There was something piteous about the sight. The silver wig truly made Sophie a dead ringer for Renea.

Yet her expressionless face, and frigid voice gave her an entirely different kind of presence. It hurt to see Lady Renea look so sorrowful and desolate, but the vindictiveness with which Sophie now carried herself—with such a similar visage—felt tragic in its own right.

Hers was the aloof gaze of the have-nots, her eyes gray instead of blue.

“I’m afraid I don’t, Miss Sophie.” Kylian merely shook his head. “Are you saying you’ve felt abandoned by the eum-Creid family?”

“What do you think?” Sophie turned back around to her sister in a storm, grabbing Renea’s face between her hands. “Because of you, I’ve lived my whole life like a dog!”

“W-w…what?” Renea could barely speak. “Sophie? I never meant to…”

“Of course. Of course you didn’t. You never meant to. That’s what I hated most about you.”

“Hate…?” Renea’s lip trembled. “I-I know you don’t mean that. You don’t—just drop the act, Sophie. Please…”

“You stole everything from me, Renea.”

And to the shock of everyone in the room, she spit on her.

Renea yelped. She wiped it off her face in a fluster, gagging in disgust all the while. Even in this very ‘human’ moment, she seemed concerned with the propriety of her position, taking pains to avoid using the sacred Saintess robe to dry her hands.

Sophie took advantage of the frantic moment to keep blazing onward.

“Do you think I fancy my own rottenly common brown hair? That I enjoy constantly acting as if I were a commoner?” She gave the silver wig a flamboyant flip. “I wanted to feel like a eum-Creid. To pretend for a moment I was a part of the family that spurned me.”

“Sophie…!” Renea had finally cleaned her hands and face with a knight’s proffered handkerchief. “This is crazy…!”

Kylian gently raised a hand to stop Renea. His eyes were apologetic, but for now—this was a conversation between him and Sophie.

“And Ailn eum-Creid was aware?”

“Of course he was. He was my brother too, forsaken by the same family.” Sophie said. “It was our petty revenge, and I felt thrilled stealing that pendant… and stealing her brother.”

“So, it helped you forget your humble station in life. Can I ask why you wouldn’t steal, say, the Saintess robe as well?”

“What use is there in committing sacrilege?” Sophie sounded like she was talking to a child. “To don the Saintess’s rob would have severe repercussions, unlike simply wearing a silver wig. I wore the wig in a puerile act of mockery toward my half-sister, who I hate. I have no intention of going to the noose for it.”

Renea flinched. Sophie’s nonchalant contempt toward her was evidently already upsetting her. But the moment Sophie uttered the word hate, it was clear, even from afar, that Renea’s eyes were starting to glisten.

“Can you imagine? I’m perpetually following my sister, as her maid and lesser. Only during the bestowal ceremony am I freed from her side!” Sophie closed her eyes. “When I wore the wig and looked in the mirror, it was like she’d become the maid. The memory of it still makes me laugh.”

“And do you admit to the murder of Ailn eum-Creid?”

“Not at all,” Sophie said defiantly, pulling just enough of the wig upward to reveal her ‘rotten’ brown hair. “Look at my hair. Look at my eyes. Do you truly think I inherited the divine blessing?”

Kylian stayed silent, letting her speak.

“Tell me. Does it make sense for me to act like a maid when I have holy aura? Why should I act as the Saintess for my sister, and never reap praise?” Sophie asked.

“It’s certainly odd,” Kylian admitted.

“Hence your entire case falls to pieces,” she snorted. Then she sat down, crossing her arms and legs. “It’s true. Celine eum-Creid was my mother. But I did not inherit her holy aura.”

“It’s plausible,” Kylian said thoughtfully. “But are you aware that if you had no holy aura, that would indirectly give your supposedly hated sister an alibi? Only Lady Renea would be capable of performing the bestowal ceremony, and would thence be exonerated.”

“Perhaps it does,” Sophie scowled. “However much contempt I hold for my sister, I would hardly let myself drown just to drag her with me. If it clears her of the crime, so be it. I care more for my own skin.”

“And that’s your only defense of yourself?” Kylian asked. “That you lack the divine blessing.”

“Is it not sufficient?” Sophie put on quite the ugly smile. “Go on. Prove I have it, if you can. See if you ever find an ounce of holy aura on me.”

“You swear to stealing the pendant?” Kylian asked, his eyes turning sharp. “Impersonating your sister to the washerwoman?”

“Yes! How many times do I have to tell you?” Sophie snapped. “I couldn’t believe how stupid she was, mistaking me for my sister simply because I faked silver hair.”

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

“Then…” Kylian closed his eyes and sighed, composing himself before opening them again. “It would appear, Miss Sophie, you’ve been lying this whole time.”

Sophie froze.

“...What?”

“The pendant was found in the coach of state. Not in the courtyard,” Kylian said wearily. “And… no washerwoman talked to any maid. The woman you ‘fooled’ does not exist.”

“What? No, I… I must have had a small lapse of… I mixed it up with—” Sophie stopped and started again and again with a stutter, searching for excuses. “I thought you meant… ”

Her face was completely flushed.

But Kylian paid her no mind. Instead, he turned to the knights who’d witnessed the entire debacle.

“As you can see, while I lack direct evidence of Miss Sophie’s holy aura… her contextual ignorance stands as strong circumstantial evidence that she was not in the courtyard that day,” Kylian spoke slowly and simply. “Instead, she was in the bestowal chamber—as she had switched places with Lady Renea.”

“I’m telling you, I was with Ailn!” Sophie cried out. Desperation was edging into her voice. “Not Renea! I was lying because… because…”

But no matter how long Kylian waited, she couldn’t furnish an explanation. And finally, Renea beside her, put both of her hands softly upon Sophie’s.

“Sophie, let’s stop this.” Renea smiled weakly at the sister who moments ago had just spit on her. “Thank you… for trying to protect me.”

Seeing Renea’s face, Sophie froze. It seemed that only now had she realized how much Renea was hurt by what she’d just done—even if it was an act.

Sophie’s eyes started to blur.

She felt so guilty she couldn’t even look at her sister, and she hung her head in shame, her tears quietly dripping down onto the abbey floor.

“Sir Kylian,” Renea turned toward him with tired, empty eyes. “I was the one with Ailn. I was the maid.”

----------------------------------------

“She sure tried to sell that one,” Ailn muttered to himself. “...And Kylian really is a sneaky bastard.”

For such an honest and forthright knight, Kylian seemed to like his ambushes. It was a bit scary.

The inquisition was going poorly, just like the inquest. Despite the knights sitting on both sides of him, he’d almost stepped in a few times. But once Sophie started her little theater act, the situation just became too unpredictable—especially since he’d been unfairly written into her script.

If he had any criticism, he felt that was a bit of an oversight on her part.

For a girl who allegedly wanted to steal her half-sister’s place, and her family, and her brother, Sophie sure didn’t seem to actually care about that brother.

He’d expected her to at least try and fake an angry and passionate look in his direction, but it was clear that Ailn eum-Creid just didn’t have much gravity in Sophie’s world.

Really, he’d been almost invisible the whole day. He was reaping the consequences of his own behavior. He was the ‘victim’ in name only, and he didn’t have a personal stake—and he acted like it. Over the two days prior to the inquisition, he behaved as if someone else had died.

Now, to everyone involved, the 'victim' of the case had become nothing more than an abstraction.

Renea knew he wasn’t the same Ailn as the one who died. Kylian had lost all sense of him as a victim, because they’d been investigating the crime as fellow detectives.

And then knights just plain didn’t like him. In fact, two of them were at his side right now, intent on preventing his participation.

At the front of the abbey, meanwhile, Renea was dazedly looking around, hardly able to focus on Kylian.

“What say you in defense of yourself, Your Grace, Lady Renea?” Kylian asked.

“...I don’t know. Give me a moment to think,” Renea mumbled. “I don’t even know what’s going on anymore.”

Sophie was next to Renea, holding her hand in support. Gone was the fiery maid from just a few minutes ago, replaced by a timid, shaking lady-in-waiting who couldn’t seem to bring herself to speak.

Just when she opened her mouth, Renea communicated with her eyes and a small shake of her head, and Sophie choked her words back down. One of her legs was restlessly shaking.

“Tell us what happened, in your own words. You admitted to being the maid,” Kylian said gently. “If you’re innocent, then you must have seen what happened.”

Renea scrunched her face, clearly remembering something unpleasant. And yet her reaction seemed muted.

“He was on the ground when I got there.” Renea’s tone was cold. “That’s the truth.”

“When you arrived at the courtyard?” Kylian asked.

“Yes.”

“When would that have been?”

“The ceremony would’ve just started. I don’t know for sure. I was in the passageway,” Renea said.

“Can you tell me why you switched places with your sister?” Kylian asked.

“No.”

Kylian was at least a little taken aback by her terse response. She didn’t even take a moment to think it over. Why wouldn’t she just explain herself?

“Is it an issue related to the security of the castle? Or Varant? If it is, then we can find a way to bridge the gap,” Kylian tried to reason with her.

“It has nothing to do with any of that,” Renea said listlessly. “I don’t want to talk.”

“Lady Renea, this inquisition is trying you for murder. Do you really have no desire to exonerate yourself?”

But she said nothing, and Kylian turned toward Sophie who averted her eyes.

“She wanted to spend time with her brother, Sir Kylian. That’s all,” Sophie said.

“...Is that so?” Kylian asked. “How often have the two of you switched places?”

This question, however, Sophie did not answer. Letting her gaze drift away, she kept silent.

Kylian sighed.

“Then let’s get back to the central point. Renea, you said when you arrived, your brother had already been attacked. And you believed him to be dead.”

“No.”

“...What?” Kylian’s eyes narrowed. “You certainly testified to that earlier.”

“I never said I thought my brother was dead,” Renea said. “When I arrived, he was still barely alive.”

“What?” Kylian was confused by what he’d just heard. “Am I… Am I understanding you correctly?”

“Yes. I knew my brother wasn’t dead when I got there. He was on the verge of dying,” Renea said.

“You mean that… you were certain your brother was in a state he still could’ve been healed,” Kylian spoke slowly and emphatically, making sure she understood the implications of what she was saying.

“... Yes. Ailn still could’ve been healed,” Renea said.

“Then why didn’t you heal him?” Kylian was aghast.

“Why?” Renea gave a derisive smile and a small tilt of her head. “Who knows?”

‘Accidentally’ slamming his elbow into the chin of the knight who was trying to keep tabs on him, Ailn stood up in a hurry.