Inside was something completely unexpected.
Tanya looked back and forth between Pristin and the box with a puzzled expression on her face. Pristin’s lips remained unchanged.
“Do you like it?”
“…What is this?”
“I thought you might like to have it, Princess.”
Inside were dazzling glass slippers. But they weren’t just any glass slippers; they were the ones Jerald had won for Pristin at Lady Jenkins’s last auction.
Tanya’s face hardened at the realization. She clutched the box tightly and bit her lip. She didn’t know why she had given it to her.
“…Do you mean this?”
“Yes.”
The smile on Pristin’s face deepened.
“You wanted them, the shoes. You were going to pay a lot of money for them.”
“…”
“You must have felt like, ‘I’ll never see myself lose to you.’”
At this, Pristin’s mouth twitched slightly, showing a plastic sneer.
“Although you lost in the end.”
“…Countess.”
“What can we do? There are some things in the world that don’t go our way.”
Pristin laughed, locking eyes with Tanya.
“At least you got it somehow, so shouldn’t we be glad?”
“Are you making fun of me?”
“Oh, no. Of course not.”
Pristin shook her head, this time with a chuckle.
“It’s just a winner’s leeway, let’s say. After all, I got everything in the end, didn’t I?”
The laughter was enough to discredit what she’d just said. But the real thing came next.
“The empress’s seat, the love too. Everything.”
“…Now.”
“That’s right.”
Pristin nodded lightly.
“It’s a pity, because I have it all, and you’ve been the same since the beginning.”
“…”
“And yet you pushed me down the stairs because you were blinded by jealousy, didn’t you?”
“Such…!!”
Tanya, scratching the surface of the box with her fingernails, eventually couldn’t stand it and threw it away.
“I don’t want this crappy gift!”
Thud thud thud thud thud!
Along with the box, the glass shoes from inside rolled weakly. Luckily, the shoes were safe thanks to the cushioning material inside. It was as if the giver had expected this.
Pristin’s eyes widened in surprise, her mouth dropped open, and she glanced back and forth between the glass slipper rolling on the floor and Tanya’s furious face, which looked as if she hadn’t expected this at all.
She covered her open mouth with her palm and asked,
“What are you doing?”
“You’re looking down on me!”
Tanya couldn’t take it anymore and stormed off. Rising to her feet, Tanya looked down at Pristin and spoke.
“How long do you think you’ll last as His Majesty’s lover?”
A thousand fires burned in her chest at the thought of how much Pristin must have pitied and despised her. Tanya craned her neck, her voice rising.
“How arrogant of you, a lightning noble from nowhere should be humbled by the fact that you were lucky enough to catch His Majesty’s eye!”
“Princess.”
“That’s why I couldn’t help pushing the countess. Whether there was a child in the picture or not, I was very eager to just chuckle as you die and disappear.”
But she was very sorry she didn’t die. She should have pushed harder.
“Of course, that’s still true now. I always have bad luck.”
“…Too bad there are no stairs,”
Pristin murmured, no longer smiling.
“So you’re admitting it anyway, pushing me down the stairs the other day.”
“…What?”
“Did you all hear it well?”
Pristin suddenly turned her head to the side and spoke to the wall where there was nothing. When Tanya saw Pristin like that, she thought she was crazy.
But a short moment later, with a click, the door that she thought was a wall opened. Tanya stared in bewilderment as the doors opened on either side, revealing the emperor and several other nobles. All of them were prominent figures in the political world.
‘…Shit.’
It was then that Tanya realized she had walked into a trap. Everything from her entrance to the gift had been planned by Pristin.
‘To get a confession from me!’
It was an incident where there could be no physical evidence. So the only physical evidence would be her confession. Tanya’s hands shook as she looked at the faces of the nobles with Jerald.
They looked perplexed as they watched everything from start to finish. Of course, as did Tanya.
“I think we have enough evidence to incriminate her.”
Pristin asked the nobles on the other side of the secret door in a gentle voice,
“You all think so, don’t you?”
Everyone was shocked and unable to respond easily, but what their facial expressions showed was clear. Jerald watched the situation with dry eyes and immediately opened his mouth.
“Princess Gennant.”
Tanya looked at Jerald in surprise. Her fingertips began to tremble at the realization that she had ruined everything.
“You are hereby ordered to serve probation within the confines of Gennant Manor until I can formally punish you.”
“…Your Majesty.”
“The official punishment will be decided at tomorrow’s meeting and announced.”
Jerald rose from his seat coldly, as if he had no further business there.
“Until then, you will remain in the manor. I hope you don’t try any strange tricks, unless you wish to bring your family to an end.”
“…Your Majesty!”
“Let’s go.”
Pristin stood up and left the parlor with Jerald. The nobles left the parlor as well, leaving Tanya alone in the room. Only then did the realization hit her even harder.
“No…”
Now that her guilt was clear, she would be lucky to get off with a fine, but she would probably go to jail. Maybe even death. With that thought, Tanya finally gave in and screamed.
“Argh!”
Tanya shuddered in horror and swept all the plates on the table to the floor. The plates containing the dessert shattered with a loud crash, and in the midst of the commotion, Tanya let out a renewed scream, still unable to process the situation.
“Argh! Argh!”
Then, she heard a loud noise from outside and they came inside. It was Aruvina and Christine.
They both looked at Tanya, who was cowering in the middle of the broken plates and shattered desserts, her head buried in her hands, with an expressionless face—or so they thought. They called for the maids and began to clean up the mess.
The way they acted as if she wasn’t even there made Tanya even angrier.
“I’m here, and what are you doing?”
“I beg your pardon, Princess Gennant,”
Aruvina said in a grave voice,
“But this is Camer Palace. I want you to remember that this is not the bedroom at the princess’s mansion.”
In any case, Tanya’s behavior just now was seriously disrespectful, no matter what the situation was before. Tanya knew that, but in that situation, she couldn’t afford to think about it.
Still slumped on the floor, Tanya glared fiercely at Aruvina, then, with a final, venomous note in her voice, called out to her maid.
“Brelin!”
Brelin saw Tanya cowering alone in the chaos of the parlor and rushed to her, startled. Gently pulling her to her feet, Brelin asked her with concern,
“Lady, are you all right?”
“…”
Tanya didn’t answer, only glared at Aruvina frighteningly, as if she were Pristin or Jerald. Aruvina knew that, so she simply smiled softly on their behalf.
Tanya’s expression was then distorted as if it would explode at any moment. However, there was still a certain amount of reason left, so she did not even act senselessly to slap Aruvina on the cheek.
Aruvina, who had secretly been expecting such a thing, watched Tanya walk past her and out of the room with a slightly surprised expression.
Suddenly, she heard Christine’s voice beside her.
“She’s quite the woman, isn’t she, Madame Korsol? I didn’t expect to see the parlor like this.”
“Well, I suppose the damage is minimal.”
Aruvina shrugged. It wasn’t an empty gesture, she realized. With Tanya’s character, it wouldn’t be strange at all to destroy a few pieces of furniture.
“Congratulations, Lady Lamont. We’ve finally got the culprit.”
“She should be punished accordingly.”
Christine smiled and nodded.
“Because that’s the right thing to do.”
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Brelin learned all about what had happened to Tanya on the way back to the Duke of Gennant’s. It was a very difficult process, because Tanya, in anger, couldn’t even speak properly. She ended up crying at the end of the story.
“What do I do, Brelin?”
Tanya complained, not knowing what to do.
“Now I’m going to be punished. What should I do? I’m not going to be hanged, am I?”
“What are you so worried about, lady, he can never do that. Your HIghness wasn’t trying to dispose of His Majesty, and Countess Rosewell is still just the future empress.”
However, the baby in her belly would be a variable. It was ironic, but the life of the baby in her womb was more important under imperial law than that of Pristin. Brelin didn’t dwell on it, though; she focused on soothing the sobbing Tanya as best she could as they made their way to the ducal residence.
