Octavio was a decent man. He was tall, had a warm face, and was the heir to a quite splendid family with a wide social network.

At first glance, he seemed like a better prospect than the eldest son of the Marquis of Montefeltro, who had the fatal flaw of an ex-wife and children. But Camellia had nothing but complaints.

“But will he really marry me?”

“What?”

Félicité, who was not well aware of the recent situation, put her hand over her mouth.

“Did I say something wrong? What happened?”

Félicité looked around, and Camellia just sighed deeply. Camellia did not have the guts to be the first to bring up gossip about Isabella. Instead, it was Julia who broke the ice.

“It’s Isabella again, isn’t it?”

“Ah.”

Even Félicité, who was ignorant of rumors, immediately understood what this was about when she heard Isabella’s name.

“Is she still like that these days?”

“She’s the same, no, she’s getting worse!”

As soon as Julia opened the floodgates, a stream of criticisms poured out one after another. It was no exaggeration to say that they were just waiting for someone to take the lead, as they were such long-standing grievances.

Ariadne inwardly shook her head. It seemed that Isabella had gradually lost a lot of popularity among the girls.

They were not the kind of people who rose up with a sense of justice for Ariadne’s sake, or those who were overly meddlesome. They were people who had been constantly harassed by Isabella and reached a boiling point to explode.

“Do you know what happened?”

Camellia indignantly related the incident where Isabella openly embarrassed her in front of people. Now that this criticism session against Isabella had erupted, it couldn’t be stopped.

The people sitting together in this seat were now all implicitly on the same side. Those who had attended that tea party each added a word or two to Camellia’s story, sympathizing with her anger.

“How could she frame me like that?”

“She said Camellia was interested in the il domestico of the Viscount of Leonati, and then she touched Signor Octavio’s face herself. I saw it all!”

Cornelia, the daughter of Count Rinaldi, joined in the indignation.

“But Octavio! Instead of taking my side, he was busy paying attention to Isabella!”

Camellia finally burst into tears. Kind Félicité handed Camellia a handkerchief.

“Signor Octavio was wrong.”

Gabrielle bit her tongue after trying to advise Camellia to break off her engagement with ill-mannered Octavio. When Octavio’s fault was pointed out, Camellia now began to wail in earnest.

In fact, for Camellia, Octavio was not only objectively excellent but an overqualified match, so if the Marquis of Castiglione’s side broke off this engagement, there was no prospect of meeting a man as good as Octavio again.

So Gabrielle decided to curse Isabella rather than Octavio, whom she could not give up, in order to improve Camellia’s mood.

“That Isabella, relying on her pretty face and acting up, will get what’s coming to her someday.”

But Camellia was too overwhelmed with emotion to enjoy even pleasant words.

“I, I’ll be right back after going to the bathroom for a bit.”

“Alright, do you want us to go with you?”

“I’ll be back soon.”

Camellia, whose greatest strength was her beautiful appearance, hated to have her composure crumble in front of others. She seemed to be going to the bathroom to have a good cry.

In the Baldessars’ drawing room where Camellia had left, suspicions about Isabella flew through the air.

“But is Isabella really interested in Signor Octavio?”

Ariadne could answer that question.

“No way.”

While dispelling the misunderstanding that Isabella was interested in Octavio, it was not for her sister’s sake.

“My sister aims higher than that.”

She clicked her tongue self-deprecatingly.

“She’s just toying with him. If Signor Octavio seriously tries to break off the engagement and switch over, she will surely tuck tail and run away.”

Just like she did to Cesare in her previous life.

She flirts because she wants attention, and as soon as they fall for it, she pulls away as if nothing happened because the aftermath is a hassle. Unless Octavio suddenly inherited the throne of some country, there was no way Isabella would set her sights on him.

“It must have been an uncomfortable situation for Ariadne. Even though she’s your older sister.”

Cornelia, who valued etiquette, added with a slightly embarrassed face. But Ariadne smiled slightly and shook her head.

“After all, siblings in the same family are also in competition for limited resources. It’s okay.”

Straightforward Julia said with a big laugh,

“But competition? It may be called that, but it seems like Ariadne is far ahead in the current husband-hunting game, doesn’t it?”

Félicité added with sparkling eyes,

“Right! I heard you even entered the debutante ball with Prince Alfonso himself!”

Among those present, only Félicité had not attended Ariadne’s debutante ball. As someone who had only heard about that day’s events from others, Félicité was on the verge of squealing with delight at meeting the heroine.

“How was the prince? How did you end up attending with him?”

“But in the end, your debutante ball partner was Count Cesare, wasn’t it!”

Gabrielle, who had a sincere heart for men’s faces, interjected.

“Count Cesare was really handsome up close!”

“Ariadne, who do you like better between the two?”

“Yes, is it the prince or Count Cesare!”

“That, that’s not it. It just happened to be…”

“Ariadne, are you backing out after coming this far? Tell us about it!”

“I choose the prince!”

The choice of Cornelia, who led an exemplary life, was Alfonso.

“I choose Count Cesare!”

The choice of Gabrielle, who valued men’s faces above all else, was Cesare.

“Don’t you think you could live just off his face? If he gazed at me intently with those blue eyes, I think all my anger would melt away!”

“Eek!”

“He really is incredibly handsome.”

“A slender beauty. Sometimes he looks more delicate and pretty than a woman.”

“Don’t you mind standing next to him?”

At the thought of having their faces compared while standing next to Cesare, the girls all shrank back. Some shook their heads frantically and some screamed.

“I think I still prefer the prince. A neat and handsome man!”

“Me too, me too, the prince! Upright, big, thick body! I like the thick parts the best!”

“Wait, Félicité, you also closely observed the prince’s thickness?”

“Cast the first stone only if you haven’t looked! ”

With the lively chatter, it seemed like the drawing room would burst. The close battle between Team Alfonso and Team Cesare was a narrow lead for Team Alfonso due to misfortune that befell Team Cesare’s fandom.

“The prince is better in every way. I heard Count Cesare even goes after married women. Recently, he even fooled around with a widow named Mrs. Ragusa!”

“Oh my god, a widow? A married woman? How can you be with a man like that?”

“Why is Count Cesare like that when he’s so pretty?”

Gabrielle’s only remaining ally was Julia, who was also sincere about faces.

“But he was really handsome. He’s living up to his face. I wouldn’t want to marry him, but I’d like to flirt with him once.”

“Tsk tsk! You’ll become Mrs. Ragusa!”

“Ah, I’m just saying!”

The girls laughed together.

– Creak.

At that moment, the drawing room door opened quietly, and Camellia, who had gone to cry, returned. Julia looked at the door in surprise and sighed in relief.

The girls all looked at the drawing room door to see who had newly arrived, and now they began to chatter noisily, including Camellia.

“Hahaha!”

“Oh, no way!”

“I’m on the left side! I’m on the left side!”

Ariadne couldn’t even remember the last time she had laughed and played so freely with her peers like this. It might have been the first time.

Camellia returned from the bathroom and chose the seat next to Ariadne. With a face that had wiped away the tear marks, she spoke to Ariadne as if she was sorry.

“Miss Isabella said some unkind things about Miss de Marre’s debutante ball.”

“What? What kind of…”

“Things like she deliberately ripped her dress because the prince was there…”

Ariadne felt like blood was rushing to her head.

‘Isabella, you terrible human being!’

Camellia was saying meaningless things next to her like “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop her then,” but it just sounded like a buzzing noise.

Ariadne was very angry at Isabella, but she didn’t think very highly of Camellia in front of her either. The person who conveys gossip to the subject is just as bad as the person who gossips directly.

However, everything could be used either way, and Ariadne was not the type of person to miss an opportunity that came in.

“Lady Castiglione.”

“Please call me Camellia.”

To the gently smiling Camellia, Ariadne replied with a smile as well.

“Then Camellia. But didn’t Isabella unni say that Camellia was the one who first said those things?”

“What?!”

Camellia was startled. That wicked girl Isabella, first she frames me for liking some il domestico, and now how far has she been selling my name!

“When confronted by her father, she said that Camellia had been spreading such rumors first. That she was only guilty of not stopping her…”

Camellia’s face turned bright red, and the other ladies noticed and asked what was going on, and Camellia, looking like she was about to cry again, relayed in detail the story she had just heard from Ariadne.

“Oh my, good heavens!”

“It’s true that Isabella brought it up first.”

“Yes, something about coarse linen on the chest…”

“How would Camellia know which dressmaker… no, tailor shop Ariadne’s debutante dress was made at.”

The other ladies who were present stepped up to confirm that it was Isabella, not Camellia, who had first brought up those stories, and the conclusion of the ladies today was one.

– ‘Isabella de Marre, what a bad person!’

The reason such a conversation could take place today was about half because the composition of the attendees was exquisite.

If Camellia had not been invited on the grounds that she had not completely cut ties with Isabella, they would not have heard these stories, but if there were other people close to Isabella besides Camellia, they would not have been able to have this conversation at all.

In fact, when the drawing room door opened and Camellia walked in, Julia was half relieved and half disappointed. One of the people she had sent invitations to for today’s tea party had declined the invitation and did not attend.

It was Letizia, the daughter of Viscount Leonati. Since she was Isabella’s best friend, it was right for her not to come. And strictly speaking, it was also right not to invite her.

But Julia wanted to make an excuse to visit Letizia’s house, which she didn’t particularly like, just one more time.

‘…François.’

The face of the il domestico, whom she had seen only once, would not leave her mind.

The rose bouquet sent by Count Cesare, after being banished from Ariadne’s room, arrived at the girls’ drawing room.

It was a place shared by the three sisters, but as Ariadne moved to the suite at the west end, she now had her own drawing room and rarely used this place.

“Wow!”

Arabella was excitedly admiring the splendid red roses arranged in a vase.

Arabella was having the time of her life these days. The hobby of a younger sister with a large age gap, regardless of time and place, is to rummage through her older sister’s belongings.

But Isabella was a strict supervisor and a merciless tattletale. If there were traces of touching her things, she would throw a fit. Of course, she would also run to tell their mother, Lucrezia.

But the newly gained little older sister was generous, shared a lot, and didn’t scold much even if caught. The only downside was that she didn’t have many interesting things, but recently that flaw was being rapidly remedied.

“I’ve never seen such big rose blossoms before!”

At the admiring exclamation of the youngest sister looking into the wreath of red roses the size of small teacups, Isabella exploded in anger.

“Will you be quiet! My head is pounding!”

Even seeing Arabella flinch and cower did not appease Isabella’s anger.

“I don’t like this or that!”

Thanks to Letizia’s tattling, Isabella already knew that Julia de Baldesar had held a tea party excluding only herself.

Seeing Ariadne dressed to go out today, her sister must have gone to that tea party as well.

Recently, she had been reverently applying a Moorish empire breast development cream that she had bought for a large sum from a peddler, but instead of her breasts getting bigger, her body hair seemed to be getting darker.

She couldn’t throw it away because it was a waste, but she also felt icky about applying it, so Isabella was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“Argh! So annoying!”

Irritated Isabella went outside and circled the garden round and round. Nothing had been going her way since the appearance of her unsightly illegitimate sister.

Especially being branded by the Marchioness as a child who badmouths her sister behind her back in high society stung badly.

‘I was Isabella de Marre, the prettiest and most beloved lady of San Carlo!’

Her place was being rapidly encroached upon by her ugly half-sister.

“She’s not even pretty!”

“Huh? Who’s not pretty?”

The one who overheard Isabella’s muttering was her cousin Gianobio.

Isabella flinched as she remembered how the ladies were shocked when she spoke ill at their gathering, but Gianobio was from the less refined southern region rather than the capital, and especially from the lineage of knights where rough language was commonplace.

“Elder brother Gianobio.”

“Why is our pretty Isabella so upset?”

Gianobio was thrilled to even strike up a conversation with Isabella, the beautiful lady of San Carlo. When he returned to his hometown, it would be something to brag about for a month.

The moral sense that it was useless to look at Isabella just because she was a cousin, or that one should not look at a cousin in such a way, was of no concern to Gianobio. At that moment, pursuing primitive pleasure was most important.

At Gianobio’s words that seemed to accept her, Isabella, who had been dejected, began to pour out her grievances like a fish in water.

“Elder brother! I’m so upset!”

As they circled the garden of Cardinal De Mare’s residence, Isabella began to tell Gianobio all about how Ariadne had cursed at her, how Ariadne had pretended to be nice in front of others and lied to humiliate Isabella, how Ariadne had stuck close to the prince and flattered him, and so on.

Of course, they were stories adapted from Isabella’s point of view with a lot of embellishment.

“That wench is really too much!”

“Right, right?”

For Isabella, who had been shuddering with the injustice of even her mother not believing her, Gianobio’s company was a very welcome and happy occasion. No matter what Isabella said, Gianobio listened to it all without objection.

Gianobio also found this opportunity thrilling. For someone in his position, it was in principle impossible to even dream of having such an intimate conversation with a pretty and precious lady.

He could sell his own mother if only this dream-like situation could continue. Much less, believing a story about his cousin, who usually kept her mouth shut and acted dignified, cursing was a piece of cake.

“Isabella, trust your elder brother! I’ll give that wench a good beating!”

“Yes! Yes!”

I have to do whatever it takes to get in Isabella’s good graces. Then maybe Isabella will notice me too?

As if in response to Gianobio’s scheme, His Majesty the King’s regular autumn hunting tournament was approaching.

The sky was high, and the weather was perfect for scaring a fragile little girl.