“The ladies testify that the Duchess chased you out. Do you have a reason to be scolded for walking in the forest?”

“Yes? Ah…… that is…… because I interrupted the adults’ time together…….”

“But the ladies said the atmosphere was fine for you to take a walk together.”

“Yes, that’s…… okay, but I’m young, so I might hinder the conversation, right?”

“Yes. Then have you been to the pagoda today?”

“No.”

“Then why was this found in the pagoda?”

The Chief Investigator pulled out a handkerchief.

Victoria recognized it as hers, but had forgotten she’d given it to Ariana. She’d been so flustered by Ariana’s behavior at the garden party, it had been an unconscious act.

So she just blinked her eyes and stared dumbly at her own handkerchief.

“That is…….”

“It is yours, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but…….”

“Why was it in the pagoda where you haven’t been?”

Victoria’s heart pounded at the Chief Investigator’s sharp question.

Victoria realized things were not going as she had expected.

‘I’ve been pointed as the culprit of the incident in the pagoda. I must answer correctly.’

Victoria composed herself and said,

“I don’t know. Maybe a maid stole it?”

“Aha. A maid stole a handkerchief, not even a piece of jewelry, with the Youngest Princess’s name on it?”

“A child with bad habits can steal anything. Ah, now that I think of it…… I didn’t want to say this because it might seem inappropriate, but Ariana sometimes steals my things, too.”

Victoria blamed Ariana for stealing the handkerchief since she was sure Ariana had died in the pagoda. It would make sense then.

But for some reason, Rachel seemed about to faint, and the expressions of the investigators and ladies hardened.

“It’s strange. The evidence points to the youngest princess, but why do you all want to make the second princess the criminal? Is there something I don’t know about?”

At the Chief Investigator’s words, Countess Ketireun smirked and replied,

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Watching the unfolding situation, Victoria belatedly realized,

‘The one who died there isn’t Ariana!’

Her heart sank.

‘What should I do?’

She couldn’t take back her words.

She looked at Rachel for help, but she seemed barely able to stand on her own.

“Since you all seem to want to make the second princess the criminal, I should hear her out. Where is the second princess?”

+++

Ariana was not in her room.

Rachel finally breathed a sigh of relief.

‘She must have gotten scared and run away after causing trouble!’

But saying she’d run away from there might make the Chief Investigator suspicious, so she called a maid who was cleaning the hallway and asked,

“Do you know where Ariana is?”

“Yes, about that…….”
The maid glanced at the ladies and investigators, wondering why.

Victoria slightly lifted her chin and stepped forward.

“Why? Where are you? Did you leave the mansion?”

“That’s…….”

“Tell me quickly.”

“I am doing laundry in the backyard of the kitchen.”

The ladies snickered at the maid’s answer.

They had expected Ariana to be treated a certain way due to the incident at the garden party. But they burst into laughter when they heard that she was really doing the work that maids do.

The chief of investigation and the investigators, who did not know the details, looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

“The princess is doing laundry?”

“Yes…….”

“Since when?”

“For a while…… it seems like.”

As the maid’s answer continued, the color drained from the faces of Rachel and Victoria.

The chief of investigation checked the expressions of the two women and shook his head slightly.

He had an idea of how this case was going, but still, he thought he should head to the backyard of the kitchen to confirm.

The chief of investigation witnessed an astonishing sight there.

A maid with red short hair and a young maid with skyblue hair were doing laundry for the quilts. As far as the chief of investigation knew, the only girl in the duchy with ‘skyblue hair’ was the second princess of the Bronthe family.

Unfamiliar with the society’s gossip, the chief of investigation had no idea how the second princess of the Bronthe family was treated.

He could not believe what he was seeing, even with his own eyes, so he cautiously opened his mouth.

“The second…… princess?”

Then, the skybluehaired girl, radiantly beautiful, turned her head.

The sun shone on her white skin, dazzlingly bright, and the smile on the girl’s lips was brighter than the sun.

“Yes?”

Despite being dressed like a maid and doing maid’s work, she was clear and cheerful, unlike a typical girl.

The chief of investigation, who had a heart of steel, felt a twinge in his chest when he saw her.

Ariana, who had been stomping on the quilts in a large tub, came out barefoot when her name was called and stood in front of Rachel.

Then, smiling brightly, she looked up at Rachel.

“Mother, what’s the matter? Do you have anything else for me to do?”

Rachel swallowed a dry scream and a scream at the same time.

Her appearance looked different in the eyes of the people there, including the chief of investigation.

A cold mother who doesn’t even respond to her daughter’s words.

Instead of Rachel, who didn’t open her mouth, the chief of investigation asked.

“Princess, where have you been today?”

“Today? Oh, I was…….”

Ariana glanced at Rachel.

“I was…… where Mother told me to be.”