The Reason Why the Forsaken Fake Returned Chapter 116

Anne was in the kitchen, helping out with little chores by trimming and prepping ingredients, when a coworker passing by sidled up to her, acting chummy.

 

“Something good has happened lately, Anne? You look all bright, even humming to yourself.”

 

“Not really. I guess I’m just in a good mood because the weather’s nice.” Anne shrugged and went on peeling potatoes. The more care she took with the knife, the more the potatoes shed their brown skins, revealing smooth, white flesh beneath. All at once, Anne thought the potato was a lot like herself. She might look grubby and shabby and not worth a second glance right now, but someday her true self would show through.

 

When Anne tossed off a vague answer and focused on her work again, her coworker narrowed her eyes and quietly slipped into the seat beside her. “Come on, at least give me a hint. We’re the only ones here the same age, aren’t we?”

 

“So what are you so curious about? What exactly do you want to hear?” At the persistent nagging, Anne finally set down the paring knife and turned her head.

 

Her coworker, her face alight with curiosity, bombarded her with questions. “You know, the lady you serve. I heard it’s Sasha Griche. Is that true? I thought she’d sided with Prince Albert.”

 

“…Where did you hear that?” Anne’s composed face froze in an instant.

 

Her coworker just shrugged, answering like it was no big deal. “You didn’t know? There’s no such thing as a perfect secret. They say there’s a proverb in some nation that goes like this: at night the rats listen, and by day the birds do.”

 

“…”

 

Anne’s expression hardened. She whipped her head back around and threw herself into her work again. At her prim, closed-off manner, the coworker stuck out her lower lip.

 

“Don’t act so high and mighty. The reason you’ve been floating around on air lately is because Sasha Griche, isn’t it? Is it true she’s still His Majesty’s mistress? Even after he purged Prince Albert like that, they say the king still couldn’t forget her and had her locked away.”

 

The villainess of the century. And the king who loved her so desperately. That was how the world saw ‘Sasha Griche’ and ‘Caleb Alexander Lancaster’. Gypsies were already putting on plays with the two of them as the leads and raking in coins from all over, and the newspapers were spewing out new theories and rumors practically every day. By now, one would expect the royal castle to crack down on it. But the fact that the king himself, the man at the center of it all, kept his silence only made the rumors seem that much more believable.

 

But more than anything, the decisive factor was Sasha Griche’s disappearance. Right before Prince Albert and his mother, Queen Ingrid, were driven to the brink, Sasha vanished without a trace. Everyone in the kingdom was on edge, straining to catch any hint of where she’d gone.

 

“If I’m right, Sasha Griche will probably end up as a favored mistress, don’t you think? His Majesty hasn’t announced a royal marriage yet, so at the very least she’ll be the real power in the royal castle for a while… If someone became her maid, wouldn’t even a mere nobody like us get a chance at something?”

 

Whether she took Anne’s silence as agreement or whether an answer had never really mattered to her in the first place, the coworker let her imagination run wilder and wilder.

 

In the end, Anne, who was finding it harder and harder to listen, shot to her feet. “Quit spouting baseless nonsense. The lady I serve is just a distinguished guest from abroad.”

 

“Really…?”

 

“Really. If you’re that curious, go see for yourself.” At the doubtful look in her coworker’s eyes, Anne frowned and planted both hands on her hips. Her attitude clearly said, “Go ahead and try,” and the coworker scratched the back of her head and sighed in complaint.

 

“Knew it. So much for my chance to move up in the world.”

 

“I answered you, so you can peel the rest of the potatoes.”

 

“Hey, that’s not— Hey!” Her coworker’s eyes went wide at the outrageous declaration, and she was left speechless. While she was still gaping, Anne spun around and slipped out of the kitchen.

 

“What a relief…”

 

After a quick glance around to make sure no one was there, Anne hurriedly pressed a hand over her left breast. Her heart was pounding. Thank god they’d been alone in the basement kitchen. If anyone had happened to walk by and overhear their conversation, they wouldn’t have let it slide.

 

The place Anne had come to work in was strange. At first glance it looked like something out of a fairy tale, a beautiful villa. But once inside, it was filled with an uncanny silence. Whether there had never been any other houses nearby, or whether they’d all been cleared away when this villa was built, there wasn’t a single dwelling anywhere the eye could reach, all the way to the horizon. Not even the little shacks fishermen used, or a pier where they could tie up their boats.

 

Men with guns and swords at their hips guarded the villa inside and out, except when they changed shifts. They didn’t so much as exchange a bit of small talk. On top of that, they stood rooted to their assigned spots like statues. Just looking at them was enough to make her chest tighten with the oppressive air.

 

“Rather than a secret vacation villa… it feels like a luxurious prison.” Stepping up to the window and looking down at the emerald sea breaking into white foam, Anne muttered without thinking. Then she shook her head. “What am I even saying? What if someone heard me?”

 

The person she served really was Sasha Griche, but that was a secret she couldn’t tell a soul, just like the fact that the other person staying here was the king of this kingdom. Keeping her mouth shut with that coworker who’d been so dogged about digging for information had been for her own sake, but it had been for Sasha’s sake too. She had to keep her mouth shut and act as if she had no eyes and no ears.

 

There was no need to know everything her betters were doing. That was the greatest truth Anne had learned working as a maid. All the more so when, before long, a reward she’d never have dared to dream of was about to fall into her lap.

 

* * *

“Milady, I’m coming in.”

 

“Perfect timing, Anne.” At the double knock, Shailoh answered in a gentle voice.

 

Anne, who had brought up a light snack after lunch, walked over to the couch where Shailoh was sitting and set the tray down on the table. “What have you been doing, Milady?”

 

“I was doing a bit of embroidery to pass the time.” Shailoh showed her what she’d been holding, then set it aside.

 

Anne stole a quick glance at the piece Shailoh had been working on and ventured a comment. “Marigolds, aren’t they? Are you going to give it to His Majesty?”

 

“To His Majesty?” Shailoh repeated the question, her face going blank with surprise.

 

Anne tilted her head. “Well… marigolds mean ‘the happiness that’s sure to come,’ don’t they? Weren’t you planning to give it to His Majesty?”

 

The moment the flower’s meaning slipped from Anne’s lips, Shailoh’s mouth curved in a cynical smile and she shook her head. “No. I was just making it for my own use.”

 

“Ah…”

 

“Anyway.”

 

While Anne scratched the back of her head in embarrassment, Shailoh suddenly rose to her feet. She went over to the windows and drew every curtain closed. Anne’s eyes went wide as she tracked Shailoh’s movements, baffled by what she was doing.

 

“Mi…lady?”

 

Only once the room had gone completely dark, like the inside of a cave, did Shailoh seem to relax. She turned back around. “You sent the letter safely, right?”

 

“Of course.” Anne nodded and answered with confidence. “It went out without a hitch.”

 

“Anyone tail you?”

 

“No one.”

 

“You didn’t sneak out on your own, did you?”

 

“Of course not. Milady said if I did that, they’d definitely put someone to tail me. I said I wanted to go buy ingredients myself for baking bread and made an excuse about going to the market nearby. The guards didn’t question it, at least not that far.”

 

“Thank goodness…” Murmuring almost to herself, Shailoh let out a breath and pressed a hand to her chest. “Thank you, Anne. I’ll give you the generous reward I promised.”

 

“Just being called here is an honor for me, Milady.” That was what she said, but Anne’s face was flushed with anticipation.

 

Smiling at her rosy cheeks, Shailoh sat back down on the couch. “Now all that’s left is to wait.”

 

As Shailoh picked up the round embroidery hoop again, Anne suddenly spoke up. “If it’s not rude… may I ask what the letter was about?”

 

“…”

 

The next instant, goosebumps prickled along Anne’s skin. The faint smile had vanished completely from Shailoh’s face as she looked straight at her.

 

“That… I know the letter Milady sent has to stay completely secret. What I want to know is about the other letter you didn’t send.”

 

“Ah.” As soon as Anne finished, Shailoh’s expression softened, as if she’d never gone cold at all, and a light smile returned to her lips. “It’s nothing special. It’s just something I scribbled down however I felt, like a diary.”

 

“A… diary?”

 

“Yes. But a diary I want someone to read. It has a recipient.”

 

“Ah…”

 

Her matter-of-fact answer didn’t completely clear things up, but Anne nodded anyway. She wanted to ask more, but when Shailoh started stitching again, she had no choice but to close her mouth. Only much later would Anne regret not pressing her further about that letter. Because what that letter set in motion was enormous.

 

Sasha Griche escaped from her splendid prison three days later.