CH 96

“That’s right, everyone in the kingdom wouldn’t know that.”

“And the Countess wanted to make contact with her counterpart of nobles secretly so that no one would suspect it.”

Charlotte bit her lips with a faint expression.

“Perhaps that’s why the Countess chose me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Because I have such a bad relationship with the Countess, that’s why no one will suspect the collusion between me and the Countess.”

[T/N: …..]

At first glance, it sounded plausible.

The reporter who casually nodded his head asked again.

“Then why did Lady Jason help the Countess of Brierton?”

“That’s…”

She hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth as if she had made up her mind.

“In exchange for me helping the Countess, the Countess promised to help me through my difficult life.”

[T/N: haa…my BP]

“The Countess of Brierton made that promise?”

“Yes. Furthermore… She also said that she would help repair my ruined social reputation.”

[T/N: (ノ｀Д´)ノ彡┻━┻]

Charlotte lowered her moist eyes.

Her lashes fluttered like butterflies.

The reporter, who had been looking at Charlotte with pity, proceeded to interview her again.

“Then what evidence is there that the Countess of Brierton took a bribe or bribed people?”

“I have a gift document. In that document……”

As if her heart was rising, Charlotte closed her eyes for a while and managed her emotions.

After a moment,

Her little voice rang out as if it would go out at any moment.

She said, “The Countess of Brierton personally signed it.”

“Is that really?!”

The reporter’s duty was to be cool, but sadly the reporter interviewing Charlotte failed to do so.

The startled reporter raised his eyes wide.

“So, you mean there is physical evidence?”

“Yes. With her signature.”

Charlotte nodded her head forcefully.

After that, she broke down and gave up her words.

“It is true, of course, that I was involved in a bribe deal and that I helped the Countess of Brierton.”

“Oh my God, Lady Jason.”

“However, the reason why I confess my sins like this, albeit late….”

On her white cheeks, once again, beads of tears overflowed.

Charlotte buried her face in her handkerchief and sobbed.

“It is true that I do feel remorse but the most defining emotion that brought me here was fear.”

“Fear?”

“Yes. I was so anxious and scared that the Countess would try to silence me about this deal……!”

Charlotte couldn’t keep up with her words until the end, and her shoulders trembled faintly.

“I thought that if I committed a crime, I should be punished properly, so I came here shamelessly……”

However, if he thought about it a little, he could see that Charlotte’s words were strange.

Aside from the fact that Ines and Charlotte were fierce enemies, Ines was the head of one of the most prestigious families in Lancaster.

Even if it wasn’t Charlotte, she already had a lot of people she could command, so she had no reason to coax Charlotte to her side to take this risk.

Besides, it was common sense not to leave evidence when a bribe came and went.

Alternatively, there were cases when a contract was drawn to keep the secret.

However, the evidence that came out this time was a gift certificate with Ines’ signature.

To be honest, unless Ines was an idiot, there was no way she would personally sign the gift certificate proving her crimes……

“My God, how painful the lady must have been under the pressure of the Countess of Brierton!”

“To be honest, how could a low-ranking aristocrat as low as Lady Jason stand up against the Countess of Brierton?”

Things were taking a weird turn.

Even the process of Ines’ previous divorce had been subtly questioned by more and more people.

In addition, the Royal Art Association,  which was hostile to Ines and some aristocrats, who had looked down on her actions that Ines had shown so far, also supported her.

In particular, some people fluttered like fish in water.

The nobles, who were secretly dissatisfied with Ines but were unable to express it, openly supported Charlotte.

“There are rumors that the reason why Lady Jason had an inappropriate relationship with young master Gott was only because the young master put pressure on her.”

“Then didn’t the Countess of Brierton catch the affair in person?”

“I wonder if she took her anger out on the weak Lady Jason…..”

“Well, who knows what the truth is……If you think of the tough look the Countess has shown so far, there is a good chance.”

People who knew Charlotte in real life didn’t even listen to it, saying it was nonsense.

However, since it was such an interesting incident, the public’s attention was immediately drawn to Charlotte.

Above all, it was very stimulating to see a beautiful woman as bright as a rose complaining while shedding her tears.

It was a natural course for public opinion to become so fierce.

“Can we really just let the Countess of Brierton build the school?”

“How do you know if the purpose of establishing a school is pure?”

“That’s right, school is just a pretext, maybe to defraud improper advantages like that!”

People raised their voices.

Besides, the situation was unfavorable.

What Ines was trying to establish was a ‘school for teaching children’, and the banner she raised was also ‘I will try to teach children without discrimination’.

“School is where children study, so can we just let such a controversial person set up a school?”

“In order to protect the children, wouldn’t it be better to postpone the establishment of the school until the troubles are resolved?”

“It would be a big deal if the children were affected by the Countess of Brierton’s bad deeds.”

People pretended to be for the sake of the children and uttered slanderous words about Ines.

Meanwhile, Ines, of course, insisted that the gift certificate was a fake.

Not surprisingly, Ines had never actually signed the paperwork.

Since she left for Kaldorov and returned, Ines had been very busy with the school problems.

Even Enoch, who had just become her lover, couldn’t see her much.

Ines was deeply shocked when she saw the gift certificate that Charlotte had shown as evidence.

“Oh my God, how could it be……”

She had a reason why Charlotte was so confident.

It was because the signature on the gift certificate was indeed the same as Ines’s.

‘It was so similar that I even doubted, ‘Did I really sign that document?’

Even to reveal the truth, several signature judges came and tried to identify the signature……

“The Countess of Brierton’s signature is right.”

In fact, the decision was unavoidable.

It was such an elaborate signature that even Ines was confused.

And just like that, the confusion surrounding Ines continued to deepen.

It’s as if the riddle won’t be solved unless someone is singled out and destroyed.

[T/N: phew..I didn’t smash anything, thank God]

* * *

Inside the dark studio.

Ines stood idly by, staring blankly at the numerous paintings she had drawn.

Among them, there was not a single finished work as she moved on to the latest work.

‘…… I can’t draw.’

Ines looked at her hands with trembling eyes.

Ever since Charlotte’s fake revelations in the yellow press, Ines hadn’t even held a pencil, let alone a paintbrush.

She actually knew in her head that Charlotte was trying to destroy her. But the truth would reveal one day.

But there was no time to be in such leisurely despair.

However, the only thing Ines was able to respond to in such an urgent situation was to use an agent to announce that the signature on the certificate was false.

That was possible thanks to Enoch going out of his way to help her.

‘I have to move but I can’t.’

The lethargy that made it difficult for her to even lift a finger gripped Ines.

She felt like she was driven to a dead end.

‘I…..Had I been doing the wrong thing all this time?’

It was confusing.

She felt like everything she had ever done was being denied.

She thought it was the right thing to do, so she tried to proceed even with her family’s own money.

But there were so many people who were hostile to Ines and tried to interfere with her work.

In front of that gigantic malice that somehow tried to suppress Ines, she felt immensely helpless.

[T/N: ish gon’ be okay]