After Cedric left with Duke Bold.

I naturally slipped away from the emperor’s group and sipped champagne while looking around.

Quite some time had passed, but no ‘unfamiliar’ person I wanted to talk to appeared.

So I slightly turned my head to look at Adrian.

He was just standing by one wall of the banquet hall, observing other nobles like an observer.

The only one talking to Adrian was his older brother.

‘I’m sorry I made a promise with Cedric, but… I have no choice.’

People who are left out have to stick together.

Just as I was about to move towards Adrian.

“Oh my, Your Highness Bi! So you were here!”

“We knew we’d find you here. You remember us, don’t you?”

“It’s been so long, really!”

Three noble ladies approached with a fuss.

I didn’t know how Rebecca’s relationship with them was, but for me, they were women I was seeing for the first time.

‘I have no idea who they are, what should I do?’

I smiled awkwardly while hiding my bewildered feelings.

They exchanged uneasy glances at my reaction.

‘This seems… somewhat strange?’

At times like this, silence might be the best option.

As I just kept smiling and looking at them, the lady standing in the middle carefully took a step closer.

“Last time, our Lady Judith… made an unintentional mistake towards Lady Bianca, didn’t she?”

“…Judith?”

“Actually, we’ve all been looking for Your Highness Bi to apologize for that day.”

Judith Montrant.

Hearing that name, I remembered.

That girl who was like the queen bee among the group that ostracized Bianca.

‘Ah, so this is Duchess Montrant, that child’s mother.’

Looking closely, the bright blonde hair and somewhat irritating impression were exactly like Judith’s.

The women standing next to her also resembled their daughters, so it wasn’t difficult to guess who was whose mother.

‘It seems they’ve come to make excuses for what happened at the orangerie.’

After I witnessed Bianca being bullied, that incident eventually reached the ears of Emperor Retiz.

Including the words the couples of each ducal family and their daughters had uttered, disparaging the mixed-race demons.

Since mixed-race demons had made great contributions to founding the Western Empire, Emperor Retiz never tolerated discrimination against them from the beginning.

Naturally, after such an emperor learned of their irresponsible words and actions, it was inevitable that those families would fall out of the emperor’s favor.

The duchesses seemed to be trying to gain my favor belatedly in order to get back into the emperor’s good graces.

I looked them over carefully with the smile wiped from my face.

“As I told the young ladies that day…”

“…”

“Such things are not ‘mistakes’, but ‘wrongdoings’.”

At my barbed words, they rolled their eyes in bewilderment.

After exchanging glances for a moment, Duchess Montrant broke into an awkward laugh and spoke first.

“Th-That’s right, wrongdoing! Your Highness Bi is correcting our wrongdoing once again!”

Then the other duchesses chimed in.

“Of course, that’s right! Our young ladies are still immature and committed a great discourtesy to Lady Bianca.”

“Your Highness Bi, we will make sure it never happens again, so please…”

Desperation shone in the ladies’ eyes.

I, who had been standing with my hands behind my back and looking elsewhere, turned my head towards them again.

And with an indifferent expression, I parted my lips.

“Well… As the Duchess of Twins, I could generously give one more chance.”

Relief washed over the duchesses’ faces.

Hey, it’s too early to be relieved.

I warned them in a low voice.

“Of course, if I sense that you’re hiding your true feelings and apologizing without sincerity again… my patience will be exhausted forever.”

The ladies hastily shook their heads.

“Th-There’s no way, Your Highness Bi!”

“How could we dare do that when you’ve given us this chance!”

“That’s right, that’s right! Ho ho ho…”

I looked indifferently at the ladies who were trying hard to smooth over the atmosphere with laughter and continued speaking.

“The Imperial tea party hosted by Her Majesty the Empress tomorrow afternoon.”

“…?”

“If all the children and duchesses properly apologize to our Lady Bianca there, I’ll reconsider that day’s incident.”

Unlike tonight’s banquet, young ladies and gentlemen from each family were also expected to attend the Imperial tea party tomorrow afternoon.

Wherever it is, if Bianca receives a proper apology from those children, her mood might improve somewhat.

‘Not just those children, but other young ladies from other families need to be made clearly aware that Bianca is not someone to be treated carelessly.’

That might be the greatest gift I could give that child before I leave her side after the divorce is announced.

I turned back to the duchesses and said emphatically, as if warning them.

“At that time, both the ladies and the young ladies must apologize properly. Without fail.”

The ladies nodded vigorously.

“Of course, of course!”

“We’ll make sure to tell the children firmly!”

“To give us another chance, how generous of you…!”

Befitting women seasoned in social circles, they quickly showered me with praise and steered the conversation topic elsewhere.

They said things like my skin was glowing, and that my figure seemed to have become even more beautiful.

I was responding halfheartedly, impressed by their effort, when it happened.

“Oh, I heard that news too?”

Duchess Montrant said, raising one eyebrow.

“What news?”

“Why, that…”

Duchess Montrant glanced around briefly and then leaned close to my ear and whispered.

“I heard the social circles in the north are in an uproar over the matter of Countess Dmitri?”

Countess Dmitri would be Camilla.

Taking advantage of my momentary silence, the other ladies also drew closer to me.

“I heard that story too. They say Count Dmitri is planning for divorce now.”

“That’s right, they say they’ve already been separated for a long time…”

Duchess Montrant covered her mouth with one hand and carefully continued speaking.

“They say Count Dmitri’s sudden decision to divorce wasn’t just because of the investment failure.”

“Then?”

At my question, she glanced around once more and whispered quietly.

“If I were that woman, I’d want to jump from the top floor right now and just die.”

Around the same time, on the 2nd floor of the banquet hall building.

Camilla had been staying in one of the ladies’ room stalls for quite some time.

She didn’t have any particular business, but there was nowhere else she could stay comfortably.

‘To think that I, Camilla Dmitri, who was the top star of social circles just a few months ago, am now hiding in this smelly place to avoid people’s gazes…’

The more she thought about it, the more lamentable her situation seemed.

Though they barely came together as still legally married, her husband Count Dmitri didn’t even glance at her.

Moreover, as if rumors had already spread to the capital, no one approached her first to speak when she was left alone.

Everyone was busy whispering about her, but when their eyes met, they hurriedly looked away.

‘In the past, they were all so eager to talk to me that they couldn’t stand it.’

Just as she was grinding her teeth.

The voices of ladies entering the ladies’ room could be heard from outside the door.

“Don’t you think this year’s banquet is even more splendid than last year?”

“I know! How did His Majesty think of making a champagne fountain?”

Three or four women burst into cheerful laughter as they stood in front of the dressing table.

‘Why did they have to come in now of all times? I was about to leave.’

As Camilla frowned and held her breath, it happened.

“Oh, right! Have you all heard that rumor?”

“What rumor?”

“You know, that…”

The voice that had paused as if looking around resumed.

“The one about Countess Camilla Dmitri.”

At that moment, Camilla felt her breath catch in her throat and clutched her chest.

Her hand covering her mouth began to tremble slightly.

“Ah, I heard that too. She made a bad investment in demon realm goods and lost about half of the Dmitri family’s fortune, right?”

“Half? What are you talking about! They’re about to lose almost all of the fortune passed down for generations.”

“If only that were all?”

The woman continued in a lower voice.

“I heard she might have been committing adultery.”

“Oh my, oh my! Who was it with?”

“Unfortunately, that hasn’t been revealed yet.”

“My goodness… If the rumors of losing all their fortune and committing adultery are true… it’s really only a matter of time before Count Dmitri kicks her out.”

“She always walked around with her nose in the air. I knew a day like this would come someday.”

Giggles erupted here and there at one lady’s cynical remark.

“Her vanity was quite something, wasn’t it? Besides, for a noble lady to not know her place and just giggle in front of this man and that man…”

“She was just a lady from a poor family with only a viscount title, who changed her fate by marrying well, so her bad habits were deeply ingrained from the start.”

“I thought that woman seemed somehow vulgar from the beginning.”

“I know… Oh my! Is it this late already? Didn’t Baron Dane say he would do a masquerade in the Torsa Room around this time?”

“Oh, that’s right. Right! Let’s hurry and go!”

And so the ladies who had been gossiping about Camilla for quite some time left the ladies’ room like the ebbing tide.

Only then did Camilla exhale the breath she had been holding in gasps.

“Haa… Ha…”

Even after the ladies who had been slandering her disappeared, the trembling in her hands and feet did not stop for a while.

Camilla, who was barely standing leaning against the doorframe, soon had tears falling from beneath her chin.

A narrow single room that smelled foul.

Her situation of having to hide here and listen to gossip about herself—no, not even being able to say a single word—was so desperate.

She felt wronged and indignant.

The more she felt that way, the face of Henry she had seen just before kept coming to mind, grating on her nerves.

That damned bright face, smiling nonchalantly after pushing her into this mire.

‘Even though he clearly saw me in trouble alone… he didn’t even pretend to know me.’

Henry was ignoring her just like the other nobles.

That’s not all.

Henry, who had not been affectionate towards Robelia publicly since the beginning of their marriage.

Yet he clung tightly to Robelia, who didn’t react at all like a soulless doll, and showered her with all kinds of flattery.

Camilla’s and Robelia’s completely reversed situations, and Henry’s bone-deep opportunism made her teeth grind.

‘Henry. Do you think I’ll just sit back and watch you be happy alone after abandoning me?’

The back of her hand gripping her dress skirt turned pale.

Camilla, who had been trembling with anger, soon stormed out of the ladies’ room.

The corridors on the upper floors, except for the first floor banquet hall, were all connected in a large horseshoe-shaped curve.

It was so that the banquet hall on the bottom floor could be seen from any floor.

Camilla leaned against the corridor railing and looked down at the banquet hall on the first floor below.

‘Where… where on earth is he?’

In front of the large champagne fountain, people chatting happily with smiles on their faces.

As she was carefully scanning their faces one by one, it happened.

Henry, laughing and talking with other people, unaware that she was watching him.

And Robelia seated by his side.

The moment she spotted the Count Bart couple, a murderous glint flashed in Camilla’s eyes.

‘…Found them.’