CHAPTER 17
When I was in high school, the real thief who stole the wallet turned out, surprisingly, to be the student who sat behind me.
But because there was only circumstantial evidence and suspicion, it was hard to prove my innocence.
So I tried to trick him into confessing.
I told him that the hallway CCTV had recorded him and that if he told the truth I would quietly let it go.
He shamelessly admitted it.
“Yeah, I stole it. So what? Is it my fault you were suspected because you’re an orphan? And who are you to check the CCTV? That’s a privacy invasion!” he said.
“They wouldn’t show the CCTV because it was a privacy invasion; I didn’t actually know if you were on it either,” I said.
“What…? Hey, are you tricking me right now?” he asked.
“Mm, well, thanks to you I got other evidence,” I replied.
When I showed the recording on the phone I had hidden in my pocket, his expression was no different from Paul Koeller’s or Laura’s now.
Only someone caught in the act shows that thick look of humiliation and defeat.
All the exaggerated fuss about finding something in the medicine, and the dramatic declaration that they would reveal everything tomorrow morning—those were all tricks for this moment.
Unfortunately, because this world has no voice recorders, Aizen had to bring people in during the night, but anyway I was satisfied that their crimes were exposed in front of everyone.
“Since Paul confessed, arrest both of them, my love.”
“Understood.” Aizen said, and the guards who had been standing back stepped forward.
Laura, trembling and thin, fought violently and wore a look of indignant outrage.
“Wait, please! I don’t know anything about this!” she cried.
“You don’t know?” I asked.
“Yes! That man planned it alone! It wasn’t me!” she insisted.
Paul, pointing and trying to escape, twisted his face in anger.
“Don’t lie! You dragged me into this from the start! That woman approached me first to poison Jena—”
Whack!
Greta struck Paul on the head without hesitation.
“Call me madam.”
Greta, my Greta.
Her blunt reminder to protect my authority didn’t work on Paul because he fainted and went slack.
Tsk tsk, you’d better not give people reasons to be hit.
Laura watched Paul being dragged away, then dropped to her knees toward Aizen.
“Lord… my lord! I must have been mad for a moment. But I never intended to harm the dowager! Please forgive me just once.”
She clutched his trousers and begged with tears in her voice.
“Please, consider the care I gave the dowager all this time.”
“Hmm. Seeing that, you should be punished more; are you sure that’s okay?” I said, folding my arms and giving a worried-sounding piece of advice.
Laura glared at me with eyes that blamed me.
Oh, she’s blaming me now after doing the deed herself.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
“Laura, remember? You said the dowager had cold hands and that you gave her sage tea.”
“My lady’s medicine doesn’t contain angelica. That day I just made a careless excuse.”
“So you at least gave sage tea?” I pressed.
“Yes, why?” she said, admitting it with a wary look.
I raised my voice a little in anger at that sight.
“Sage contains stimulating compounds similar to absinthium and isn’t good for someone with epilepsy.”
“…!” she sputtered.
“You didn’t know, did you? Do you still have the qualifications to be the dowager’s physician?” I asked after seeing a list of herbs to avoid for epilepsy and deciding I had to separate my mother from Laura.
Laura looked at me in stunned silence as the guards took her away.
After the commotion ended, I told the servants who had watched everything unfolding to go about their day.
I opened my arms as wide as I could and hugged them all close.
“Ahh, thank you both so much!” I cried.
“What are you doing?” Aizen asked, surprised, and tried to push my hand away.
I held on firmly and rested my cheek on Greta’s shoulder and my forehead on Aizen’s.
“If you and Greta hadn’t believed me, I wouldn’t have been able to clear my name. Thank you truly for helping.”
“…….”
“……No, madam,” Greta replied stiffly.
Greta, who had been as stiff as Aizen, slipped a hand onto my back.
The awkward pat made me smile, and then I burst out laughing at Aizen’s clumsy attempt to put his hand on my shoulder.
“Why are you laughing?” he asked.
“Because you two are so cute; I want to go tell the whole town that this is my husband and this is my maid.”
“That’s not allowed. Hold it in.”
“You can’t write that on your face either, can you?”
“Of course not.”
I released them after a small giggle at the serious reply.
Not only did I feel relieved, but an inexplicable swell of emotion rose within me.
Back then I had struggled alone to clear my name, but now perhaps because I am not alone, I feel only joy.
***
In a dark room, Renée, lying in bed, woke at a knock and did not call for visitors because she had been in seclusion since her seizure.
From outside, Miriam’s voice called, since she had come to report Paul and Laura’s situation.
Renée was greatly shocked to learn that the person who had switched the medicine was not Jena but the trusted Laura.
Although Renée had led Kalrad for more than half her life with Wilhelm and maintained a cold, sharp public image, she was unexpectedly warm and tender at heart.
So Laura’s betrayal cut deeply.
Because Laura had cared for her through illness, Renée had given her more trust and more heart than others, so the betrayal felt especially painful.
It left a hollow emptiness in her chest; without Laura to manage her condition she felt uncertain about what to do next.
Just as a wave of gloom was about to sweep over Renée, someone knocked brightly at the door.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Mother, it’s me!”
It was Jena!
Her voice was bright and fresh like spring.
Renée, slightly startled, sat up and did not realize she had been out of bed for several days.
“I’d like to see you—may I come in?” Jena asked.
“…….”
Renée hesitated to refuse because she had already realized it was her fault for imposing a ban on Jena without a proper investigation.
While Renée hesitated, Jena chattered endlessly from outside.
“Mother, I promise it will be quick! I won’t take much of your time!”
“……come in.”
At last Renée reluctantly allowed Jena in, wrapped in a shawl and inwardly tense about whether Jena might still resent her.
But Jena appeared with the same bright, innocent face as before.
“Wow, why is this room so dark? Ah, the curtains are closed!” she exclaimed as she marched to the window and threw back the curtains without hesitation.
Renée watched Jena, who sat down and held out a box.
“I made this epilepsy medicine. I referenced what Laura used to make so you can trust it,” Jena said.
“You made my medicine?” Renée asked.
“Yes!” Jena replied.
“Why?” Renée asked.
“Because I was worried about you,” Jena said, as if it were the most obvious thing.
Her round eyes held no trace of resentment toward Renée; instead Renée found herself asking, “Honestly, I was a bit hurt back then, but I’m okay now.”
“Why is that?” Jena paused to choose her words carefully, her clear blue eyes shining.
“This may sound rude, but I understand why you hid your illness from your family and wanted to keep it secret.”
Her father had done the same—he hid his illness from his young daughter, and later she had been left to deal with the consequences.
It made Jena feel both pity and anger: pity that he suffered alone to protect her, and anger that he hadn’t told her sooner when they could have shared the burden together.
Only after he died did she realize why he had acted that way—out of a desire not to be a burden, fear of leaving his children, and a pride that hated to show weakness.
Because Renée’s behavior reminded Jena of that, Jena reached out and took Renée’s hand without hesitation.
“It must have been such a burden to care for Aizen while also worrying about mother. You probably didn’t want anyone to see you have seizures.”
“…….”
“But mother, I believe family should face things together, not suffer alone.”
Her gentle but firm voice pierced Renée’s heart.
“If I had been Aizen or your husband, I would have been so upset. It’s not that you hid your illness that hurt us; it’s that you weren’t with us when you were hurting.”
“…….”
“Keeping your pain from someone you love only ends up hurting them. So even if it’s hard, let’s hold hands and overcome this together.”
Another warm hand covered Renée’s, and Renée felt a strange warmth as her emotional walls began to crack.
Jena’s face, with crescent-shaped smiling eyes, looked youthful and innocent—she’d forgotten that Jena was a woman in her early twenties, not merely a spy.
Renée slowly moved her dry lips and acknowledged Jena.
“Alright…you’re right. It would have been much better if we had faced it together from the start.”
“Do you really think so? Then talk to Aizen and Wilhelm. Aizen is very worried about you.”
Renée nodded, and Jena clapped excitedly and leapt up as if she’d done all she wanted to do and left the three of them to talk.
Shortly after Jena left, Wilhelm and Aizen—alerted—came to see her.
Seeing the two men anxiously watching their own feelings, Renée cleared her throat and spoke first.
“Wilhelm, Aizen. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner about having epilepsy. I was afraid I’d be a burden and ashamed of my convulsions, so I hidden it.”
“How could that be your fault? We should have noticed sooner,” they replied at once.
“I should have paid more attention to you, too; I was too self-centered,” Renée said.
Wilhelm and Aizen both immediately denied it and began blaming themselves, their faces like ice.
Renée smiled faintly as they flailed in guilt.
“Don’t both say that. This is my fault.”
“No, it’s my fault. Renée, you did nothing wrong.”
“No, it was my fault. Don’t both beat yourselves up over this.”
After a long while of blaming each other, they realized it was pointless and stopped, laughing.
Under the name of family, hidden things and ignorance were forgiven.
***
Paul and Laura admitted all their crimes after persistent interrogation.
Aizen came to tell me the news and asked, “How would you like them punished? I will do as you wish, madam.”
I folded my arms and thought seriously.
Last time I left it to Daniel and didn’t even get a proper apology.
If I left this to Aizen, I would end up with no apology again.
I couldn’t allow that; I had suffered too much because of those two.
My eyes widened and I declared solemnly.
“I want to punish them myself.”
Names that appear: Paul Koeller, Laura, Aizen, Greta, Jena, Renée, Wilhelm.
