PAINTED AS THE VILLAIN

Felicia was smirking as Olivia helped her to tie her sleepwear. Everything was still not chaotic unlike what she had thought earlier. She thought that they would start fidgeting since their beloved little Miss is lost.

Olivia was patiently combing out her fiery red hair. The Duke's hair is red too but it's nothing comparable with Felicia's bright red hair that it seems like she was walking with fire glistening in her head.

Everything seems very peaceful when someone knocks on the door. Felicia and Olivia both turned their heads at the door. Olivia had fear in his eyes but as soon as Felicia looked over her, the emotion disappeared from her eyes.

Felicia told her earlier that showing fear will make the enemy feel like it's her win. She taught Olivia how to control her emotions, as well as to manipulate her expressions just so she won't become weak.

"Speak of the devil. Seems like someone has found her now." Felicia muttered to herself and smiled before leaving her weary smile on her face.

"Come in," Felicia commanded while Olivia went back to brushing her hair. It was a maid with two knights just beside her. The maid was looking at her like she was a pitiful being that could easily be stomped.

Those eyes didn't let Felicia falter her emotions and instead welcomed them with a sweet smile. "What is the reason as to why you disturbed me?" She asked as Felicia turned her head to look at the vanity mirror, examining herself.

"I was tasked to bring you to the Duke's office. The Duke requires your presence as you have been the primary suspect of locking Lady Helena in an abandoned room." The maid said, looking at her as if her eyes spoke that she was an insignificant fool.

"Oh... Oh dear, am I accused again?" Felicia said, acting pitifully as she displayed an act of surprise expression across her face. "I was also commanded to bring your maid. As she too was accused of being your accomplice." The maid added.

"Seems like they won't let me breathe then. Shall we go and face these baseless accusations, Olivia?" Felicia asked, looking at Olivia through the reflection and smiling at her. Olivia then nodded her head and curtsy to her demand.

Felicia then stood up from where she was sitting and faced these despicable human beings in front of her, not breaking the sweet smile she plastered into her lips. Baseless accusations my ass, she really did it.

"Shall we go now? Please lead the way." Felicia said, letting them walk first.

"Please, you might attempt to run away. You're not dumb anyways to figure out where the Duke's room is." The maid said with a stupified mocking expression on her face that made Felicia's face irk.

'Please let me not slap her right in her face.' Felicia said as she sighed and started to walk past the knights and the maids who were assigned to bring her towards the Duke's office. If she were to return with her body still intact, she'd demand that these creatures should be sold for silvers and let them suffer.

It didn't take long for Felicia to arrive at the Duke's office. A murderous aura was spreading outside of the office as if it were waiting for her to kill her. Yet she didn't feel scared, more like she wanted this to rise.

After all, it's easy to break a family's harmony by inflicting conflicts and issues.

The door opened, pushed by the knights, making her step into the room with Olivia. She could feel that Olivia was shaking in fear yet her face remained indignant, nonchalant as if anything didn't bother her at all.

Felicia's eyes landed on Helena who was crying, filled with dust as she cried into Tyren's arms pitifully. Her golden hair was scattered, looking like she was abandoned yet it didn't make her show care towards that sneaky brat.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting you, Your Grace?" Felicia asked as she performed a curtsy in front of the Duke who was shooting her daggers with how dark his expression was.

"Tell me, Felicia. Why do you hate Helena so bad that you even locked her in an abandoned room?" The Duke asked with a cold voice, enough to send everyone chills except for Felicia who stood still without even batting her eyelashes.

"So am I being accused of bad conduct yet again?" She asked, chuckling as she watched the Grand Duke's expression getting even more cold as he watched her acting as if she wasn't affected.

"Accused?! Say that again! You locked my darling in an abandoned room and it's not an accusation anymore! Everything is real! Why do you hate us so much, Felicia? We didn't even do anything to you!" Tyren said, wiping her fake tears as she comforted Helena who was still crying pitifully.

"Have some shame, Felicia! Your arrogance is too much to handle! Your bad temperament is wrecking this house's harmony! We shouldn't have let you come back here! You deserve far more cruelty for what you did to Helena! How could you hurt such an innocent being?!" Alexander shouted at her, as usual protecting his adopted sister.

The Duke then observed Felicia's expression, waiting for her to burst into tears after lots of reprimanding. But what made the Duke shocked was how Felicia remained collected despite the accusations being thrown at her.

"First of all, Lady Tyren, eldest Brother, I am completely innocent—"

"Liar! You locked me in that room! You grabbed my arm and pulled me in that dark room and with your maid, you locked me inside while laughing at me! How could you do this to me, sister? I-I didn't even do anything wrong for me to receive your wrath..."Helena cried, looking at her with eyes expressing how sad she was because of what Felicia did.

'Please... Calm me before I can even light this room with fire. I'm here for the entertainment, not for some pain in my ass.' She thought to herself again and sighed, she wouldn't be able to speak up if she got cut off rudely.

"Hmm... May I ask something, Grand Duke?" Felicia asked as she turned her head towards the Grand Duke who showed no emotions while his eyes trailer Felicia. Tyren and Alexander glared at her. What nonsense is she going to spit once again?!

"Are you trying to shift the topic, huh Felicia?! It's clear now! The fact that Helena saw you locked her up is already valid!" Alexander yelled once again. All of a sudden, the Duke's ashtray suddenly flew into Alexander's position. The Duke had enough of his shouting.

"Who are you to decide such a decision, are you the Duke?!" The Duke roared towards Alexander who was looking down, cowering in fear. "And you, Felicia! It's not been too long since your arrival here but you're already causing mayhem in my castle! You keep on bullying your sister! I had enough with your nonsense!" The Duke added, reprimanding Felicia.

"Your Grace, we haven't even fixed the issues yet but you are already painting me as the villain here. Let me ask you this, Your Grace. Was there anyone who saw me locking her up?" She asked, without getting annoyed over this biased man.

"Why are you still defending yourself, Felicia?! Helena had already witnessed that it was you who locked her up! Your Grace, Helena is an honest girl, she wouldn't lie. Plus Felicia has been bullying her ever since she came here!" Tyren said, pointing her finger towards Felicia who sighed.

"But your Grace, if there are no other witnesses who saw that I was the one locking her up, it's a false accusation, created to impeach my name. Like what happened days ago with the Marquis Liam who denied Helena's accusation. Even maids stationed inside the greenhouse were witnesses that didn't even see me bullying Helena." She said proudly.

"Why are you trying to bring the past back?! It's irrelevant! Your Grace, please kick her out! She will only destroy our reputation if she keeps this personality of hers! Such a wild girl is not acceptable!" The Duchess Tyren replied, not wanting Felicia to overthrow the stake.

"With all due respect, Madame. I wasn't trying to bring back the past, rather I was recalling the situation where Helena falsely accused me of embarrassing her in front of the Marquis when it was her actions and words that embarrassed her alone. Even your son cannot distinguish what's the difference between right and wrong conduct." Felicia said with a sly smirk across her face.

"Shut up! That's different! This time you locked Helena! She's the sole witness!" Alexander said as he kept on defending Helena who was only crying at the side, trying to get everyone's sympathy.

"That alone is a refutable claim. Alright since it came out like this, why don't you all search for me and my maid Olivia? Didn't these people you sent Your Grace are trusted? So why not let them search in my room if there's anything that can conclude their accusation is right after all? For example, examining our room and our body." Felicia said, raising both of her hands in defeat.

"Search them. You two! Search her room now! Report to me if there's something suspicious!" The Grand Duke said, ordering the people who fetched Felicia to search for something that could prove their accusations right.

Helena watched the scene happening in front of her. She smiled secretly knowing that the key was in Olivia's pocket therefore it would strongly favor her and would even make Felicia suffer.

Noticing that Felicia was staring at her while the maid continued to search her body, Helena immediately wiped the smile off her lips and turned her head away from Felicia who was staring at her.

"What are you staring at?!" Alexander asked, blocking Helena away from Felicia's piercing stare. Felicia who then looked at Alexander smiled softly and shook her head, chuckling in response to which Alexander felt very mocked.

"There's none." The maid said as she had checked Felicia's body. The maid then moved on to Olivia, checking her body out. Helena waited for the moment that Olivia would beg for the Duke's mercy and betray Felicia. She couldn't stop herself from grinning as her eyes twinkled in excitement.

'Felicia... How does it feel getting karma?' Helena thought to herself as she really couldn't hide the happiness inside her. But those emotions suddenly vanished when the maid denied that there was something suspicious in their body.

"There's none." The knights who returned from inspecting Olivia and Felicia's room returned and found nothing. This made Helena furious, immediately turned her head and unconsciously screamed at them.

"THIS CAN'T BE!" She shouted that it made everyone frown because of her sudden outbursts of madness. Helena was then taken aback by what she had just said right now, getting scared all of a sudden.

Meanwhile, Felicia was smiling in her head. She could show how smug she looked right now, it would've triggered Helena more. The poor woman threw herself into the fire rather than putting out the fire that she started. Instead, she added fuel even more.

"Oh no, Helena..." Felicia thought while chuckling inside her. It seems that the wolf in sheep's clothing is slowly revealing her fangs.