While the village was still buzzing about Christmas, Celia quietly launched a truly wicked and unstoppable “paperwork front”: she forged Moira’s signature on bills for huge turkey orders, making Moira the scapegoat for a shady business deal.

Initially, Moira was wary of Celia, as everyone could see that she spoke sweetly but had a calculating look in her eyes.

However, Moira was preoccupied with the farm, money, and responsibilities, so a moment of carelessness was enough for Celia to slip through the cracks.

When Moira finally found the evidence, her first feeling wasn’t fear, but humiliation: “You dare use me as a shield for your crime?”

And Moira wasn’t one to swallow her anger. She dragged Celia out for a public confrontation, choosing the pub as the perfect stage to expose her, because Moira knew that if she spoke quietly in a corner, Celia would just keep making excuses, and if she spoke in front of everyone, Celia would have a hard time backing down. But Celia was a master of psychological manipulation: she kept denying, downplaying, and trying to make Moira seem like she was causing trouble for no reason.

Moira exploded at that point, and the slap came as a lightning strike, not because Moira wanted to win, but because Moira wanted to put an end to Celia’s contempt for others immediately. A slap that seemed like relief, but actually opened the door to war, because Celia, humiliated in front of a crowd, would seek revenge relentlessly. From that moment on, Moira was no longer investigating a fraud case, but entering a power struggle where Celia had a network and a habit of using others as scapegoats.