“Young Lady Henea was here too. I always thought something was wrong because she always refused invitations, but I didn’t expect to see her here.”

Karan seemed to have changed her target to Henea, speaking to her in a mocking tone.

Ibnel could sense the contempt for Henea in those words. So her mood, which had improved upon meeting Henea, plummeted again.

‘So this is how it is.’

She now understood a little why Henea had been surprised by her words before. Forcing Henea to fit their standards, there was no way they could appreciate her true worth.

Henea was either used to this situation or completely uninterested, simply listening quietly.

“I see you’ve become close with Young Lady Ibnel. Well, you suit each other.”

Realizing it was not a compliment but words with a negative meaning, Ibnel was about to flare up when Henea broke her silence and spoke.

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“Pardon?”

As she readily accepted what wasn’t meant as a compliment, it was Karan who looked flustered instead. Henea, on the other hand, stared directly at her with her characteristically stoic gaze.

“That I suit Young Lady Ibnel. It’s a compliment to me. And being busy wasn’t an excuse, it was the truth. I had many things to do. But now that I think about it, I suppose it was an excuse. I had a choice, but I chose work over those gatherings.”

Karan’s neck flushed red with shame at the implication that she had refused because she disliked it. She couldn’t find words to respond, as Henea had never counterattacked like this before.

Ibnel suppressed a laugh at the situation. Henea was firmly putting the other person in their place with just her words, without any change in expression. She was a much stronger person than she appeared on the surface.

“I’m glad too. That I seem close with Young Lady Henea. It’s what I’ve been hoping for.”

As Ibnel agreed with her words, a slight smile spread across Henea’s face. It was reassuring to see her boldly taking her side.

“As you can see, I have a lot to talk about with Young Lady Henea. If the greetings are over, perhaps you should be on your way?”

Karan’s eyes flashed with anger at the tone suggesting she should leave if she had nothing useful to say. She had no intention of quietly retreating after suffering such humiliation again.

‘Anyway, your bravado ends here.’

Remembering that Ibnel was at a complete numerical disadvantage, Karan smiled leisurely.

“I felt it then too, but you’re really shameless.”

“What did you just say?”

“I said you’re shameless. Where do you think you are, standing here? Don’t you feel people’s gazes?”

Ibnel couldn’t help but know. Those gazes full of contempt and disdain, and those voices busy tearing her down. She had just been pretending not to notice.

“If you’ve just managed to keep your life, you should at least stay quiet. Surely you haven’t forgotten that you’re a person of Aodin?”

“No, I’ve never forgotten. Not even once.”

She herself was the one struggling the most not to forget that fact. So she knew well enough without being told so pointedly.

Karan didn’t hide her sneer even at the ready admission.

“Your words and actions don’t match. If you know that, why are you here? Could it be that you came to cause trouble because your circumstances are different from Lord Davian’s despite having the same ability? To prevent others from having what you can’t have?”

“I’m not such a petty person like you, Young Lady. And as I said before, I’m not that idle either.”

“Then why did you come to this banquet?”

“That’s…”

At that moment, Ibnel recalled Shuher’s face, who had first suggested she attend the banquet. What situation would unfold if she said he was the one who told her to attend?

‘First, they would doubt it. And then.’

Her gaze soon turned to Shuher, who was in the midst of people far away. If she said the emperor had personally invited someone from Aodin, what kind of looks would he receive, and what words would he hear?

“Why can’t you answer?”

After a moment of silence, Ibnel finally gave an answer to that question.

“It’s for Davian. I was worried since this is his first time at such an event.”

It wasn’t a complete lie. That was certainly one of the reasons she came here.

At that moment, Karan showed a smile as if it was absurd. Ibnel’s eyes also sank at the sight.

“Why are you laughing?”

“No, it’s just funny to hear words of concern for Lord Davian coming from your mouth.”

“So what exactly is,”

“Isn’t it inappropriate for the person who pushed Lord Davian into danger to say such things?”

To Karan’s eyes, every word from Ibnel was just detestable. Beyond shameless, she was a person wrapped in pretense. Add to that the fact that she was a person of Aodin, and there was no way to view her favorably.

As the atmosphere between the two became increasingly serious, Henea was at a loss in between them. Should she intervene or not.

“What do you mean by that?”

“We all know.”

“Know what exactly.”

“The rumors are already widespread. That you deliberately took Lord Davian to the monster cage. To get rid of him completely.”

“Ha.”

This was a familiar story to Ibnel too. She never thought she would hear that story again here, which she had heard from the servants. She thought it would have died down by then.

“How is it that Aodin never changes no matter how much time passes? Still trying to drive Karies to his death. It’s absurd to talk about the lives of knights while doing that.”

Ibnel tried to calm her excitement. For now, it seemed priority to clear up that ridiculous misunderstanding. She had no desire to become the subject of such rumors.

“I never did such a thing. It was simply an accident.”

“You expect us to believe that now? You were the only one by Lord Davian’s side that day, how would we know? Who knows what vile things you did, what schemes you plotted to kill him.”

“I’ve clearly said it wasn’t so. That day, monsters escaped by accident, and I did my best to stop them. I protected Davian so he wouldn’t get hurt.”

As her conversation with Karan continued, Ibnel felt people’s attention gradually focusing on them.

‘I was hoping this situation wouldn’t happen.’

If Karan was speaking like this, there was a high probability that most of those attending today believed such rumors. If she didn’t clarify it here, it would surely grow out of control.

“I didn’t do anything wrong, or anything to deserve such words. It’s you, Young Lady, who is making such conjectures without knowing the details, isn’t it?”

Even as she spoke, barely suppressing her anger, Karan didn’t seem to be listening properly. Having already discussed this matter with Davian, it sounded like nothing but excuses to her.

“Who would believe it if it’s just words? Well, I guess you’d be desperate. You didn’t want to die like this now that Davian has appeared.”

“That’s enough. Young Lady Ibnel says it wasn’t her, and you didn’t witness the situation directly either.”

Unable to stand by any longer, Henea also stepped in. It was the first time she had heard this story, but Ibnel was definitely not someone who would do such a thing. It was nothing but a baseless rumor meant to tear Ibnel down.

“If this is really true, it’s not something we can just let go. Or show us proof that you didn’t do it. If you’re so confident, you must have some, right?”

The people who had gathered around by now focused their attention on the confrontation between the two. Ibnel seemed to hear the unspoken words in the gazes full of distrust directed at her.

Go ahead and show us, although it won’t make any difference anyway.

Or they were looks as if they were seeing a murderer who tried to kill Davian using monsters. She clenched her fists tightly, filled with anger.

“Young Lady Ibnel.”

As Henea looked at her worriedly, Ibnel smiled as if to reassure her. Then she stared at Karan. Her red eyes flashed blood-red for a moment.

“As expected, you can’t say anything…”

At that moment, she showed a truly surprising action.

She raised her left hand over her right shoulder and then tore off the fabric covering her arm with all her might. The soft fabric quickly lost its shape and fell limply to the floor.

Those watching the situation were shocked by the sudden action, and as a result, most of the gazes in the banquet hall turned to the scene of the issue.

“What is this now.”

Even Karan couldn’t hide her bewilderment. She wondered if Ibnel had gone mad. But Ibnel, who had created such a situation, stared only at the woman in front of her without any agitation.

Her right arm, which had been hidden by the dress, was now fully exposed to everyone.

Karan finally came to her senses and asked Ibnel.

“What are you doing now? Has your mind gone wrong because everything has been exposed?”

“No, I’m perfectly normal. And more calm than ever.”

Ibnel said so in an indifferent voice. But there wasn’t even a small warmth in her eyes as she stared at Karan. And instead of various words, she raised her right arm to show.

Only then did the gazes of Karan and the surrounding people, which had been captivated by that startling action, turn to that arm.

“Oh my!”

A voice filled with surprise was heard from a lady closest to her. And similar reactions followed. All of them seemed surprised but also filled with shock.

Even Karan flinched slightly and stepped back a little upon seeing that arm. Ibnel herself was smiling as she looked at her own arm.

“What are you…”

“You said it earlier, Young Lady. To show proof. This is that proof.”

Ibnel’s arm bore the full marks of injuries from monsters. Not only the hideous teeth marks surrounding her arm, but also long scars from being mercilessly scratched by sharp claws were present around it.

Moreover, there were also traces of barely healed wounds from the subjugation.

Ibnel looked at the scars that no longer caused much pain, and then explained the situation of that day in a clear voice for everyone to hear.

“The name of the monster that escaped from the imperial palace that day was Nyabi. Ah, do you perhaps know it?”

“Nyabi?”

A noble young lady would not know about monsters. It was even more unlikely that she had seen one.

“It’s small in size, but has the characteristic of rapidly multiplying cells when its body is cut. So the one that escaped that day increased to three. I evacuated Davian to a safe place and chased the monsters alone. At that time, those three pounced on me simultaneously, and I killed one while two were rushing at me. These are the wounds from that time.”

This was the only way she could prove her innocence from that day. And it was also evidence that no one dared to refute.

“If I had such intentions as you say, would I have gone this far? To the extent of injuring my own body.”

Karan couldn’t say anything as she looked at the wounds on the arm. As she said, those were definitely not intentionally made marks.

And if she had intended to hurt Davian, such wounds should not have occurred.

“If you want, I can show you the wounds on my legs too. They’re exactly the same as these.”

Having not heard this story before, Karan couldn’t help but be flustered. But since she had already pushed the situation this far, she couldn’t back down now.

“How can we believe those were from that time?”

“Isn’t this attitude really cowardly? Changing your own words in just a few minutes.”

Ibnel’s eyes were filled with deep contempt for her opponent as she persisted with such absurd stubbornness even after being shown evidence as requested.