I immediately rushed out.

Just as I was drinking a beverage, I splashed all of it from the glass.

As the juice splattered, the feeble flame was instantly extinguished, but Countess Laimira was a mess with the juice. Not only did a large stain form on her dress, but the makeup applied to her face also crumbled.

“Ahh! What is this!”

Countess Laimira screamed and twitched.

“You!”

She no longer showed respect. As she stamped her feet, even the hair that had been keeping its shape started to unravel.

“Is this all your doing?!”

Countess Laimira glared at me as if to kill me, and I was unwittingly taken aback by her rather fierce manner.

At that moment, Esmeralda approached and grabbed Countess Laimira’s hand, raising it high so that everyone could see.

“Your Highness! Isn’t this the princess’s bracelet?”

Countess Laimira, momentarily taken aback, quickly withdrew her hand. However, the surrounding crowd had already seen.

“Oh my, it’s indeed the princess’s bracelet. I noticed it because it’s unique.”

“Did the princess lend it to her?”

As people started to murmur, Countess Laimira turned pale.

I approached Countess Laimira, widening my eyes in surprise.

“You said you’d keep it on my behalf, right? Because it’s too flashy and doesn’t suit the engagement ceremony…”

“You… you…”

Countess Laimira trembled all over and stuttered but couldn’t easily continue speaking.

“This, this, is all a hoax!”

Countess Laimira looked around the crowd with wide, accusing eyes, and finding Kirian, she made a desperate gesture towards him.

“Lord Kirian! Tell them. You know that this common woman gave the bracelet and is now backpedaling, don’t you?”

People’s eyes were all drawn to Kirian. Their interested faces seemed more eager for new gossip rather than distinguishing clear truth from falsehood.

Kirian slightly furrowed his brow as if he didn’t understand.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Countess Laimira was on the verge of falling backward. But instead of blaming Kirian, she started to glare at me again with bloodshot eyes.

“You! You! I know this is all your doing! You planned all of this, didn’t you?”

Esmeralda crossed her arms. Swaying slightly as if her chronic disease of vertigo was acting up again, she did not back down.

“Your Highness, I really can’t tolerate this any longer. You have to be honest. You were the one who picked on Princess Reina’s somewhat simple dress at the engagement ceremony, using trivial excuses like the bracelet being too flashy or lacking etiquette, and said you would keep the bracelet. But to snatch even the bracelet, do you have any conscience?”

Countess Laimira didn’t back down either. She was consistent, indeed.

“What do you know! The bracelet was perfectly fine, and then it caught fire! If not this common woman, then who would do such a thing!”

I sighed softly.

“I had just oiled the bracelet for wearing today.”

I spoke with a regretful shake of my head.

“If you hadn’t taken it without permission, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Countess Laimira’s mouth kept opening and closing, but no words came out. With her hair hanging down and makeup smeared grotesquely, she looked more like a ghost.

“Tsk.”

Esmeralda chuckled softly. Her small laugh acted as a signal, and laughter quickly spread.

I watched with emotionless eyes as Countess Laimira, unable to withstand the ridicule, ran crying to the break room.

Among the laughing people were Countess Laimira’s friends, but no one followed her.

Even her mother was busy explaining to other ladies that there must have been some misunderstanding instead of taking care of Countess Laimira.

Such was the way of the nobility.

Relatives who approached with friendly smiles, only to turn their backs in an instant. A society where yesterday’s ally becomes today’s enemy, and yesterday’s enemy becomes today’s ally. In it, the only true allies were oneself and power.

It had been anticipated from the beginning. Somehow adapting and getting by. But it was inevitable that as the years went by, it became tiring.

I had no particular ill feelings towards Countess Lamira. Just tired.

The more I didn’t respond, the more persistent she became. I wished it would stop now.

Then someone grabbed my hand.

It was Kirian. Our eyes met, and the corners of his mouth traced a gentle curve.

“Let’s go, sister.”

Led by Kirian, we left the messy engagement ceremony behind and came out into the garden. As I breathed in the cool night air, my troubled mind eased a little.

“Thank you, Kirian, for helping me.”

I carefully examined Kirian’s expression.

Lately, it was becoming harder to know what he was thinking.

I thought we had become quite close when we were young, but one day, after Kirian had a severe fever, his attitude towards me changed slightly.

The difference was so subtle that sometimes I wondered if it was just my imagination, but like a small thorn stuck in my skin, I couldn’t ignore it completely.

He was much more mannerly and mature in dealing with me now, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he no longer honestly showed his emotions as he did when he was younger.

I knew this was part of growing up, but it was sad, nonetheless.

“I should help; we’re family.”

Kirian smiled faintly.

“Yes. But still, thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

His faint smile still lingered, but Kirian’s eyes quickly dimmed.

It was always like this. Incredibly kind and gentle, but when he sometimes looked at me silently, I wanted to know what he was thinking so much that I felt like opening his head.

Somewhere in his cold gaze, I deliberately smiled even broader.

“But how did you persuade Countess Lamira? You told me to trust only you, but honestly, I was skeptical.”

Kirian briefly licked his lips.

“It was hard.”

“Hard?”

“I’m not good at lying, you know.”

Kirian lied so casually.

How well he could lie.

It was just that, due to his unparalleled status, he rarely needed to. Kirian had no weaknesses to hide or people to please.

Unlike me, who had to increasingly lie to survive in noble society as the years went by.

Thanks to the protection of the Duke’s family, there were not many nobles as blatant as Countess Lamira in bothering me, but the disdain felt in passing glances and small words wasn’t entirely hidden.

I had no choice but to wear an everthicker mask.

Kirian pulled my hand again, smiling with a twinkle in his eye as he realized I was lost in thought. It was a rare and innocent smile these days.

“So praise me. It was really hard and I felt bad.”

It had been a long time since I saw Kirian express his emotions so openly.

He didn’t throw tantrums with arms and legs anymore, but I laughed at his somewhat childish whining.

Thanks to him, the lingering discomfort I felt even after dealing with Countess Lamira seemed to ease a little.

“Oh, was it now?”

I pulled my hand away and tousled Kirian’s hair. Kirian quietly let me mess with his hair while still holding onto my other hand.

The next day, I spent all day tearing my hair out, thinking about a letter to send to Hest.

‘Have you been well?’

After the clichéd greeting, talking about the weather, and discussing health, when it came to the main point, I couldn’t think of a proper sentence.

I wrote and erased sentences, struggling until I finally wrote one.

‘There is no good news yet, but I’ll talk to the Duke again.’