33.
“There are people who call me cold-hearted for cutting off her guardianship while she was in the convent, but just think about it. Is it even possible to cut off a guardianship while living with Harriet? Just imagining the tantrum she’d throw…! Ugh, I can’t help but sigh.”
Trisha sipped her tea, listening in silence without offering a retort. Half-relieved, John wore a troubled expression.
“Why would Harriet latch onto an aunt who hadn’t been in contact with us all this time? I hate to say this, but she likely figured that since there was no family around to tell her the truth, you’d be easy to wrap around her finger. The child is so adept at lying that she probably spewed all sorts of slander about me and Bella. I know her all too well.”
“Hmm….”
“You must sever the guardianship and cast her out. If you get tangled up with her, your twilight years—which should be peaceful—will be ruined. If it’s too difficult for you to do it yourself, I will help.”
Trisha, who had been listening silently, set down her teacup.
“John. For the record, Harriet didn’t say a single word about you or Bella.”
“Yes…? I see. Well, she must have figured that even if she did, it would be found out soon enough.”
“Would she? Anything she said would sound like a one-sided claim, so she asked me to watch how she conducts herself. She told me that if I truly feel I can trust her, only then should I take her in.”
At those words, John’s heart sank.
“I told you, she knows how to beguile people! She knows that if she says things like that, anyone would look upon her favorably…!”
“I find Harriet’s words to be sensible. Everything you’re saying right now sounds like nothing more than your own one-sided claim.”
Trisha smiled, raising only one corner of her mouth.
“To me, there is no difference between you and Harriet. I will decide whom to trust based on how you both act.”
“You’ll regret…!”
“But, John.”
She cut him off, wiping all traces of amusement from her face. At her sharp gaze, John caught his breath before he even realized it.
“Even if you didn’t like Harriet, how could you cut off the guardianship without giving her a single penny? How much did Arthur pour into you, yet you turn your back on his daughter?”
“Turn my back, you say! I raised her for ten years; I’ve done my duty!”
“You are aware that the law was revised twelve years ago to allow a head of the house to pass the estate to their daughter or wife, aren’t you?”
Stung in a sore spot, John stammered.
“Because Arthur died suddenly without a will, because Harriet was a minor, and because there was no one around to take her side, you were lucky enough to inherit your brother’s title. Thinking of that, you should have at least handed her enough funds to start her independence!”
Trisha slammed her hand against the tea table; tea sloshed over from John’s untouched cup.
The aura of the frail-looking old lady was so imposing that John felt as if he had shrunk down, becoming a child scolded by an elder.
“That law is neither here nor there. To entrust a house to a woman—who would ever do such a crazy thing….”
Muttering to himself, John only realized where he was sitting after the word ‘crazy’ slipped out. He was in front of Trisha Felon, the lioness of the House of Felon!
He hurried to seal his lips, but he could not take back the words.
“My husband did that ‘crazy’ thing, and more and more people will be doing it.”
“A-ah, no, that’s not what I meant….”
“It would be best for you to leave before that mouth of yours commits an irrevocable mistake. Oh, and remember one thing before you go.”
Trisha pointed her index finger directly at John.
“Regardless of the past, Harriet is a child under my protection. If you dare to lay a hand on her, I will consider it an act of war by the House of Listerwell against the House of Felon, so keep that in mind.”
“Yes? Aunt!”
“You know better than anyone what happens to those who take me lightly.”
He certainly did. John had once tried to squeeze something out of Trisha and been taught a bitter lesson; he knew she was in earnest.
“You may leave now.”
Trisha’s fingertip gestured toward the door.
* * *
Without any harvest—or rather, having created an even worse situation—John ruffled his hair irritably as he left the Felon estate.
“Damn it! That cursed old hag. The way she’s acting, doesn’t she already know about Perillas?”
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. If not for that, why else would Trisha be sponsoring Harriet? A girl with nothing left.
“Afraid someone will snatch it? I am the Viscount Listerwell. All of my brother’s assets should be my property!”
He gnashed his teeth as he climbed into his carriage. However, he did not head straight home.
There was only one road leading into the Felon estate. That meant this was the only path for Harriet to return.
Perhaps an hour had passed while he waited.
A small carriage bearing the emblem of the House of Felon appeared. Since Trisha was at home, the only one who could be inside was Harriet.
As instructed by John, the coachman approached and signaled the other driver to stop.
“Stop! Halt the horses!”
“Whoa, whoa!”
Because of the carriage that had pulled out unexpectedly, the Felon coachman had to pull the reins sharply.
Harriet, inside, nearly fell as the carriage swayed violently.
“What is the meaning of this?”
They were right in front of the Felon estate; it couldn’t be bandits.
Just in case, Harriet gripped the small hammer kept in the carriage. She looked out the window and almost let out a scream. Past the glass, she saw John’s face.
“Harriet! Open the door. Quickly!”
John barked from his carriage. Seeing the niece he had deceived and abandoned for the first time in a year, there was not a hint of remorse on his face.
Harriet momentarily considered using the object in her hand, but she took a deep breath, calming her inner turmoil. The revenge she intended to exact must not end in a mere physical skirmish.
Harriet opened the window with the brightest smile she could muster.
“Uncle? It’s been a while. What brings you here?”
Irritated by her unperturbed demeanor, John narrowed his eyes like a hawk.
She wondered if he would fly into a rage, but he merely stammered, unsure of how to react, before issuing a threat in a low voice.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking by returning, or how you seduced Aunt Trisha, but if you dare to even scratch Bella, I will not let it slide. I will use every means possible to drive you out of Genoa!”
John, with his eyes widened and his teeth bared, was exactly as he had been a year ago.
He had always pressed down on her like this, and when that didn’t work, he would sigh and act affable. If that failed, he would criticize, threaten, cajole, and then shout again.
No matter how unjust it felt, she couldn’t refuse his unreasonable demands while her future was held hostage. The guardianship had felt like a dog collar.
*‘I think about it, and it really was something to be happy about that Uncle cut off the guardianship, not something to despair over.’*
It felt like a waste of time to have spent her energy crying and shouting at God in the chapel.
Harriet smiled sweetly.
“I heard Bella’s engagement to the young master of Cheslow is not far off; I suppose the rumors are true then?”
“You carry the name Listerwell, so I trust you will not do anything to harm the house. Do not betray my trust.”
“Of course! But you see.”
Harriet clenched her teeth. She had to stay calm. But that didn’t mean she had to be submissive.
“You promised that in exchange for taking the blame instead of Bella, you would provide me with my dowry, high-end dresses, and wedding gifts, didn’t you? Every time Bella caused trouble, you used to dangle that promise to make me ‘help’ her.”
For a moment, John faltered. Just as he was about to speak, Harriet continued.
“I trusted that promise with all my heart. I never imagined I’d be betrayed.”
“That is…!”
“If it were Bella, she would have said, ‘The one who believed it is the fool.’”
More than John, who scolded and threatened her with false promises, she hated Bella, who would stand in the doorway with her arms crossed, sneering, ‘Are you stupid?’
How could she ever forget that gaze, which looked down on everyone who possessed goodness—or rather, everyone who wasn’t herself?
“Of course, I am not Bella. Obviously. How could I ever be like her?”
How could she ever be like such a devilish child?
Perhaps twisted by Harriet’s criticism, John wore a vile smirk.
“If it’s so unfair, why not sue me? Ah, but do you have any evidence to submit? Did you leave that promise in a document? Who do you think will take your side if you just wail and say that your uncle definitely promised it?”
“You’re right. Everyone will point fingers and say that Harriet Listerwell is talking nonsense again. Because those people don’t know the truth.”
Harriet leaned in close to the carriage window. Staring straight into John’s eyes, she whispered.