“N-No, that’s not it……”

“Seeing you flustered, it seems you really made such a statement.”

“M-Madam.”

“You should explain properly. I’m not the only one who heard it.”

Antra nervously scanned her surroundings with trembling eyes. The noblewomen acquainted with Antra were observing the situation with unpleasant gazes.

Everyone was making the same inference. Gossip is inherently contageous. If even a close noblewoman speaks so vulgarly, she likely doesn’t do it to just one person.

As Antra stammered, Baroness Artu twisted her eyes in a sneer.

“At this point, I’m very curious what kind of gossip you usually spread about me. No, not just about me?”

“I-I never said such things, Madam. Etricia misunderstood. Hey, hurry and apologize to the Madam and correct it, quickly!”

Antra said, grabbing my arm forcefully as if to uproot it.

“What? What do you mean……”

I looked around bewilderedly as if still not understanding, then took a sharp breath with a look of sudden realization.

“Oh no……”

Only then did I cover my mouth and whimper as if just realizing. If the intention to humiliate is obvious, the crowd may feel repulsed instead. So it had to appear as an inadvertent slip of the tongue from a noblewoman lacking social skills for years.

“M-Mother, I’m sorry. I just……”

I’m, I’m sorry. As I whimpered with hunched shoulders, Antra glared at me with bloodshot eyes.

“You…!”

When Antra finally couldn’t contain her anger and grabbed my forearm, I raised my hands defensively. Then I trembled and glanced at her nervously.

Gasp, people inhaled sharply in shock. In that brief moment, they could guess the relationship between Antra and Etricia.

During my school days, there was a child who skillfully manipulated public opinion by pretending to be a victim. Some innocent children ended up suffering because of that child, and I, who observed from afar, was bewildered by the situation where that child received sympathetic public opinion.

Thinking ‘Why do they fall for that?’ One thing I realized from that was that in a group, if someone pretends to be a victim, people really believe it. People who don’t know the detailed inside story, that is.

Of course, Etricia wasn’t pretending to be a victim, but a real victim.

“My goodness… It seems the rumors were true.”

“How can she do that?”

As whispers began to spread, Antra stepped back, breaking out in a cold sweat.

I looked around with wide eyes like lanterns, and after confirming suspicion in people’s eyes, I hastily waved my hands.

“Y-You seem to have some misunderstanding. M-My mother isn’t that kind of person. Really. She really isn’t that kind of person…!”

I explained while making eye contact with each person as if in a panic. Hypersensitivity to others’ emotional changes was typical behavior of someone who had suffered emotional domination and abuse from that person.

I glanced at Antra tearfully, as if afraid of incurring her anger.

“She’s really a good person……”

Ha, haha! Antra, who had been laughing while pounding her chest as if dumbfounded, glared at me with snake-like eyes.

“Now you’re putting on a disgusting act?”

Antra quickly grabbed my shoulders and shook them, hissing through gritted teeth.

“You cunning wench. Try smirking like before, huh? I dare you to smirk…!”

“What’s all this commotion?”

It was then. The person who appeared, parting the crowd, was Viscountess Wickley.

Not wearing a veil, she revealed clean white skin, free of the mottled aura I had seen before.

Standing with a straight back and chin held high, she exuded an air of dignity.

“V-Viscountess Wickley.”

Antra’s face lit up. She smiled brightly and sighed in relief, as if finally meeting a savior who would overturn the situation and take her side.

Antra extended her trembling hand.

“Viscountess, I’ve been waiting for you to arrive. I’ve been falsely accused and it’s so unfair−.”

“Who was it again?”

For a moment, Antra froze with a face like her heart had plummeted.

Viscountess Wickley raised an eyebrow and gestured behind her, and a noblewoman approached and whispered softly.

Then Viscountess Wickley sighed, flinching her eyes.

“Ah. I forgot.”

Antra’s face, which had briefly brightened, crumpled miserably at the following statement.

“I was so busy I forgot to send the notice of expulsion to Baroness Dien.”

“Pardon? What do you mean……”

“Recently, the majority of our group members agreed to expel Baroness Dien. There have been concerning rumors that don’t align with our group’s purpose, right? We had no choice. I’m sorry, Baroness Dien.”

Viscountess Wickley, who had given an elegant eye-smile, turned to leave but noticed me and opened her eyes wide like lanterns.

“Oh my, you were here, Countess Vuel.”

“It’s been a while, Viscountess. How have you been?”

“I’m well, thank you.”

A small murmur spread as people watched me exchange greetings with the Viscountess. Antra glared, demanding an explanation, but I lightly ignored her.

“Then I’ll see you later when I introduce Lady Lilien.”

The Viscountess patted the back of my hand and lowered her head to whisper.

“Did you keep your promise about the information?”

I wrinkled my nose and smiled elegantly. Soon after, she disappeared with the other noblewomen.

The noblewomen who had been friendly with Antra also turned away from her and left, and as the commotion subsided into the sounds of the banquet, she collapsed to the ground.

It was the moment when everything Baroness Antra had built up came crashing down. After convulsing with anger for a while, Antra stood up abruptly with bulging eyes.

“You bitch, you drove a wedge between us, didn’t you? Right?”

I heaved a deep sigh and wiped my moistened eyelashes with my hand. Seeing my calm reaction, Antra seemed convinced I had indeed driven a wedge, and she screamed, even more enraged.

“Wake up, child. Everyone may seem to welcome your family, but behind your back they point fingers calling you vulgar. A money-grubbing family that dares to do business with God’s grace, that’s your roots, you know!”

Roots…

I hugged Antra tightly as if to soothe her as she thrashed about. I felt her flinch, but I rested my chin on her shoulder.

Even before realizing my possession, I felt more than just a sense of alienation, but discomfort with the primitive class society here. So my subtle rebelliousness against the class system often manifested as goodwill.

After marriage, I was fed up with Antra’s incessant mentions of birth status. So I wanted to avoid doing the same thing as her, but… I guess it can’t be helped.

“But you know, Mother.”

I paused for a moment, and the tension between us became palpable.

When Antra’s shoulders became very tense, I lowered my lips to her ear and whispered.

“You’re from a maid background, aren’t you?”

Huk, Antra swallowed hard. I patted her swollen back and whispered with a low laugh.

“I heard the Baron Dien’s godfather took you in as an adopted daughter to avoid a misalliance?”

Ha…! As if she had been holding her breath, Antra’s shoulders trembled finely as she exhaled sharply.

“I heard that at the time, the previous Baroness Dien tried to throw you into the river in a sack when you were pregnant with Devon, but Father found you and you survived. Is that true? If so, it’s terrifying.”

“……”

“I heard you comforted Father, who was hurt when his fiancée eloped with another man, and that’s how Devon was conceived. They say the fiancée was a precocious and intelligent young lady from a scholarly background? Did that fiancée really run away? You didn’t do anything, did you?”

Antra stared at me sideways with a pale, dazed face.

I smiled provocatively, curling my lips. Inwardly thanking Edmond for providing such valuable information before the banquet.

For the first time, I saw pure fear settle in her black pupils. A thrill ran down my spine at Antra’s face, engulfed in darkness.

“You know I have a loose tongue now that you’ve experienced it, right?”

“You……”

“If you want to control me, don’t stand out, Mother.”

It wasn’t even midwinter, but her shivering appearance was laughable enough to elicit a sneer.

As I raised my chin and slowly backed away, Antra collapsed, staggering as if she’d seen a ghost. Soon after, she fled the hall in a hurry, like Cinderella after midnight. Shrieking, “Heeek, heeek.”

She kept looking back as if I was chasing her, even tripping and losing a shoe.

“Who’s chasing after you?”

As I sneered with a crooked face, the boisterous announcement of the Emperor’s arrival soon rang out. The arched doors opened and the Emperor, wearing a golden crown, entered majestically with his red cloak billowing.

Oh my, is it that time already…

The people, split into two sides, held their breath and prostrated themselves. Soon, the Emperor ascended the platform, his cloak fluttering, and sat on the golden chair, scanning the crowd.

As the Emperor raised his hand, people uniformly stood up with their heads bowed.

After a while, a summons rang out, breaking the silence. Then came the sound of unhesitating footsteps.

Following that was the sound of cute, light footsteps like marbles dropping on marble. Laughing at the different sounds, I gently raised my head.

Under the dazzling light of the chandelier, the forms of two people were revealed. Sporadic gasps erupted at the siblings’ enchanting beauty.