As the two beautiful daughters of Cardinal De Mare stared each other down, people couldn’t help but be drawn to them. Naturally, opinions about their appearance followed.

– “Isabella De Mare… I guess her ambition was too great. Today, she overreached. Even monkeys fall from trees, as they say.”

– “Why is she so excessive, unlike her usual self? And why is she wearing white?”

– “The younger sister looks effortless, so she’s actually better, isn’t she?”

That was the impression of the ladies who saw Isabella, with her over-the-top outfit, makeup, and hair.

– “She covered up, but her figure is bursting through the clothes!”

– “Why did I miss that scene earlier?!”

– “The second daughter is better than the first?”

Those were the praises from the gentlemen who saw Ariadne.

There was a subtle tension emanating from Ariadne and Isabella as they looked at each other. They didn’t seem like the “close sisters” Isabella had boasted about. Seeing their confrontational dynamic, people’s gossip exploded.

– “But why is Isabella wearing white?”

– “I heard the sisters are close, so the younger one asked first, and they decided to wear it like that.”

– “Are they really close? The atmosphere is no joke.”

Against the backdrop of people’s whispers, Ariadne asked Isabella, who was sniffling, in a low voice.

“Elder sister, why are you crying?”

Isabella instinctively lashed out at Ariadne.

Ariadne’s expression didn’t seem very friendly, but Isabella had a deep-seated certainty rising from within her.

That girl has a weaker spirit than me, and if I push hard, she’ll follow along. And to Isabella, the eyes of the San Carlo socialites watching her from behind were far more important than Ariadne’s feelings.

“Ariadne! It’s just that His Highness the Prince and Lady Marquise misunderstood our relationship. They said I spoke ill of you.”

To appease the expectant gazes of the people behind her, Isabella approached her sister more intentionally, as if she were overjoyed to see Ariadne, and clasped her hands.

“I was just saying that despite the wardrobe mishap – no, thanks to the wardrobe mishap – you looked even prettier! Your figure is really great!”

Prince Alfonso’s jaw dropped, and his face flushed.

“No, that’s not what-”

At that moment, Ariadne calmly grasped the tip of Prince Alfonso’s fingers, stopping him. Her expression was composed, but inside she was smiling in satisfaction.

The moment Isabella called Ariadne by the nickname “Aria”, which Ariadne had never heard before in her life, she immediately sensed what tactic Isabella was using.

In her previous life, not only throughout her childhood but also after becoming an adult, Isabella often did the same thing.

When Isabella thoroughly slandered someone and got caught red-handed, she would pretend to be close to the victim in front of people to gloss over the gossip.

People would see the victim and Isabella being close and think the victim must have tolerated such talk, and they would let it slide. It had the side effect of making Isabella’s reputation “blunt and straightforward but close with everyone”.

When Ariadne was very young, she was scared of Isabella and would be dragged along without being able to refute when Isabella put on a show in front of people.

Isabella, who was very kind in front of others, would change her face once things were resolved thanks to Ariadne’s goodwill, ignoring Ariadne or falsely accusing her, rationalizing that it was natural for Ariadne to handle it since it was Ariadne’s fault in the first place.

After being victimized day in and day out, Ariadne’s mind matured, and once she became the Regent’s fiancée, she thought this couldn’t go on. She waited and waited, then caught Isabella red-handed and got very angry.

When she shouted, “You blatant liar!” and spewed anger, simply listing the facts of Isabella’s misdeeds to make her feel ashamed, the next morning Ariadne woke up to find herself cast as the poor, pitiful stepsister who had abused her power to bully Isabella.

It happened because Ariadne didn’t know how to control her anger.

Unless it was a matter of money or interests, humans did not use their heads. Grasping the facts and making rational judgments requires intellectual labor.

Since laziness is human nature, even quite intelligent individuals judged right and wrong based on feelings and impressions for matters of interest. Ariadne was now vaguely realizing how the human world worked.

After being victimized by Isabella in childhood, lying in bed and twisting her body hundreds and thousands of times in frustration, simulating, “If I had answered differently then, would the outcome have been different?” – it was time to use the answer that time had found among the countless responses.

As soon as Isabella clasped Ariadne’s hands, Ariadne stepped back, shaking as if startled. It was a gesture as if she was terrified of Isabella.

Ariadne mustered all her emotions and showed a frightened and distressed expression. Her acting skills were poor, so she couldn’t squeeze out tears, but she could make an expression as if she were about to burst into tears.

“Elder sister! How could you go around talking about my figure like that…?”

This was a battle of momentum. Victory depended on who would preemptively claim the position of the more pitiful one.

“I really hate that kind of talk… You know I’m afraid of that. I don’t like even compliments about such things. I’d rather it not be mentioned at all…”

Isabella had no idea Ariadne disliked such talk. It was natural for her not to know. In the first place, Isabella’s comments about breast size to harass Ariadne happened in the previous life and were events that would occur in the future.

By Isabella’s current standards, she had never properly bullied Ariadne.

But there was no need to sympathize with Isabella’s flimsy sense of victimhood. Ariadne dramatically covered her chest with both arms and added in a tearful voice,

“…I really hate it when people look at me with strange eyes…!”

Ariadne was backing away from Isabella step by step, her expression wounded. The people of San Carlo were enjoying the thrilling spectacle.

– “Oh my, there must have been many people staring at her like beasts, poor thing…!”

– “Where in San Carlo are there such rotten people! San Carlo gentlemen don’t do that!”

– “Didn’t they say that child grew up on a farm and came up here when she was young? If they’re uneducated farm boys, they could do that.”

– “Ahem. If it’s something like that, it’s possible.”

– “But her own sister is like this? No matter how much of a stepsister she is, this is too much.”

At this rate, Isabella, who had become someone who made lewd comments about her stepsister’s figure despite the sister having trauma about being sexualized, stretched out a hand in bewilderment.

“Ah, Aria. That’s not it…”

Ariadne dealt a devastating blow to the faltering Isabella.

“Do you even care about me? I’m not ‘Aria’, I’m ‘Ari’!”

Isabella’s mouth gaped open, at a loss for words. She seemed to be agonizing over how to make excuses. Ariadne pushed on without giving Isabella time to escape.

“No matter how much of a new stepsister I am to you, this is really too much. I did my best to be a good sister to you.”

After throwing the fatal blow, Ariadne ran off with a hurt expression, pushing through the crowd.

Isabella, who had become the perpetrator, did not want to be trapped in the crowd in that state, so she fled the stage under the pretense of comforting her sister.

“Ariadne! Ariadne! It’s a misunderstanding! Wait!”

She didn’t forget to stubbornly insist on the original way of addressing Ariadne. She had to be without fault. Flaws were unacceptable.

The guests remaining where Ariadne and Isabella had run out from all became noisy at once. Despite everyone whispering, the volume seemed to rise a level because everyone opened their mouths at the same time.

“They wore matching white dresses because they’re so close? She lied through her teeth, didn’t she?”

“Did you know Isabella said it first earlier? That her sister enjoyed the attention and intentionally revealed the dress! Wow, I was skeptical from then!”

“Her personality is really rotten!”

It seemed San Carlo’s social circle wouldn’t be bored for a while.

Isabella, who chased after Ariadne, caught up to her on the stairs connecting to the second floor in the central hall.

“Hey! You stop right there!”

Ariadne wasn’t foolish enough to stop when told to, but Isabella ran up to her with truly superhuman strength and snatched Ariadne’s sleeve, so Ariadne was forcibly caught at the foot of the stairs.

“What? You know I hate talking about breasts? Hey, you conniving wench! When did you ever say that!”

The stairs where Isabella grabbed Ariadne were the very same flight where Arabella had pushed Isabella and been grounded on Ariadne’s first day of arrival. This central staircase was eerily tall and narrow.

Isabella stood on that narrow landing and fiercely confronted Ariadne.

“You’re really good at falsely accusing people, aren’t you?”

Ariadne endured Isabella’s physical onslaught without any response. Infuriated that Ariadne wasn’t actively resisting, Isabella pounced as if she would tear out all of Ariadne’s hair.

“You’re nothing! I pampered you and you dare to overstep!”

Unable to contain her anger, Isabella flailed and finally raised her hand high to slap Ariadne.

“You think I can’t bury you in San Carlo’s social circle?!”

Isabella tried to take a full swing but suddenly twisted her body as her wrist wouldn’t move. Ariadne, who was half a hand taller than Isabella, was tightly gripping Isabella’s wrist.

“Let go! You bi**h!”

But Ariadne’s hand, filled with strength, looked like it had no intention of releasing Isabella even if shaken.

Ariadne held Isabella’s wrist high above her head, brought her lips to Isabella’s ear, and whispered.

“You bi**h, should I push you down?”

Isabella froze on the spot. She never imagined the person she thought incapable of defying her would say something so vulgar…!

Ariadne warned Isabella in a low, rapid voice.

“You think you’re the only one who can curse?”

Ariadne flung Isabella’s wrist as if slapping it away. Physically overwhelmed, Isabella flinched at the pain in her wrist, losing even more momentum.

Isabella took a step back. Cornered in the extremely narrow landing, Isabella was precariously perched on the precipitously high stairs.

Ariadne shoved her face right up to Isabella’s and glared at her like a predator eyeing its prey.

“Be careful when you sleep at night. Don’t forget we live in the same house. Your room is just a wooden board away from me in the hallway.”

Spitting out those words, Ariadne turned around and left the shocked Isabella behind. Wasting time on someone like Isabella was regrettable in itself.

It was time to return to the party hall, which would be empty with the two protagonists gone, and show who the true master was.