Chapter 95

Arabella walked out into the corridor with a nonchalant air, pretending not to care as she made a quick round of the second floor.

‘Not there!’

There was no sign of Isabella anywhere. There was no sound coming from Isabella’s room, and the room on the first floor that Lucrezia was temporarily using was also quiet. She even loitered in front of the girls' parlor and the master bedroom on the second floor where her mother used to stay, but her sister and mother were nowhere to be found.

‘Well, then, I’m going in.’

After carefully checking to make sure no maids were around, Arabella slipped into Isabella’s room. Isabella had recently been wearing plain dresses and applying light makeup, but her old habits hadn’t changed. Her vanity table was still filled with expensive cosmetics and various makeup tools.

‘So pretty!’

Arabella, forgetting her purpose for sneaking into Isabella’s room, picked up a rose blush from the vanity. She applied the blush to her lips instead of her cheeks and marveled at the delicate color. The reflection in the mirror seemed to resemble her sister Isabella, and it made her feel like a grown lady, which she found very satisfying.

‘No, no, that’s not it.’

After being entranced by her reflection in the mirror for a while, Arabella suddenly came to her senses. She then began to search around Isabella’s vanity with quick movements, making sure to remember the order in which she removed items so she could put them back seamlessly.

‘Let’s see, it was around here…’

As Arabella rummaged through the boxes under the vanity, her hand caught hold of Isabella’s partial wig.

‘Found it!’

The wig, which matched the color of Isabella’s and Arabella’s hair, was a bright flaxen color. At the end of the wig was a soft, metal clasp designed to secure it near the scalp.

Arabella held the metal clasp up to the light. It was dark in color, but the part that caught the light was particularly bright. She bent the metal clasp and then straightened it again.

‘It’s mostly silver… with some lead mixed in?’

For its size, the metal piece was unusually heavy, a characteristic of lead. The softness of the metal was almost identical to what she had seen in Ariadne’s room.

‘This must be it. I have to take it to Ariadne!’

Thinking of how Ariadne would be delighted to see the metal clasp, Arabella felt a surge of happiness. Since the indoor dresses worn by noble young ladies had no pockets, Arabella held the piece of the wig with the metal clasp in her palm and quickly put everything back in place.

At that moment, a high, shrill voice rang out from behind her.

“What are you doing here?”

“Eek!”

Arabella turned around in shock. There, standing tall and looking down at her in a threatening manner, was Isabella.

“Traitor. If you were going to stick with the new arrival, you should have stayed with her. Now you’re crawling into my room like a rat to snoop around?”

Arabella felt a cold sweat run down her back as she bowed low. There was no point in trying to explain; when Isabella was this angry, the best thing to do was to run.

“S-Sorry… I won’t do it again.”

It was an apology she would never normally make, because she knew she would do it again. There was no need to lie to family, but with the distance that had grown between her and Isabella, her older sister felt almost like a stranger. Stealing from a stranger was objectively wrong, so Arabella felt she should apologize.

Isabella, sensing something unusual in Arabella’s apology, which was different from her usual behavior, looked her up and down with a snake-like intensity.

“What were you trying to steal?”

Arabella usually swept through Isabella’s vanity, taking all the cosmetics, especially the makeup. Today, Isabella’s vanity was relatively clean, with only the rose blush lid having been opened and closed.

“Oh, nothing.”

Arabella pointed to Isabella’s vanity with her chin.

“It’s clean.”

Isabella looked back and forth between the vanity and Arabella with a suspicious gaze. Arabella decided to take advantage of Isabella’s hesitation and make a quick escape.

“I’m going now. Sorry, sis!”

As Arabella quickly got up and ran towards Isabella’s door, Isabella’s suspicious voice pierced her ears.

“Wait, what’s in your hand?”

From Arabella’s tightly clenched left fist, a few strands of bright golden hair protruded, shining in the light. Arabella’s pupils dilated with tension.

‘Should I just give it to her?’

After a moment’s hesitation, Arabella shook her head. If she left now, there would be no chance to sneak into Isabella’s room again. Moreover, giving it to Isabella wouldn’t make her let Arabella go easily. She would likely be punished for hours before being released. So…

‘I’ll run!’

Once Ariadne returned, Isabella wouldn’t be able to touch Arabella. Until then, Arabella could lock herself in her room or hide in a corner of the mansion to pass the time. That would be her victory.

Arabella suddenly ran towards the door. Isabella shouted roughly.

“Stop right there! I won’t let you go!”

Arabella darted down the west wing corridor of the second floor like a squirrel. Isabella, agile like a cat, quickly followed.

As Isabella chased Arabella, she finally realized what her sister was stealing. At first, she thought Arabella had taken a jeweled hairpin, but the amount of hair that had fallen out revealed it was a piece of a human hair wig.

‘Wait, why is she taking this?’

It was just a piece of a wig, not the whole thing. It couldn’t be used for decoration. It seemed more like she was taking it as a sample or evidence for someone. And the direction Arabella was running in was towards Ariadne’s quarters.

Isabella finally understood why Arabella was taking the piece of the wig. It was undoubtedly to find evidence of the metal clasp she had attached to Ariadne’s dress at the debutante ball, which had torn the front of Ariadne’s dress. The hook on Ariadne’s dress was made of the same metal, with a higher lead content, inspired by the human hair wig.

“What a rat!”

If this item was discovered, it would be a disaster. Cardinal de Mare had already put Isabella under house arrest for three months for trying to ruin Ariadne’s reputation at the masquerade ball. Even though nothing had happened to Ariadne, this would be unforgivable.

‘No, I can’t let it happen! If it’s discovered, it will be a disaster!’

Isabella finally caught up with her younger sister near the central staircase of the de Mare mansion.

“Stop right there!”

- *Snap!*

Isabella successfully grabbed Arabella’s wrist at the top of the central staircase.

“Give it to me.”

“N-No!”

“Give it to me right now, you rat!”

“No!”

Isabella couldn’t contain her rising anger. She grabbed Arabella’s left fist with her nails and shouted.

“Who do you think you are? Are you trying to ruin your own sister’s life by sticking with the new arrival?”

Arabella had something to say too. From her perspective, Isabella was just being greedy and didn’t want to share a piece of a wig.

“Act like a real sister! Do you treat me well? Do you play with me? You just yell and insult me. If the king treated people like that, he’d be a tyrant!”

Arabella tried to use a difficult word she had learned from her tutor during a political science lesson, which only made Isabella angrier.

“Who do you think you are, you little rat…!”

Isabella gave up on trying to forcibly take the metal clasp and raised her right hand, which was holding Arabella’s wrist, to strike her. It was the same stance she took when Lucrezia hit the servants.

“Eh, eh?”

Arabella was trying to pull her wrist free from Isabella’s grip when she suddenly felt Isabella’s hand disappear, causing her to lose her balance. Instinctively, she flailed her arms to prevent herself from falling backwards. They were standing at the start of the central staircase of the de Mare mansion, the same staircase where Arabella had pushed Isabella down on the first day she arrived with Ariadne.

“Eeeek!”

Arabella’s movements became more frantic as she tried to regain her balance. In her desperation, her left fist loosened, and the metal clasp, connected to the golden hair, glinted in the light.

Their eyes met.

Isabella had two choices: help Arabella, who was about to fall backwards, or take the metal clasp.

Isabella’s choice was clear.

- *Snap!*

Instinctively, Isabella grabbed the metal clasp from Arabella’s hand.

“Eh, eh?!”

Arabella, who had just managed to maintain her balance, lost it again due to Isabella’s sudden grab. She fell backwards, still looking directly at Isabella.

“Aaaaaah!”

- *Thud!*

Isabella expected a series of loud thuds followed by a thud as Arabella hit the floor, as had happened when she fell down the stairs before. But after Arabella fell, there was only one loud impact, strongly resonating on the marble floor.

Isabella quickly hung over the railing to look down.

Arabella was lying on the marble floor of the first floor, her head facing upwards in a picture-perfect pose. She didn’t even scream after the impact and showed no signs of movement.

‘Is she bleeding? Is there blood?’

Isabella, frightened, looked down from the second-floor railing but saw no blood from her position.

‘Is she dead?’

Isabella quickly looked around. The first thing she checked was whether anyone had witnessed the fall. Fortunately, no one had seen it.

Isabella had just been released from house arrest. She couldn’t afford any more trouble.

‘If someone accuses me of pushing Arabella, Father will believe it!’

The thought sent a chill down her spine. This time, it would mean being sent to a convent.

Being sent to a convent by a noble family was akin to a death sentence. It was done for daughters who were disabled or mentally challenged, for daughters involved in scandals too scandalous to bear, or for families with too many daughters and not enough dowry money.

Once in a convent, most never saw their families again and never left. They earned their food and firewood by doing piecework.

‘No, I can’t live like that.’

Even without witnesses, if someone heard them fighting, it would be over. They fought. Arabella fell from the second floor to the first. Why did she fall?

Sweat began to bead on Isabella’s palms. She quickly checked her appearance.

There were no marks from Arabella’s scratches or any signs of a struggle. Isabella smoothed out her wrinkled clothes and quickly tucked her disheveled hair behind her ears.

- “It’s time to mop the second floor, let’s go up.”

- “My area is the east rooms today.”

The sound of maids chatting as they came out of the kitchen on the first floor made Isabella’s eyes widen. She couldn’t be caught in this situation.

She straightened her back and walked back to her room on the second floor with a composed gait, though her steps were heavy. Once in her room, she slammed the door shut.

Lately, Isabella always locked her door and stayed in her room whenever Cardinal de Mare was home.

Yes, nothing happened. It’s just a normal afternoon. Nothing happened. I didn’t do anything.

Isabella ran to her vanity, picked up the box containing the human hair wig, and threw it into the fireplace attached to the wall. The paper box caught fire and burned brightly.

She also threw the piece of the wig she had taken from Arabella into the fire. The smell of burning hair filled the room.

Once everything was burned, Isabella would scrape up the ashes and bury them in the yard.

She stood there, unable to think of ventilating the room, and stared at the burning fireplace.