Hair as clean as the clear sky, white skin that shone as brightly as the sun in that sky.

She locked eyes with blue pupils.

Eyes that shone as if they would swallow Victoria whole, unshaken like a cold lake.

In that moment, Victoria realized that Ariana was behind all of this.

The moment she realized, the barely suppressed despair burst forth.

“Ariana!”

Ariana smiled brilliantly.

+++

Rosaline did better than Ariana had expected.

Not just a testimony that she had been with Ariana all along, but she even provided evidence.

They prepared a few hours’ worth of laundry that had to be done, and whenever they ran into the maids, they would say things like, “Miss Ariana is doing the laundry, so she must be thirsty.”, “Miss Ariana is taking a brief rest from the laundry.”, so the maids thought Ariana had been doing laundry all along.

While doing all of this, Rosaline never once asked why it had to be done this way.

Ariana liked that about her.

‘Victoria will be released soon.’

A single handkerchief couldn’t make the lady of the Bronthe family into a murderer. Jacob, Rachel, and Seo Jehu will do whatever it takes to get Victoria out.

‘But there’s a scratch.’

Thanks to the chief of investigation coming, the rumors spread quickly even without Ariana’s manipulation.

Although she doesn’t want to admit it, things wouldn’t have gone so smoothly without Cyrus’s help.

‘I should be thankful where thanks are due. Someday I must repay this favor.’

Even if it’s a debt she doesn’t want, she has to repay it.

If there is an opportunity to help Cyrus in the future, she must assist him somehow.

The problem was the letter.

The letter exchanged secretly between Rachel and Seo Jehu while she was in Dongryeong.

That letter was the most crucial part of Ariana’s plan, but she couldn’t get it because Cyrus interfered.

‘Soon Rachel will try to leave Seoryeong. I need to get that letter before then.’

She doesn’t expect Dong Jehu to accept her without any reason. Ariana almost immediately came to Seoryeong with Rachel after she was born and hadn’t seen him once since then.

When she first encountered Dong Jehu at the age of 18, he looked displeased to see Ariana.

So there’s no reason for him to accept Ariana if she goes to Dongryeong and says, “I’m your daughter.”

‘I must have something to bring with me.’

She had learned painfully that a useless child couldn’t escape a beggar’s fate.

If she goes to Dongryeong without anything in hand, she’ll end up in the same situation as in Seoryeong.

She should have that letter by now, but thinking of the failure because of Cyrus, she resented him again.

But remembering how Victoria was taken away with his help, she barely suppressed her resentment towards Cyrus.
‘Dwelling on the past is useless. When Victoria returns, Rachel will be busy. Duke Bronthe will also be frantic to contain the rumors. Just wait for the right moment and enter Rachel’s room once more.’

+++

“What on earth are you doing! It’s bad enough that Joysen is at the academy, but what were you thinking when that child saw his own sister being taken away?”

Jacob raised his voice uncharacteristically. Even Rachel, who would usually soothe Jacob with a playful smile, was not herself today.

“How is this my fault now? You lost your temper at the party, and I couldn’t help it! What were you doing when Victoria was taken away? How could you just stand there and not stop her?”

“What was I supposed to do in front of all those people? If a rumor spread that I, a Duke, suppressed the investigation due to my rank, what would become of our family’s name?”

“Are you that afraid of rumors? Is your reputation more important than your daughter?”

“Why did you do something so pointless and create this situation?”

“Did I want to do it? This is all… all because of that girl Ariana!”

“Why is it her fault? Even if it is, even if she committed murder, how would it make things better? The name of Bronthe would still be tarnished!”

“She’s not a Bronthe! Just leave this—”

Rachel, jumping up, was roughly grabbed by Jacob.

“Where are you going again? To beat Ariana and let people talk about that too? Just stay still, stay still! There’s nothing good to be gained from tormenting her now!”

“So we just leave the one who did this to our Victoria?”

Jacob looked at Rachel as if he was at a loss.

“You… are really scary.”

“What?”

“To me, she might be a stranger… but she’s your daughter, born from your own womb. How can you hate a child like that? What has she done wrong?”

Rachel felt as if she had been struck on the back of her head.

She hadn’t expected Jacob to speak like this.

Because of her marriage to Dongzehu, because of the child born from that relationship, Jacob had been awkward towards Rachel for some time.

That she had treated Ariana more harshly to change Jacob’s mind was also true.

Look, Jacob, the child born from my relationship with Dongzehu means nothing to me. I hate her this much.

Even though he had ignored Rachel’s abuse of Ariana, now he was taking Ariana’s side.

Feeling betrayed, Rachel gasped and asked,

“Are you blaming me now?”

“Then who should I blame? The innocent Victoria? Huh? You caused this situation by playing your pointless games. You just had to go to the empire and oversee Helena’s debutante ball properly. Will the social circles of the empire even look at the children of the Bronthe family now?”

Jacob’s eyes, filled with contempt, were unfamiliar.

It was like a stranger was standing in front of her.

Rachel felt even more despair than when her marriage to Dongzehu was arranged.

Her fingertips grew cold.

‘It’s because of Ariana.’

No matter how she thought about it, that was the truth.

‘Ariana, if only she wasn’t there, our Victoria and I wouldn’t be treated like this.’

At that moment, Rachel abandoned her plan to use Ariana to connect with the necessary families.

‘She should never have been born.’

She had tried to kill her in the womb, but she was born anyway.

‘An extra life, if she dies now, there will be nothing to regret.’