"To weaken your father's position, they'd go ahead and kill Vivia? Just a random woman out of nowhere?" Audreya scoffed.
"No. There must be some motive behind killing Vivia. Of all the people in Emberlain, only she was targeted? That too, after sabotaging your dance performance? This is too well-planned out. We need to find out the truth."
Her eyes squinted. "Are you asking me to trust a murderer?"
"I'm asking you to give me a chance to prove myself innocent. You're basing your assumptions on the brown coat you saw but then again, any other woman could've been wearing it too, don't you think?"
"How easy is it for strangers to break into a princess's chamber and steal her coat? Before you spout some other nonsense, I'll be clear that I wasn't mistaken. It wasn't some fake coat."
A jolt of pain passed through Vivia's head as a distant memory came knocking. In that memory, a sickly and feverish Clairette was resting in her chamber when a vague shadow infiltrated the room. It stood somewhere farther away as if rummaging through something, but she had lacked the strength to even move her lips.
"...Someone indeed stole her coat."
"Her?"
Vivia stiffened, realizing her error. "I mean my coat. Someone stole my coat."
"How foolish do you think I am?" Audreya applauded her shamelessness.
The fruitlessness to convince her was as blatant as it could get. "You're not foolish, which is why I'm asking you for a chance. You're falling for a misunderstanding, which the real culprit wants you to fall for. And I need your help to clear that fog."
She chose silence as her answer.
"You said that someone named Raffert from your entertainment group lives here in Orseth and has married the Grisbane family's daughter."
Raffert's mention seeped a frost in her eyes. "So?"
Vivia smiled. "I've received a tea party invitation from the Grisbane family. You assume that this man is involved in your friend's death, so we can take this chance to dig the truth from him."
"We?"
"Yes, we. You'll be at the tea party as well."
After a long, blank stare, a hearty but mocking laughter escaped her lips. "A prisoner within the walls will be attending the tea party?"
"I'll handle that part. But what I want from you is cooperation."
Her cold intensity returned. "Why should I help you? For all I know, you're just trying to find some scapegoat to protect yourself. I won't fall for any tricks! You suspiciously stalked Vivia and watched her performances with some evil agenda in your vile heart, and you want me to trust you?"
Vivia couldn't find the right words to break her tall wall of doubts and distrust despite her reassurances. A stifling heat filled her chest, moistening her brows with sweat. In the next moment, to Audreya's surprise, she noticed the desperation in her emerald eyes fade into a strange sense of certainty, as if her entire demeanor had taken a flip.
"I never watched Vivia with ill-intentions. I merely happened to stumble upon her performance one day and I…" her voice softened to a whisper, "was mesmerized by her dance. I felt a sense of calm and peace I had never felt before. I was envious of her freedom. I couldn't help but keep visiting because her stage had become my only place of solace."
She looked at Audreya, the emerald shining as pure as a white pearl. "I didn't kill Vivia. I've always admired her strength and resilience. She's the last person I'd ever want to hurt. That's why I urge you to help me. Please…I'm just as desperate to bring justice to Vivia as you are."
Audreya peered into her glassy gaze in silence, her thoughts only known to her.
"...What do you want me to do?"
"Do what?"
A man's stiff voice from behind interrupted their conversation, stirring Vivia from her daze. It took her a moment to orient herself, and recognition soon hit her.
Aeren…? What the hell is Aeren doing here!
He stood facing Vivia, his hands behind his back, alternating his narrowed gaze between her and Audreya.
"You shouldn't be here," he crisply stated.
"Why can I not be here?"
"A dark place filled with criminals is not a place for a princess to visit."
"Is it because I'm a woman or do you think I'm too weak to handle this sight?"
"Both. You should be the last person visiting the perpetrator who tried to kill you twice."
She smiled. "First of all, I believe I should be the first person to meet her. I've every right because my life is involved, and I need answers."
The piercing light in his irises only further deepened.
"Secondly, it's not the second time that she has attempted to kill me. Nothing is proved against her regarding the attack on me in the Realm of Harmony."
"Why do you think she couldn't have done the first one? Aren't you a little…too trusting of your culprit?" A cold glint flashed past his features.
"I'm not too trusting. It's logical. I was only accompanied by Erissa and Sir Benjamin at the market. Maybe she thought she could subdue one man. But I was guarded by many able knights in the forest, which she cannot take on single-handedly."
"Which is why we need to know her accomplices."
"And that's not a problem for me, except that perhaps brother Aer is too trusting of the hostile forces. The Langron's duke family has been stirring problems for us for a long time, yet I don't see any investigation against them. I just think that if we conveniently pin everything upon this woman, then the real culprits will still be at loose, and…I might not survive a third attempt. Good fortune can only bring me so far."
A heavy silence draped the air as Aeren's severe gaze fell upon Audreya next, who held a complicated and slightly puzzled look in her eyes.
"You seem to be a masterful manipulator too besides being a lethal assassin."
Audreya's attention snapped towards him, a glimmer of peril in her eyes. "Coming that from royalty is distasteful," she jeered.
"That attitude is not going to help you live."
"Does it matter? Isn't my capital punishment already decided?"
"It certainly can help reduce your sentence if you cooperate."
She chuckled. "I'm not looking for a pardon. I'm looking for justice."
"My sister didn't kill your friend."
"Oh, so you now finally believe in Vivia's existence."
"Clairette didn't kill her."
"Your Highness, things will be a lot easier if you shed the blindfold of assumption that nobles don't commit crimes."
Aeren stared at her in silence.
"If your sister didn't kill her, then who did? Because the killer was certainly a noble. But you want to shut the case on some rebel commoners. There must be many mirrors in the palace, doesn't it? If you get the time, stand in front of one, and take a good look at what you represent - at what royalty represents."
Despite her rigid hostility, not a single crack formed in his countenance. "I want answers from you next time. For now, you should eat."
He then glanced at Vivia. "Come with me. We've to welcome a guest."
Guest? She blinked.
Vivia eyed Audreya once and followed Aeren outside. Audreya watched them leave. Left alone in the familiar darkness and cold, she released a weak sigh and tiredly leaned against the wall, her thoughts trailing back to a certain moment.
That ring on her finger…Why was it faintly glowing just a while ago?