Whether convinced by Hiss’s logic or his status, even the hostile ladies began to lend their ears.

The atmosphere changed in an instant, and Lady Lamira yelled even louder.

“Who knows! The wicked one might have secretly touched the alcohol.”

“I’ve strictly warned the servants. Never to share alcohol with the students.”

When I refuted, even Lady Lamira fell silent.

“And this stain.”

Hiss held up the necklace so that everyone could see. His voice had a natural power to draw everyone’s eyes.

“For a stain this big, Anna’s pocket must have been soaked.”

At a glance, Anna’s pocket was perfectly fine. Lady Douglas turned the pocket inside out to show, but the inside was also fine.

“If the thief took it, there would surely be a large stain on their clothes.”

As he spoke, Hiss’s gaze happened to fall on Lady Lamira’s sleeve, filled with stains.

“Ah, no, this is, some servant spilled it.”

Lady Lamira clenched her stained sleeve and hesitated to retreat, but Lady Douglas quickly caught Lamira’s wrist.

“Let go! What are you doing?”

Lady Lamira swung her arm violently, but she was no match for Lady Douglas’s grip. Having confirmed the color, Lady Douglas threw Lamira’s wrist away.

“It’s definitely port wine.”

The people around began to murmur.

“By the way, didn’t Lady Lamira greatly praise the lady’s necklace last time?”

“She even said she would love to wear it to the next party, didn’t she?”

With the emergence of new gossip, the nobles’ attention quickly shifted from Anna to Lady Lamira. It wasn’t a pleasant sight, but it couldn’t hurt to exploit it.

“Lady Lamira. Didn’t you take the liberty to wear my bracelet on the engagement day, causing a big fuss? Again you covet what is not yours.”

Lady Lamira’s face turned beet red.

“What, what! Is there even proof that I took it? Can you drive someone to the wall like this with just a stain?!”

She screamed, stamping her feet in an unbecoming way for a noble lady, but no one listened to her.

“Really. There was such a fuss at the engagement ceremony, wasn’t there?”

“How pathetic. Isn’t this kleptomania?”

Lady Lamira finally couldn’t bear it and hurriedly fled, as if some urgent business had arisen.
Just moments ago, the ladies who had acted as though they would drag Anna to the security team, allowed Lady Lamira to escape. It was a truly duplicitous attitude, but it wasn’t surprising.

Only then, noticing the duke and duchess standing a little distance away, the ladies approached me with a fuss.

“Were you surprised?”

“How could they be so brazen?”

“That’s what I’m saying. We were completely fooled too, weren’t we?”

They spoke as if it was all Lady Lamira’s fault, as if they were not to blame at all.

In some ways, it was true. Lady Lamira was the one who had plotted this.

Still, it didn’t look good for the ladies, who had been so eager to betray a child without verifying the truth.

However, it wouldn’t be good to be at odds with them if I wanted to do well in future social activities.

Then Anna finally burst into tears she had been holding back.

“It’s not true. Really, it’s not.”

Tears in her eyes, Anna buried her face in Lady Douglas’s hem, clutching her small fist in anger.

Seeing this, even though it wouldn’t be good to be at odds with the ladies, my mouth opened of its own accord.

“Apolog—”

“Apologize?”

The one who quickly intercepted what I was going to say was none other than Heus. Heus smiled briefly at me as if knowing my dilemma, then turned his head back to the ladies.

“If you took a child like that without even properly verifying the truth, you must naturally apologize, right?”

His cold words momentarily silenced the ladies, who glanced where the duke and duchess were standing and put on an awkward smile.

“It’s a party, we were a bit noisy, weren’t we?”

“It’s embarrassing. It wasn’t our intention, but we were rude.”

They were apologizing to me, not Anna. I blinked in confusion for a moment.

“You need to apologize to Anna.”

Faced with the request to apologize to a commoner child, the ladies hesitated. Seeing the quickly fading smile, it was clear that bowing their heads to a commoner child did not appeal to them.

Then, Countess Aneri knelt on one knee in front of Anna to meet her eye level.

“I’m sorry, dear. The auntie didn’t keep the necklace safe, so you suffered unfairly. I’m very sorry.”

As Anna slowly nodded, still clinging to Lady Douglas’s hem, the countess smiled and wiped Anna’s face.

“Thank you for forgiving me.”

Once Countess Aneri apologized, the other ladies also offered halfhearted apologies, and the matter was temporarily settled.

As the gathered crowd dispersed, I sighed heavily, holding my throbbing head. I thought I couldn’t fall any lower in the social circle, but it surpassed my expectations day by day.

“Are you okay?”

Heus touched my forehead with concern. His large palm enveloped my forehead, and the cool sensation eased the throbbing.

“You seem to have a fever. How about we leave and rest?”

I shook my head.

“No. I’m the host, I can’t leave without watching the students’ presentations.”

Even though I smiled bravely, the concern in his warm green eyes didn’t disappear. I placed my hand on Heus’s, which was on my forehead.

“Thank you.”

Taken aback by my sudden words, Heus hastily pulled his hand back, rubbing his flushed ears.

“What, for something like this?”

“If it wasn’t for Heus, I would have been stuck, right?”

Heus gave an awkward smile.

“I just stepped in where I should have, that’s all.”

Although Heus always put on a modest demeanor, without his deductive ability, I would never have been able to solve the problem on my own.

“How did you know? That wine was on the necklace?”

At my question, Heus’s face slightly stiffened.