The Glass Vase
The people in the banquet hall also looked utterly bewildered. Chloe couldn't help but wonder. What exactly is making them so flustered?
Is it the spectacle of a Grand Duchess—who rose overnight from a mere semi-noble to royalty—getting utterly humiliated after selling off an expensive gift? Or is it the fact that said Grand Duchess just shattered a glass vase right in front of the King out of sheer irritation? Or perhaps...
"Grand Duchess Berk!"
...Are they bewildered because the King is proving to be far more pathetic than they ever imagined?
Either way, it didn't matter. Instead of asking the King, 'Hey, with all those gray hairs in your beard, where exactly did your maturity go?' Chloe tried to force a smile. It didn't work very well.
"Your Majesty. As you said, though my family holds the title of First-Class Honorary Knights, we were never in a position to afford luxury, and my focus was entirely on supporting my younger siblings. Because of that, I lack the eye to distinguish such precious things. I simply thought it was beautiful."
"Are you throwing a tantrum now because I have called you to account for your crimes?!"
"But Your Majesty. If we follow your logic, what of Grand Duke Berk?"
The King flinched.
Chloe averted her gaze from the King and looked back at Curtis Shan Berk, who stood behind her.
"Grand Duke Berk, who has been royalty since the moment of his birth, dismissed this vase as cheap trash the very instant he saw it."
"..."
"I dare to ask: is there no possibility that the vase was switched from the very beginning?"
Chloe still remembered the conversation they had shared.
—Do people usually send wedding gifts to the person who dumped them?
—Maybe that's why it looked so cheap.
Curtis, who had insisted she write a thank-you letter for the vase, had said exactly that.
Chloe's mind raced.
Either the vase had been a fake from the start, or that butler had swapped it out.
In any case, this was a trap designed to publicly brand Chloe as a vulgar, greedy thief.
To be honest, she had expected something like this.
Both she and Curtis had already discussed the fact that the King would stop at nothing to humiliate her.
That was why Chloe had intended to endure whatever came her way, within reason. After all, the ten million shings she was set to receive from Curtis could be considered a form of hazard pay.
She had prepared herself for things like someone spilling wine on her, or tripping her.
She had even expected people to mock her hosting of the banquet.
She had told herself that even if she made a major blunder and had to listen to whispers of, 'As expected of a mere semi-noble, she is sorely lacking,' she would just have to bear it.
And frankly, it wasn't as if her lack of high-society breeding was a lie.
But the problem was that this was no longer just about her.
The King had targeted her family from the start, dragging her younger siblings into it. If Chloe quietly took the blame here, her siblings would be branded as the family of a thief and pointed at for the rest of their lives.
So, Chloe looked at Curtis.
In truth, Curtis Shan Berk probably wanted her to just take the fall and let it go. That would be the fastest, cleanest way to resolve the scene.
But now that her siblings' names had been dragged through the mud by the King, Chloe could not back down.
She sent him a desperate look.
This was a stage set by the King and the Duke of Glintland to humiliate her. There was likely very little Chloe could do to turn the tables in this situation.
But whether she could succeed or not, she wanted to at least defend herself.
I may be your employee, but my family isn't. So please, let me do something.
Yet, to her surprise, the man gave a slight nod.
It was a movement so subtle that anyone else might have missed it, but Chloe recognized it instantly.
Go ahead, his eyes said.
"Are you doubting the Palace Affairs Department now?"
As expected, the King bellowed at her, his face flushed crimson with rage.
Chloe turned swiftly to face him.
"No. I am doubting the Duke of Glintland."
"Your Highness, Grand Duchess Berk."
Isabelle tried to speak, but Chloe cut her off. She stepped directly into the middle of the shattered glass.
Crunch. The glass fragments grinding beneath her shoes made a suffocating sound in the silent hall.
"Your Highness, you will hurt yourself—"
"As His Majesty said, I am a mere semi-noble. Before today, I had never been invited to a banquet like this, nor had I ever dared to show my face. That means I have absolutely no connections in high society."
Chloe pushed aside the servant who tried to stop her and spoke in a clear, ringing voice. The surrounding nobles began to whisper.
Philippe Deltang also wore a displeased expression. His face practically screamed, 'Why is she shouting about her lack of breeding as if it's something to be proud of?'
Setting aside the beating he had received last time, as the butler of the Grand Ducal residence, he likely found a Grand Duchess who demeaned herself utterly distasteful.
Well, you won't even be the butler after today, so who cares what you think?
"And yet, I received this vase a mere three weeks ago, as a wedding gift. Do you truly believe that in such a short time, I possessed the connections and resources to commission a glass replica, swap it out, and secretly sell off the original?"
Her point was undeniable.
Though no one dared speak up in the King's presence, the glances exchanged among the nobles made it clear that Chloe's argument was far more logical.
But the King was not about to back down so easily.
"Are you suggesting then that Glintland prepared two vases from the very beginning just to insult our Ivanes?! Even if that were the case, they have absolutely no reason to go to such lengths!"
They don't, of course. But you do.
It was a bitter shame she couldn't say those words aloud. No matter how hot-tempered Chloe was, if she yelled, 'You're doing this just to humiliate me!' at the King, she would be dragged away for treason on the spot.
"We also have testimony that this cannot be dismissed as a rogue act by the Palace Affairs Department or a mere maid! Marquise of Flandre!"
The Marquise, who had been cradling the real vase, flinched before placing it down on the table. Sighing with a look of profound awkwardness, she spoke.
"...Even if it is a glass vase, craftsmanship of this density is not something a mere maid could afford to commission."
"And we can cross-examine this! Where is... ah, there! Roland, was it? You were the one who prepared the tableware for this banquet! Is that not so?"
At the King's call, Laura le Gautier, who had been standing to one side, flinched before stepping forward with an awkward smile.
"I am Laura le Gautier. Yes, Your Majesty."
"It is only natural that a grand royal banquet requires the touch of a noblewoman with discerning taste. What do you think of this glass vase? How long would it take to craft such a piece?"
Laura cautiously shifted her eyes. The King spoke with a feigned air of benevolence.
"I summoned you specifically because I heard you were classmates with the Grand Duchess during your time in the Navy. Since the Grand Duchess seems to believe she is being unilaterally wronged, surely she will accept the word of someone from her own 'network.' However, Viscountess Gautier, this is a matter that could escalate into a major diplomatic incident, so I expect the utmost honesty from you."
There was never a chance she would take Chloe's side. Just as Chloe had suspected, Laura quickly composed herself and spoke.
"It is entirely possible, provided there is sufficient financial backing. It has been over a century since the glass artisans of Tawaiye were forbidden from leaving their borders. These days, it is not difficult to find skilled glassmakers even here in Ivanneres."
"And the timeframe?"
"When I commissioned thirty-eight glass dishes to celebrate my first child's first birthday after my marriage, it took exactly one week from order to completion."
Chloe almost laughed.
Did she hold a grudge because Chloe had drawn a line and warned her when she tried to act overly familiar earlier? Or perhaps even this testimony had been pre-arranged by the King.
"So, in the end, Viscountess Gautier, you are saying that I am a noblewoman of such elegance and high standing that I could easily commission this fake vase in a single week."
Sarcasm dripped from Chloe's voice. She felt she finally understood why Curtis Shan Berk's personality was so twisted.
He must have dealt with this his entire life.
The King's methods were undeniably crude and childish. In a way, one might think it was best to simply ignore them.
But what if these kinds of slanderous traps were showered upon you like a relentless barrage of arrows, day in and day out?
Chloe had been married to the man for less than a month, and she was already exhausted.
"Chloe."
The voice that stopped her was laced with an unmistakable, quiet fury. It was Curtis.
Chloe looked up at him. His cold, purple eyes remained as unreadable as ever.
"Let me speak," she whispered.
The Grand Duke did not say yes or no; he simply stared down at her in silence. Did he want her to cut it out, or was he telling her to go wild? She couldn't tell. If it were the former, he would have stopped her himself.
"I... this..."
She felt a surge of anger as her voice threatened to tremble. Chloe had seen her classmates in the Navy shake like leaves when they were upset or angry. When you trembled like that in front of others, your sorrow or weakness ended up taking center stage rather than your righteous fury.
Chloe swallowed hard. Her throat felt so dry it was as if it were sticking to the back of her neck. Though it took only a fraction of a second to force her parched mouth open, to Chloe, it felt like an eternity.
It was then.
A hand gently but firmly gripped her shoulder. She didn't even need to look to know who it was.
Curtis Shan Berk. Her employer.