Living Up to Your Expectations - Chapter 8

“That was quite enjoyable, wasn’t it, Lady Felicia?”

Laila smiled as if still basking in the afterglow of the play.

“Yes, yesterday’s delicious tea and the theatrical performance. It was a most meaningful afternoon.”

The backs of the pale-faced ones carried the melancholy of defeat, leaving behind a quietness reminiscent of a stage’s final curtain.

Via chuckled softly, placing her index finger to her lips.

“Hehe, the curtain hasn’t fallen yet. Look, here they come.”

True to her words, from beyond the door came a figure stepping into the salon at a somewhat hurried pace.

Oh my? Lady Allie, all alone. How unusual.

The next moment, the air in the salon grew tense.

“How awful Lady Olivia. Because of you, I’ve been suspended…! And after this, I’ve been called to explain myself to the teachers. Waaah!”

Her voice trembled, laden with tears. But to my ears, it sounded like nothing more than “tearful acting.”

A murmur spread through the room.

‘Oh my, Lady Allie?’ ‘Suspended, really?’ ‘Did Lady Olivia do something to her?’ ‘Could it be some kind of mistake?’

Everyone would think that, wouldn’t they? After all, Lady Allie is pure, adorable, someone to be protected” that kind of role.”

The eyes of the students in the salon naturally gathered toward us. At the center stood Via. Via answered in her usual calm voice. Yes, with a composure that seemed to say even this situation was within her expectations.

“Oh my? Lady Allie. Am I the awful one?”

Without a hint of agitation, in a beautifully composed tone.

Lady Allie responded in a trembling voice.

“But you told the teachers, didn’t you? Spoke ill of me.. Snitching is just terrible!”

Those words were a line meant to elicit a reaction from the audience—no, the students.

She chose this stage to paint Via as the villain and draw sympathy.

‘…Snitching, she says?’

‘My, that’s not something a lady would do.’

‘That person has done such things before.’

Audible, yet never naming names. The young ladies whispered, ready to believe another “rumor” as truth.

But.

“I did tell them. After all, I was falsely accused of pushing someone down the stairs. A suspicion with no basis in reality. Clearing up a misunderstanding is only natural, wouldn’t you agree?”

‘Down the stairs…?’

‘So that rumor, was true after all?’

‘But, “with no basis”…’

The murmuring swirled, bouncing off the salon walls. At its center, Lady Allie shook her head slightly and finally cried out.

“N-No, it’s not a false accusation! You were behind me! I remember even the scent of your perfume…!”

“My, aren’t you aware? Those stairs are equipped with surveillance magic devices for security. They’re official recording devices approved by the academy.”

At Via’s words, the atmosphere shifted once more.

“Th-That recording…?”

Lady Allie’s voice was no longer a question but closer to panic.

“Yes. The recorded footage, that is the most impartial evidence. Yesterday, my father mentioned it too, didn’t he? About the surveillance magic devices. Weren’t you listening? It’s more reliable than ‘testimony.’ So, I simply made a request: since I’m under suspicion, could you please verify it? That’s all.”

The salon fell silent. A tense hush descended.

‘There’s a recording?’ ‘Then perhaps she didn’t do it.’ ‘Lady Allie, lied?’ ‘Could it be staged?’

Lady Allie’s shoulders slumped heavily.

Like stage lights going out all at once, that silence was her “final scene.”

Visibly, “allies” retreated from around Lady Allie. Young ladies averted their eyes, cutting off conversations. Some returned to their private chats as if to say they had nothing to do with it. As if writing off a loser—swiftly, cruelly so.

“So then, why were you suspended?”

Via’s voice was soft, yet it mercilessly cut to the truth.

“Gah!”

Lady Allie’s shoulders trembled. Words wouldn’t come. Nothing would.

“If I were the culprit, the punishment would be mine. But it wasn’t. So, the punishment fell upon you. In other words, that’s what happened, isn’t it?”

“Enough!!”

Lady Allie screamed and fled the salon. Her retreating figure looked pitifully small, leaving only silence behind.

Via brought her cup to her lips, her expression unchanged.

Presenting the facts without exaggeration, without ostentation, simply and quietly that very demeanor spoke most eloquently of the weight of truth.

‘Lady Allie, what a disappointment.’

‘Were all the rumors until now like this?’

‘Lady Olivia was innocent after all.’

‘How dull.’

Someone’s whisper flowed like a dry wind. I narrowed my eyes quietly and sipped my cooled tea. It wasn’t just the tea that had gone cold. —Her reputation, too, had plummeted to the ground as if equally chilled.

“Hehe… It seems she mistook how to take her final bow.”

Laila smiled elegantly, finishing her tea to the last drop.

Indeed. “The bow after the final curtain” is what truly tests one’s grace.