Chapter 124
In conclusion, the violin was sold for two thousand five hundred ond. Though it was quite an excellent result, the person who had donated the item had long since gone somewhere out of sight.
The owner of the fourth donated item had already gone up onto the platform and was preparing to speak, but people paid him no attention, busy chattering among themselves. Everyone spoke in unison of nothing but what had just happened.
When one woman said, “So the rumors were true after all,” another beside her wiped at the tears at the corners of her eyes and murmured, quite sentimentally, “Poor thing.” At that, yet another person snorted and scoffed, “You call that pitiful?”
The woman who had been wiping away her tears said with a straight face,
“What could an eight-year-old possibly have known? It was all done because the Dowager Duchess ordered it.”
Of course, the mood was not solely one of sympathy and pity. A man who had sat there with a sullen face the entire time said to his wife, “In the end, nothing was clearly explained at all.” His wife looked aghast as she replied,
“Explained? This is merely a charity auction.”
The man snorted.
“Yes. She made her move in her own way.”
Whether with sympathy or cynicism, the talk about Sasha Grayson showed little sign of dying down. People would probably continue speaking of it even after returning to their own homes. The capital’s social circles had had no gossip worth mentioning lately. In the midst of that, what a splendid topic this was. They would likely keep talking for at least a week.
The reporters who had been sitting among the crowd, pretending not to be reporters, were already gathering their bags and rising from their seats. If they wanted it in tomorrow morning’s paper, they had to hurry.
Miss Lytton, the faithful maid of Duchess Grayson, watched expressionlessly as people talked endlessly about Sasha Grayson.
This was truly not good. Miss Lytton looked toward the door through which Sasha had disappeared. Sasha had long since left the venue, even supported by the kind Baroness Harold.
“If that child truly does come, make sure people cannot pry anything out of her.”
That was what the Duchess had instructed Miss Lytton before she came here.
Miss Lytton muttered inwardly.
‘Miss Grayson managed to attend instead of hiding, my lady. Not only that, she stepped forward before everyone and even admitted with her own mouth that she was indeed a fake.’
Miss Lytton decided to leave her seat. Sasha’s surroundings were already entirely occupied by ladies of quality, including Baroness Harold, so there seemed to be no further hope. The Duchess’s key instruction had been to draw as little attention as possible.
‘But that fake leapt in of her own accord, saying she would become gossip.’
This was truly beyond anything she could have done. Miss Lytton calmly organized her thoughts and concluded that she herself had done her best.
The charity auction had already reached its sixth turn. Miss Lytton watched the man on the platform stammer through a poem of his own composition, then left the venue.
And she climbed into the carriage that had been quietly waiting for her.
She had to go to the ducal territory and report the situation first. She also had to report the circumstance that, though that woman seemed wary of her, she had not been as hostile as expected.
Did that fake truly possess evidence capable of swallowing the ducal family whole, as the Duchess thought? Was that why she had so brazenly stepped forward before everyone?
Miss Lytton made her own conjectures as she settled into the carriage. Soon, the carriage set off quietly and left the cottage entirely behind.
＊＊＊
The event ended in great success. As Sasha had caused something of an incident, she spent quite a long time dealing with Baron and Baroness Harold.
Sasha did not refuse the goodwill and consideration born of the couple’s pure sympathy, and she alternated between expressing appropriate gratitude and apology to them, properly preserving her sense of shame as well.
By the time she returned to the hall, that Miss Lytton had long since disappeared. Though Sasha found that a little unpleasant, it did not weigh on her greatly, so she immediately looked for the carriage she had taken in order to return to Erishall.
It was not that she was unworried about the reaction of the ducal couple, now that they knew her true identity, but Sasha thought that, since it had already been revealed that she was a fake, it was more important to secure her own position in her own way. The speech that was not quite a speech at the charity event had been nothing more than an act for survival.
Now that she was already married, Sasha had to continue taking root and holding out in this world for one year. The world in which Sasha had to endure was an utterly cruel one where reputation sometimes took precedence even over money. Better to be pitied than branded as impudent. For Isaac’s sake, who would immediately be pointed at along with her, that was better.
In the carriage returning to Erishall, Sasha sat quietly in the same posture, gazing out the window while fiercely envisioning what came next.
Meeting Attorney Turner was the first priority. Now that things had turned out this way, Mr. Turner would come to find her.
But what if the enraged members of the count’s family came before that? Ironically, Sasha was even more afraid of that. She was afraid that Caroline, whom she had come to rely on quite a bit without realizing it, would look at her not merely with disappointment, but with contempt.
Yes. That was all Sasha thought about. She had no inkling at all that the Duke and Duchess were searching with burning eyes for the evidence of their treason that the younger couple had spirited away, and that, in relation to it, they suspected her. Unfortunately.
It was already long after the sun had set. The carriage was entering Erishall. Soon, it would climb the hill where Dilton Manor stood.
“……Thank you, everyone, for waiting until this late hour.”
As soon as she arrived, instead of changing her clothes, Sasha sought out the servants of the mansion who had been waiting for her. They were all gathered together. Even faces she rarely saw were all there.
Sasha found herself searching among them for Theodore’s face as well, then opened her mouth and said so. Since she had already done it once during the day, the second time was not so difficult.
Sasha slowly confessed that the rumor surrounding her was true, and that she was not the true young lady, but a fake adopted by Theodore.
It was rather different in tone from what she had said to the nobles at the event. She explained with more sincerity than she had shown them, and instead of vaguely glossing things over with sentiment, she directly admitted that she was indeed a fake.
Yes. Sasha wanted to show sincerity to the servants. They were people she had treated as no more than background, let alone feeling any attachment to them, but through a certain series of events, Sasha had come to feel genuine gratitude toward them. To call it attachment would be too grand. It was by no means to that extent.
……However.
“I am sorry for having deceived you all for so long. If you say that I should have explained myself even after the Dowager Duchess passed away, I have nothing to say.”
When Sasha finished speaking, Allison, the housekeeper, who had been standing there the whole time with an unreadable expression, opened her mouth.
“No. You need not apologize for that. In the first place, it was done under the mistress’s orders. If, after she passed away, your conscience belatedly pricked you and you confessed to us, that would have been what went against the mistress’s words. From the moment people enter this place, the first thing they are harshly taught is that her instructions must be obeyed without exception above all else. ……Perhaps it was the same for you, miss.”
The maid Maud, who had been listening to Allison with an anxious expression, nodded with visible relief.
Since the housekeeper had refuted things point by point so well, the rest of the people had nothing more to say. Even if they had felt the urge to argue, the atmosphere would not allow it.
Charles the coachman scratched the bridge of his nose, then raised his hand and said,
“Rather than that, I would like to hear a clear answer regarding job security. You are not leaving this mansion just because your identity has been exposed, are you? In any case, we were hired to serve the mistress of this place.”
The butler Jason turned to him with an expression of shock at his question, which was far too worldly rather than emotional.
“Is that what matters right now?”
Charles nodded as though he had been asked the obvious.
“As long as my employment is guaranteed, that is enough for me. I am not in a position to look for a new job at once.”
Most of the servants laughed it off, but Sasha herself could not.
She could not honestly say that, from the beginning, she had merely intended to complete one year, secure the inheritance, and then leave this place to whatever fate awaited it.
As payment for the marriage, the Dowager Duchess had clearly been set to hand over not only the enormous sum of twelve thousand ond, but also this mansion to Sasha. Until then, this mansion belonged to the foundation the Dowager Duchess had established.
“That is…….”
It was just as Sasha was cautiously opening her mouth after some hesitation. A young page, who had been standing far off, unable to join the gathering of adults, pricked up his ears and looked out the window. The butler Jason followed him to the window and checked outside.
“The Captain has returned, mistress.”
“…….”
“Perhaps you should go to meet him first. You need not worry too much about us. With your explanation, everyone seems to have grasped the situation sufficiently.”
“……Will you continue calling me ‘mistress’?”
Sasha asked. The butler Jason nodded, just as Charles had earlier, as though she had asked the obvious.
“Of course. The former mistress decided it, did she not? We are merely continuing to follow her will.”
That, too, was an entirely reasonable answer to which she could think of no rebuttal.