SMR | Chapter 17

~Chapter 17~

“Oh… Has the news already spread?”

“It’s become quite a topic of discussion.”

But just as she began to wonder why this had led to a visit from a complete stranger, Alfonso spoke with a displeased expression.

“After hearing that Viscount Listerwell ended his guardianship over you at the convent, it confirmed a suspicion I’ve had for a long time.”

“What? What do you mean…?”

“I was one of the people who went boating at Albrecht Park nine years ago.”

At the mention of Albrecht Park, Harriet froze.

Nine years ago, Harriet’s parents, Arthur and Lilian Listerwell, had attended a picnic at Albrecht Park and drowned while boating. Harriet, who had preferred to play with her friends instead of going on the boat, survived, but she often wondered if becoming an orphan was really better than dying with her parents.

Alfonso continued, his expression full of regret.

“At that time, Viscount Listerwell and his wife had their accident in the middle of Lake Tassia. It’s a deep and dangerous part of the lake where no one usually goes.”

Even recalling the event was painful.

Like everyone else, Harriet’s parents had rented a boat from the dock to enjoy some time on the lake with their siblings.

But about an hour later, John came running and shouting at the top of his lungs.

“Someone help! My brother has fallen into the water! He’s fallen in!”

At that moment, Harriet had thought that people would quickly rescue her parents.

She even vividly remembered how her only concern at the time was hoping her mom and dad wouldn’t catch a cold.

But all the people could recover was one of her mother’s shoes and her father’s hat.

“When we arrived, the boat and the Listerwell couple had already sunk completely.”

Harriet had been in shock, unable to believe what was happening, while her uncle had screamed and wailed like a madman beside her.

Their bodies were found a week later, on the other side of Lake Tassia in Saint Antoine Park, which shares the lake.

It was considered too cruel to show a child waterlogged corpses, so Harriet wasn’t allowed to see her parents even when they were being placed in their coffins.

“Why are you telling me this now?”

Harriet barely managed to pull herself together and ask, and Alfonso lifted his head to look at her.

“When Viscount Listerwell and his wife fell into the water, my wife and I were nearby. Not too close, but near the boundary where the water starts to get deeper.”

Harriet’s eyes widened.

But his confession didn’t end there.

“The people who were even closer to them than us were your uncle, John Listerwell, and his wife. And when the viscount’s and his wife’s boat started having trouble and they began sinking, your uncle steered his boat in the opposite direction.”

“What? The opposite direction…?”

“Instead of heading toward the viscount and his wife, he steered toward the shore.”

“That can’t be…!”

Back then, John had said he’d been resting by the shore with his wife. He claimed that as soon as he saw his brother and sister-in-law struggling in the water from a distance, he rushed over, not understanding why his brother had taken the boat so far into the middle of the lake.

Alfonso let out a long sigh.

“I rowed as fast as I could, but I wasn’t able to reach them before they sank. I was 62 at the time, so it was difficult. But I swear, I gave it my all. Though I suppose to you, it may sound like an excuse.”

“No, no, that’s not it.”

Harriet wasn’t concerned about what Alfonso had done.

“What you’re saying is that you believe my uncle deliberately moved away from them?”

“I’m sorry to put it this way, but yes, it looked like he intentionally didn’t try to save them.”

Alfonso recalled the image of Arthur Listerwell desperately calling for his brother.

“John! Water is leaking into the boat! Help us!”

“John! John! Don’t leave! At least save Lillian!”

Arthur’s desperate voice, shouting until his throat was sore, had clearly reached Alfonso’s ears, even though Alfonso had been further away than John.

But John acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing, rowing hard while only looking toward the shore.

His wife, Miriam, also turned her head in the same direction as her husband, as if they had planned it.

Because of this, they didn’t realize that Alfonso had witnessed the whole scene.

“Then why didn’t you say anything at the time? Why have you stayed silent until now?”

Harriet’s voice was filled with accusation, and Alfonso wiped his bald forehead as if he were wiping sweat.

“I struggled with it. I questioned whether we had really seen things clearly, whether there might have been some other explanation. And at the time, John Listerwell seemed so heartbroken, and everyone was comforting him.”

Harriet understood what he meant. Even she had thought that her uncle seemed more devastated by her parents’ deaths than she was.

“So, I stayed silent. I thought if I spoke up recklessly, we might be the ones who were criticized. I tried to convince myself that I must have been mistaken and tried to forget about it.”

When Alfonso heard that John had taken Harriet in and was raising her, he thought he must have misunderstood John. When Harriet gained a bad reputation as a troublemaker, he simply pitied her, thinking she was struggling because she had lost her parents.

But when he heard that John had not only sent Harriet to a convent for a year but had also ended his guardianship over her, a strong intuition struck Alfonso’s mind.

“I don’t want to believe that your uncle intentionally damaged the boat. But I do suspect that when your parents were on the verge of death, he decided to take over the family. Cutting off his guardianship of you after leaving you at the convent… that seems like the final step of his plan.”

Even though the law allowing women to inherit titles and property had passed two years before the accident, it still required the head of the family’s will. That’s why Harriet couldn’t inherit her father’s title.

However, there had been a growing number of court rulings recently that allowed the daughters of deceased heads of households to inherit a dowry if they were unmarried. But Harriet had a problem: she needed money to file such a lawsuit.

And if she chose to become a nun, she would lose any right to claim anything from the Listerwell family, as becoming a member of the religious orders meant severing ties with her family.

“Not only did he ignore his brother and sister-in-law as they were dying, but he also drove you to a point where you can’t even get married and forced you out. How despicable.”

“From my uncle’s point of view, it was a smart move.”

The unexpected opportunity to inherit the title.

Knowing John, Harriet realized there was no way her uncle would have missed or ignored that opportunity.

“I’m sorry to have brought you such tragic news. But I felt I had to tell you before I died.”

The old man’s confession, full of regret, came to an end.

Only after hearing everything did Harriet realize something she hadn’t thought of before.

‘Why didn’t I ever think it was strange that my parents went all the way to the middle of the lake?’

They had gone boating many times before the accident, but her parents had never gone into the dangerous part of the lake.

But Alfonso had said that John and Miriam were near them.

‘What if my uncle persuaded my parents to go there?’

If he had even lied about not being there, it meant he knew the truth would make him look guilty.

And if he had really persuaded them to go there, it meant he knew the boat would sink.

‘As unbelievable as it seems… everything lines up too perfectly for it to be just a coincidence.’

Even if it hadn’t been a premeditated murder, the fact remained that John had left Arthur and Lillian to die in the water.

A fiery anger burned in Harriet’s chest, but at the same time, she felt relieved that she had found out the truth, even now.

What if she had never known?

Her foolish self might have forgiven her uncle one day, convincing herself that she should be grateful he raised her until she became an adult.

“Thank you.”

Harriet bowed her head to Alfonso.

“You could have kept silent, but you came all the way here…”

Her voice choked with emotion, and she couldn’t finish her sentence. In front of her, Alfonso pulled out a white envelope and held it out to her.

“It’s not much, but I hope it will help you in standing on your own.”

“Oh, no, Baron! You don’t need to do this!”

“One reason I stayed silent all this time was certainly to protect myself. Because of that, I’ve been deeply troubled for days, knowing what has happened to you.”

He firmly placed the envelope in Harriet’s hand.

“Please take it. It’s my apology for my cowardice. I’m truly sorry it isn’t much.”

Harriet, seeing the old man bowing his head even deeper in apology, finally let her tears fall.

She was grateful and sorry.

But at the same time, she was seething with rage.

‘The one who should be bowing and apologizing to me is someone else!’