“Ah, that. I lost it yesterday.”

Veronica answered indifferently while brushing her hair with her hand. Magnolia was rather surprised.

“Really? Where did you lose it? Did you leave it at the restaurant? Or somewhere else? Let’s go look right away!”

“It’s already been a day, so someone probably took it.”

“But it was a gift from Lord Roel!”

Magnolia was genuinely disappointed.

She was really curious about what was inside. It must have contained something expensive. Or maybe something rare, what a shame!

“It wasn’t meant to be mine.”

Veronica, the actual owner of the item, seemed unbothered.

Magnolia, who had regained her will to find a new love, faced another failure at the party she attended today. This time, the man already had a lover.

The reason she found out was because that lover appeared in front of Magnolia while she was having a good time with the man and threw water at her.

Suddenly drenched, Magnolia had to end her role as a mere side character between the quarreling couple.

Gently patting Magnolia’s slumped shoulders, Veronica picked and ate some grapes. Then she put a grape in Magnolia’s mouth as well.

Magnolia, who had been chewing the grape with her cheek resting on the table, soon lifted her face.

“Veronica. I see someone I know over there, can I go say hello for a moment?”

“Sure.”

After telling Magnolia it was fine when she asked about her wet state, Veronica was left alone.

In the meantime, Veronica got up to find something to drink. As she did so, she bumped shoulders with someone passing by.

“Oh, excuse me.”

The fruit wine the other person was holding spilled, staining Veronica’s sleeve. Veronica quietly examined her wet sleeve.

“Oh no, I’ve ruined your dress.”

When she looked up, she saw a familiar face. It was one of those who had used her in the past.

Judging by the lack of any apologetic expression on that face, it was clearly intentional.

Looking away, she saw a familiar group in the distance. How childish.

“You should have watched where you were going. How unrefined.”

“Indeed.”

Can’t be helped. After those cool words, Veronica rubbed her hand, wet with fruit wine, on the other person’s chest. A red stain spread on the blue dress.

“So next time, keep your eyes wide open when you walk.”

The other person screamed and pushed her away. Ignoring their complaints about how expensive the dress was, Veronica turned away.

Having lost her appetite, she returned empty-handed to find that the gloves she had briefly taken off were nowhere to be seen.

Looking around, she found her gloves discarded in a nearby flower vase.

Really, how childish. When she took them out to check, they were too dirty to use, as if someone had stepped on them.

As she was sighing, a commotion could be heard in the distance. For some reason, people were gathered on one side.

Curious about what was happening, she approached and saw that Magnolia had gotten into a fight with some noble women who appeared to be her age. Veronica quickly pushed through the crowd.

“Magnolia. What’s going on?”

“Veronica! Listen, that woman called you a petty mare of a wench!”

That was an incredibly insulting remark.

Veronica could guess what the situation had been. She held back Magnolia who looked ready to pounce.

“Stop it. Everyone is watching.”

“But that woman!”

“Enough, enough.”

While grateful for her feelings, they couldn’t cause any more disturbance. Veronica calmed Magnolia down and then stared directly at the woman opposite them.

It had been a while since she’d seen her, so her face looked a bit different, but it was Lady Are. Noticing Veronica’s gaze, she flinched and avoided it.

Suddenly, she burst into tears. The women around her quickly approached to comfort her. As if she were the victim.

“Miss Rinning suddenly picked a fight with me. Said I was more vulgar than her.”

“I never said such a thing! I just said you were a bit mean!”

Veronica quietly covered Magnolia’s mouth. It didn’t seem like anything good would come from her speaking. Veronica sighed again.

“Miss Hardness. Why don’t you choose your friends more carefully? Where did you find such a woman.”

When Veronica gave her an indifferent look, Lady Are stuttered, “Ah, no, that’s not it.” The people beside her jumped in on her behalf.

“That’s right. I heard she was even jilted.”

“How bad must she have been for a man to meet another woman right before the wedding.”

“Looking at it now, maybe there’s a problem with her too? How vulgar, already fooling around with another man so soon after being jilted.”

They openly gossiped about Veronica. ‘I wonder why her dress is like that.’ The very person who had stained Veronica’s sleeve was among them.

If nothing else, it was clear who was more childish.

As she was considering what to do, she had to restrain Magnolia who was trying to lunge at them in a fit.

Veronica held Magnolia tightly and sighed. Usually, she would have just let it slide, but there was no helping it now.

“What does it matter what others do or don’t do.”

“What did you say?”

“Oh my. Seems you heard me. I’m sorry. I’m not good at empty talk.”

“What—”

“But isn’t it wrong to enjoy disparaging others in such a low-class manner? What are you all talking about huddled together like that? Moreover, this is hardly the place for such talk. I didn’t think you lacked such basic manners, but I guess I was mistaken.”

“……”

Today was a party celebrating the remarriage of a noble lady.

She had been alone for a long time due to financial issues, but finally received permission from her family to remarry.

To spout such vulgar words about mares and jilting at such an occasion.

Taken aback, they finally closed their mouths. Veronica looked at them with disdain. There was nothing more to see.

Hoping they wouldn’t bother her anymore, Veronica dragged Magnolia away from the scene.

“Why did you stop me! We should teach them a lesson!”

“What were you going to do there? Were you going to hit them?”

“If necessary!”

“As expected of the sister of an imperial knight. If you had shown violence there, regardless of right or wrong, it would have been disadvantageous for you, Magnolia. They might have seen it as an opportunity and done who knows what. That’s why we need to be careful with our actions and words in such places.”

“But!”

While Veronica understood Magnolia’s anger, she patted her reassuringly.

Even after returning to their seats, Magnolia couldn’t calm her anger, still fuming.

When Veronica brought and handed her some water, she gulped it down, trying to calm her excitement.

“By the way, Veronica, your sleeve…”

Belatedly noticing the red stain on Veronica’s sleeve, Magnolia asked.

“I bumped into someone earlier. It’s nothing.”

“Shouldn’t you change clothes? There’s quite a stain.”

“If I cover it roughly, it won’t be noticeable.”

When she casually covered the red-stained sleeve with her other arm, it wasn’t very noticeable. Unless someone looked closely, they probably wouldn’t notice.

“What about your gloves?”

Looking at her bare hands, she asked again. Veronica was about to say she lost them, but Magnolia first discovered the gloves discarded in the flower vase.

“Why are these like this? Who did this?”

“It’s nothing to worry about.”

“How is this nothing! We need to find out who did it!”

“I have a pretty good idea who did it.”

“…It was those women from earlier, wasn’t it?”

For once, Magnolia was quick on the uptake. Veronica tried to brush it off with a smile, but it was no use. Magnolia tried to rush off again, so Veronica barely managed to hold her back.

“It’s fine, just stay still.”

“Why should I stay still! We should go confront them!”

“It’s okay. This isn’t the first time, and the fact that they did this behind my back shows they know it’s childish behavior. Reacting to every little thing will only tire me out. And it’s not worth making a fuss over just throwing away some gloves.”

“…You mean this has happened before?”

Magnolia asked blankly. Veronica scratched her cheek. Yes, this had happened before. It was too trivial and childish to react to.

The group that had gotten into an argument with Magnolia earlier was comprised of her former friends.

There were some unfamiliar faces, but familiar people and Lady Are were there too.

After the Emperor’s birthday celebration, she had completely ignored their approaches, but even now, after quite some time had passed, they still occasionally caused trouble.

Moreover, the fact that they couldn’t do it openly and resorted to underhanded methods made it even more pathetic.

“It’s better to let it go if it’s not a big deal. It’s not the first time they’ve gossiped behind my back either. This level is cute in comparison. I’ll handle it myself.”

“Who else has been gossiping about Veronica!”

“…That was a slip of the tongue.”

“You’re lying! Who exactly has been gossiping?”

Veronica held down Magnolia, who was about to jump up.

She looked ready to go find the gossipers right away. As expected of the sister of an imperial knight, her drive for action was truly remarkable.

“Do you think there’s only one or two people gossiping about me? It’s fine.”

There were probably people gossiping about Magnolia too, who had been seen with her recently.

Even if they were on helping terms, it was obvious just from the fact that she kept coming to meet her.

Magnolia didn’t show it much, so she pretended not to notice. That’s why she didn’t say it. That there was nothing good to come from hanging out together.

Continuing this conversation would only ruin the mood. As she was smiling, trying to change the subject, Magnolia’s face turned serious.

“Veronica, you seem rather indifferent to your own affairs.”

“Me? Is that so?”

“Yes! You seem sensitive to other people’s issues, but when it comes to your own, you just shrug off whatever happens. Aren’t you angry?”

Was she angry? She might have been angry in the past.

There was a time when Veronica reacted like Magnolia. At first, she got angry, then she felt hurt, and later she tried to clear up misunderstandings and restore relationships.

Being human, she needed allies and wanted to create trustworthy people.

But she stopped when she realized that accommodating others only gave them reasons to look down on her and try to control her.

What she learned was that no reaction was the best response.

“Aren’t you too kind?”

“I don’t know what misunderstanding you have, but I’m not kind.”

Veronica immediately became serious at those words. But Magnolia’s misunderstanding was deep and firm.

“You are kind, extremely kind!”

If someone else heard this, they’d be furious.

“Magnolia is the only one who would say such a thing.”

As she spoke with a sigh, suddenly Magnolia started to sniffle. Veronica was bewildered.

“You’re not crying, are you?”

“No. It’s just, I’m so angry I can’t stand it.”

“Why are you angry?”

“I can’t bear it. I hate seeing Veronica go through things like this.”

“There’s no need to cry over that. I told you before, didn’t I? I’m not a good person. Even less so a kind person. And I’m not the type to just take things lying down either.”

“I don’t care about that. If anyone bullies you or gossips about you again, tell me. I’ll get angry on your behalf. I’ll clear up misunderstandings too. If I’m not enough, I’ll bring my brothers.”

There’s no need for that. Looking at her, ready to burst into tears while making her resolution, Veronica gave a wry smile.

She thought how unnecessarily good-natured Magnolia was. Even while sniffling, Magnolia still worried about what to do about the gloves.

“Excuse me.”

At that moment, someone approached the two of them.

As they turned their heads, a neat and beautiful woman was standing there. Veronica’s face stiffened.

Beside her, Magnolia, who had also noticed the newcomer, called out happily.