Leonhardt was summoned by his brother the day after the rumours began to circulate.
Estella learnt of it through her lady-in-waiting. One of the secretaries attached to Leonhardt's administrative office shared a pantry with Estella's lady-in-waiting. Their brief exchange had reached Estella's ears by evening.
"I've heard that Prince Leonhardt was called to Prince Alvin's chambers. Apparently they spoke for quite a long time."
Estella set down her embroidery.
The rumour. The rumour that she and Leonhardt were close. What Mille had tearfully told Alvin was spreading through the network of ladies-in-waiting and chamberlains.
This was a development that hadn't existed in her past life memories.
In the original otome game, the Second Prince had been a minor character. He may have been one of the heroine's capture targets, but he shouldn't have been deeply involved in Estella's condemnation event. At the very least, Estella had no memory of it.
The word "affair" was beginning to surface in the rumours.
A duke's daughter with a fiancé and the Second Prince, her fiancé's younger brother. Although they had been exchanging documents, it wouldn't be surprising for people to interpret it that way if they meet frequently.
Estella set down her embroidery needle.
A development not in the original. A situation where her past life knowledge no longer applied.
A cold unease spread through deep in her heart.
Until now, she had built her strategies on the assumption that events would proceed "as they did in the game." The condemnation event would come. Mille would cry. Alvin would press false charges. That progression had followed the original. But the development of her contact with Leonhardt becoming Mille's new weapon existed nowhere in Estella's past life knowledge.
From here on, there was no guarantee things would follow the original.
That realisation shook her to the core.
The next morning. It was time to exchange documents with Leonhardt.
He was nowhere to be seen in the corridor.
In his place, a civil official from his office appeared with the documents. "His Highness Leonhardt is busy with administrative duties today," he said as he handed over the papers and left.
Estella accepted the documents and understood what this had meant.
Leonhardt could no longer act openly.
She didn't know what Alvin had said to him, but his older brother, the Crown Prince likely ordered him not to take Estella's side. Considering the hierarchy between brothers in official settings, it was only natural for Leonhardt to comply on the surface.
She was on the verge of temporarily losing a reliable ally.
Estella returned to her room and reviewed the documents. She already had the copy of the attendance logs, so she could cross-reference the evidence for the hearing on her own.
But anything beyond that, such as suspicious movements around Mille, the status of any new testimony being prepared, was impossible to grasp without Leonhardt's intelligence network.
She looked out the window. The sky was overcast.
She couldn't rely on her knowledge of the original and contact with her ally had been restricted.
From here on, she would have to fight with nothing but the facts in front of her.
Three days passed.
Estella had finished cross-referencing the attendance logs and had identified the dates that contradicted Mille's testimony with just a week left until the hearing. She had all the evidence she needed.
But the unease wouldn't fade.
She had no idea what Mille was up to since her contact with Leonhardt had been severed.
Is she preparing new testimonies? Or is she planning something else?
She had no information.
That evening.
A single piece of paper was tucked inside her regular documents delivery.
Just a few lines were written in small but elegant handwriting on the back of the last page of the documents that the civil official had delivered.
Ignore the rumours. Denying them would only make it worse. If our evidence holds at the hearing, they will lose their credibility and the source of the rumours will be gone. I will continue to check the documents as part of my duties. I won't be able to act openly.
There was no signature but there was no mistaking this handwriting.
Estella read the note twice and let out a quiet sigh.
Publicly, Leonhardt was obeying Alvin's orders. He was avoiding direct contact with Estella, but his duties as an administrative aide, such as reviewing documents, did not fall under this. Even the Crown Prince had no authority to halt routine administrative document reviews.
He was exploiting that gap, calmly and precisely.
A judgment unclouded by emotion. Actions grounded in fact and logic.
And Estella realised that the words written on this piece of paper had helped her regain her composure.
She had been shaken by a development that didn't exist in the original. She had grown anxious at nearly losing her ally. That anxiety had come from her own weakness; her dependence on her past-life knowledge.
But Leonhardt's words weren't based on his past experience. He said them based on the facts that were in front of him right now.
"Ignore the rumours. Win the hearing, and everything will be settled," Estella repeated the words aloud.
She would fight based on the facts in front of her not based on her knowledge of the original story. This piece of paper solidified her resolve.
She held the piece of paper over the candle flame and reduced it to ash.
Leave no evidence behind.
That night, her lady-in-waiting brought another piece of information.
"The royal guards have been saying that the relationship between Prince Alvin and Prince Leonhardt has grown colder than before."
Estella nodded.
A clear rift had formed between the brothers. Alvin summoning Leonhardt and ordering him to cease his involvement with Estella had widened the distance between them. This rift would only deepen if Alvin were to find out that Leonhardt was still getting involved with Estella behind Alvin's back and was only publicly obeying him.
And Alvin would try to fill that unease by relying on Mille because that was the only way he could validate that what he was doing was right.
It was a vicious cycle.
Estella felt guilty for the trouble she had caused Leonhardt. They met a lot under the pretext of exchanging documents since it served her as well, but it had driven a rift in his relationship with his older brother.
But she felt something else at the same time.
The words on that piece of paper. She had composed herself based on his judgement, not on memories of her past life.
During her ten years in her past life, every time she had dealt with unreasonable complaints, Estella had resolved them using nothing but her own resources. Not once had someone else's words helped her regain her composure.
And now, a single piece of paper had done just that.
A genuine emotion stirred faintly within her heart.
Estella didn't name that emotion. There was no need to yet. The hearing came first.
She swept up the ashes and turned her eyes back to the documents for the hearing.
One week until the Royal Council's hearing.
Mille's desperation must have been growing stronger with each passing day. The fear of being dragged before a place where tears held no power. What move would that fear produce next?
Estella rechecked the attendance logs in her hands.
She would fight with the facts in front of her.