—
By two thirty the entire ground floor had been searched.
No necklace.
The staff moved upstairs.
By three o'clock seven rooms had been checked.
No necklace.
Yunjinna was in the sitting room with her friends, looking appropriately concerned, offering to help, being gently told by her mother that it was fine, the staff would handle it.
Yun Jiao sat in the corner of the sitting room with a book open in her lap.
She had not offered to help.
She had not looked worried.
She was reading — or appeared to be reading — with the peaceful concentration of someone who had nothing on her conscience and nothing to hide.
Mengqi glanced at her.
Looked away.
Looked back.
There was something about the way that girl was sitting there.
Too calm. Too unbothered. Like someone waiting for a bus they knew was coming.
Strange.
She kept it at the back of her mind and said nothing.
—
At three fourteen a maid knocked on the sitting room door.
"Madam." Her voice was careful.
"We found it."
Ruan Suyin stood immediately.
"Where?"
A pause.
"In Miss Yun Jiao's wardrobe."
The sitting room went very quiet.
Yunjinna's face crumpled immediately into shock. Hand flying to her mouth. Eyes going wide and wet.
"What—" she breathed.
"No. No, that can't be—"
Ruan Suyin looked across the room at Yun Jiao.
Yun Jiao looked up from her book.
Her expression blank.
Like someone who had just heard something mildly interesting on the news.
Mengqi and Lulu and Xinyi were all staring at her.
No one said anything for three full seconds.
Then Yunjinna made a sound. A broken, disbelieving little sound, eyes filling with actual tears, the complete deluxe package of a girl who was heartbroken and horrified and couldn't believe this was happening.
"I— I'm sure there's an explanation," she said, voice trembling. "Jiao Jiao wouldn't— she's family, she wouldn't—"
"Of course there's an explanation," Yun Jiao said pleasantly.
Everyone looked at her.
She closed her book. Set it on the side table. Folded her hands in her lap.
"Shall we find out what it is?"
——
Yunting had been pulled from his study by Butler Ye at three twenty.
He did not enjoy being pulled from his study.
He stood in the sitting room doorway and looked at the assembled cast — his wife, his two daughters, three girls he didn't know, several staff members — and said nothing.
Butler Ye stood slightly behind him. Silent.
Yunting looked at Yun Jiao.
She looked back.
He looked at Yunjinna.
She was still crying. Soft, dignified tears. The kind that didn't ruin your makeup.
He looked at Ruan Suyin.
Her expression was pained. Conflicted. Deeply, convincingly sad.
He looked back at Yun Jiao.
She looked completely unbothered.
Which was, he thought, either the look of someone innocent or someone very, very good.
He hadn't decided which yet. "Someone explain," he said flatly.
—
She let Yunjinna go first.
Yunjinna explained. Tearfully. Beautifully.
The necklace she'd seen on her mother's dresser that morning.
How she'd noticed it missing.
How she'd never have imagined — never in a million years — that her own sister—She stopped herself.
Pressed her lips together.
"I'm sure it was a misunderstanding," she said with great, wobbling generosity.
"She's new. Maybe she just — liked it. Maybe she didn't realize—"
"I didn't take it," Yun Jiao said. Calm. Clear. No heat in it.
"Then how did it get in your wardrobe?" Ruan Suyin asked softly.
Every head turned to Yun Jiao.
She looked around the room. The staff. Mengqi and Lulu and Xinyi. Yunting in the doorway. Butler Ye behind him.
She took her time.
"That's a good question, Auntie," she said.
"Let's think about it logically." She tilted her head.
"The necklace was last seen on your dresser this morning. I was at breakfast from eight until twelve thirty and multiple people can confirm that."
She paused.
"I went from breakfast directly to the garden. Chef Zhou saw me leave and come back. I didn't go upstairs until after lunch."
Another pause.
"So the only time the necklace could have been placed in my wardrobe was during lunch."
Silence.
"When I was downstairs," she finished pleasantly.
"With everyone."
The sitting room was very, very quiet.
"Anyone could have put it there,"
Yunjinna said quickly. "That doesn't prove—"
"Hawk," Yun Jiao said.
Everyone blinked.
She reached into her pocket and set a small device on the coffee table.
"My personal security assistant," she said.
"I set it up yesterday when I arrived." She looked around the room with wide, clear eyes.
"I hope that's alright — I was alone in a new place and I wanted to feel safe. I hope no one minds."
Nobody said anything.
"Hawk," she said to the device.
"East wing corridor camera. Twelve thirty to twelve forty."
The device projected a small screen.
Footage.
Twelve thirty-two PM.
Yunjinna walking down the east wing corridor.
Entering Yun Jiao's room.
Exiting seven minutes later.
The timestamp was clear.
The face was clear.
Nobody moved.
Yunjinna had gone completely white.
Not the dramatic white of someone shocked. The real white. The colour that happened when blood left a face because the body had received very bad news and was processing it.
Mengqi made a small gasp sound.
Lulu had her hand over her mouth.
Xinyi was staring at the floor.
Ruan Suyin—Ruan Suyin's face was slightly shaken, her hand, resting on the armrest of her chair, had gripped it just a little too tightly.
Yunting looked at the footage.
Looked at Yunjinna.
Said nothing.
His jaw was tight.
Yun Jiao reached over and picked up Hawk from the coffee table.
"I'm sure Sister had a reason for going to my room," she said softly, with all the warm generosity of a girl choosing forgiveness over confrontation.
"Maybe she was just curious. It's fine, really. I don't want to make things awkward. We're family." She smiled at Yunjinna.
It was the most beautiful and innocent smile in the room like a girl not knowing what was happening.
It was also, somehow, the most devastating.
Because it left Yunjinna with absolutely nothing to grab hold of.
She couldn't deny the footage.
She couldn't claim innocence.
And she couldn't even be angry at Yun Jiao directly because the girl was standing there being generous and forgiving and making Yunjinna look worse with every gracious word.
Mengqi was looking at Yunjinna with an expression that sat somewhere between discomfort and disbelief.
Lulu had quietly put her phone face-down on her knee.
The staff were all looking at the floor.
Butler Ye was looking at nothing in particular and seeing everything.
And Yunting—Yunting looked at Yunjinna for a long, quiet moment.
Then he looked at Yun Jiao.
Then he turned and walked back to his study without a word.
Which, from Yunting, was the loudest thing he could have done.