“I’m looking forward to the upcoming hunting festival. I heard His Majesty will personally participate in the hunting festival this year.”
“Wouldn’t the biggest reason be because Duke Jenova will be attending the hunting festival this year? He is His Majesty’s old friend, after all.”
The noblewoman tactfully checked on Eriel’s mood along with mentioning the hunting festival, subtly emphasizing the friendship between Damian and the emperor.
Eriel responded with a smiling grin to the lady’s gaze directed at her.
Of course, the lady’s words were meant as a compliment, but once the topic was brought up, the moment Eriel opened her mouth, all eyes and questions would obviously be directed at her.
“…Oh, I heard the location for hosting the hunting festival has changed this year.”
Reading Eriel’s action of drinking tea without answering, Marchioness Orsini gently threw out a new topic.
“That’s right. They said this time the hunting festival will be held in the mountains behind the Scala estate, close to it, right?”
“I heard it’s because the river at the original venue flooded greatly and it’s dangerous.”
The story related to the location circulated among the ladies for a round.
They even gave exaggerated reactions for no reason, keeping an eye on Eriel.
The reason was that even the subtle words spoken among the countless crowd were not easy to say in front of Eriel.
Eriel, who had been keeping silent, finally put down her teacup on the table.
“Come to think of it, I heard Miss Elise, who made her debut this spring, is looking for a dashing gentleman at this hunting festival.”
She was one of the three who had followed Gerald at the launching ceremony.
Among them, the one who had been mentioned the most in Eriel’s ears was Elise.
She heard that Elise kept spreading words to the noblewomen every time, asking if Eriel at the launching ceremony wasn’t strange.
When an empress faction noblewoman seemed to make a slip of the tongue one day, she said with tears in her eyes that it wasn’t what she meant.
“Ah, yes…. Duchess.”
“Since gentlemen often give their hunt to the young ladies as gifts at the hunting festival, it would be a good opportunity. Don’t you think so? Miss Elise?”
However, unlike what she had heard, Elise stuttered and bowed her head deeply in front of Eriel.
She had just barely made her debut, so in front of Eriel, she was just a young child.
Even when Eriel heard the story about Elise, she was very angry, but when she saw the much younger lady hesitating in front of her, her anger quickly subsided.
Eriel ended the question with the thought of calling Elise later and giving her an appropriate scolding.
“I see. A new love may bloom at this hunting festival. By the way, do you have a gentleman in mind? Miss Elise?”
“Ah….”
Elise glanced at Eriel, unable to answer another lady’s question right away.
Eriel smiled at Elise.
If she roughly said she was waiting for a dashing gentleman, it would be a topic that would disappear from the table now.
The ladies already knew that this story had passed as Eriel didn’t ask Elise any more questions.
“…Yes. Earl Shannon is so dashing. I’m waiting for Earl Shannon at this year’s hunting festival. Oh, there’s something I wanted to ask…. Duchess, aren’t you very close friends with Earl Shannon? Perhaps, could you let me know his preferred dress style or something like that?”
Elise smiled shyly with a faint blush rising.
On the contrary, the corners of Eriel’s mouth, who had been smiling, quickly went down.
Everyone seemed quite surprised by Elise’s remark.
“…Although we are close friends, we are not close enough for me to know his preferences. I’m afraid I can’t tell you.”
Eriel, who quickly composed her expression, smiled at Elise.
“Is that so? That’s too bad.”
Elise, who gently narrowed her eyes, also brightly smiled and grinned at Eriel.
“Oh, while receiving a question from the young lady, I became curious about something. These days, do even male and female friends talk about dress preferences?”
Eriel blinked as if she was really curious.
“Back then, even close friends didn’t share such things. Haha. I guess times have changed. Asking a married woman like me about the dress preferences of another man. I must have been away for too long. I can’t keep up with the rapidly changing trends.”
When Eriel shook her head, saying she was completely old now, the noblewomen laughed along.
“No, Duchess. What trend? Such a trend doesn’t exist.”
“Of course. Duchess, you’re old? You’re not much different from when you dominated the social circle.”
A provocation with no substance would disappear into Eriel’s background like this.
Eriel picked up her teacup while looking at Elise, who had lost her smile.
Should I say thanks to her? If it weren’t for Elise’s words, the noblewomen’s more difficult questions would have been exchanged. Thanks to the young lady, the matter was easily resolved.
Eriel put down her teacup after drinking tea and made eye contact with Marchioness Orsini.
When Eriel smiled with a eye smile, the marchioness also responded to Eriel with a grinning smile.
It was an answer that she had caught on to Eriel’s intention.
Eriel planned to personally bring up this story one more time during the tea party.
If the marchioness gave a little help then, this matter would be wrapped up like this.
By drawing a line that Gerald was just a close friend who became close due to family matters, it would be difficult for the social circle to bring up the story to Eriel anymore.
Now, what remained was Gerald’s side.
*
Eriel intended to completely turn Gerald into an enemy.
His strange actions had been consistently claiming friendship, but in the end, it was nothing more than Gerald’s selfish desire for political comeback.
Even if he truly had Eriel in his heart, it was already an issue that didn’t need to be discussed.
However, the problem was that Eriel couldn’t present a sharp solution first from her side.
It wouldn’t look good for her to ask Gerald first not to do it, and it didn’t seem like he would comply either.
Eriel sighed and looked up at the sky.
She should have talked with Damian first, but he stayed at the palace for a long time after that and only returned to the mansion the day before the hunting festival.
In the end, she had been procrastinating last night and came to the hunting festival without being able to discuss the matter with him.
Eriel, who was reminded of various issues, called out to Damian slyly.
“…Damian.”
Although nobles were gathering outside the tent of the Jenova Duchy to exchange greetings, there was quite a bit of free time until right before the hunting festival began.
Thinking that was the opportunity, Eriel intended to discuss this matter with Damian even for a moment.
That’s when it happened.
The surprised voices of the noblewomen spread out in a buzz.
Eriel turned her gaze to where the sound came from and couldn’t help but be startled by the man caught in her sight.
It was Gerald.
Before she could even talk to Damian, Gerald’s side took action first.
Gerald, who didn’t care at all about the eyes of the nobles spread all around, walked up to Eriel and Damian with a grinning smile.
“It’s been a while, Duchess.”
Gerald, who passed by Damian with confident steps, bowed his head in front of Eriel.
Damian, who was ignored by Gerald right in front of him, narrowed his brows.
However, Damian seemed to be more enraged by the closeness between Eriel and Gerald than by Gerald not greeting him, so he grabbed Eriel’s wrist and quickly pulled her towards him.
“Wow, boldly throwing a pass at someone else’s wife like this. Should I consider you a beast in heat?”
“Haha. A beast in heat, you say? Perhaps it’s because you’ve participated in war for a long time, but your mouth has become very rough, Duke. Moreover, seeing that you can’t cleanly acknowledge a friendship, it seems you’re narrower-minded than I thought, Duke.”
Damian’s head tilted crookedly.
“Isn’t your life precious, Earl?”
“Oh, I heard killing people is easier for you than cutting fruit. Would I dare to even exchange greetings with your wife out of fear?”
The grip of Damian’s hand wrapped around Eriel’s forearm became stronger.
Eriel, reminding herself that there were many onlookers, quickly requested Gerald to back off in a firm voice.
“Earl Shannon. A friendship isn’t a relationship that is established by the one-sided relationship of one party, is it? I’d appreciate it if you could back off now.”
“Oh my, it seems I have made the position of my old friend living as the Duchess of Gerald difficult. I will back off now. …Ah, wait.”
Gerald took another step closer towards Eriel.
Damian quickly moved Eriel behind him as if to hide her, but Gerald turned his head towards him with a sneer at Damian’s action.
He mumbled with a very small voice so that only Damian could hear.
“Duke Jenova, you still don’t have an heir, right?”
Even Eriel behind Damian’s back couldn’t hear Gerald’s words at all.
It was partly because the surrounding noise was very loud, and also because Damian’s large back completely blocked their conversation.
Eriel tried to come out from behind Damian’s back out of anxiety, but she couldn’t come out because of Damian’s hand that still firmly pulled her back.
“…So what?”
Damian, who stopped Eriel from rustling behind his back, looked at Gerald, raising his eyebrows.
“If you let go of that hand now and hand Eriel over to me, I will help you not to do things you will regret even after death.”
“Don’t think I see you as a human being just because I answer your words, Earl. As you said, killing beasts is as easy as cutting fruit for me who has been on the battlefield for a long time.”
Gerald, who took a step back, smiled.
“Yes, then I will be looking forward to it.”
Gerald, who politely bowed his waist once again, twisted his body.
__________
Bro, don’t be like this, I’m really about to throw up! (Female-dominant)
Short intro:
What she can’t stand the most is the streets full of effeminate men, especially that so-called top beauty whom she avoids at all costs.
Shen Yaoxing looks at Jiang Mingyue, who keeps approaching her with coy shyness.
Shen Yaoxing: Bro, don’t be like this, I’m really about to throw up!
She fears nothing in heaven or earth, except for him getting close to her.
*
At first he thought she was just using the trick of feigning indifference to attract his attention. Later, he learned that she truly despised him.
This dealt a heavy blow to Jiang Mingyue, and he vowed to make her, like everyone else, fall at his feet in worship!
***
Synopsis:
Before transmigrating, Shen Yaoxing only wanted to find a reliable man to spend her life with. Who knew that after transmigrating, she would become a reliable woman herself…
A forced misandrist, highly skilled, and reliable female lead
vs.
An initially aloof and arrogant, later morbid, obsessed male lead