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Chapter 13
Helen came up beside Belle and bent down.
“I think we’ve already searched everywhere we could, don’t you?”
Helen glanced under the bed as she asked.
“I’ll just take another quick look.”
Belle pressed her face right up to the floor to peer beneath.
But there was nothing there except a little dust—no worn pouch holding the key and jewels.
Cold sweat poured down her back like a sudden downpour.
Something was wrong.
“…Why isn’t it here?”
The words slipped out reflexively, laced with dread.
In her shock, Belle forgot for a moment—
—that someone was right next to her.
“What isn’t there?”
Eyes widening, Belle jerked her head toward Helen.
“…!”
Belle’s shoulders went rigid as stone.
Helen rested her elbow on her knee and propped her chin in her hand.
The woman who was always grinning like a fool was now only curling her lips slightly upward.
Belle had thought Helen looked like a puppy because her eyes usually curved into cheerful crescents, framed by soft aegyo-sal whenever she smiled.
But without that smile, Belle saw the upward slant of her eyes, sharp and aloof.
Beneath those red-gleaming pupils, the little beauty mark stood out more intensely than ever.
“Can a person’s impression really change this much?”
The sudden shift in Helen’s aura made Belle swallow her breath.
The woman who had always felt like a harmless, fluffy cloud—someone she could take lightly—now made Belle tremble as if standing before the Duke himself.
Her lips went dry.
Unconsciously, Belle lowered her gaze, then clenched her fist tight.
“Why am I letting Helen intimidate me?”
Her face flushed hot with shame.
She, who had once been a close aide to the late Duke—
—and now she was cowering before Helen, of all people.
“So what if she isn’t smiling?!”
Her humiliation rose to her scalp, and she ground her teeth.
“I don’t understand what you mean. When did I ever say such a thing?”
“You just did.”
“You must have misheard.”
Belle denied it flatly.
“Hm. And here I thought… you were flustered because something that should’ve been here turned up missing.”
The low murmur brushed past her ear.
Belle flinched and straightened, her shoulders trembling.
“If I keep searching, it’ll look suspicious.”
The trap she had set for the rat might just end up catching her instead. Even if she planned to get rid of Helen later, now was the time to withdraw.
“It seems it isn’t here either. Thank you for allowing me to search the room, Madam.”
“Yes, you must be tired from the effort.”
“Not at all.”
“Belle.”
Helen grabbed Belle’s wrist and tugged her closer. The bridge of Helen’s nose brushed against the back of Belle’s hand.
“You should be more careful with your perfume, Belle. The scent is far too strong.”
“…That must be the fragrance lingering from the room.”
“I aired it out earlier because Faye was coming. Even if the smell hasn’t completely faded, it’s nowhere near as strong as what’s coming from your hand.”
“…”
“Besides, the moment we ran into each other earlier, the scent was overpowering.”
Thud.
Belle’s heart plummeted to her feet.
“So she noticed all along.”
The odd shift in her aura, the missing key and jewels, the way she spoke as if she knew everything—if Helen had realized from the moment they met in the hallway, it all made sense.
Belle had been careless.
She had dismissed Helen as nothing more than the silly girl who always trailed behind the young master with a goofy smile. When she’d seen her grinning in the corridor, she hadn’t thought twice about it.
“Until she said it, I didn’t even realize I’d already stepped into her trap.”
What she had thought would be easy to cover up might prove far harder.
“…Thank you for the warning.”
Belle swallowed dryly and carefully pulled her hand free.
“I hope Belle will always remain by Faye’s side, as he grows into a fine Duke. You will, won’t you?”
“I’ll engrave that into my mind. Madam, may I also offer you a word of advice in return?”
Helen slowly inclined her head.
“If you truly care for the young master, you should not have become the Duchess.”
“…”
“To speak as you did while seated in that place—that is hypocrisy. Before the position is made official, please give it up of your own accord.”
“…I’ll take your words to heart.”
“Yes. Please do.”
For the first time, Belle bowed with all her sincerity.
Helen leaned against the window and looked up at the sky.
The moon was bright again tonight.
“…Haah. That was close.”
Aside from today, she had stayed in the room ever since noticing Belle’s suspicious behavior.
She’d thought something might happen while she was away.
Then she had run into Belle, hurried back, and searched the room top to bottom to see what Belle might have done.
But despite looking everywhere, she found nothing. When Belle arrived, she had tried not to let it show, but her skin had crawled.
“Judging by Belle’s reaction, she must’ve hidden it under the bed.”
Naturally, Helen had checked beneath the bed.
But there was nothing there.
“So where did she hide the key?”
Even after Belle left, Helen examined the bed thoroughly again, but still found nothing.
Puzzled by the missing key, she gazed up at the sky.
A hazy cloud drifted across the moon, morphing into Belle’s face and coldly echoing back at her:
<If you truly care for the young master, you should not have become the Duchess.>
<To speak as you did while seated in that place—that is hypocrisy. Please give it up before it’s official.>
Helen pressed her lips together, frustrated.
She had never once harmed her “favorite” until now. She hadn’t even wanted the Duchess’s position in the first place—what she wanted was something else entirely.
She had only reaffirmed to Belle that she supported Faye becoming the Duke. But it seemed Belle would never stop opposing her.
“Still, I can’t just drive away the one person my favorite relies on most.”
She had stayed here for him. To eliminate one of his trusted aides would be absurd.
“Sigh.”
She let out a few heavy breaths, then slapped her cheeks with a loud smack!
“Sitting here brooding won’t change anything.”
Stop digging yourself into a hole. Just get some sleep first.
With a clear head, she could reconsider—why Belle had said such things, and how she might ease Belle’s suspicions.
Helen clenched her fist, steeling herself.
As she turned and stepped back inside the room, she didn’t notice—
—that someone was watching her from beyond the window, waiting until she disappeared from sight.
The dark hallway was lit only by the lantern in Belle’s hand. She dragged her heavy feet until she finally reached her room.
<I hope Belle will always remain by Faye’s side, as he grows into a fine Duke. You will, won’t you?>
What nonsense.
“She’s nothing but a burden, yet she dares to act like she’s doing it all for the young master.”
She might say such things to Belle’s face, but who knew how black her true heart was?
Even if it wasn’t yet, sooner or later Helen would become dangerous.
She might not understand now what it meant to sit in the coveted position of Duchess.
But once she moved to the capital—once servants bowed to her, jewels came to her as easily as pebbles in the street, and even the haughtiest nobles lowered their heads…
Then what?
“When that time comes, won’t she inevitably want to pass the Dukedom to her own children someday?”
Belle’s eyes blazed, her grip on the lantern so tight that the flame inside shook wildly.
She had been careless this time, but it would not happen again.
“She’ll regret throwing away the chance to step aside on her own.”
To protect the young master in the late Duke’s stead. That duty burned in Belle’s amber-brown eyes as they gleamed sharp and cold.
She opened her door—and froze.
“Young master…?”
Because Faye was inside.
“Why aren’t you resting? You must leave for the capital early tomorrow. You should go to bed.”
“…”
He beckoned her closer.
Obeying, Belle stepped forward—then stopped short.
“….”
His curly hair looked darker in the dim, damp room. As she approached, his amber eyes glowed with the reflection of the lantern light.
But tonight, those usually fresh, springlike eyes seemed as cold as a barren season.
“It… must be my imagination.”
The air brushing her neck felt suddenly chilling. Belle’s throat bobbed as she swallowed hard.
“Nanny Belle.”
“…Yes. Did you call for me?”
“I like my nanny.”
Belle suddenly remembered when Faye had once clung to her, saying the same thing.
Back then too, he had said—
And the same uneasy feeling now coiled around her like a damp shadow. It was a dread so thick the lantern’s glow couldn’t drive it away.
Because she knew the next words would be—
<So don’t make me call Helen ‘Mother.’>
“Didn’t I tell you not to make me call Helen Mother?”
Something clattered to the floor at Faye’s feet with a sharp, ringing sound.
“…This is…”
Belle’s face drained of color as she looked down at the object.
