Betty was very surprised when she saw the returned Estelle.

It was because the madam’s dress, which had gone to apologize to the Royum Kingdom, was in a mess. Even her pretty face seemed swollen as if she had cried.

“Madam, did you do something strange again there?”

“Oh, right.”

Estelle blinked as if realizing it now.

“I swelled this intentionally.”

“…What?”

“Purposely, to make it look like Miryu poured it on me when she was excited.”

Betty, who couldn’t understand Estelle’s words for a moment, blinked her eyes slowly. Then she asked cautiously.

“Did people believe Madam’s words?”

It was a place where many cherished people gathered in the Royum Kingdom. Since most of them knew Miryu and thought highly of her, there was a high possibility that they wouldn’t believe Estelle’s slander.

“Well, figure it out yourself. I don’t know.”

“What?! Then that woman can use it as an excuse, saying it’s Madam’s melodrama!”

Betty, who had stopped dressing Estelle in the dress, was astonished.

“That way, if you get misunderstood again like last time because of what Madam did…”

“No need to feel unfairly treated again. At least this time, it’s a melodrama, so it’s true.”

Estelle dryly said as if telling someone else’s story.

“Even if the people who were there believed Miryu’s words and hated me more, it won’t change. Anyway, they were the ones who hated me, and this incident won’t alter my reputation.”

“But still…”

“But Miryu will be different, right? She was the victim who suffered because of me.”

Although her reputation took a significant hit by losing the duel, Miryu had spent a long time building her reputation in society.

‘If I try to erase all of that at once, there will be resistance.’

So, a different approach is needed.

“But the scene I saw that day would have been very different from what people thought.”

People are weak in visual perception. And everyone there witnessed Estelle, who was universally known as a villain, crying as if she had been poured wine by Miryu.

And the incident would be passed from mouth to mouth, becoming more intense.

“But still, most of the people at the party were probably friends with Miryu. Was it well received, at least?”

“At least it didn’t look weird?”

Betty nodded as if she had just realized.

Estelle readily accepted the Royum Kingdom’s apology, acting as if she were friends with Miryu. If such a person suddenly staged a melodrama, it wouldn’t be easy to believe.

“If there’s that much suspicion, it’s enough.”

Even a small suspicion would accumulate and make it harder for Miryu.

“But still, Madam’s method takes too long.”

Betty shook her head as if her anger hadn’t subsided.

‘Madam must have her reasons, but still, I can’t get over my anger.’

Betty was extremely angry when she first heard about Miryu.

‘How can there be such a woman?’
Betty was very familiar with the malice of humans. Therefore, she was not particularly shocked by such malice again.

However, what Estelle had experienced often surpassed Betty’s imagination.

Of course, it might be due to the great pain she had suffered in the past because of a woman named Miryu, Estelle tended to mention those events vaguely.

“Miryu questioned me in detail about what happened in Libertan, and she insisted it was all my fault. She said I was making it difficult for her because I was full.”

“…Is that woman insane?”

“It might not be a wrong statement. At least, she was wealthy environmentally, wasn’t she?”

As if she still hadn’t told anyone why she got the scars.

“Now I know. The prominent person who used to talk about me everywhere was that girl.”

“Even during your encounters with the madam?”

“I guess so. It was when we were getting along like friends.”

In the position where Estelle wasn’t present, and it couldn’t be heard even if she went outside, Miryu acted like a victim who had been tormented.

Miryu was even more malicious in portraying herself as a victim in that she had seen Estelle being harassed, knowing that she couldn’t check it, and had behaved as if she were harassed.

“Did that woman also see the madam’s wounds?”

“Yeah. At that time, I considered her a friend, so I thought of her that way. Actually, I didn’t intend to tell her on purpose, and it was more like she saw it by force. At that time, she said it was so disgusting. Ironically, she talked about her own wounds to others as if boasting.”

Betty, who recognized the rumors spreading in social circles, was about half convinced.

“That scar was copied from the madam’s scar.”

Even from her behavior of buying sympathy with those scars, Betty was now convinced with certainty.

“She probably thought it was good for gaining sympathy?”

As one who witnessed the scars, Betty found Miryu even more dreadful.

“Doesn’t she have even a shred of humanity?”

It was even more heartbreaking to think that she had misunderstood the madam initially because of the rumors spread by such a person.

“Even when I think about it, it’s so painful. Is the madam really okay?”