Chapter 115: Beneath the Glassy Pond

Chapter 115: Chapter 115: Beneath the Glassy Pond

Reeve glanced towards Deborah.

"You believe in such things too, Lady Deborah?"

Deborah’s smile looked slightly forced.

"Yes..."

Elysia studied her for a moment before giving a small, helpless sigh.

"Since Lady Deborah is so determined for me to see it, I suppose I can hardly refuse. Let us go."

Something about her response unsettled Deborah.

She couldn’t quite explain why.

But it hardly mattered. Elysia was willing to go, and that was all she needed.

"Good."

Deborah cast a brief glance at Reeve.

For an instant, she had worried he might follow them. Fortunately, he remained where he was.

Excellent.

He wouldn’t interfere.

The pond’s edge was already packed with people. Nobles leaned forward, peering eagerly into the clear water as they searched for the elusive Moonveil Carp.

"Can you see it, Your Grace?"

Deborah guided Elysia closer, one careful step at a time.

Elysia allowed herself to be led.

Three.

Two.

One.

A faint movement stirred behind her.

She recognised the sound immediately—the whisper of fabric, followed by the shift of someone preparing to lunge.

Elysia moved, slipping neatly to the side.

"Ah—!"

A startled cry rang out.

A heartbeat later, there was a tremendous splash.

The crowd gasped.

Elysia looked down.

Deborah was thrashing helplessly in the pond.

For a moment, the scene seemed almost absurdly familiar.

In her previous life, it had been Elysia who had gone over that very edge. She remembered looking up through the water to find Deborah standing safely on the bank.

"Someone fell in! Help!"

The words had sounded concerned.

Her expression had not.

There had been unmistakable satisfaction gleaming in her eyes.

Elysia had suspected Deborah from that day onwards.

Later, after Deborah had entered the Crown Prince’s residence, Elysia had confronted her directly.

Deborah hadn’t even denied it.

I pushed you.

She had said it without remorse.

But shouldn’t you thank me? If I hadn’t pushed you, you would never have discovered how little the Crown Prince truly cared for you. You were in such a pitiful state, and he didn’t feel even the slightest bit of pity.

Elysia had carried those words for years.

Now she found herself wondering something else.

Would Deborah look just as miserable in the water?

And when Vaelen arrived, would he finally show her the concern he had never shown Elysia?

"Someone’s fallen in!"

"Help her!"

"Get her out!"

The commotion spread through the gathering.

The Moonveil Carp was forgotten entirely.

Vaelen had been inside the main hall, speaking with the Duke of Merlinspire and several other senior officials, when a servant came hurrying through the doors.

"Your Grace! Someone has fallen into the pond!"

The words struck Vaelen strangely.

An image surfaced in his mind without warning.

Elysia.

Soaked and terrified, struggling helplessly in the water.

His chair scraped sharply against the floor as he rose.

"Is it Elysia?"

The servant blinked.

"No, Your Highness. It’s Lady Deborah."

Vaelen stared at him.

"Deborah?"

How could it be her?

Only then did he realise that several people around the table were watching him.

The Duke of Merlinspire maintained a respectful expression, but there was something unreadable in his eyes.

Vaelen’s face tightened.

He sat down again, though the stiffness in his movements betrayed his embarrassment.

The Duke cleared his throat.

"Lady Deborah’s accident is certainly serious. Your Highness, perhaps we should go and see if she requires assistance."

Vaelen gave a curt nod.

"Very well."

He rose once more.

As they made their way towards the pond, the uneasy sensation remained.

No one had said anything improper.

Yet he couldn’t shake the impression that the people around him were suppressing amusement.

The thought irritated him further.

By the time Vaelen reached the pond, Reeve had already dragged Deborah from the water.

She could not swim.

Now drenched from head to toe, she knelt on the bank, coughing violently as water dripped from her tangled hair and soaked clothes.

A crowd had gathered around her.

Some looked genuinely concerned.

Others were plainly curious to see how the drama would unfold.

Humiliation burned through Deborah.

Then she looked up.

Elysia stood a short distance away, perfectly composed.

Their eyes met.

Deborah’s face twisted with fury.

"It was you!"

She pointed a trembling finger at Elysia.

"You pushed me!"

The accusation sent every nearby gaze towards the Duchess.

Elysia’s expression remained remarkably innocent.

She almost had to admire Deborah’s nerve.

In her previous life, Elysia had been pulled from the pond and left shivering on the bank. She had known someone had pushed her, but she had never been certain who. So she chose to refrain from pointing fingers without proof.

Deborah, however, had apparently learnt nothing from her previous success.

She had simply chosen to repeat the same trap.

Only this time, she was the one who had fallen.

Evren stepped forward.

His brows drew together.

"Lady Deborah, that is a serious accusation. What makes you certain Her Grace pushed you?"

"She was the only person beside me!"

Deborah’s voice was sharp with indignation.

"Who else could it have been?"

A murmur passed through the crowd.

"I did see the two of them walk towards the water together."

"Could the Duchess really have pushed her?"

"Perhaps she was jealous..."

The final words were quickly swallowed, but everyone understood the implication.

Caelvyr’s noble circles knew perfectly well about Elysia’s childhood attachment to Vaelen—and how that attachment had ended with one woman marrying the Duke of Draevenor while the other was preparing to become Crown Princess.

The idea that Elysia might still harbour resentment was hardly difficult for people to believe.

Deborah heard the whispers.

Her confidence returned.

She lifted her tear-filled eyes towards Elysia and softened her voice.

"Your Grace..."

She sounded wounded now rather than furious.

"I know you dislike me. You’ve reprimanded me, humiliated me, even used your position to punish me. I’ve endured all of it."

Her voice trembled.

"But how could you be so cruel as to try to take my life?"

She pressed a hand against her chest.

"You knew perfectly well that I cannot swim. If no one had come to save me, I would have drowned."