“You cannot enter because there are poisonous plants inside.”
Hazel’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know there are poisonous plants in there? Seems like you’ve been inside. Do you even have the key?”
“Serin is the only one who has the key,” Elena replied, her voice trembling slightly, despite her attempt to mask it.
“Is that so?” Hazel leaned in, their faces mere inches apart, the rich fabrics of their dresses brushing. Her lips curved into a smug smirk, then just as abruptly, she stepped back.
Elena finally exhaled, the tension that had coiled in her shoulders snaking away. Her fist, clenched so tight it had wrinkled the fabric of her dress, unfurled, leaving her fingers stiff and numb like porcelain dolls. But her moment of relief shattered as Hazel’s sharp voice sliced through the air.
“Search her,” she commanded. Immediately, Carmen moved with chilling efficiency. Before Elena could even register the command, she felt intrusive hands patting down her body.
“Why are you doing this?” Elena cried, shoving Carmen away. Her resistance was a fly buzzing against a windowpane.
Carmen offered no response, only a chillingly blank stare in return. Elena had never seen a person’s eyes so devoid of emotion, so utterly devoid of a soul. It was as if Hazel’s command had transformed her into a mere automaton.
“Miss Elena doesn’t have the key,” Cura interjected, but Carmen continued her relentless search, stripping off Elena’s coat and reaching beneath her skirt. As Carmen’s hand brushed against the wide lace cuffs at Elena’s elbows, Elena cried out.
“Stop it! There are poisonous plants in there! Surely you know that better than anyone, Miss Hazel. I wouldn’t risk going in there, key or no key!”
Elena abandons the futile attempt to stop Carmen physically and tries a desperate plea to reason with Hazel.
“How would I know that? I don’t even know why my fiancé treats someone like you so specially,” Hazel said, fanning herself with a fan slightly larger than her palm, shaking it in front of her face. While her tone flowed like water, her gaze was quite the opposite. I couldn’t care less whether she has the key or not. That was what Elena realized from Hazel’s gaze. It was all just about tormenting her. Resigned, Elena surrendered to Carmen’s touch. All she hoped for was that this ordeal would end quickly. Meanwhile, Carmen’s hands roamed from Elena’s elbows to her shoulders, roughly undoing the ruff encircling her neck in no time.
Meanwhile, Carmen’s hands moved swiftly from Elena’s elbows to her shoulders, deftly undoing the ruff encircling her neck. Elena gasped as the ruff was torn away, exposing her sternum above the plunging neckline. Despite the warmth of the greenhouse, the sudden exposure of her skin felt chilling in the air. Recoiling in surprise, Elena instinctively covered her chest, attempting to push Carmen away. But Carmen was quicker, spotting something glinting around Elena’s neck and seizing it abruptly.
“Ow!” Feeling the pain in her neck, Elena stared blankly at Carmen’s back. Carmen was handing something to Hazel that she had taken from around Elena’s neck. Hazel’s face, adorned with pearl-like white silk gloves, contorted heavily.
“Why do you have something so expensive?” she demanded, looking at Elena’s hand that was covering her neck, ignoring the warm sensation beneath her palm. The item in her hand sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight filtering through the greenhouse. Elena knew without looking that it was the flute Kennard had gifted her, crafted from pure gold with a row of rubies adorning it—a precious token she had initially refused, attempting to shake off the memories it carried.
“Are you even going to claim you didn’t know about this?” Hazel’s voice, misunderstanding my gesture, became sharper. “Did you steal it, by any chance?”
“No, it’s… that’s…” Cura interjected.
“Cura!” Elena hurriedly called for Cura, hoping to stop any further conversation. She knew Cura was worried she might be misunderstood. But she also knew what Cura was trying to say, and it might backfire.
“I don’t know whose it is. I found it by chance in the parlor and thought it was pretty, so I… I didn’t mean to…”
“So you stole it?”
