Chapter 36 Stealing and Framing, Accusing Cressida of Meeting with a Lover
"How utterly filthy!" Ursa scolded. "This is a sacred church - how dare you hide such indecent things here??"
Ethan defended Cressida: "He's maliciously framing my sister. There's no way this stuff belongs to her!"
Clio clutched her chest, looking disappointed: "Cressida, you wouldn't do something like this, would you?"
Emma gently nudged the two intimate undergarments with the tip of her boot to see the embroidery clearly.
"Isn't this Orla's?" she said.
Everyone looked closely and indeed saw the small letters "Orla" embroidered on the corner of the garments.
Not only Clio, but even Orla herself turned pale.
The items really did belong to Orla.
The maids at the Hamilton Mansion all hand-sewed their own intimate clothing. Since the fabric was the same for everyone, they embroidered their names on them to tell them apart.
"It wasn't me, I don't know what's going on! I never gave him my things." Orla completely panicked.
Cressida's eyes reddened: "Orla, so you're the one who's been having an affair with Zaid?"
"No wonder you insisted I go rest in the side hall earlier in the prayer room - you wanted to get rid of me so you could meet with this thief!"
Orla cried out desperately: "I didn't! I didn't!"
But Cressida wouldn't look at her anymore. Her gaze shot toward Clio like a blade: "Mother, Orla is the maid you personally arranged to serve me. What kind of person have you brought me?"
"First she steals my things, then ruins my reputation. Was she trying to force Zaid to marry me so she could come along as a dowry maid and continue this affair?"
"She's even scheming with my lifelong happiness! If she hadn't stolen the wrong things, my reputation would have been completely destroyed today, and I'd never be able to show my face again!"
As Cressida spoke, she swayed painfully, looking heartbroken.
Emma immediately supported her and scolded Orla: "You ungrateful wretch! Ms. Hamilton trusted you and put you in charge of her private affairs, yet you dare to steal, have affairs, and then frame your mistress."
Mabel quickly came over and put her arm around Cressida's shoulders.
"Don't be upset, dear child. We won't let these damned servants and thieves get away with this today!"
Cressida turned and simply buried her face in Mabel's shoulder, crying.
Cressida's voice was full of grievance: "But she's my own mother - how could she treat me like this!"
Clio's face changed: "I didn't tell her to do this. I had no idea it would turn out this way."
Ursa's look toward Clio completely changed.
A mistress of the house who can't even control her own personal maid?
Someone she herself assigned dares to do something that ruins her mistress's reputation - if word gets out, it'll be the laughingstock of high society!
As a mistress herself, Ursa understood perfectly well that for a maid to be this bold, it clearly meant the mistress paid no attention and let things slide.
Thinking back to the rumors that had been flying around Emerald City recently, saying that this Clio favored her goddaughter and didn't love her own daughter Cressida.
Ursa had thought it might be a misunderstanding, but seeing it with her own eyes today - how could it be a misunderstanding?
Cressida only had two maids serving her, while that goddaughter, Rose, had six maids attending to her!
"I never thought Clio would be so foolish." Ursa's words were blunt and harsh.
Clio immediately felt like countless needles were stabbing her heart.
"It's all my fault for not controlling the servants properly. Someone, tie up Orla and take her back to the mansion for punishment!"
Cressida lifted her head at this moment: "Take her back to the mansion? I want to report this to the authorities!"
Clio: "You can't - making a scene like this and reporting it to the authorities would disgrace the family name."
Even now, Clio still wanted to save face.
But Cressida wanted to make it bigger.
She said tearfully: "Mother, not handling this properly is what truly disgraces our name."
Ursa watched secretly, thinking this Cressida understood proper conduct far better than Clio.
A capable mistress would immediately report to the authorities at a time like this to clean up the household and silence today's gossip.
She never expected Clio would just want to cover it up.
Just then, a priest approached: "Ladies, there's a squad of royal guards outside the church."
Everyone was shocked.
No one had time to wonder - this church was located deep in the mountains, rarely visited - why would guards suddenly show up?
Meanwhile, Cressida was already crying out: "Mother would rather let me suffer this false accusation than appeal to the magistrate to clear my name. I might as well die!"
With that, she lifted her skirts and ran out of the hall. Amid many screams, she jumped into the icy cold pool.
The lake was deep, and the freezing water with floating ice instantly covered her head.
Screams rang out one after another, and the guards who had just arrived witnessed this scene.
The situation immediately descended into chaos.
Mabel moved extremely fast - the two maids beside her immediately went into the water and pulled Cressida up.
Emma wrapped her body in a cloak she had prepared in advance.
And Cressida had already "fainted" at just the right moment.
When Cressida woke up, it was already night.
She lay in her own warm, comfortable bedroom. Fine oak wood burned in the fireplace, and two brass warmers radiated gentle heat.
On the way back from the church, she had pretended to be unconscious the whole time, but actually heard every conversation around her clearly.
Things had completely blown up.
Mabel had asked the guards on the spot to investigate thoroughly, and they immediately arrested Zaid and Orla.
Emma mentioned that Brynn had deliberately lured Cressida to the prayer room, so Brynn was also taken in for questioning.
Before leaving, Ursa harshly scolded Clio for not knowing what mattered and ruining the family's reputation.
Cressida understood - after the scene she'd made, the whole of Emerald City would be talking about it tomorrow.
Clio had always wanted to climb up to a truly noble family like the Woods family, whose members held important positions in the royal palace.
Clio probably even wanted to marry Rose into an aristocratic family.
Too bad Clio had miscalculated.
Cressida closed her eyes and practiced the ancient breathing technique passed down in her family to force the cold out of her body.
Her jump into the pool today was definitely not impulsive.
She had to make things big - the more out of control, the better.
Cressida had known all along that Orla would make a move against her.
Cressida had noticed early on that Orla could freely enter and leave the inner quarters - it must have been with Clio's permission. Clio wanted to use Orla to ruin her reputation.
And to ruin a noble woman's reputation, there were only two methods: either steal her personal items and frame her for theft, or take her intimate belongings and spread scandalous rumors.
The former wasn't necessary for Clio at the moment.
So Cressida concluded that Orla would choose to steal items that could ruin her reputation.
She didn't have many personal items in her room - precious jewelry was all stored in the family vault.
The only things in the room that could be used to slander her reputation were two types: personal letters and intimate undergarments.
For this, Cressida had prepared early.
So she had made preparations for both.
Cressida first had Emma get Ethan's letter from Mabel and placed it on the desk.
She also arranged for someone to steal Orla's intimate clothing and put it wrapped in cloth in the cabinet.
The day Orla took the letter, Emma discovered it, but Orla apparently hadn't thought to steal the undergarments.
So Cressida "helped" her out.
After entering the prayer room, when Cressida left, Emma returned and hid the items in the corner, which is how Ursa's guards found everything together.
Cressida sat up and called Emma in to wipe the sweat from her chin with a handkerchief.
Having forced all the cold out of her body, her blood flowed smoothly and she felt very comfortable all over.
Emma: "Ms. Cressida Hamilton, that person is here. Should I call her in to receive her reward?"
Cressida nodded. A moment later, Emma led someone in.
The person knelt at Cressida's feet: "Greetings to Ms. Hamilton."
"You did very well," Cressida praised coolly. "As my planted spy, you really helped me out this time."
The person looked up, revealing a familiar smiling face.