"Miss, you were deceived by her kindness."
Olivia, who had been starved for affection, was incapable of rational judgment in the face of warmly offered kindness. But Anne was not.
Diane may have become the owner of the lily key through an incident she orchestrated to satisfy her own desires, but at the same time, it became an opportunity for Anne to be wary of her.
"It's true, Miss. She really is a bad woman."
And Anne's wariness of Diane Brooke became the cause of her being falsely accused as a jewel thief.
Olivia's trust in Diane was deep. Her longing for a sister and friend was so great that even the worried advice of a mere maid sounded like annoying nagging.
The more indifferent Yohan became, the more Olivia's dependence on Diane grew.
"Please believe me, Miss."
Anne's eyes welled up with frustration and pity.
"I believe you."
Olivia placed her hand over Anne's, which was neatly clasped together.
"I believe Anne."
She gave the grasped hand a little tug. Anne sat down in the chair opposite her.
"Will you tell me? About that woman."
Olivia whispered, stroking the back of Anne's small hand with her thumb. The scars from when Anne had been injured protecting Olivia since childhood were densely packed on the back of her hand.
Stories poured out that Olivia didn't know, but only Anne knew. By the time the story was finished, it was well past noon. The sunlight beyond the window was already tinged with gold.
Anne went down to the kitchen to help Madam Marie for a late lunch, and Olivia stared at the necklace box with a listless feeling. In the quiet room, only the minute hand of the clock moved diligently, making a sound.
As time passed, her bewildered heart gradually calmed down. Now that she knew the truth about Diane Brooke, she could roughly grasp the situation of this incident. Only an assumption, though.
The problem was how to deal with this fact.
'Keep your head cool.'
She remembered the man's words of advice to her one day.
'Keep your heart warm?'
She had joked because she liked his serious face. Even if she knew the content, she would pretend not to know and ask. It was another way of expressing her desire to be by his side a little longer. She was happy with the long conversations she had with that man.
'No. Keep your heart cold too. When you make a judgment, Jian, you have to be cold-hearted.'
Olivia cooled her head. She thought only about the incident. Calmly, without being led by emotions.
She didn't want to get involved with Johann Leopold. He was a man who had a fiancée. She didn't want to be connected with him again in this way. Sincerely.
But.
Diane Brooke had to pay for her sins.
Anne's innocence, who had been unfairly accused, had to be revealed, and Olivia didn't need to know about Elaine's husband's circumstances. Elaine...
If she hadn't mentioned the necklace when she first met her, she wouldn't have been involved.
Olivia, who had been sitting motionless for a while, got up from her seat as if she had made up her mind.
Olivia sat down at the desk next to the bed and took out a piece of stationery from the drawer. She dipped the pen in the ink and brought it to the white paper. The pen, which had been hesitating for a moment, began to move, fluttering its feathers.
Maurice arrived at Greathill at the same time as usual. He always accompanied Yohan from the Duke's residence to the Leopold headquarters.
"Have you arrived?"
A servant with a handful of mail greeted him as he got out of the Carriage.
"Ah! Benjamin. Good morning."
Maurice smiled and climbed the front steps with him. Maurice shook the dirt off his shoes on the mat in front of the entrance and then stepped inside. In the meantime, Benjamin sorted the mail on the display case next to the entrance hall.
"Oh my, who's sending this again."
Maurice, who was heading to the lobby, stopped and asked.
"What is it?"
"I mean the mail without a sender. It used to come to the Madam a few times, but this one is for the master."
Benjamin handed Maurice a letter stamped with the Kingdom of Brit insignia and the post office stamp. Maurice's eyes narrowed.
Maurice looked down at the letter he had received and asked.
"Before? Do you remember which post office it was?"
"Of course. It was stamped with the Norton post office stamp."
"Norton?"
"Yes. My memory is accurate. It looked suspicious at first glance. So I took a closer look."
Norton...
He had heard that place name somewhere recently. Where was it? Maurice frowned, trying to remember.
"Were there any other mails? From Norton."
"No. There's nothing else besides what came to the Madam."
Benjamin said as if it were obvious.
"What business do people there have to send letters to the Duke's family? Unless they're employees here."
The capital was not all the same. Norton was a district where fallen nobles gathered.
"Do you remember how many times it came?"
"Of course. It came three times."
His answer matched Diane's statement. As expected, was it a love letter sent by the Duchess's lovers? But something felt uneasy about dismissing it like that.
Moreover, with the addition of the letter to the Duke with no sender, his neck felt stiff from the morning.
"I'll take this and check it out."
Maurice left with a greeting of good work and headed to his office.
Although the order of succession to the throne was low, Duke Johann Leopold, whom he served, was clearly an heir to the throne, so the possibility that the contents were poison could not be ruled out.
Fortunately, there was no one in Rondos who was brave enough to threaten Yohan's life. It was a simple letter. Although it was not ordinary, it did not seem to have any dangerous elements, at least on the surface.
Maurice, who had not confirmed the sender, knocked on Yohan's bedroom door with the letter.
"Come in."
Maurice took a breath and entered.
Yohan was getting dressed. When Maurice first entered, he was fastening the decorative buttons on his black cuffs. The shirt that wrapped around his large, solid frame was pure white in the clear sunlight.
"I have something to report."
Yohan, who was fastening the opposite cuff link, nodded lightly.
"It's an international express mail addressed to the representative."
Maurice went behind the butler and carefully placed the mail on the table in front of Yohan.
Yohan, who was putting on his suit jacket with the butler's assistance, glanced at the letter with an indifferent gaze and then stared at Maurice.
"It's an unsigned mail sent from the Kingdom of Brit."
Only then did Yohan show interest and dismiss the butler, who was brushing his coat with a clothes brush. As the butler bowed politely and left, Yohan sat down in the wing chair in front of the table.
Yohan, who had checked the contents of the letter Maurice had brought, took out a cigar with a blank expression. The end of the cigar burned red. Yohan, who exhaled a long stream of smoke, slowly turned his gaze back to the problematic letter.
As the bluish-gray smoke disappeared, the letters, written with clumsy skill and considerable care, came into view.
Yohan held the letter between his oily fingers.
The content was very short.
「To Duke Johann Leopold」
The cowardly sender, who did not reveal his identity, began the letter in a very businesslike tone.
「I have the Pink Diamond Necklace.
How did I get it?」
The ending of the politely started letter was an absurd provocation. Along with ridicule for the owner who didn't even know it had been stolen.
But even thieves had weaknesses.
This clumsy thief, though bold, was not good at hiding his handwriting.
The clumsy letters that Yohan knew well. Olivia Blanchett, the handwriting of the woman who had been his wife.
She was a woman who had learned to write at the age of seventeen. Things that were hastily learned to be sold in the marriage market could not be smooth. So everything was immature and clumsy about the woman.
Yohan's eyes were sharp as he looked down at the letters from her unripe fingertips.
Yohan put the letter back down and let out the deeply inhaled smoke.
Assuming that the owner of the letter was his ex-wife. How did the necklace get into Olivia's hands?
Thinking about why he had entrusted the lily key to his wife's secretary, he recalled the incident that day.
The night the necklace in question disappeared, it was found in his wife's maid's room.
If the maid had already replaced it with a fake at that time.
And the loyal maid gave the real thing to Olivia, right...?
Well.
It was a logical flow in its own way. But soon Yohan erased that assumption.
He had given her a materially affluent life. Why bother.
Moreover, it was just a necklace. It wasn't worth it. It was more reasonable to say that the maid had independently disposed of the stolen goods.
So the maid was the culprit after all.
"..."
No. No.
Now, why would Olivia reveal her maid's criminal acts? Her only person who had been with her since the Count's residence.
So that was also a wrong inference.
Then there was one thing left.
Diane Brooke. The possessor of the lily key.
Yohan, feeling tired, slowly closed his eyes. The cigar burned at his fingertips, and bluish smoke rose.
Assuming that Diane Brooke was the culprit. By what route did the necklace cross the ocean and fall into the hands of Olivia Blanchett of all people?
How...
Yohan tapped the armrest with his long fingers.
It was necessary to revise his position on his ex-wife, with whom he had decided not to get involved any further.
"Send a sparrow to Olivia."
Yohan, who had been silent for a while, slowly opened his eyes and said monotonously.
"And to that woman."
The gray eyes, which had received the early morning sunlight, shone sharply.
"Put surveillance on her."
Yohan's gaze moved to the letter that had flown in as if to mock him.
The sweet scent faintly permeated the white paper. The clumsy handwriting that was carefully pressed down. It was as if he could feel his wife in the mysterious letter.
Was she a woman who could do such absurd things? That new fact made Yohan's gaze linger on the letter for a long time.
