Episode 75
With Lillian’s whisper, chaos erupted throughout the entire banquet hall.
Not only had Odile, the beautiful girl with black hair and green eyes, been exposed, but it was also revealed to everyone that she was just an ordinary child with brown hair.
“T-This can’t be!”
“Was that your real face all along?”
“How is this possible? No, which one is the real one?”
People started murmuring in confusion, and Odile, panicked, resorted to lies.
“N-No! This isn’t me! Th-This… This girl must have cast some sort of illusion on me! It’s not me!”
There were even people among the crowd who were skeptical.
“Indeed, I’ve never heard of being able to change one’s appearance with divine power.”
“We can’t be certain if that appearance is the real Odile’s.”
Starting with someone’s remark, Grayson, whose face had turned pale, rushed to Cedric and clung to him.
“Y-Your Grace. You must believe me. Didn’t I vouch for her? When I checked, there was clearly nothing wrong! This must be something that the Lady has done to Odile! Your Grace, you must believe me!”
However, Cedric’s response was cold.
“Unfortunately, if parents don’t believe their child, who else will?”
With these icy words, he pushed Grayson away, then shouted to the knights around him.
“Seize those who attempted to deceive me and imprison them in the dungeon immediately! The crime of attempting to deceive nobility will be dealt with severely!”
“Y-Yeeks!”
“Your Grace! You must believe me!”
Odile and Grayson were immediately seized and dragged away, and Cedric approached the shaken Lady Kennis. She was murmuring prayers, staring into space, and eventually, she bolted from her seat and fled.
In essence, this was a challenge between families. It was an overt declaration of rivalry between the two noble houses. And usually, this led to a competition of wealth and power, but from now on, the true winner would always have to avoid the losing side. Since the two families couldn’t coexist in the same position.
The problem was that the Kennis family couldn’t be compared to the Maynard family in any way. Essentially, this meant that as long as the Maynard family remained intact, they would always have to be wary of where the Maynard family might appear, and this meant a significant decrease in the influence they could wield in social circles.
It was practically a death sentence in high society.
After all the wrongdoers had disappeared, Cedric sighed and addressed Lillian.
“I’m truly sorry, Lillian. I ended up hurting you with something that wasn’t even real.”
“No, Dad. Dad… did your best for me.”
At Lillian’s words, Cedric bowed deeply and hugged her tightly.
Over Cedric’s shoulder, the face he had seen repeatedly over the past few days was visible.
‘Damian.’
He looked confused. Perhaps he was wondering if the hint had been wrong in his head, or if it had been wrong from the start. By now, how far would he be rolling his thoughts around in his mind?
‘I’m sorry, but you’re not the only one who can deceive people.’
With that, the banquet came to an end, and Odile’s disturbance was over.
* * *
If there were two things that surprised Lillian upon her return, the first was the unexpected hospitality of the servants. When Lillian returned, they all gathered worriedly and chatted away.
“Mary was practically a sea of tears thinking about you, Miss.”
“Why are you saying that? It wasn’t a sea of tears. I just shed a few.”
“Thank you for worrying, everyone. Don’t cry, Mary.”
Whenever Lillian told Mary not to cry, Mary always ended up choking back tears. In the end, she made Mary cry again, but even that was a sight unique to Maynard Manor.
One of the reasons the servants welcomed Lillian was their concern for her, but another reason was that the chilly atmosphere that had pervaded the mansion finally disappeared. So, Lillian couldn’t help but think that the atmosphere in the mansion had been quite severe.
The second surprise for Lillian was the servants’ condemnation of Cedric.
“His Grace really went too far this time!”
“That greenhouse incident, right? I was surprised too. How could he do that?”
“I wonder how sad our Miss must have been.”
When Cedric first brought up the greenhouse incident, Lillian thought he would believe in her innocence. But when she returned to the mansion, it seemed that everyone knew about it already.
As a result, Cedric, who had initially been willing to listen to Lillian’s side of the story regarding the greenhouse incident, found himself becoming the villain in the eyes of everyone in the mansion, especially as his decision to send Lillian away and then to bring in Odile while Lillian was away had backfired.
While it is true that servants risk getting a broken leg if they speak ill of their master, it is also true that as parents, they cannot simply come out and say they did the right thing when criticized by their children. Cedric seemed to be enduring despite knowing the mansion’s reputation. To Lillian, this fact was quite amusing.
‘I was thinking of leaving like this.’
Was it okay not to leave like this yet?
Lillian took the two notebooks she had taken with her when she left and put them back in her room. Since she hadn’t taken anything with her, the room was exactly the same as before she left. Lillian stared quietly at the room for a moment, then rang the bell to summon Stephen.
“Could you ask Dad if he has a moment to spare? I want to talk to him.”
There was still a task she had to complete.
She had to explain the situation to Cedric.
* * *
“So, it seems like they targeted me at the temple and caused all this.”
“And you said your divine power manifested too.”
“Yes.”
Lillian relayed to Cedric the things she had discovered.
Agnes was one of the “Daughters of Moonlight,” and because of that, she was being chased by the temple. The temple wanted to find the “Daughters of Moonlight,” who were of the maternal bloodline, and initially, Agnes was the target, but later, her daughter became the target, leading to the kidnapping of the child. And the reason Odile was brought in this time was also to remove herself from the duchess’s mansion.
Cedric’s face showed both complete surprise and a dawning understanding. After all, all the pieces of the puzzle were at the temple.
‘I see. Agnes… She’s surprisingly devout.’
She was so reliant on religion that it wouldn’t have been too difficult for her to use it for such purposes. In the end, that seemed to be the only commonality.
“But hearing that Agnes had such… divine power is a first for me. Also, being chased by the temple.”
“Haven’t you felt any signs of that?”
“Signs… “
Cedric suddenly recalled the circumstances that led him to Agnes.
The sudden carriage accident. Agnes was diagnosed with never being able to walk again, but to everyone’s surprise, after persevering with incredible effort, Agnes regained her ability to walk as before.
But their connection didn’t start there. It was immediately after the carriage accident. Agnes, as soon as she opened her eyes, found Cedric.
– I-I need help. Your Grace, please contact… Your Grace…
At the time, Cedric hadn’t thought deeply about it. He was just glad Agnes had come to him, so he didn’t bother to think about why Agnes needed him.
But what if Agnes’s carriage accident wasn’t an accident?
