while fighting with her. And then she fell while playing alone? A horrific accusation? You’re worse than a brute!”

Isabella could not deny a single thing. She would be done for if she faltered here.

“I pushed her? You saw it?”

She saw it. But she couldn’t say she saw it. Isabella took advantage of the momentary silence from Ariadne and started shouting.

“Do you have evidence? Do you have evidence?!”

To Isabella’s counterattack, Ariadne roughly responded.

“Arabella’s corpse is the evidence!”

“That’s just a nail scratch!”

Isabella did not back down an inch.

“Yes, I did fight with Arabella this morning. The nail scratches are from then. But the place we fought was my room! I didn’t even go near the stairs!”

It was indeed Isabella. Defending herself by adroitly mixing truth and lies. The arguments Isabella was making were of the kind that could not be proven false at this point.

There were no witnesses, and the dead could not speak.

“Ariadne! I don’t know how much you hate me, but how could you make such a dreadful accusation just because we don’t get along?”

Isabella switched gears and turned her torso towards Cardinal de Mare, pleading pitifully to her father.

“Father, Arabella was my sister. I haven’t done anything to be insulted as a murderer!”

Cardinal de Mare sighed heavily.

Isabella turned back to Ariadne and asked her sincerely. Her amethyst eyes sparkled.

“Aria, do you hate me that much?”

“Aria? That’s not the problem, you rotten……”

Just as Ariadne, her anger boiling from her head to toe at the disgusting Isabella, was about to vent something and raised her right hand, Cardinal de Mare stepped in.

“Ariadne. That’s enough.”

Ariadne turned to look at the Cardinal abruptly. The Cardinal spoke in a deeply sunk voice.

“I understand that you are greatly upset because of Arabella. But like Arabella and you, Isabella is also a family member. It’s not like you to make such a fuss with just that much evidence, claiming that Isabella killed Arabella.”

Ariadne gritted her teeth. The Cardinal was right. Ariadne had always been an obedient daughter.

It was natural before her regression, and after her regression, she outwardly followed her father’s words, wearing the mask of reason and rationality. But this was the result.

“A family should protect each other!”

Ariadne harshly glared at the Cardinal, raising her voice.