Chapter 39
Someone pointed that out. Harriet had arrived exactly at 11 o’clock, just as it said on the invitation. But since she hadn’t been invited to many social events, they seemed to have expected her to show up much earlier out of sheer excitement.
Harriet eyed the speaker suspiciously but, instead of responding directly, turned to Annabelle. “The invitation said to arrive by 11, didn’t it? Did you send different times to everyone else, by any chance?”
It was as if she were asking whether they’d deliberately tried to embarrass her.
Annabelle, along with the lady who had pointed it out, looked visibly flustered.
“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant! Eleven o’clock is correct.” The lady stammered.
“Then why did you say I was late?” Harriet asked calmly in return.
“I just meant… we were so excited to see you, Lady Harriet! Really!” The lady glanced around nervously as she gave her awkward reply.
It had been an attempt to pick a fight, but it nearly caused trouble for Annabelle instead.
Harriet smiled brightly and said, “Oh my! I’ve never received such a warm welcome before, so I misunderstood. I’m sorry. May I have your name…?”
“G-Grace Dalton. Please feel free to call me Grace.” The lady said.
“Thank you, Lady Grace. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Harriet replied warmly.
Thanks to Harriet’s gentle way of smoothing things over, the tea party continued in a cheerful atmosphere.
One of the ladies asked, “Lady Harriet, the first party you attended after returning to Genoa was the Vanderbuilt Count family’s, right? But I haven’t heard of you going to any since then…?”
“This tea party at the Leighton Viscount family is the very next one.”
“Oh my! I’ve heard so many people were dying to invite you.” The lady said brightly.
Annabelle’s intentions were clear. She wanted to boast that she was the first to invite Harriet, the current talk of the social season, showing off her connections and influence.
If Harriet hadn’t realized this, she might have been annoyed, but since it was a mutually beneficial relationship, she gladly offered polite praise.
“I’ve received quite a few invitations. But Lady Leighton’s was the most courteous and kind. As you know, I’m still a bit cautious about attending these events, but thanks to your warmth, I mustered the courage to come.”
Annabelle looked extremely pleased with Harriet’s response.
She took special care to ensure Harriet wasn’t left out of the conversation.
Harriet hadn’t attended social events much even before her year at the convent, let alone during it. So there were topics she wasn’t familiar with, but Annabelle kindly explained them or steered the talk toward subjects where Harriet could join in.
Of course, this kindness came at a price. Harriet had to contribute something interesting to the conversation in return.
“Um… this might be an impertinent question…” someone ventured hesitantly.
“By any chance, did you return to Genoa for Lady Bella’s engagement party?”
“Pfft!”
Caught completely off guard, Harriet spat out the tea she had been sipping.
Thanks to Annabelle quickly handing her a handkerchief, she avoided a makeup disaster.
“Are you all right?” Annabelle asked.
“S-Sorry, I was just so startled.” Harriet wiped the corner of her mouth with the handkerchief and gave an awkward smile to the lady who had asked.
“To be honest, I knew nothing about Bella’s engagement. I’m certain both Uncle and Bella had no idea I was coming back.”
“Then… does that mean Viscount Listerwell really intended to make you a nun?”
“Well, I had to stay at the convent without even receiving living expenses. His support as my guardian had been cut off. The meaning seemed clear to me… though who knows? Maybe Uncle had some deeper reason.” Harriet said with a soft smile.
There was no anger or resentment, just a calm expression tinged with a hint of bitterness.
The fact that Harriet had nearly been forced into becoming a nun stirred the ladies’ sympathy. Unless one had deep faith, for a noblewoman to become a nun meant being completely abandoned by her family.
Even thirty years ago, it had been common to send unmarried or disobedient daughters to convents, and it was seen as a form of suppression.
“I had no idea Viscount Listerwell was that kind of person…” one girl muttered.
“Right? Lady Harriet and Lady Bella are the same age, aren’t they? Sending his own daughter off to a good marriage while packing his niece off to a convent—it’s too much.” Another chimed in.
Harriet had a mountain of things she wanted to say about John and Bella, but she held back.
‘For now, just planting a small seed of doubt about Uncle and Bella is enough.’ She thought.
Rushing it could backfire. She had to act like she harbored no grudges, just a slight regret.
While Harriet carefully held her tongue, another lady who had been hesitating for a while finally spoke up.
“Um, about the victory ball last year… did something really happen? Is that why you ended up at the convent?”
Annabelle tried to intervene, worried it would put Harriet in a difficult spot. She had promised no one would make her uncomfortable.
But this was exactly the question Harriet had been waiting for.
“I’d like to clear up the misunderstanding now. I neither stole nor picked up that brooch. When the lights went out and came back on, it was suddenly pinned to my dress. Bella and her friends witnessed it too.”
“Really?”
“Do I seem crazy enough to steal something from Duke Kailas? Besides, I was standing far away from him. Even if he had dropped it, I couldn’t have reached it.”
The ladies held their breath and leaned in closer.
“To be honest, I thought someone mistook me for another person and pinned it to my dress by accident. Bella even suggested I leave it there so it would be visible, saying the owner would come looking for it if it was a mistake.”
“Lady Bella said that?” someone asked in surprise.
“Yes. And right beside her, Lady Caroline sneered, ‘What if she’s hoping someone notices and we look clueless by pointing it out?’”
“If that’s true, then why did Lady Bella tell Duke Kailas something like that…?”
Everyone began recalling that day.
When Cedric had snatched the brooch from Harriet’s chest and demanded how she would take responsibility for the insult, what had Bella said while pretending to defend her?
“Your Grace, couldn’t you take pity on Harriet? She probably found the brooch by chance and pinned it on because she wanted a little attention. She’s never had anything this nice before…”
No one remembered Bella’s exact words, but the tone was vividly etched in their minds. Bella had framed it as if Harriet had put on the brooch to show off.
The ladies seated around the tea table exchanged uneasy glances.
Was Harriet telling the truth? Or was she just badmouthing Bella out of jealousy, as the rumors said?
Even so, the story was too detailed.
Of course, Harriet could tell exactly what they were thinking.
She gave a weary smile and said, “I understand if it’s hard to believe me. Honestly, even I found it hard to believe. Maybe what happened that night was just a terribly unlucky accident.”
In truth, Harriet herself didn’t know exactly what had happened. She could only guess.
“Someone who picked up the fancy-looking brooch might have pinned it to my skirt as a prank. And it just happened to be an heirloom from the previous Duke Kailas. Bella probably said what she did to try to get me out of a bigger mess in her own way. Or maybe she misunderstood the situation.”
Sympathy appeared on their faces.
“There were already bad rumors about me going around, so it was easy for everyone to assume I’d done something foolish again. But I swear before God—I’m innocent.”
If Harriet had said this before, no one would have taken her seriously.
But now, after spending a year at the convent, her words carried weight.
One by one, the other ladies began taking her side.
“I-I thought something didn’t add up back then too. The pieces just didn’t fit perfectly.”
“Me too! It felt like someone was trying to pin everything on her.”
“Honestly—Lady Harriet stealing Duke Kailas’s brooch? From the chest of a war hero? Ridiculous.”
Hearing those last words, Harriet felt a heavy weight lift from her heart.
Yes—that was common sense.
Even if she were obsessed with a man, how could she have stolen the brooch in that situation?
Surely someone had thought the same back then.
They must have. They had just stayed silent.
And that silence was why Harriet had been sent to the convent.
Of course, the incident had ultimately turned into a blessing in disguise, but that didn’t justify the cowardice of others.
As the mood grew a bit heavy, Annabelle quickly jumped in to change the subject.
“I have something I’ve really been wanting to ask Lady Harriet too!”
