The smile on the face of the Duchess, who seemed to be a nice person at first glance, faded away.

Although she hurriedly pretended to be calm with decades of social experience, the ladies who were with her were also formidable women. Most of them guessed the Duchess’s wrath accurately.

And if the Duchess was like that, it went without saying that Cerest, who almost had no experience of having something taken away from her right before her eyes.

“Another person?!”

No matter what one’s real intentions are, it’s a virtue of the social world to maintain outward compassion and gentleness. Ladies who fail to uphold this were pointed out for not possessing the manners of the upper class and young ladies lost their seats.

Cerest was well aware of this fact. But it’s an age where you can’t fully understand with your heart even if you understand with your head. Cerest raised her voice. That’s our seat! It’s always been like that!

“Lady, as you well know, the host of the salon is decided based on the sponsorship money.”

“There’s a family that has paid more sponsorship money than our family? Who is it?”

The noble ladies around frowned slightly at Cerest’s behavior that contradicted the virtues of nobility. Putting aside the power struggle within, it was not pleasant to have someone from the same group lowering their own dignity.

“The family of the largest sponsor and the amount of sponsorship are treated confidentially. If the host attends the salon, you can confirm who it is, but if not, it’s difficult to confirm otherwise.”

“So I’m asking who it is!”

Finally, there was a nearshout. The salon was the only place where she could satisfy her desire to rule as an absolute being, even if temporarily. A place where neither the royal family nor Artina can enter.

But the change of the host means a declaration that even this can’t be enjoyed now. It was a cruel sentence for Cerest, who lives on vanity.

Duchess Defont glanced around. The noble ladies were covering their faces with fans. A signal that they’re quite uncomfortable with this situation. Not good. The Duchess spoke to Countess Lubru, who was blocking the way, in a low voice.

“Countess. See me in the next room for a moment.”

The Countess followed her with her head slightly bowed. Cerest also ground her teeth and walked to her mother’s side.

Countess Lubru turned pale. She had to block the Duchess because she was responsible for running the salon, but she didn’t want to have such an awkward conversation, even if she was a rightful social leader.

Duchess Defont sat opposite, looking at the Countess who dared not meet her eyes properly.

When her gaze made a thin sweat form on the Countess’s neck, the Duchess threw the jewel purse that was in her sophisticated clutch.

“I’ll give more sponsorship. Now.”

The Duchess didn’t take this matter too seriously. It was obvious. It was okay to say that there was no family that could surpass the wealth of the Defont Duchy. It was clear that with this amount of jewels, she could regain the host’s seat.

‘At least we can’t let our precious daughter look unhappy in this salon.’

The purse of jewels was quite hefty, representing the reputation of the Duchy. It was by no means a small amount when she peeked inside. However, Countess Lubru, who checked the inside of the purse, shook her head.

“Even if you donate all these jewels, you cannot sit in the host’s seat, Duchess.”

“…All the jewels I have now are in this purse, but I will send more from the Duchy.”

“The host is determined based on the sponsorship money at the time of hosting, so even if there is a change later, the host for this time should remain unchanged.”

The Duchess bit her lip, which had been finely painted with rose water, and let it go. She couldn’t recklessly threaten something that clearly had rules.

Position can be a tool to rule the social world, but it was not a sufficient condition itself. The hierarchy of the social world was not necessarily in the order of rank.

There were rules of the social world. A place where if you forcibly push with your rank, everyone would point a knife at your back even if they bowed their heads in front of you.

‘That’s not good for our daughter who will sit in the place of everyone in the future.’

The Duchess slightly raised her eyebrows and collected her expression. She was indeed cunning.

“I see. We can’t make exceptions to strict rules. Thank you for your time.”

“Mother!”

When her mother did not look at me and got up from her seat, Seres had an intuition. She knew there was no way to stop the salon’s ownership from changing today.

Her expression twisted savagely. The hand tightly clutching her fist turned pale as the blood did not flow.

‘After all, we hold the real power of the salon. Whoever it is, let them sit in the vacant seat of power.’

Inertia is not to be ignored. Even if the position of the host is snatched away for a single day, the builtup position does not disappear instantly.

‘I will make sure you never want to show your face in the salon again.’

Seres took a deep breath.