“My lady. Are you awake?”

Marge asked carefully through the door. Charlotte pulled the blanket up over the top of her head as she answered.

“I’m going back to sleep.”

“My lady. Even so, you ought to eat something.”

“…”

When Charlotte gave no reply, Marge swallowed a sigh and said,

“I’ll set out some tea and a few light refreshments by the door. Even if you’ve no appetite, please try to eat a little.”

Only after the sound of Marge’s footsteps had faded did Charlotte push the blanket back down.

…Marge must find the state of me exasperating.

Charlotte knew she couldn’t go on like this, but she kept sinking further into listlessness.

About a week after the wedding, perhaps. Charlotte had sent a letter to Viscountess Roman—asking for the return of her mother’s jewelry, which she’d given as her dowry. A week after she sent it, a reply came telling her to collect it in person.

All they have to do is give it back, so why all this stalling? Surely they wouldn’t…

Charlotte sensed something off, but for the sake of getting her jewelry back, she braved the uneasy feeling and went to House Roman. Counting it a small mercy if she could at least avoid seeing Charles.

Arriving at House Roman, Charlotte was shown to the indoor garden. As she reached the entrance, she heard laughter—ha-ha, ho-ho.

I suspected as much, and here it is…

Calming herself with a short sigh, Charlotte said to the maid,

[I hadn’t realized there were guests. Tell her I’ll call again another time.]

[Y-you can’t.]

It was just as the maid moved to stop her.

[Oh my. If you’ve come all this way, you ought to say hello, hadn’t you?]

Craning her neck and fixing her gaze on the entrance, Viscountess Roman smiled behind the fan covering her mouth. The faces of the several baronesses seated at the table, by contrast, were cold as could be.

[So you really did come, after all?]

[After everything the Viscountess has done to look after her, you’d think she couldn’t show her face.]

One baroness’s muttering drew a crease to Charlotte’s brow. Looked after—as if anyone here had looked after anyone.

[Oh, ladies, please don’t. Isn’t it precisely because I failed to do things properly that such a shameful matter came about?]

[Not at all. It’s always the woman’s doing where a man is concerned. How lonely must the young lady have left the young master for a thing like this to happen? Compared to her, Miss Fiona was really quite lovely. We had her at one of our family’s parties once—unlike a certain someone, she was such an amiable, pretty girl.]

[Wasn’t she? Given how hard it must be for her to move in society because of her standing, the courage it took for her to even show her face—it was honestly admirable.]

At the preposterous turn of the conversation, Charlotte’s vision went white. She knew. This was a situation Viscountess Roman had engineered on purpose. It wasn’t worth dignifying. She should just see to her business and leave. Knowing all that, Charlotte still could not hold her tongue and keep quiet.

[So you ladies are trying to tell me that I’m the one who did wrong?]

The ladies all gave a collective start, as though they’d never expected Charlotte to talk back. For people who’d been so busy whispering to a person’s face, they had remarkably little nerve.

[The reason I couldn’t properly move in society is also that Viscountess Roman prevented it. Because she didn’t want Charles dragged off to tiresome parties on my account.]

[Oh my—what is this girl talking about now!]

The Viscountess’s face flushed scarlet. The baronesses could not hide their discomfort at the fact that their own parties had just been written off as tiresome ones.

[The girl is talking nonsense. Why on earth would I have done such a thing?]

Just as the Viscountess was pleading her innocence, Charlotte said,

[And—even if Charles truly was lonely because of me. Do you consider it normal to deceive someone for three whole months and do a thing like that?]

[How dare you put whose name in your mouth—!]

Viscountess Roman slammed her hand down on the table and shot to her feet. Huffing and snorting, she glared at Charlotte and said,

[Just take your jewelry and go!]

At that moment, as it happened, the maid came in with the jewelry box and held it out to Charlotte. Charlotte opened the box to check inside. One of the baronesses whispered something about her actually inspecting it, but Charlotte hadn’t the leisure to pay any mind to that sort of thing.

[…The pearl has been switched out.]

Charlotte ran her fingers over the pearl necklace and frowned. The Viscountess, startled, trembled all over as she spoke.

[What nonsense is this, all of a sudden?]

[It’s true…!]

The other pearls were as they had been, but the largest, most magnificent pearl—the centerpiece stone of the necklace—had been swapped for a cheap pearl of similar size.

[Now the girl’s treating me like a thief. Ahh. How did I ever come to be subjected to something like this!]

[It isn’t treating you like a thief—!]

Just then, one of the baronesses glared at Charlotte and said,

[My young lady. I can let everything else pass and overlook it, but this I cannot simply let go. What could the Viscountess possibly be lacking that she would switch out a mere jewel?]

[I only stated a fact—I wasn’t casting suspicion on the Viscountess. Perhaps someone else may have switched the jewel…]

[Everything that happens in this manor is the Viscountess’s responsibility. Or is it that you wish to tell her she failed to manage her own household properly?]

The point kept getting twisted further and further astray. Why would these ladies not believe a word Charlotte said?

…They have no intention of believing me.

It wasn’t that these people were unable to trust Charlotte. Regardless of the facts, they had simply made up their minds to be “on Viscountess Roman’s side.” And this was not limited to the baronesses.

After this incident, malicious rumors about Charlotte spread through society in Sandem. Merely stepping out onto the street, she was trailed by looks laced with contempt or derision.

[I never took her for that sort of person—repaying kindness with enmity. Branding someone a thief?]

[How vicious. That woman must surely have tormented the young master of House Roman. Otherwise, would such a kind and good-natured person ever have done a thing like that?]

Wherever she went, cold looks and voices followed her like a shadow. But what truly stifled Charlotte were the people she did business with.

[Lady Prairie. I’m sorry, but there will be no further dealings between us and you from here on.]

Turned away by every one of her business partners, and finally rebuffed at the very doorstep of the shop she’d done business with the longest—it was just as Charlotte pushed the shop door open with effort and stepped out. From the street across the way came a familiar voice.

[Charles. It’s so nice coming out together like this.]

Fiona, in a comfortable dress that didn’t cinch at the belly, walked along the street arm in arm with Charles, wearing a happy smile. How could the two of them be so brazen, even after doing such a thing? When Charlotte’s own life had been left in ruins.

Charlotte didn’t remember how she got home that day. And after that day, she came to dread and despise going outside with a terrible intensity.

Lying idly in bed like this, all manner of thoughts would come to her.

Could it be that I imagined it? That is to say—was the pearl not switched out after all?

…No. There’s no way. How could I possibly fail to recognize that?

Where could that jewel have gone? She never should have handed it over in the first place. But back then she’d had no idea something like this would happen…

What should I have done back then?

If she had at least caught on to the fact that the two of them were seeing each other before the wedding, would it have hurt this much?

The regret-laden questions that followed always raced toward the extreme.

At the wedding… was I the one in the wrong?

Had she made a blunder, unable to master the emotions surging up in that moment? Should she have gone through with the ceremony, feigning ignorance, just as Charles said? If she had endured and let it pass, would her situation be better than it is now?

Charlotte frowned. She didn’t want to think anymore.

I want to do nothing but sleep, for the rest of my life.

If only she could sleep like that, and sleep some more, and then quietly slip out of the world—she’d have nothing left to ask for.

…How pathetic.

It was then. Knock, knock—the sound of a knock came.

“…Marge. I’m sorry, but I really…”

“Oh my! You’re up?”

She’d assumed it would be Marge, of course, but it was an unfamiliar woman’s voice. Charlotte shot upright like a cat startled out of its skin.

“I’m coming in, all right?”

“Wait a—!”

Without even waiting for Charlotte’s answer, the woman opened the door as she pleased. A dazzling beauty with thick, glittering waves of golden hair beamed a bright smile at Charlotte. But Charlotte hadn’t the leisure to marvel at her looks. Her heart pounded and hammered like someone who’d been running hard. Beads of cold sweat dotted her forehead, and her vision kept going blurry.

“Wh-who are you?”

Thoroughly frightened, Charlotte asked in a violently trembling voice. Marge, who had been watching her with concern from the doorway all this while, moved to come closer, but the woman lightly waved a hand to wave her off.

“A pleasure. My name is Elena Spencer.”

If she was a Spencer, then she was a relative on Charlotte’s maternal side. As Charlotte blinked, Elena gently narrowed her eyes.

“So then, Charlotte. Shall we go ahead and pack your things?”

“Things…? What do you mean?”

Charlotte asked, clutching the edge of her blanket. Elena covered her mouth and laughed, oo-hoo-hoo.

“My mother… that is to say, your mother’s elder cousin, Madam Spencer, has invited you to stay.”

If it was where Madam Spencer lived…

“To Glasko…?”

“That’s right! Glasko! Ah, it really is such a beautiful place. The sea with its lovely glittering ripples… it’s truly the resort town everyone dreams of.”