?

　　Cassian’s expression switched into one of confusion. He looked at me for a moment, trying to figure out if I was lying or teasing him but I did not show any signs of that.

　　“Sister?” Aiden called out in concern. I thought I had spoken to Cassian in a low voice but I suppose the silence in the room when I entered was enough to make them hear me as well.

　　“What’s going on?” Isaiah asked. Anne, who followed me inside was panicking, unsure what to say to calm everyone down.

　　“Answer me.” I told Cassian in a hushed tone, too annoyed to think about anything or anyone else.

　　“Do you really think I would do something like that?” he answered my question with another question. If I didn’t know any better, I would have brushed this off and come to my senses. Maybe I was overreacting from a minor rumour but knowing Cassian to be manipulative, I could not help but to think that he was trying to change the topic.

　　“It’s a simple yes or no question, Cassian.” I hissed.

　　“Ah, it would seem that everyone is here. How convenient.” A voice I knew too well spoke in an irritable tone. I turned to look over at her, Lady Marie, Elina and Lilian graced us with their presences.

　　Isaiah then let out a frustrated sigh. “What the heck did you do Cassian?” he asked.

　　“I can easily answer that for you, Lord Isaiah. It would seem that the Duke had a secret affair with my daughter last night.” Lady Marie said and for a moment it was hard to pinpoint whether she was bragging and condemning about the situation.

　　“This is—” Cassian started but Isaiah let out a howling laugh.

　　“I always knew you were a dog but to stoop so low as to bed your own wife’s sister? Now, now, Duke, your title of promiscuity is truly disturbing at this point.”

　　“Lord Isaiah.” Aiden warned, wanting him to be silent so we could hear Cassian’s point.

　　Cassian sighed. “I do not have a reason to bed your sisters. You of all people should know this.” He said directly to me.

　　“H-How could you say something like that when we were so…passionate last night?” Elina called out, sounding as though her heart was just torn in two. “Did you forget that you promised to tell the truth about our undying love?”

　　Cassian looked at her in disbelief. He then forced himself to smile. “Surely, the young princess is delusional.”

　　“How dare you! You defile my daughter and claim she is delusional.” Lady Marie fumed as Elina started to sob. Lilian was by her side immediately, comforting her. But I knew that Elina was merely faking her tears. I’ve seen her do this many times before when we were children.

　　“Defile? She is blatantly lying.” Cassian said.

　　“It is you who is lying. There were many eyewitnesses who saw you enter her room! As a mother, I demand that you take responsibility for your actions.” Lady Marie demanded.

　　“Enough!” I snapped, causing everyone to look at me. “I would like to speak to my husband privately.”

　　“He is a cheater, Cordelia! His words mean nothing.” Lady Marie tried to persuade me but now that I was calmer than before, I wanted to hear his side of the story and judge for myself. I allowed my emotions to get the better of me, but not anymore.

　　“Cassian, please follow me.” I said softly to him as I headed to the door, passing Lady Marie and her children.

　　“Surely you do not believe them, Cordelia.” Cassian said when we were a good distance away from the room. I twirled around to look at him.

　　“You are not making this easier on me when all you are doing is questioning whether I believe them or not. Speak your truth.”

　　“I was not even in the palace last night!” he said, his perfectly composed persona slowly crumbling before my very eyes.

　　“You did not return at all? When I woke up in your room, you were not back yet. But you were already in the common room with the others, how do you think that makes you look?”

　　“I returned later than I was supposed to because of our agreement.”

　　“Agreement?” I echoed, only to remember that he had agreed to help me investigate my father’s death. “But even so, you expect me to believe that you just miraculously arrived back at the palace just in time for you to get dressed and meet the others at the common room?”

　　He sighed. “I arrived back the moment you left my room. I saw you walking away.”

　　“And you did not think of calling out to me?”

　　“I did not want to bother you.”

　　I let out a mocking laugh. “That’s a first.” I uttered under my breath. “This is truly difficult for me to trust your words, Cassian. All I asked of you was to stay loyal to me until after my coronation and you presumably cheat on me with my own sister?” I snapped, the frustration building up again as he was making less sense every time he opened his mouth.

　　Cassian was about to say something but we heard distant voices getting closer. He clicked his tongue in annoyance before reaching out to grab my wrist and leading me away from the area.

　　“H-Hey!” I protested but he did not care one bit as he dragged me along towards the gardens. It was getting harder to breathe as we rushed away from the public eye and I was starting to regret wearing a corset today. The lack of air and the lack of a proper meal was making it hard for me to keep up with Cassian. “Let go of me.” I told him, hoping that he would give me some time to catch my breath.

　　“We need to get to somewhere no one can hear us.” he said, not bothering to even look back at me.

　　We went through the gardens and headed towards the lake, where Lady Marie’s extravagant gondola was in view. Cassian and I both noticed it at the same time and I just knew at that moment what he was planning to do. Before I could tell him no, he dragged me towards the gondola and particularly carried me to put me on it. the boat swayed and desperately clung onto the nearest sturdy thing, which was Cassian himself.

　　“Sit.” He told me and I did before the swaying of the boat made me even more nauseous. I then watched as Cassian rowed the gondola away until we were free floating in the middle of the lake. “Now that we have some peace and quiet—”

　　“We could’ve just gone to my room if you wanted to speak privately! Why are we even on this boat?!” I complained, hating the fact that we came all this way especially as I could not calm my breathing at all. My lungs were burning and the squeeze of the corset was making it hard for me to focus on anything else.

　　“That doesn’t matter! What matters right now is that you listen to what I have to say. I never slept with Elina.”

　　“Then why are they claiming you did? Why did the other maids say they saw you.”

　　“Isn’t it obvious, it’s because they know you and I were not together last night. They are trying to start this nasty rumour to cause tension between us. The maids who said they saw me with Elina probably work for Lady Marie after all. They would lie to please their mistress.”

　　I clenched onto the skirt of my dress as I carefully listened to his explanation. This made complete sense and also clarified my fear that Lady Marie has spies to watch my every move. If I were to question Cassian’s relation with Elina, that would only solidify the fact that I was not with him last night. If I were to go against Cassian, I would be falling right into Lady Marie’s trap.

　　“Cordelia?” he called out to me when I was being silent for too long.

　　“Can I really trust you…Cassian?” I asked.

　　“I suppose that is asking a lot from you but I assure you that you can trust me more than you can trust the words of Lady Marie and your half siblings.”

　　At that point, I was completely frustrated with myself. I let the words of others sway me, I got emotional just thinking about Cassian betraying me to the point where everything that came out of his mouth I deemed was lies.

　　“This is the truth of what happened when I returned. I saw you leaving my room and I watched how you stretched your arms over your head, how you yawned freely as though no one was watching. At that moment, I was too busy thinking about how adorable you looked to even think of calling out to you. And then when I entered my room, it smelt just like you that I—”

　　I could no longer hear his voice as my mind began to swirl and my vision grew blurry. I felt my body getting heavier and before I knew it, I was falling sideways. My body collided into the freezing cold water of the lake and I found myself drowning deeper and deeper.