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Chapter : 03
Once, something like this happened. It was a day just like any other—school had ended, and I’d gone to my part-time job.
The moment I walked in, the owner, his face flushed red, snapped at me.
“What the hell is going on here?!”
One look at the mess behind the register told me everything. Some kind of serious problem had come up.
Sure enough, I soon heard that the amount of money left in the safe didn’t match.
I could guess why the blame was being directed at me. I’d been the one who closed up the shop the night before.
I tried to say it wasn’t me, but it was useless. The more I spoke, the angrier the owner became, and the more the attention of the people around us focused on me.
I was scared. That hand pointing at my forehead. That booming voice.
But I didn’t ask anyone for help.
“Because I knew that no one would help me anyway.”
This kind of thing always happened to me, and it felt normal.
Even if the owner slapped me like this, nothing would change.
At worst, I’d just get fired from my part-time job.
That was how useful I was back then. Easily replaced, and that would be the end of it. Maybe because of that, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
…Is that child living the same kind of life?
“What’s your name?”
“……”
“You’re not going to answer?”
The blonde girl’s voice was louder than before.
The louder she got, the more Zen shrank in on himself. It was strange.
“He talked just fine when it was only me.”
The first thing the blonde girl had asked was what he’d done after the glass broke.
Which meant the necklace had gone missing after that.
“Then Zen can’t be the culprit.”
He’d been with me until just moments ago. Meanwhile, the blonde girl stepped even closer to Zen, clearly frustrated.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Which family are you from?”
“……”
“If you keep refusing to answer, the Marquess of Morette won’t let this slide.”
“The Marquess of Morette…”
It was a family that didn’t appear in the original novel. But that didn’t mean they were insignificant.
Crucia was unusual in that it was written entirely from Leonard’s first-person point of view, so even important families didn’t appear unless they were connected to him.
“If the Marquess of Morette really is that influential, I can understand why someone as young as Zen wouldn’t be able to say anything, but…”
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t understand why Gerald, standing right next to him, was also keeping his mouth shut. All he had to do was say they’d been together.
Gerald tried to calm the blonde girl down, but he didn’t help Zen at all.
No—rather than that, it would be more accurate to say he acted as if he didn’t know him at all.
What was even stranger was that Zen seemed to accept Gerald’s behavior as perfectly natural.
“Diana’s been strange too, come to think of it.”
Diana was staring at the scene of the commotion with the same deathly pale face as before.
Had she been looking at Zen, not me, earlier too?
“Pretending not to know him even though they were just together, panicking whenever Zen stands out even a little…”
As I followed that thought, one possibility came to mind—the reason they were acting this way.
“…Is Zen an illegitimate child of the Hentisson family?”
The Kylum Empire, true to its reputation as the land of dragons who take only one mate for life, had no concept of mistresses or second wives.
Even the emperor practiced monogamy—how could others break that rule?
Of course, there were people who fooled around in secret, but at least outwardly, appearances had to be kept.
In that situation, the existence of an illegitimate child was a huge disgrace.
It would be an official admission of having slept with someone other than one’s spouse.
“The Hentisson family in the original story was said to have lived upright lives for generations.”
If they were afraid of the consequences, they shouldn’t have done it in the first place.
At least now I knew one thing for sure—this wasn’t the Hentisson family from the original story.
“Miss, it looks like this is going to get bigger. Why don’t we just leave? You said you weren’t feeling well,” Mary said quietly, tugging at my arm as she assessed the situation.
I wanted to do that too. I really did.
“But I can’t, can I?”
Zen, standing there silently with no one helping him, kept catching my eye. Standing alone like that—it reminded me too much of myself.
“Do you even know what kind of necklace it was? It was a gift from His Highness the Crown Prince!”
“……”
“He’s scheduled to visit the estate in a few days—what are you going to do then?!”
When the crown prince was mentioned, the murmuring grew louder. The atmosphere had shifted to one where Zen was practically confirmed as the culprit.
And if this continued, that’s exactly how it would end. With the crown prince involved, it wouldn’t be resolved easily.
…No. I couldn’t let that happen.
“Huh? Miss, where are you going?!”
I heard Mary calling after me, but I kept walking forward, eyes fixed ahead. Gerald didn’t look like he was going to step in, which meant I was the only one who could prove Zen’s innocence.
It couldn’t be helped. I’d help him just this once and then leave.
Step by step, I moved forward, feeling people’s gazes turn toward me with each step.
I wondered if one of these people might kill me someday.
Thinking that, I approached Zen.
When I slightly turned my head, I saw his trembling red eyes widen in surprise.
I gave him a small smile. Somehow, it made me feel a little better too.
“It’s okay now.”
At my quiet whisper, Zen’s face twisted strangely. But this time, it didn’t feel unpleasant.
Right now, he looked like he was about to cry.
Hiding my trembling hands behind my back, I stood in front of Zen. Maybe this was the kind of situation my past self had wished for.
Someone standing in front of me.
“I believe I can answer Lady Morette’s question.”
“Who…?”
The blonde girl trailed off as she looked at me, surprised by my sudden intrusion.
Her eyes widened slightly—it seemed she’d realized who I was.
“Being well-known has its advantages.”
Her once vicious expression softened considerably.
No matter how high one’s status was, few people dared to treat a blessed demi-human rudely.
“…Aren’t you Lady Amelio?”
“Thank you for recognizing me, Lady Morette. I’m Loreina of House Amelio.”
“…I’m Rachel.”
Ah, so her name was Rachel. Once I stepped in, Rachel reluctantly shifted her attention to me.
She couldn’t very well keep shouting at Zen while ignoring the person who had addressed her.
And with me standing in front of him, she probably couldn’t see Zen’s face very well either.
“By the way, what did you mean earlier? That you could answer my question…”
“Oh, that.”
I stepped slightly aside and gently pulled Zen by the shoulder, bringing him to stand in front of me.
Dragged along without resistance, Zen looked at me with an unreadable expression.
“Actually, this child is with me. He wasn’t feeling well, so he was resting, and I realized what was going on a bit late. I’m sorry I didn’t speak up sooner.”
“Oh—Lady Amelio? But that child didn’t say anything…”
“He must have been nervous with all the attention suddenly on him. He’s very young, after all.”
I turned my head and slowly swept my gaze over the people watching, then added,
“This is a lot for a child to endure.”
Rachel cleared her throat awkwardly, unable to say anything. She’d realized I was pointing out that she’d cornered a child without any evidence.
“Well, he didn’t answer when I asked where he was and what he was doing at the time the necklace disappeared, so of course I had to be suspicious. To be honest, my doubts haven’t completely disappeared even now.”
“Yes, I understand. However, my lady, this child has been with me the entire time since the glass broke. He didn’t have the time to steal the necklace. Isn’t that right, young master Hentisson?”
At my words, Gerald, who had been standing there blankly, flinched.
I had a feeling he’d stay silent again, so I quietly signaled to him with my eyes.
“If I’ve gone this far to help, you can at least do this much.”
After hesitating briefly, Gerald hurried over and backed me up. Honestly, there was nothing to fabricate.
It was true that Zen hadn’t had time to steal the necklace, and Gerald knew that too.
“Yes, now that I think about it, I do remember that child being by Lady Amelio’s side earlier.”
“Isn’t it possible you’re mistaken? It was chaotic—you might have been confused…”
“Lady Morette.”
Rachel turned to me with an anxious expression, but I continued calmly.
There’s only so much you can smile and indulge when someone throws a tantrum.
“What you just said—may I take that to mean you think I’m lying?”
“……”
“Or that there’s something wrong with my memory?”
“…No.”
In the end, Rachel couldn’t continue and burst into tears. She couldn’t very well say that there was something wrong with my memory.
“And there’s nothing to gain from being on bad terms with me.”
In truth, Rachel probably already knew that Zen hadn’t stolen it.
“That’s why she kept harping on the fact that his identity was unclear.”
Judging by her reaction, she’d likely just lost the necklace—but it wasn’t hard to understand why she’d gone this far.
It must have been easier, emotionally, to believe someone had stolen it than to admit she’d lost a necklace given to her by the crown prince.
I didn’t know where the necklace was…
“…But I did know where it might be.”
“Lady Morette, did you perhaps go to the lounge earlier?”
It felt oddly familiar—Rachel had been one of the people who passed by me complaining when the glass broke.
If she thought cocktail had splashed onto her dress, she would’ve gone to the lounge to check. And unless someone had deliberately cut it, that was the only place she could have unclasped the necklace.
At my words, several servants rushed to the lounge, and shortly after, the necklace was neatly returned to Rachel’s hands.
They said it had been placed carefully in the lounge prepared for her. Upon seeing it, Rachel burst into tears.
“Thank you so much, Lady Amelio. And I’m sorry. To make such a mistake… This is my first time at an event like this, and I was so nervous…”
Rachel bowed deeply to me, with an almost excessively polite, exemplary apology.
…But I wasn’t the one who should be receiving it.
As Rachel turned to leave after apologizing to me, I called out to her softly.
“Lady Morette.”
“…Yes?”
“The person you should apologize to isn’t me.”
There’s someone else who really deserves to cry—so why are you crying?
“You wronged this child, so please apologize properly.”
I gently pushed Zen’s back forward.
“Right now.”
