A few days later, when Jieselgrante arrived at the Imperial Palace garden, the tea party atmosphere was already in full swing.

The nobles invited to the tea party by the Empress were mingling in their own groups.

It seemed difficult to naturally blend in among them.

‘Does this mean they won’t easily let me into the inner circle?’

Jieselgrante recalled the date and time written on the Empress’s invitation.

The invitation clearly stated to come to the Imperial Palace garden at the afternoon tea time.

In the Facis Empire, tea parties were generally divided into two, morning and afternoon, with the morning typically understood as brunch time, and the afternoon meaning the time after lunch and before dinner.

However, judging by the state of the food on the table, it seemed quite some time had passed since it was served.

As Jieselgrante stood alone in one corner of the Imperial Palace garden, the nobles began to whisper while glancing at her.

“Welcome, Lady Amaterasu.”

The Empress’s lady-in-waiting, Countess Minster, approached Jieselgrante.

At that moment, the conversations among the nobles in small groups suddenly stopped.

Their reactions were divided between those openly staring in this direction and those pretending not to while subtly keeping their gaze here, but before long, they resumed their conversations.

It was clear that the volume of conversation had noticeably decreased compared to before Jieselgrante’s arrival.

“Hello, Countess Minster.”

“It seems like it’s been a long time since we last met. How are you feeling? I heard you’ve been staying in the Amaterasu duchy due to health reasons…”

“I’ve improved considerably. Enough to be able to go out like this.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Countess Minster nodded slightly and gestured for Jieselgrante to follow as she started walking.

Countess Minster stopped at a table somewhat distant from the central table.

Then she turned to Jieselgrante.

“I thought it would be better for you to mingle with people you might converse well with, so I’ve assigned your seat here.”

The central table in the Imperial Palace garden was the seat of today’s tea party host, the Empress.

The closer to the central table, the more important the person was to the Empress.

So the table’s position could be seen as a measure of one’s distance from the Empress.

The table assigned to Jieselgrante was somewhat in a corner, but it couldn’t be said to be entirely bad.

In fact, there were far more nobles who never received an invitation to the Empress’s tea party in their lifetime.

“Iliana.”

Countess Minster called out, looking towards a group of young ladies engrossed in conversation.

The young lady whose name was called turned to look this way.

“Let me introduce you. Lady Amaterasu, this is my daughter, Iliana.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Iliana of the Minster Count family, greeting Lady Amaterasu.”

The young Lady Minster rose from her seat and curtsied slightly.

She exuded the freshness of a young lady who had just debuted in society.

“Nice to meet you, Lady Minster.”

After exchanging a light nod with Lady Minster, Jieselgrante looked at the faces of the other young ladies seated at the same table one by one.

As they received her gaze, the young ladies stood up one by one to greet Jieselgrante.

“Hello.”

“Nice to meet you, Lady.”

Countess Minster, who had been watching the scene with a pleased expression, said,

“Well, now that you’ve all greeted each other, I’ll take my leave.”

Before leaving, Countess Minster gave a slight nod only to her daughter.

Lady Minster nodded slightly back at her, as if to say not to worry.

Jieselgrante glanced at this scene and then sat down in the empty seat.

“Until just now, we were talking about the upcoming Crown Prince’s investiture ceremony.”

One of the young ladies at the same table considerately tried to include Jieselgrante in the conversation.

Jieselgrante expressed her gratitude with a nod and tried to guess the young lady’s family.

‘Perhaps the daughter of Marquis Howard?’

The guess seemed likely to be correct. The Marchioness Howard had thick, voluminous brown hair, and this young lady resembled her exactly in that aspect.

Even the gentle impression given by her slightly upturned eyes.

‘That’s right. I heard she was about to make her society debut this year.’

As Jieselgrante was thinking this and about to respond, Lady Minster spoke up a bit quicker.

“By the way, it seems the maids of the Amaterasu duchy need to be severely scolded. Don’t you think so?”

“…”

Lady Minster continued, looking at the other young ladies as if seeking their agreement.

“When the master oversleeps, they should promptly wake her and lead her to the bath…”

At first glance, it seemed to be pointing out the negligence of the Amaterasu duchy’s maids, but there was a hidden meaning in her words.

The laziness or mistakes of employees ultimately reflect on the master.

So while it was the fault of the Amaterasu duchy’s maids for not waking Jieselgrante earlier, it was also implying that Jieselgrante was at fault for not properly educating them.

Moreover, it could also be interpreted to mean that Jieselgrante’s lateness to the tea party was entirely due to her own laziness.

‘As expected…’

It didn’t deviate one bit from Jieselgrante’s expectations.

The fact that only her invitation had the tea party’s invitation time written a bit later.

‘It must have been Countess Minster’s instructions?’

Jieselgrante thought this while showing a faint smile.

This level could still be considered the initial stage of harassment.

Although not unexpected, arriving at the palace earlier than the time written on the invitation could also have been problematic, so Jieselgrante acted according to what was written on the invitation.

“Of course. I’m talking about maids who dawdle despite being informed of the schedule in advance.”

“That’s right. I’ve experienced that too…”

A few naive young ladies chimed in to agree with Lady Minster’s assertion.

Meanwhile, one young lady who looked particularly bored, as if disliking the topic of conversation, caught Jieselgrante’s attention.

It was Lady Howard, who had shown consideration to Jieselgrante earlier.

Jieselgrante looked at her with some interest.

As if feeling the gaze, Lady Howard also turned her head towards Jieselgrante.

When their eyes met, Lady Howard slightly wrinkled her nose bridge.

It was as if she was saying not to pay attention to what they were saying.

In fact, anyone who had spent even a little time in high society would quickly realize this.

That Lady Minster was now openly gossiping about Jieselgrante to her face.

Though it seemed some young ladies hadn’t noticed this fact yet.

Jieselgrante simply observed the young ladies’ behavior quietly.

As if daring them to continue.

After getting worked up over the same topic for a while, when Jieselgrante showed no particular reaction, the young ladies soon changed the subject.

“Oh, by the way. Lady Amaterasu, do you believe in fateful love?”

“…”

Though it was a somewhat abrupt topic, Jieselgrante thought she knew why Lady Minster had brought it up.

And it seemed Jieselgrante wasn’t the only one who realized this.

“Actually, it’s not that easy to fall in love at first sight, is it? But since Lady Amaterasu has already experienced it, and all the young ladies here, including myself, are unmarried, I thought you might be curious about that…”

Lady Minster looked at the faces of the other young ladies in turn, as if seeking agreement.

“Noble marriages are not simple. In the long run, it’s a crucial matter that affects the continuation of the family.”

“That’s right. Isn’t falling in love at first sight just a dream-like story that only appears in fairy tales?”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to say.”

Encouraged by the agreement of the other young ladies, Lady Minster smiled.

The appearance of words like fairy tale and dream was a way of pointing out that Jieselgrante’s sense of reality was somewhat lacking.

It was meant to mock Jieselgrante’s past behavior of falling for Duke Cardia and courting him regardless of appearances.

‘So, this is how they’re going to play it.’

If one doesn’t respond to weak attacks, they gradually increase the intensity. This was a common tactic in high society.

If Jieselgrante didn’t respond here, they would look down on her even more and raise the level a bit further.

And for good reason.

Even the gazes of the young ladies, who at first showed some courtesy to Jieselgrante, were turning cynical.

“Lady Minster.”

Jieselgrante, who had been wearing a faint smile all along, quietly placed her hand on the back of Lady Minster’s hand on the table and said,

“Thank you for worrying about the Amaterasu duchy’s maids. And…”

Looking at Lady Minster with a steady gaze, Jieselgrante continued.

“…it seems the Minster Count’s maids should be highly praised.”

Lady Minster’s brow furrowed slightly.

Exchanging glances with the other young ladies as if to say ‘what nonsense is this all of a sudden’, Lady Minster said,

“What do you mean by that?”

“Or perhaps the Minster Count’s family has a tradition of preciously keeping items once they come into their possession?”

Among the young ladies at the same table, it seemed only Lady Howard immediately caught the core of what Jieselgrante had said.

Lady Howard’s eyes curved slightly as she covered her mouth with her hand.

On the other hand, Lady Minster’s brow furrowed even deeper.

But Jieselgrante didn’t stop there and continued.

“Your dress must be from Weldenbell Atelier’s last season. The necklace and earring set, I believe I saw them at Henkel Jewelers about… two years ago? Around that time.”