I Was Meant to Be the Evil Wife, But the Cold Marquis Fell for Me - Chapter 39

“Sh-she was pretending… pretending to be weak!”

Elina’s trembling voice rang out. At once, the temperature in the council chamber seemed to drop.

“Oh? So my eyes are blind, then?”

Leivis spoke with cold interest, tapping his staff against the floor.

“N-no, that’s not what I meant.”

Elina tried to deny it quickly, but Leivis only sighed.

“You may doubt me if you wish, but don’t worsen your standing. I judge fairly—”
“I would never doubt you, my lord! The truth is, I broke the pot. Madam ordered me to!”
“So you lied before?”
“…Madam ordered me…”

Elina wiped her eyes, trembling.

“You always say the same thing,” Leivis replied, his tone tinged with pity and contempt.

“Madam would never do such a thing!”
“That’s right!” Van cried, and Marie echoed him.

“Shut up! Be quiet!” Elina shrieked, her voice shrill.

Silence fell, tense and heavy. Leivis sighed again.

“Your testimony is already broken.”

His voice was cold, heavy.

“You claim Liliana ordered you to smash the pot.”

His golden eyes narrowed sharply, piercing Elina.

“Then why didn’t you say that from the start? Why did you first claim Liliana herself broke it? Did she tell you to say that if questioned? Impossible. There’s no reason.”
“M-Madam tried to protect me… just that part…”

It was a desperate excuse, riddled with contradictions.

“…Liliana, what do you say?”

Leivis turned to her. Liliana’s throat closed. Only shallow breaths escaped.

—She realized.

In this chamber, she could only speak words that would support Elina. If she opened her mouth, she might be forced to say something against her will. So she shut her lips tightly, bowed her head.

—To others, it looked damning. Silent, as if hiding guilt.

Leivis lowered his gaze briefly, then turned back to Elina.

“…In any case, it seems you were the one who broke it. That explains Marie’s account and the wax. You dropped the pot from the balcony onto Liliana.”
“B-but Madam being beneath the balcony was unpredictable!”

Elina spoke rapidly, desperate.

“Yes, I carried the lily pot… but while cleaning spilled soil, it vanished. I couldn’t find it, so I kept it secret from Madam…”
“And then, embarrassed, you claimed Liliana broke it?”
“I’m sorry!!”

Elina collapsed to the floor, bowing her head, crying out.

“Van.”

The gardener stepped forward, shrinking under the weight of the moment, but spoke earnestly.

“When I cleaned up the broken pot, I found something strange… shards of glass, likely from a drinking vessel.”

He spread soil-stained fragments onto the desk. Their shape and thickness clearly belonged to a glass.

(Ah—)

Liliana’s memory sharpened. That day in the garden before she neared the balcony, she had heard a strange sound. Something breaking. Curious, she approached. Then the flowerpot had fallen.

“…Indeed, one could not be sure Liliana would walk beneath the balcony. But if this was dropped first, to make a sound, to lure her closer—?”

Leivis’s hand trembled slightly on his staff as he glared at the shards.

Liliana stared at them, dread tightening her chest.

(Could it really have been…?)

Her memories aligned. The sequence felt orchestrated.

—It was malice. Not a prank, not an accident.

Leivis’s staff creaked under his grip.

“Elina. Any defense?”
“…N-no, I…”
“And that cleaning of yours. Why leave wax behind?”
“I-it wasn’t on purpose…”

Her weak excuse was drowned by his voice.

“When something falls from a balcony, one naturally checks below. That sets the route. You smeared wax on the stairs Liliana would use to return to her room. Did you hope she’d slip and fall?”

His suppressed anger seeped through every word.

“Or did you hope I or Liliana would rage, so you could spread more slander?”
“I would never…”

Her voice faded. Marie’s eyes blazed.

“But it’s always her. Always, the bad rumors about Madam come from Elina!”

Liliana remembered the gossip outside the library, Elina leading it, Marie present but silent.

The housekeeper spoke quietly.

“Yes… shameful as it is, I too have seen such things.”
“Silence!!”

Elina’s furious cry rang out.

“Why must I be suspected just for poor cleaning?!”

Her tone turned defiant, almost brazen.

“Maybe someone else had a glass, and a pot, and thought it convenient to hurt Madam—or anyone!”

Liliana heard the excuse. Weak, but technically possible.

“That’s true. We cannot yet rule it out. But it does not clear you.”

Leivis’s gaze was cold, fixed on her.

“…And I am not finished questioning you.”