THE MOTHER.

Yvette wasn't planning on staying long, not after she had already done what she needed to do, but then she spotted a familiar head of blonde hair and couldn't resist going over to check what was going on.

When she walked up to talk to Simon, she noticed that his head was turned, as if he was listening in on something. So she stopped to listen to, and realised Leon and Louise were on the other side of the pillar, discussing something.

Yvette didn't care to hear what they were saying though, so she poked Simon's chest to get his attention.

He whipped his head in her direction in surprise.

Yvette opened her mouth, about to speak, but before she could, Simon took hold of her hand and dragged her all the way over to the open balcony before shutting the doors. Amused, she let him do as he wanted, and then smiled when he looked at her again with slightly red cheeks.

"What do you want?" He asked.

He had a rough way of talking, a little bit like Leon, but Yvette sensed more respect in his tone. He wasn't speaking this way out of arrogance, it seemed he was just a bit clumsy when it came to talking to people.

"Nothing." Yvette replied. "I just wanted to talk to you."

Simon looked at her as if she was crazy. "You... want to talk to me?"

"Yes. Is that so hard to believe?"

He frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Everyone says it's impossible to talk to me. Girls usually don't even try."

Yvette laughed. "We're talking right now, aren't we?"

Simon blinked, as if just realising that they were technically having a conversation. "Really?"

"Yes. I don't see what the big deal is. I can understand you just fine."

Yvette understood why people told him he was hard to talk to, though. He was just honest in a way that was hard to stomach for most people. Even though Leon also spoke in a straightforward way he was likely not as honest as Simon was. But Simon seemed to just voice every thought he had. Naturally, people ended up wary of what he'd say to them, as he likely wouldn't hold back on his negative opinions.

"You're strange." Simon said eventually.

Yes. Yvette could understand why girls probably wouldn't like to talk to Simon very much.

Yvette knew he didn't mean it as an insult though, so she just smiled. "You're strange too."

For some reason Simon started blushing, and the tips of his ears went red again. "You... what's your name?"

"Yvette Decaux."

The blush seemed to disappear instantly, and Simon looked at her quizzically. "But you're not ugly."

A startled laugh escaped Yvette's throat. Simon seemed so genuinely confused as to why Yvette seemed so different from the rumours, whereas everyone else seemed to just roll with it, carefully making sure not to bring up the subject of her rumours to her.

"So you think I'm pretty?"

Simon nodded. "You're the prettiest woman I've ever met."

This time it was Yvette's turn to be a bit flustered. While she knew Simon was honest, she didn't expect to receive such a straight forward compliment paired with that stoic face of his.

Their moment was unfortunately interrupted by the appearance of Leon and Louise. Apparently they were hoping to continue their conversation in a more private place, only to find Yvette and Simon.

There was still a bit of a flush on Simon's cheeks, and Yvette's own were now a pretty pink too, so the atmosphere was... well... impossible to misinterpret.

Louise looked at them and then widened her eyes slightly. There was a look on her face that seemed to suggest she had an 'aha' moment, as if she realised this was why Yvette wasn't interested in Leon. Yvette would clarify that she wouldn't be interested in Leon regardless, but then she noticed the look in Leon's eyes.

He seemed furious. It took Yvette by surprise. She didn't think he would have any reason to be angry. It wasn't like at this point in time he felt anything for Yvette, so was this just about Simon?

Was the relationship between the two brothers just... bad?

Deciding that Yvette had really overstayed her welcome, she excused herself and then immediately left, pondering the murderous expression on Leon's face the whole way home.

When she arrived in the manor, there was an odd silence surrounding the house.

Matthias came forward to greet her, and had answers for the questions she hadn't asked yet.

It turned out that they had already found Adele. More specifically, they found her dead. Just a couple hours ago they got news from the people at Earl Marchand's mansion that he was found dead along with Adele.

What happened was, once he bought her and brought her to his estate, rather than use her for anything he just locked her up. He had other younger women to toy with after all, he didn't bother wasting his time with someone age appropriate. But while he left Adele alone, she managed to find something sharp and broke free of her constraints, managing to sneak her way through his house.

Someone caught her while she was walking through the kitchen, though, so, she panicked and grabbed a knife, threatening them to let her leave. But at that point the earl came to check on the commotion, and tried to stop Adele himself, thinking that he would surely be able to overpower a weak woman like her. He was still drunk, however, and so Adele was easily able to dodge his attempts to grab her and managed to stab him in the back.

Unfortunately, by the time she stabbed him, the knights had already been called, and upon seeing her attack the earl, they responded in turn by killing her.

Claude, after having been contacted by someone who worked for the earl and recognised her, quickly sent people to clean the scene up and bring his wife's body back.

The official story, to the public, was that Earl Marchand had finally died after consuming too much alcohol. The fact that he was stabbed did not get released to anyone outside of the earl's staff and the people of Decaux manor.

As for Adele, for the time being Claude would not announce the news of her death, lest they connect it to Earl Marchand's death somehow. But Yvette knew that within the next few days Claude would probably announce that Adele had suffered some sort of tragic fatal accident.

She smiled to herself. Her plans couldn't have worked any better!