Awakening Love: Reborn to Be His Duchess Chapter 115: The Tables Turn

Piers asked, "Lady Daphne, you believe in it as well?"

Daphne forced a smile. "Yes..."

"Well, since Lady Daphne truly wants me to go with her," Elowen said with a touch of helplessness, "let's go."

Something about this felt off to Daphne, but she couldn't pinpoint what.

Still, if Elowen was willing, that was all that mattered. "Good."

She had briefly worried Piers might follow, but he did not. Good. He wouldn't disrupt the plan.

The pond's edge was already crowded. People craned their necks, searching the water for a glimpse of gold.

"Can you see it, Your Grace?" Daphne asked, subtly edging Elowen closer to the water.

Elowen allowed herself to be guided nearer the edge, counting silently in her mind.

Three. Two. One.

She sensed the faint rustle of fabric behind her. Drawing on her past life's memory, she shifted smoothly to her right.

"Ah—!"

A sharp cry, followed by a heavy splash.

Elowen looked down at the water, where Daphne thrashed and flailed.

In her past life, after falling in, Elowen had looked up from the water to see Daphne, standing on the bank, calling out, "Someone fell in! Help!" with an expression of pure, malicious glee.

Elowen had always suspected Daphne was the one who pushed her.

Later, after Daphne also entered the Crown Prince's Wing, Elowen had asked her directly, and Daphne had admitted it.

She had said then, "I pushed you. But shouldn't you thank me? If not for me, you'd never have known how little the Crown Prince truly cared for you. You were in such a pitiful state, and he felt not an ounce of pity."

Now, Elowen was curious to see if Daphne would look just as pitiful in the water and whether Alaric would feel any pity for her.

"Someone's in the water!"

"Help! Help!"

The golden koi was forgotten. Shouts filled the air.

Alaric had been in the main hall, conversing with the Duke of Falconcrest and several other high-ranking officials.

A servant came running in, breathless. "Duke of Falconcrest! Someone has fallen into the pond!"

Fallen in?

A strange, unsettling feeling shot through Alaric. An image of Elowen, panicked and struggling in the water, flashed unbidden in his mind.

Forgetting decorum, he stood abruptly. "Is it Elowen?"

The servant was confused. "No, Your Highness, it is Lady Daphne..."

Alaric stared. Daphne? How could it be her?

Only then did he notice the odd looks from the Duke and the others. His face tightened. He sat back down stiffly.

The Duke turned to him, his expression respectful. "Lady Daphne's accident is a serious matter. Your Highness, shall we go and see?"

Alaric gave a stiff nod, frowning as he stood again.

He couldn't shake the feeling that the Duke and the others, while saying nothing, regarded him with subtle, knowing amusement.

It was humiliating, fanning the flames of his irritation.

...

Back at the pond, Daphne, who could not swim, was choking, nearly drowning.

It was Piers who finally pulled her out.

Drenched, her hair a tangled mess, Daphne knelt on the bank, coughing violently.

A ring of spectators surrounded her, their gazes a mixture of concern and morbid curiosity.

Shame and fury burned within her. She looked up and met Elowen's cool, detached gaze from above.

"It was you!" she cried, lifting a trembling, accusing finger. "You pushed me!"

Instantly, all eyes shifted to Elowen.

Elowen adopted an expression of pure innocence.

One had to admit, Daphne had nerve.

In her past life, after being rescued, Elowen had simply shivered alone on the bank, knowing she'd been pushed but unable to name her attacker.

Daphne was different.

No wonder, back then, Elowen had been her punching bag.

In this world, the overly soft-hearted did not survive long.

Kaelan stepped forward, his brow furrowed. "Lady Daphne, accusations require evidence. How can you be certain it was Her Grace?"

"She was the only one beside me! Who else could it be?" Daphne spat.

Murmurs spread through the crowd.

"I did see them go to the water's edge together."

"Could it really have been the Duchess?"

"Is she perhaps... jealous..."

The murmurs tactfully faded at that point.

The noble circles of Vanelle all knew of Elowen's childhood bond with Alaric, and of its unresolved end—one married to the Duke of Duskmoor, the other about to wed Daphne.

To suggest there was no lingering resentment was naive.

Hearing the whispers, Daphne regained her confidence. She looked up at Elowen with feigned vulnerability.

"Your Grace, I know you dislike me. You reprimand me, you punish me using your status—I have borne it all. But how could you be so cruel as to try to kill me? You know I cannot swim! I would have drowned!"