Maylily - Chapter 34

“Um, Maylily…”

Peeking her head through the door after a knock was none other than Kate.

“Are you busy right now?”

Other than when they ran into each other in the dressing room, this was the first time she had ever spoken to her privately. Slightly taken aback, Maylily opened her mouth.

“Not really… Is something the matter?”

“It’s nothing big, but Vanessa says she wants to talk with you for a moment in the garden.”

“In the garden?”

If that was the reason, she could’ve just come here herself. Tilting her head at the sudden suggestion to meet in the garden, Maylily looked puzzled, and Kate let out a small sigh.

“So you haven’t heard yet.”

It’s not really my place to say this… Looking troubled, Kate continued.

“Vanessa says she wants to apologize to you, so please hear her out. It’ll only take a moment, all right?”

If that was the reason…

After a brief hesitation, Maylily nodded. “Yes, I’ll go now.”

***

No matter how much she thought about it, there was only one solution to escape this nightmare.

Apologize to Maylily and beg for leniency.

Even thinking of it made Vanessa feel as though her pride would kill her. But in truth, even if her pride were shattered to pieces and ground to dust, she wouldn’t die.

So it wasn’t impossible.

On the other hand, she had not entirely dismissed the idea of finding a new patron, as Martin had advised. But where on earth was she supposed to find someone willing to hand her such a large sum of money right now?

In the end, the quickest way back to the stage was to borrow Maylily’s strength and gain forgiveness from her patron. It was Maylily who had driven her from the stage, so it was only natural, Vanessa thought, that Maylily would be the one to return her to it.

That was why, despite Martin’s stern warning to stay away from the theater for the time being, she had come to see Maylily. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to step inside the building, so she chose the deserted garden as their meeting place.

As time passed with no word after Kate went in to fetch Maylily, Vanessa grew more and more anxious.

Surely that country bumpkin didn’t refuse to meet me?

As she bit her nails and wandered the garden restlessly, faint footsteps sounded from the back entrance.

Stopping and turning her head, Vanessa saw Maylily walking out into the corridor. In that instant, the rage she thought had been washed away with the dawn rain flared up again like wildfire and consumed her.

Why…

Why do you still shine?

I sullied my hands and lips mercilessly to ruin you, so why am I the only one left in this state?

As Maylily descended the steps of the corridor and approached her, her face showed nothing but a trace of tension. To Vanessa, it felt like mockery.

“I heard from Kate…”

Smack.

At the sound of the voice she’d always loathed, Vanessa lost her reason in an instant. She slapped Maylily hard across the face and screamed.

“How does it feel to have ruined someone’s life? Does it make you laugh, feeling so satisfied?”

“You said you wanted to apologize, so what is this…”

Clutching her stinging cheek with her hand, Maylily looked at Vanessa with tear-filled eyes. That face, as if to say she had nothing to do with this mudslinging fight, only enraged Vanessa further.

“You drove me off the stage! Did you think I wouldn’t know you whispered behind my back to your patron about me?”

“…You were driven off the stage?”

Startled by the news she was hearing for the first time, Maylily’s eyes widened. But even that looked like shameless hypocrisy to Vanessa.

“I went to a far better school than you and was always recognized as the best. Even after joining the Roden Opera Company, I never once stopped grinding myself to the bone, so why should I be treated like this? Why should I, because of the likes of you, suffer this wretched humiliation? Why!”

Unable to control her anger, Vanessa shook her head wildly like a madwoman. Suddenly dizzy, she collapsed to the ground. Wailing, she suddenly crawled on hands and knees and clutched at Maylily’s skirt.

“I can’t go out like this. I poured everything I had into this, so I have to succeed here! So you have to help me, Maylily. You have to take responsibility for what you’ve done to me. Put me back where I belong!”

Her sky-blue skirt, smeared green from the wet lawn, was in tatters. Her tear-streaked face looked gaunt, as though she had not slept a wink all night.

Even for Maylily, who couldn’t bring herself to feel any goodwill toward Vanessa, even in empty words, witnessing Vanessa collapse in despair was not a pleasant thing. She had never wished to drag her down from the stage by borrowing someone else’s power.

Did the Count of Everscourt truly intervene?

If so, then perhaps Vanessa’s words—that Maylily must take responsibility for this—were not entirely wrong.

But even so, she had no intention of overlooking the wrongs Vanessa had committed until now. She no longer wanted to be a trivial, laughable existence to others.

Having resolved her heart, Maylily spoke firmly to Vanessa, who glared up at her with eyes lifted.

“Apologize.”

“…What?”

Vanessa scowled as though she had heard something absurd, but Maylily didn’t waver.

“If you sincerely apologize for having insulted me and my family, and for raising your hand against me, then I will help you.”

Seeing Maylily demanding so confidently, as though she were someone of worth, Vanessa let out a hollow laugh. Though she had come here intending to apologize, being compelled to do so was an entirely different matter. It twisted her insides.

Looking up at Maylily, who held her neck straight and looked down at her, Vanessa realized she could never endure the humiliation of bowing her head in apology to such a petty country bumpkin.

Wiping the tears smeared across her face, Vanessa glared up at Maylily fiercely.

“Why should I? Was anything I said wrong? You prostituted yourself, didn’t you? And I hit you because you first sneered and mocked me.”

At Vanessa’s brazen lies, Maylily’s face froze in shock. Words could not reach her.

“If that is what you think… then what happened to you is only your own words and actions returned to you as they are, so I have no reason to help you. I’ll be going back inside now.”

Turning away mercilessly, Maylily walked into the building. Vanessa screamed at her back until the veins bulged on her neck.

“Hey, stop right there! Are you not afraid of what comes after? You’ll regret this. I’ll make sure you do!”

Even as that shrieking echoed from behind, Maylily did not turn back once.

That worthless country bumpkin, who once could not even talk back properly, now flaunting such arrogance with a patron at her back. Rage and injustice made the blood in her body boil in reverse.

How dare you…

I’ll never forgive you! I will repay this humiliation without fail.

Her bloodshot eyes glared with a venomous glint as she ground the grass harshly in her fist until the green sap dripped through her fingers.

***

The sky was clear, and the moon shone especially bright that night.

After finishing her work and leaving the theater, Maylily unconsciously looked up at the moon in the night sky and let out a long sigh. The stage she had stood on after so long had, as always, thrilled her heart, but the day had been too hectic to fully savor the joy of her return.

“I think we were too rude to you…”

Just as her unsettled heart, stirred by the commotion with Vanessa, was beginning to calm, Seth and Nathan came to her and apologized for their unpleasant harassment the other day.

“We’re sorry for being swept up in rumors, misunderstanding you, and shaming you.”

“Though it shouldn’t happen again, if anyone dares spout such nonsense, we’ll be the first to shut their mouths.”

“We’re truly sorry. Could you forgive us just this once?”

Director Fritz had announced to the members that any actions disrupting unity and discipline in the opera company would be severely punished. His decision to expel Vanessa from the stage was accepted as part of that policy.

When Seth and Nathan came to her after the uproar, Maylily naturally expected that their apology carried intentions beyond pure remorse. Even so, as their bow of apology was sincere, she accepted it.

Looking back on the changes she had faced in the opera company during the day she returned after a week’s absence, it wasn’t hard to guess who stood at the center of it all.

The Count of Everscourt.

How much did that man know, and how far had he intervened?

It was not curiosity but unease. That the Count might have seen straight through her pitiful, miserable state in the opera company. That he might be disappointed in her.

And so, if he were to change his mind even now and cancel his patronage, that would truly be a blessing. Yet still, she hated the thought of ending in such a pitiful way.