DKVM Ch 25

Chapter 25

Sally and the nanny’s eyes lit up when they saw it.

It was only then that she realized.

‘They set a trap to get rid of me…!’

Why are they doing this?

I was upset, but nothing would come of appealing to my emotions.

More importantly.

‘Will Rahel believe me…?’

I’m much closer to her now, but that’s what made it more dangerous because I might lose all of the trust I’ve built with Rahel and she might think I did this to her.

And…

I was the one who suggested Rahel go to the gallery, and I was the one who asked her to look for a book in the library.

“See, you stole it!”

Sally yelled as she picked up Rahel’s hairpin as if she wanted passing servants to hear.

“And what’s with all this paper? Did you make these to hide the hairpin all along?”

“Vivian, I didn’t notice that, but you’re a very clever girl, aren’t you?”

Sally and the nanny began to shout in unison, drawing a crowd of servants.

My heart pounded at the sound of their voices and my mind went blank.

‘Calm down. I need to stay calm and think of a way to prove my innocence…’

Just as I’m trying to think calmly, I hear a familiar voice behind me.

“What’s all the fuss about?”

At the duke’s entrance, the son-in-law grew abruptly quiet, and everyone stood at attention.

“Your Grace.”

“Margaret. For what reason are you disciplining this child?”

“A little while ago this child came out of the room with the young lady, and when she came back alone, she said he had stolen something, so I was chastising her…”

“Do you have any proof? You didn’t just accuse her out of spite, did you?”

“Here, I found the young lady’s hairpin in her bag.”

Sally snatched Rahel’s hairpin from her grasp and quickly offered it to the Duke.

The duke looked from the hairpin to me and back again, his eyes coolly polite.

“Vivian, did you really steal it?”

Then Sally interrupted.

“I saw it, Duke. You see, she planned from the beginning to hide it among these strange scraps of paper-”

“Sally.”

The duke interrupted Sally with a stern voice.

He had only called her by her first name, but the sheer power of it made her stop talking.

“I asked Vivian.”

The duke looked at me as he said this. He was waiting for my answer.

But…

‘No matter how much I think about it, I can’t prove my innocence.’

The only thing I can do is claim that I didn’t do it.

“I…”

I finally opened my mouth to plead my case.

“I gave it to her.”

Rahel’s hand clasped mine, standing between me and the duke as if to protect me from him.

I stared at Rahel’s back in amazement.

‘Rahel… she… she defended me in front of the duke?’

Suddenly, I remembered Rahel’s words from earlier.

“I don’t think my grandfather would be happy that I’m memorializing my mother.”

Clearly, Rahel was afraid of her grandfather, afraid enough not to speak to the duke.

But Rahel stepped up to defend me.

She believed in me.

“I didn’t realize I had to ask the nanny’s permission to give something of mine to ‘my friend’.”

Rahel looked back at the nanny and Sally with a cold glare.

The nanny and Sally, along with myself, flinched in surprise.

It was the first time Rahel had ever shown hostility toward the nanny and Sally.

But after a moment of panic, the nanny regained her composure and gently calmed Rahel down.

“Young lady, it’s not enough to cover your friend’s faults to be a good friend. A true friend should also be able to point out her friend’s faults.”

“A true friend also believes in her friend and helps her when she is wronged.”

Rahel’s rebuttal to her nanny sounded eerily familiar.

It was obvious. It was…

“If a friend is wronged, you’re supposed to believe them and help them, not run away.”

It was something I had said to Rahel, promising to be there for her one day.

So she was saying the same thing I had said to her, and now she was saying it to protect me.

Then I realized something.

‘I thought Rahel had gained an absolute ally in me by being friends with me…’

I, too, had gained someone on my side who would believe me no matter what.

“Well, then what’s all this stuff, and why are you carrying it in your bag?”

Rahel’s words made the nanny hesitate, and Sally shouted at me, kicking a paper flower that had fallen to the floor.

I winced and glanced at the duke and Rahel.

‘I was the one who suggested flowers for her mother…’

Rahel didn’t want the duke to know that she was memorializing her mother.

I didn’t know why, but I wanted to keep that a secret if Rahel didn’t want him to know.

I came up with a plausible excuse and opened my mouth.

“We made the flowers together for my mother, and she hid them in her bag to go to the gallery.”

One of the duke’s eyebrows rose at Rahel’s honest answer.

“Today? Why not tomorrow?”

Rahel stared at the duke for a moment, then lowered her gaze and replied.

“…I thought my grandfather might not be pleased.”

At that, the duke’s eyes began to flutter.

His gaze darted between Rahel and the disheveled paper flowers at his feet.

There was a hush in the hallway, and the butler quickly summarized the situation.

“With that, Vivian’s false accusations seem to have been cleared, so let’s all return to our seats.”

The servants who had gathered at the commotion soon dispersed.

The nanny and Sally, whose plan to kick me out had gone awry, were glaring at me as if to kill me with their eyes.

To Sally, the butler spoke softly but firmly.

“Sally, you almost falsely accused Vivian, and you owe her a proper apology.”

But Sally ignored him and turned and ran away.

“Sally!”

I snorted as I watched the nanny pretend to chase after Sally.

‘If they were going to apologize, they wouldn’t have framed me.’

With that, everyone returned to their places.

Rahel and I were the only ones left in the hallway, along with the duke and the butler.

I snuck a glance at the duke.

He was looking at Rahel with a slight frown.

‘I see Rahel didn’t want the duke to find out about her memorializing her mother… Is he going to scold her again?’

Then this time, I’ll cover for Rahel!

As I resolved to do so, Rahel tugged on my hand first, avoiding the duke’s gaze.

“Let’s go. It’s long past time for you to go home.”

“Huh? Oh…”

I looked between the duke and Rahel, and as I was being dragged away by Rahel, something rustled underfoot.

I, Rahel, and the duke all looked at the floor in unison.

The paper flowers Rahel and I had made together in honor of her mother were in tatters.

I squatted down and began picking up the flowers that were still intact.

Rahel grabbed my shoulder.

“…What are you doing?”

“We were supposed to give these to your mom, so I thought I’d pick up the nice ones and-”

“That’s enough, just go.”

Rahel tugged on my hand urgently, as if she wanted to run away.

The wind knocked back the intact flowers I’d gathered, and I winced at the sight of them.

I felt like Rahel’s sincere desire to honor her mother had been trampled on.

‘Rachel’s sincerity is not this shabby.’

With each flower that fell, I remembered the stories Rahel had told me about her mother while making the flowers.

‘Rahel looked…happy when she told me those stories.’

Unlike her usual dry, unreadable expression, she seemed like a child my age for that moment when she was talking about her mom.

‘I can’t let that feeling, that memory, be crushed.’

I was about to pull my hand out of Rahel’s grasp and take it back when I heard the duke’s voice.

“…Rahel.”

Rahel’s gesture to help me to my feet faltered at the call.

“Tomorrow, will you come with me to the memorial?”

Rahel didn’t look at the duke, but I did.

His eyes, so much like Rahel’s, were an ocean of deep sorrow.

As I looked into those eyes, I received a command.

“Vivian, you will come too.”