Chapter 62
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 62
A pale tension settled on the corners of her lips. Meeting the old gentleman's piercing gaze made it difficult to speak. The thoughts and arguments she had so diligently prepared tangled together in the anxious silence.
Vanessa realized this was exactly what he had intended—to let the silence unnerve her, waiting for the moment she let her guard down and revealed a weakness he could strike.
She needed time to regain her footing.
"Before we begin, may I order a glass of soda water?"
"By all means."
She raised her hand to summon an attendant, and soon a glass of soda water with a slice of lemon was placed on the table. When she offered a polite smile of thanks, the curious glances of those around them drifted toward their table before scattering.
The curiosity surrounding the meeting of two people with no apparent connection was palpable, no matter how much the onlookers feigned indifference. She wondered how many of those eyes belonged to her uncle's spies, but it was far too late to worry about that now. Besides, the tables were spaced far enough apart that their conversation would not carry.
"First, I would like you to look at this."
Vanessa placed the locket, which she had carefully wrapped in a handkerchief, onto the table.
"What is this?"
"I believe it is something my father was carrying at the time of the accident."
"Oh."
"I only recently recovered it, and I have been searching for someone who might recognize it and confirm if it truly belonged to my parents."
Lifting the handkerchief to peer at the worn locket, Benjamin let out a soft sigh.
"...I see."
The stubborn wariness typical of the elderly slowly softened. To him, Vanessa was a young lady the age of his own grandchildren—indeed, she seemed more like a young girl. It was only natural for a child who had lost her parents so young to cling to their keepsakes. How could he deem it rude of her to contact him out of the blue, or to seek him out so suddenly through his grandson? How could he dismiss her as eccentric and turn her away? Moreover, Lady Vanessa had conducted herself with perfect manners and grace.
"Do you happen to remember seeing it?"
"Well… It looks familiar, and yet it doesn't."
Examining the locket with uncertain eyes, Benjamin noticed the half-broken hinge and looked up at Vanessa—a silent request for permission to open it. When she nodded, he carefully unfastened the clasp.
Vanessa clenched her fists in her lap, her eyes wide with tension. Click. Had the sound of a metal clasp ever seemed so loud?
"Ah." At the old gentleman's soft exclamation, Vanessa held her breath and watched him intently.
"Yes. Seeing this photograph brings it all back. I saw this many, many times."
The deep furrow in Benjamin's brow smoothed out as he let out a hearty chuckle.
"The young Count would pull this out every chance he got. That stoic man became a completely different person whenever he boasted about his daughter. I remember how he would gush about how cute and lovely his little girl was the moment he opened his mouth. Having only two sons myself, I was terribly envious."
It was a fragment of the past she had never expected to hear. For a fleeting moment, Vanessa saw a faint shadow of her father in the old man's words—how he would have spoken, how he would have opened the locket, and the fuss he would have made.
She struggled to suppress the sudden swell of emotion, smiling through welling tears.
"Did he really?"
To think he was a stoic man. Her few memories of her father were entirely soft and warm. Like the time he refused to shave for a year just because she had laughed at his scruffy beard, or how he would cast all dignity aside to scoop her up in his arms and laugh whenever she tugged at his trousers, or his grand, impossible promises to give her the entire world. He had been like that even when people mocked him, whispering that a man who doted on his daughter so helplessly must surely be henpecked.
"Seeing the photograph, I remember your face from back then. You have grown up so well, looking just the same."
Vanessa's eyes widened. Unable to hold his gaze, she dropped her eyes. You have grown up so well. She had never heard those words in her entire life.
Her whole life had been an imitation of those fleeting, happy moments. Her mother's gentle voice, her father's upright posture, their composure, kindness, and patience… At some point, it had also become a battle against endless self-doubt. Human memory was imperfect, and the only "respectable adult" she had to look up to was a listless schoolteacher who earned eighty pounds a month.
In a way, Rosalyn's harsh assessment—that Vanessa was burying her life in her parents' grave—was correct. Even now, when Vanessa looked in the mirror, she saw her deceased parents. She had learned everything about the world from them, including the resolve to ruin her own life with her own hands rather than let it be destroyed by someone else.
"Thank you for saying that."
Vanessa smiled, shaking off the sentimentality before it could take hold.
"And thank you for confirming the locket. I found it by pure chance, so I wasn't entirely sure if it truly belonged to my parents."
"It is indeed in rather poor condition. May I ask where you found it?"
"On the street, near my house."
"Ah, then it is only natural you had your doubts."
Having finished his assessment of her, Benjamin offered a warm, benevolent smile. The old gentleman clearly assumed their business was concluded. But for Vanessa, the real business was only just beginning.
"There is one more thing I would like you to look at."
Vanessa removed her hat and retrieved a folded piece of paper from inside it. Her movements were so fluid and natural that to onlookers, it merely looked as though she were adjusting a loose ribbon.
Since she never knew when she might run into Mr. Benjamin Dawson, she had to carry these two items with her at all times. Yet, there were few things a lady could discreetly bring into a public place like this. A parasol or a fan were obvious choices, but she could hardly lift her skirts or carry documents out in the open, so her options for concealment had been limited from the start.
Benjamin watched her calmly, showing no surprise, as if he had encountered many such desperate women in his time.
"And this is?"
"A copy of my father's will. It was drawn up as a notarized deed and executed without any verification of its authenticity. It has been kept in the provincial court for the last seven years, and I transcribed this copy directly from it."
Benjamin stared at the document with renewed interest, then pulled a pair of spectacles from his breast pocket and slipped them on. After flipping through a few pages, he looked up at her, his eyes wide with astonishment.
"You transcribed all of this yourself?"
"The document was too vast to copy in its entirety, but I noticed something strange while examining it. I focused primarily on that section."
"What is it?"
"If you look here, between the third and fourth pages, you will see a break in the flow."
"Is that so? The sentence itself seems to make sense."
"The sentence does. But please look at the placement of the period. If the sentence truly carried over, there is no reason for a period to be at the very beginning of the fourth page."
"Is it not possible you simply made a mistake while transcribing it, my lady?"
"I only began transcribing after I noticed that discrepancy. I copied just enough to show the flow of the text around that page."
In truth, she had transcribed far more than this, but the amount of paper she could conceal inside her hat was limited. Benjamin read through the transcribed will in silence, the deep furrow on the bridge of his nose growing more pronounced.
"Hmm."
After what felt like an eternity, Benjamin set his spectacles down on the table.
"The first part of the will does indeed seem to be what was drafted while I was serving as his legal advisor. But the section after this..."
"Is it different?"
"Well, it was a long time ago, so I cannot recall every detail, but this phrasing does seem rather different. Knowing how the Count was back then, it is certainly suspicious. Either he had a profound change of heart after my departure, or at the very least, the priorities of his will were altered."
"Can you tell me exactly which part was changed?"
Benjamin stared at Vanessa in silence. After a long, heavy pause, he spoke.
"Lady Vanessa."
"Yes?"
"I am afraid that from this point on, it is not something I can speak of lightly."
At his firm refusal, Vanessa bit her lip in frustration.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I cannot carelessly disclose matters concerning a former client's honor or trust. I understand that you are desperate for any clue, as this involves your late father, but there are principles that must be upheld under any circumstance."
Vanessa stared at the old man's hands as he folded the will and set it down, then slowly raised her gaze. He leaned back in his seat, his expression perfectly calm. The warmth had vanished from his light blue eyes, replaced once more by a cold, professional detachment.
"I would like to help you, my lady, but I am afraid I cannot."