“You know that’s not what I meant.”

Looking at Hael’s dumbfounded face, Yuriel conveyed her intention clearly.

“I’m really grateful but… I’m sorry, Hael.”

With those final words, Yuriel escaped from Hael and entered the building.

Only after reaching a place where Hael couldn’t be seen did Yuriel sit down.

Her uneven breathing made her chest rise and fall as the recent scenes flashed through her mind one by one.

Asking if he had sold the bead was somewhat impulsive.

She had been reassuring herself for days that it couldn’t be.

But Hael’s trembling body and his eyes cast in deep shadow, and also…

Though Hael denied it, while one can lie with words, one cannot hide instinctive movements.

Those fleeting movements made her sense it.

That Hael had probably sold the bead.

That he had used it to get money for her mother’s medicine.

Yes. In fact, she had known but had been denying it all this time.

Where else could Hael have gotten such a large sum to give her the medicine?

She had questioned this many times, but deliberately put it aside and pretended not to know.

Just to ease her own mind.

Nevertheless, not wanting to face it properly, she had come this far.

Why wouldn’t she accept it, he had asked. His tearful eyes asking if she thought so little of him were vivid in her mind.

But even so, she simply couldn’t bring herself to accept it.

No, how could she possibly accept it?

Over the past several days, the whispers of Mrs. Catherine and some of Alphonse’s wife’s followers as they looked at her were still fresh in her mind.

The moment she accepted that medicine, she would truly have no defense against their claims that she was the one who sold off the bead.

Of course, that wasn’t actually the case, but in the end it could only be interpreted that way.

Moreover, if she hadn’t known before it might have been different, but she already knew everything.

She had only avoided getting a definitive answer.

It wasn’t an issue that could be overlooked just by avoiding it.

In any case, it was an undeniable fact that she had mentioned her mother’s medicine to Hael, so there was nothing to consider.

Of course, she hadn’t intended it that way, and Hael had acted with pure intentions, but the world doesn’t work so simply.

Hael had committed theft because of her, and she would become the brazen person who had instigated it.

As a result, she would ultimately be seen as the thief.

There was no one in Alphonse who would believe the words of someone like her.

It would be the same even if Hael came forward and hurt himself. Of course, that wasn’t what she wanted.

The majority opinion would circulate as if it were the truth and eventually carve deep thorns into her and her mother.

Is that all? What would become of Hael and her?

Even this relationship they had been maintaining would be shattered.

But since it had been returned now, everything could go back to how it was before.

In any case, the bead had been returned, they said, and Hael had received its value back.

There was nothing to be concerned about.

She no longer had any guilt to bear.

How fortunate that she could return the money for that medicine.

Since coming to this mansion, she had more things to protect.

Compared to before when she had to accept anything indiscriminately, now she could at least maintain a meager sense of pride.

So it was time for her to return to her place.

Back to the young master’s side who had allowed her to form that meager pride.

As her rapid breathing steadied and reason cooled her mind, Yuriel got up and began walking towards the corridor.

On the way, hearing footsteps echoing in the corridor, Yuriel stopped and pressed herself against the wall.

Hael seemed to be searching for her, lingering in the corridor for a long time before finally being led away by a guard who appeared.

Hael’s tear-filled eyes were vivid in her mind.

It was fortunate. That she didn’t have to face Hael like that again today.

If she had properly faced Hael’s expression just then, she felt she might have blurted out that she knew everything.

The next day, Yuriel began her morning with transcription work as usual.

Throughout capturing interesting moments, Yuriel erased stray thoughts from her mind one by one.

The events of yesterday, Hael’s crestfallen face, and also…

Putting all of that behind her, Yuriel repeatedly sat upright in the same posture, writing in neat handwriting.

Just as the pages were transitioning from Calips’ diplomacy section to Kai’s tactics section.

A knock sounded in the room.

‘Who could it be at this hour?’

Thanks to her early rising as always, there was still quite some time left before she had to go have breakfast with the young master.

Since that brown-haired girl had been chased away, the maids were now afraid to even come near her.

Except for the one who helped with her mother’s meals and appeared right on time, no one else came anywhere near.

The one who greeted Yuriel as she walked out with a puzzled look was the butler, Renode.

Lifting his monocle slightly, he held a box in his other hand.

Immediately handing it over to Yuriel, Renode faced her bewildered expression.

He simply could not understand the young master who had ordered him to do this at the crack of dawn.

Especially during this busy time with preparations for tonight’s banquet in full swing.

The girl before him, still wearing an expression of ‘what is this?’, was preoccupied with examining the box.

Watching her, he barely managed to swallow a sigh that was about to escape.

“You know there’s a banquet being held at the mansion today, right?”

Yuriel could now somewhat guess the reason the butler had come all the way here in person.

Recalling the mansion’s busy preparations for the banquet over the past few days, it was clear how much attention the lord and his lady were giving to this event.

She vaguely remembered the young master also mentioning interest in the banquet.

Whether it was the young master or the lord, neither would be pleased to have an uninvited guest like her appear at this important banquet.

Unless she had a clear position as a servant, that is.

She was neither a guest nor a servant, neither this nor that, just an unwelcome presence kept in the house only by the young master’s orders.

If she, who hadn’t even received proper maid training, were to make any unnecessary mistakes, it would lower the lord’s dignity.

Perhaps they were going to tell her to stay in her room like she was dead for today.

Yuriel reasoned the purpose of his visit in her own way.

It was quite a rational guess too.

In reality, since nobles hold banquets at their homes largely for the purpose of showing off and forming connections, they pay a great deal of attention to formalities.

So Yuriel had already anticipated such instructions.

If that was the case, maybe she could just stay in her room for the day.

It might even be a good thing.

If she could escape from that suffocating young master and freely do her transcription work in her room, it would be like a vacation.

But if that was the case… what was this dress for?

The butler’s next words immediately resolved her doubts.

“Please attend the banquet being held tonight.”

“Yes. …What?”

Attend the banquet?

Just as she couldn’t hide her disappointment, her scattered thoughts gradually became clearer.

That young master had been planning to call for her ever since he first mentioned the banquet in front of her.

To think she had believed she could avoid it when the young master was attending the banquet.

It was common for nobles to move about with attendants in tow.

Much less would that arrogant young master attend a banquet alone.

Though she desperately didn’t want to go, once the order was given, there was no grounds for refusal.

“How should I prepare?”

The still tired-looking butler pointed to the box in his hand.

The box, wrapped with an elegant ribbon, exuded an air of being a noble gift just by itself.

Like a precious gift one might see at a clothing shop frequented by noble young ladies.

Despite its size, it was quite light, so there was no particular sense of discomfort when it was suddenly placed in her hands.

“Please wear this and come.”

Facing Yuriel who was looking at him with surprised eyes, the butler added firmly.

“It’s the young master’s order.”

Though he was using polite speech, his tone was somewhat ambiguous for speaking to a noble young lady.

With those final words, he handed her an invitation to the banquet and quickly disappeared as if he had completed his task.

‘A party?’

Yuriel couldn’t shake off her dazed feeling.

She had never attended such an event in her life.

It’s natural for commoners not to attend nobles’ parties, but parties aren’t exclusively for nobles.

Hael’s birth mother, Mrs. Catherine, often held parties inviting some of Alphonse’s wives who followed her well and some nobles.

She would make them especially grand when something good happened to Hael.

When Hael ranked first at Alphonse’s school, when he was chosen by the scholarship foundation, and when he moved to some good place in the capital…

She would hold countless grand parties.

Probably the party being held at this lord’s mansion would be on an incomparably larger scale, so the ones Mrs. Catherine held might not even qualify as parties in comparison.

So Yuriel was all the more anxious.

For her, who had never attended even such small parties, to be ordered to attend a party held at the lord’s mansion.

It was nothing short of a bolt from the blue.

But what could she do? The order had already been given.

Fingering the lavish invitation that didn’t suit her, Yuriel set her expression with determination.

She just had to stand by his side like a shadow and serve him as he wished, right?

It shouldn’t be too difficult.

At least, that’s what Yuriel thought until she opened the box and saw the dress.