“Do you have any objections?”

“No, it’s not that. I’m just wondering why you’ve come to this decision.”

In response to Violet’s query, the duke held out several more documents. Everything written in them were more details about Violet’s whereabouts.

The previous documents contained just her simple routines and the records of her outings. But these… These contained even words that Violet had uttered in verbatim.

Just one glance was all it took to know that the level of investigation with these was different.

In general, they were mere accounts of how she had been idly sleeping her days away, but the level of surveillance was so severe that Violet felt her head starting to throb again.

“I merely declared an innocent person to be innocent. Or, do you not believe in my competence?”

“…It’s not that.”

“You seem to be objecting.”

“…Have you been putting me under surveillance all this time?”

“It’s not surveillance. It’s only an investigation.”

“…Okay.”

“…I don’t mean to invade your privacy at will,” the duke added.

But even when he said that, Violet’s face continued to express just how futile she thought it all was.

“…The charges against me have been cleared up, so may I leave?”

“You are on a one-week probation.”

“…Why?”

“You snuck away several times without permission. You didn’t think you’d get away with that, did you?”

“…No. I understand.”

This case was closed, for the time being. Violet could not object any further because she was still guilty of sneaking out.

Along with Mary, Zylo and several other knights, Violet went back to the annex.

The duke assigned those additional knights to Violet because, while she was nonetheless confined, it was still deemed dangerous to have too few knights when Aileen had been poisoned not long ago.

“…I’m sorry.”

And before she went back to the annex, she clearly heard that weak apology.

It was from Roen.

With one hand covering most of his face, he continued to look through the documents with a face full of shame.

 

* * *

 

It was a farce of a trial—nothing but a theater play of sorts for an audience to watch. They already knew that Violet was innocent from the start, and even knew who the real culprit was.

It was a theater play just to display how exactly the people of the ducal estate had been treating Violet.

“…Father, you.”

Furious that none of his opinions had been accepted, Mikhail stared at the duke.

“Father, are you really letting Violet get away with no charges?”

Until the very end, he continued to insist on Violet being the culprit. In truth, his suspicions against Violet were valid because of her actions in the past.

“…What is it that you want to say.”

“This always happens, Father. You’re always biased.”

Mikhail snarled those final words before he stomped out the dining hall’s doors.

He was not wrong. Favoritism in the guise of indifference was the inherent cause for a situation like this to happen. Perhaps it would be right to say that the duke was the sole person at fault for all this.

“…When did you start investigating?”

“I did so only because it’s needed.”

“…Violet had never lied.”

“……”

Throughout the trial, Mikhail shouted and insisted that Violet was a liar.

But she never lied. In a number of similar situations in the past, Violet swore by her innocence every time.

“Father, do you believe that Violet should not be blamed?”

“……”

“No, of course not. It can’t be. Because it’s true that she harassed Aileen.”

“…Roen.”

“It’s like that. It was certainly like that…”

“I’ll leave that to your own judgment.”

The duke rose from his seat, swiftly ending the discussion. Being as busy as he was, he still needed to take care of the rest of his work.

The people who faced Violet, all engulfed in a flurry of hatred, would never be in the right disposition to judge fairly. So eventually, the truth would slip away to who knows where.

“Ha, haha.”

Roen laughed in vain. Ever since he met Violet at the annex, he had been grappling with such conflicting thoughts within him.

How did a person, who always looked at everyone with such poisonous eyes, be left with absolutely nothing but emptiness behind her gaze now?

One person tried to talk to the other, yet the other only ignored that person.

An older brother ignored his younger sister, who always shouted and begged for him to listen to her.

She asked him to believe her over and over again, but he dismissed all her words as mere lies.

It was Roen himself who did all that.

 

“Brother! Look, look. Isn’t this flower pretty?”

 

Was Violet vicious from the very start?

Did she only ever hate and bully Alieen from the very beginning?

No one ever listened to her story. No one believed her and only ever thought of all her words as lies.

So now, she would not defend herself anymore.

Even though Violet had enough opportunity to prove her innocence.

She thought that it was no use.

She gave up.

“……”

Violet had tormented Aileen, this was true.

Yet, to the point that she had no choice but to do so, to the point that she could not help but become wicked, and to the point that she could only ever live amidst endless malice…

Who was it that pushed her to the precipice of haplessness?

Who was it that forced her to give up on everything?