“Liz, why is Heather like that?”

Diane asked while drinking hot chocolate in the reception room.

Diane and Neris were staying indoors for a while due to the Earl and Countess McKinnon’s insistence that her pale face must be due to the cold. Neris smiled slightly and said:

“She looked down on both you and me. She acted in front of others earlier to make me out to be the bad person and drive me away. She thought no one would believe us even if we defended each other.”

“What!”

Diane shuddered and rubbed her arms vigorously like before. Although Heather had said many unpleasant things to Diane since childhood, to be so blatant just now-

‘Well, how should I put it?’

There were no lies in what Heather said. At least she didn’t make up something that didn’t happen.

As Diane wracked her brain to find the right words, Neris took another sip of hot chocolate and summarized:

“It seems her specialty is subtly distorting the nuances of others’ words, so we just need to make it so she can’t say anything at all.”

That’s right, that’s exactly it. Diane nodded, feeling relieved as Neris precisely explained the uneasiness she had felt towards Heather all this time. But worries remained.

“But will she just stay quiet because of that? What if she inflates things and spreads strange rumors?”

“Diane, has Heather ever done such a thing to you before?”

Neris looked at Diane seriously. Diane fiddled with the horn cup containing chocolate and nodded.

“…Yes.”

“Is it the rocking horse incident Betty mentioned?”

Diane’s ears turned slightly red.

“…Yes.”

Neris patiently looked into Diane’s eyes and asked for the next words.

“Tell me the details. I’m curious.”

“It happened last year.”

Diane began to recount the story, tracing her memories one by one.

It was around this time last year. Diane had received a beautiful rocking horse as a gift. It wasn’t a toy to ride and play with since she was already older, but an intricate object meant to be displayed in her room. With jewels set in the eyes and bridle decorations, and painted in sweet candy-like colors, everyone envied it.

But on the second day after receiving the rocking horse, while the party was still in full swing and there were many guests, the rocking horse was found broken. Diane was very upset and tried to find who had damaged the rocking horse.

The list of suspects was quickly narrowed down. Heather, Muriel, and a maid working at the mansion – those three.

Heather and Muriel had entered and left the room where gifts were piled up almost simultaneously when no one else was there, and the maid was the last to enter and the witness who discovered the broken rocking horse.

Since Heather and Muriel testified for each other, the person accused as the culprit was the maid. The Countess McKinnon was not one to judge rashly, but there were no other suspects besides those three, so there was no choice.

In the end, the maid was driven out of the mansion where she had worked for 3 years without a letter of recommendation.

Diane couldn’t accept it. The maid who was driven out had worked honestly all along, and even if she had broken the rocking horse, she could have just said so honestly.

And the fact that it seemed Heather had prevented the maid from saying something to Diane also bothered her.

However, no one believed Diane’s claims. And soon, word spread among the adults that “Diane is deliberately suspecting Heather out of jealousy.”

Angelo Railing was extremely indignant, and the McKinnon adults kept telling Diane reasons why she shouldn’t suspect Heather. Heather had a witness, and if she had done it, she would have said so because she was an innocent and kind child…

Even kind children can lie to adults. From Diane’s perspective, as a child herself who knew this fact well, it was an appalling prejudice. But Muriel was indignant and cornered her:

“So are you saying I’m lying to cover for Heather? Are you suspecting me? Huh?”

Diane was confused. Indeed, even if Heather was the culprit, why would Muriel take her side? Muriel was family.

There was an atmosphere that if she kept insisting on the maid’s innocence, she would be seen as foolish and lacking trust in her family. Diane was just an eleven-year-old girl, and she eventually began to doubt herself.

Around that time, Muriel cornered Diane once more in front of others, and then Heather gently said while stopping Muriel:

“The young lady is still young and kind, so she was fooled by the wicked servant hiding her evil intentions while treating her well.”

Others, even Betty, praised Heather’s kind heart and mature speech. But seeing Heather’s eyes looking down on her right in front of her, Diane was certain.

Heather did not say those words with good intentions.

Yes, the culprit who broke the rocking horse might have been that maid. But Heather subtly emphasized “young” and “treating well” and looked at Diane with a strange gaze.

Since Heather started frequenting the McKinnon house, she would occasionally reveal that very gaze only to Diane. The young Diane finally clearly realized the meaning of the gaze she had only thought was unfamiliar.

Contempt.

Diane immediately turned it around and claimed that Heather had looked down on her.

There must have been more accurate and better expressions, but Diane lacked vocabulary at the time. The Earl and Countess McKinnon thought their daughter was just acting according to her likes and dislikes as always.

At least to them, it seemed like their daughter was being unreasonable towards Heather, who had shown an unbelievably calm response at such a young age.

“…Muriel is friends with her, and since Uncle Sibna and her dad work together. We can’t help that she keeps coming and going afterwards. Mom and Dad even gave Heather a gift to apologize for my unreasonableness.”

Diane’s face was gloomy as she finished speaking. As she told the story, even she herself began to wonder if she had misjudged.

Maybe she had tried to pin a crime Heather didn’t commit on her just because Heather’s gaze felt unpleasant? In any case, Diane had no evidence.

On the other hand, Neris smiled lightly. Those clear and sharp eyes like crystal quickly scanned the lavish decorations in the reception room.

Red silk ribbons and glass balls adorned the branches of a fir wood carving brought in instead of a holy tree. Not just this reception room, but most of the McKinnon mansion was decorated so meticulously. It was something impossible without being extremely wealthy.

So it’s not strange if there’s more than one person eyeing it.

“You don’t need to doubt yourself, Diane.”

Diane’s eyes widened at the words that seemed to read her mind. Seeing that innocent look, Neris spoke calmly:

“You were more certain in the carriage on the way here.”

“Yes, I was… but seeing her face again, I wonder if maybe she didn’t do it with bad intentions. Actually, there’s no evidence that she spread the rumors, Liz…”

“As I said before, I trust your judgment.”

The words of her beloved friend caused ripples in Diane’s heart. What at first seemed like a small trace soon became self-belief and courage that filled Diane’s small body.

“She was really mean!”

Diane muttered softly and fumed with anger. Neris nodded.

“This is your home, and she tried to drive me out after I was invited by you. She really doesn’t know her place. And jealousy?”

Neris’s eyes swept the room again. She snorted coldly.

“Diane, do you remember what I said?”

“Huh? When?”

Diane remembered most of what Neris said. Which one was it? At that innocent question, Neris raised an eyebrow.

“Some words are necessarily derived from the context of the conversation, and some are not, Diane. When you claimed that Heather’s words were suspicious, why did a rumor spread that it was specifically due to ‘jealousy’? There are far more plausible reasons for suspecting someone.”

Diane only understood about half of what Neris said. But when she managed to recall what Neris had said about Muriel, she realized something.

Neris nodded her small head firmly.

“You wouldn’t have shown signs of jealousy first. Why would you be jealous of Heather Railing? Yes, Diane. The rumors were definitely spread by her. Most likely, she broke the rocking horse too. But she first brought up the claim that the reason for your suspicion was nothing other than jealousy. Then who is really jealous?”

Who is it that’s truly so envious they can’t stand it?

A child who is loved to overflowing by family and servants alike, always wears the best clothes, and even receives dreamlike beautiful gifts from noble guests.

A child who prides herself on being smarter than others but has to bow and scrape to please her peers.

Though it wasn’t a difficult story, Diane was silent for a while, as if she had never thought about it that way before. Even though she usually showed such insightful behavior.

After a moment, Diane looked at Neris with an incomprehensible expression.

“Then why did Muriel say that she and Heather entered and left the room at almost the same time? Did Muriel do it together with her?”

“I didn’t see it directly at the time, so I don’t know exactly. But Diane, tell me. Is Muriel smart?”

“No!”

“I thought so.”

Haha. Diane burst into laughter at Neris’s neat retort without realizing it.

That laughter filled the reception room merrily like bells for a while without stopping. The warm reception room where clear winter sunlight streamed in seemed to shimmer and sparkle with golden light thanks to that refreshing laughter.

At that sight, Neris had a blank look in her eyes for a moment. Then she quickly came to her senses and put strength in her eyes. Unaware of the brief change, Diane asked with a smile filling her round face:

“Are you saying Heather deceived Muriel?”

“I’m not denying the possibility that Muriel was in cahoots with Heather. They might have conspired together to damage your precious gift. But I don’t think Muriel would be able to lie that well.”

At least not at a level that any adult wouldn’t be able to see through. Unlike someone else.

Diane nodded seriously.

Neris rested her elbows on the table and cupped her chin in her hands. That simple gesture was so elegant that Diane was momentarily captivated.

Neris usually acted like an adult, but even when she showed such a relaxed appearance occasionally, she looked like a very high-ranking lady.

‘Not that she looks uncomfortable normally.’

Neris would complete even the most complex poses that Sheridan taught as naturally and easily as drinking chocolate.

Diane thought that she must be the only one who had seen Neris make such a gesture. And when that thought occurred to her, she felt a little proud.

Unaware of what Diane was thinking, Neris said casually with a deeply contemplative expression:

“Entering and leaving the room one after another? I wonder where the rocking horse was found. After breaking it, if she hid the rocking horse among other objects, Muriel might not have seen it. There must have been more than one or two gifts, so she wouldn’t have kept checking the whereabouts of the rocking horse.”

“I don’t know where it was found. I think it was already on the table when I learned about the situation.”

Diane reflected that Muriel had definitely entered after Heather. Had Muriel claimed the rocking horse was safe? What Muriel had claimed at that time was certainly-

‘I didn’t see the broken rocking horse.’

Neris, who found the answer in Diane’s expression, smiled coldly.

The chocolate, which was initially steaming and hot, had now cooled and become thicker than before. Smelling the sweet scent, Diane made a dejected expression. Staring at the protruding lips that seemed upset, Neris said after a brief silence:

“Diane, Heather isn’t a big problem. Right now, they just think it was a light misunderstanding between children, so they’re just being nice to Heather. Your parents and your brother cherish you the most. So if you clearly express that you really dislike her, they’ll stop her from coming. The people I’m concerned about are different.”

Angelo Railing, who took an interest in the McKinnon family.

Sibna McKinnon, who works with him.

And Nualan McKinnon, hidden behind Muriel’s sharp words.