"Estella. I didn't call you here for no reason," Alvin's voice echoed coldly through the rose garden.
The afternoon sunlight peeked in from between the hedges, casting pale shadows across the white stone pavement. The garden which laid adjacent to the academy was meant to be a place for peaceful strolls. The well-tended roses were still in their budding season, and only their thorns glistened in the sunlight.
Alvin stood in the garden's gazebo. His dignified appearance was befitting of a crown prince, but his expression held a sternness unimaginable for someone who was addressing his fiancée.
Mille was at his side. She stood half a step behind Alvin, and her hands were clasped in front of her chest. Her gaze was slightly downcast, and her eyelashes faintly glistened with moisture.
Several noble ladies and their knight escorts happened to be present around the gazebo. Though they pretended that they just happened to be there, it was unnatural for people to be gathered here at this time. They had assembled witnesses. Estella saw through this in an instant.
"Your Highness, it is an honour to be summoned."
Estella curtsied deeply, yet gracefully. It was the highest form of courtesy towards a crown prince. Her manners were impeccable as the daughter of a duke.
Alvin acknowledged her greeting but did not invite her to sit. He remained standing while looking down at her.
"I'll get straight to the point. I hear you've been bullying Millefeuille," anger seeped in his voice.
Estella's expression remained unchanged. Memories of her past life's complaint-handling desk instantly flashed through her mind.
--Here it comes. The false accusation. Just as I'd expected.
"Bullying, you say. Could you be more specific, Your Highness?" She asked calmly, keeping her tone steady. She would be playing right into their hands if she showed any emotions here. She had to let them speak first.
Alvin took a step forward.
"I heard it from Millefeuille herself. Estella, she says you subjected her to cruel words and used your maid to continuously harass her. She's terrified. Surely you can see that."
Mille shifted slightly. Her shoulders trembled as if she was reacting to Alvin's words. Tears welled up at the corner of her eyes, threatening to spill at any moment, yet she desperately held them back.
The pitiful cry.
Estella observed the pattern she had analysed last night play before her eyes. She didn't raise her voice. Her tears didn't flow freely down her face, but pooled in the corners of her eyes. Her lips trembled slightly. She was acting like 'she wanted to cry but was trying not to'. A technique designed to elicit the protective natures of everyone around her.
She could see the expressions of the ladies shifting. They were feeling sympathy for Mille, and directed their cold gaze towards Estella.
If she argued back, she'd be cast as the 'cruel villainess'.
If she demanded proof, she'd be seen as 'the perpetrator who is cornering the victim'.
If she responded calmly, then she would be seen as a 'cold and calculating woman'.
That was how this kingdom's court culture worked.
In that case-
Estella paused for a second.
She steadied her breathing and focused on the movements of her diaphragm. A technique she used in her past life on days where tears were absolutely necessary. She didn't make herself cry by dragging up sad memories, but by keeping her eyes open and altering her breathing rhythm to stimulate her tear ducts. She created the physical reaction first then layered the emotional expression on top.
As if in response to Alvin's words.
A single tear trickled down Estella's cheek.
"Your Highness..." her voice trembled. A perfectly controlled tremor. Not too loud and not too soft. A faltering voice, just loud enough for everyone present to hear.
"Your Highness, that you would think that I would do that..."
She placed a hand against her chest while the other reached out to wipe the falling tear, but she didn't reach it in time. A second tear rolled down her other cheek.
Estella took a step back. It was a move made by those who unconsciously recoiled from receiving shock. A meticulously calculated step.
"To be suspected of something I have no memory of..." She sobbed, but she didn't cry out loud. She painted the picture that a duke's daughter's pride would not permit her to crumble into a crying mess.
The aura in the garden shifted.
She could see that the ladies were wavering to her tears. Their sympathy towards Mille hadn't vanished entirely, but they were now considering something else.
A duke's daughter was crying before the crown prince.
Unease flickered across Alvin's face for the first time.
This was supposed to have been a scene of condemnation. Confronting the guilty with their crimes, and declaring her unfit to be his fiancee, but the fiancee before him didn't look like a criminal. She looked like a victim brought to tears by a false accusation.
"--- Estella," Alvin's tone faltered slightly.
Beside him, Mille made her presence known. She gazed up at Alvin with her tear-filled eyes and reached out to touch his sleeve.
But she was too late.
Estella's tears had already started to control the narrative.
The expressions on everyone's face spoke volumes. The question of 'whose tears are genuine' had taken root in the minds of everyone here. The scene of condemnation had transformed into one where no one could tell who the real victim was.
Alvin opened his mouth to speak and then closed it. He opened it again but no words came out.
Estella's tears carried too much weight for him to simply push through with his dignity as the crown prince. The tears of a duke's daughter carried a different political weight than those of a baron's adopted daughter. If he ignored her tears and continued on with charging her, then the fact that 'the Crown Prince unilaterally insulted the ducal house' will be spread through the court via the witnesses.
"--- We'll revisit this matter another day," Alvin said and looked away. He didn't declare that she was guilty. He gently placed a hand on Mille's shoulder and left the gazebo. Mille glanced back once, her teary eyes gazed at Estella.
There was a cold gleam behind those tears.
Estella didn't miss this.
But she kept her composure. She watched the two of them walk away with tear streaks still visible on her cheeks. The surrounding ladies also dispersed awkwardly.
Silence returned to the garden.
With only her lady-in-waiting remaining at her side, Estella gently rested her hand against a pillar of the gazebo. Her tears had already stopped. She hadn't forced them to stop. Her body simply switched them off since they were no longer needed.
She knew this was only the beginning.
All she'd managed to accomplish today was 'preventing the condemnation from succeeding'. Alvin had backed down, but he hadn't given up. Mille would likely be devising her next move as well.
But one thing was certain.
Crying is a weapon on this battlefield.
And my weapon is the same kind as hers.
They were on equal footing.
Estella lightly pressed her fingers to the corners of her eyes and steadied her breathing. Estella stopped her lady-in-waiting with a gentle smile when she was about to approach her out of concern.
"I'm fine. I was just a little startled... that's all."
Those words were directed at her lady-in-waiting. At the same time, they were intended as a testimony for the lady-in-waiting to give once she had left this place, "My lady was startled and shed tears. It was definitely not an act."
In a court governed by testimonies, even the words of a lady-in-waiting held power.
A figure appeared at the edge of Estella's vision as she began to walk away.
Someone was standing on the east side of the garden in the shadow of a pillar leading to the corridor. They weren't a knight, nor a young lady. It was a young man wearing something that resembled the academy uniform except it was a slightly better tailored jacket.
He had been watching them.
He was leaning against the pillar with his arms folded. His posture made it clear that he had witnessed everything from start to finish.
His gaze was cold. They weren't the eyes of someone who was moved by tears.
His gaze was an observer's gaze; he kept equal distance from both Estella's tears and Mille's tears.
Estella immediately recognised who he was.
Crown Prince Alvin's half-brother. The second prince, Leonhardt von Legnica.
They were only acquaintances, having exchanged greetings a few times at official events. She had heard that he served as an administrative aide, but she didn't have any other information on him.
Leonhardt said nothing.
But the moment their eyes met, he raised the corner of his mouth ever so slightly.
Estella didn't know what that meant.
She turned away and left the garden with her lady-in-waiting.
She could feel the observer's gaze lingering on her back.