The letter definitely exuded an air of wanting to end the relationship with Arasila. Reassured by this, Nora decided to attend the party.

Dressing up splendidly and arriving at the party venue, the hall was filled with numerous young ladies and noble ladies. It seemed there were many invited guests besides those who followed the Duchess of Kiston.

If done well, everyone here could turn their backs on Arasila at once. Nora swallowed dryly, reminding herself of her role.

“Thank you for coming, Lady White.”

Lady Harriet spotted Nora scanning people near the entrance and approached with a smile. Nora quickly put on a smile and faced her.

“Not at all, Lady Harriet. I’ve wanted to become closer to you for a while now.”

“Oh my, really? I feel the same.”

Lady Harriet covered her mouth with her hand and burst into laughter, then immediately grabbed Nora’s hand and pulled her along.

She led Nora to a group gathered in the center of the hall. It was a group composed of only the key figures among the party attendees.

“Welcome, Lady White.”

“Hello everyone. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Yes, welcome. We had so many things we wanted to ask you.”

People welcomed Nora warmly. Every face wore a friendly expression with a smile.

Nora slowly relaxed. Thinking that they welcomed her made the walls in her heart naturally lower a bit.

After exchanging greetings and engaging in ordinary conversation for a while, someone abruptly asked Nora.

“Is it true that Lady White was the first to notice that Lady Vandermir and His Highness the Crown Prince were in that kind of relationship?”

Nora unconsciously straightened her back. Now it begins. When one person opens like this, a session of reciting related rumors usually follows.

Having received similar questions several times before, she composed herself and answered habitually.

“Ah, yes. That’s right. I had a strong feeling for a while that the lady had someone else in her heart.”

Those hearing Nora’s testimony for the first time at this gathering looked at her with interested gazes.

“Have you ever seen the two of them enjoying a secret meeting?”

“Of course, I witnessed them alone together in a lounge at Her Highness the Princess’s birthday party. Not just me, but several others did too.”

“Oh my, oh my, goodness!”

Exclamations burst out here and there. Nora pondered inwardly what to say next.

At that moment, a sharp voice flew in from behind.

“Isn’t it impossible to be certain of an improper relationship just because they were alone in a lounge?”

Nora frowned after confirming the owner of the voice. Paula Heyden. A young lady famous for being close to Arasila since their academy days.

‘Why is Lady Heyden here? Did she become close to Lady Harriet through Lady Vandermir?’

Even if she cut ties with Arasila, she might not have done so with Paula.

There’s nothing wrong with maintaining an acquaintance, as Paula is a fairly well-known young lady in social circles. It’s not strange for grown adults to continue their relationship separately, saying their friendship has become awkward.

Feeling people watching to see how she would react, Nora cleared her throat and refuted Paula’s words.

“There were lounges with people in them, yet they chose to be alone cozily in an empty one. What could be the reason for that? I don’t know, but I suppose they must have had words to exchange secretly.”

“Frederick and Arasila were entangled publicly due to collaboration at the National Foundation Festival. Perhaps they had important things to discuss about work.”

“If that were the case, it would be proper to go outside altogether. Not specifically finding a secluded place at Her Highness the Princess’s birthday party. I would never be with a man who isn’t my husband in such a setting. Unless there was another intention.”

Nora spoke aggressively without realizing it. Feeling a sense of crisis as Paula offered a plausible response, her instinctive defense mechanism activated.

Paula looked at Nora and slightly raised the corners of her mouth, then quickly turned away with a seemingly upset expression and disappeared.

Nora inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. It was much better to end like this, with the other side giving up first, rather than the argument dragging on.

She turned back to the people. After a brief silence so short it went unnoticed, people patted Nora’s shoulders.

“Lady Heyden is just acting that way because she’s close to Lady Vandermir, so don’t worry too much about it.”

“That’s right, Lady White. Now that the troublemaker is gone, let’s continue our pleasant conversation among ourselves.”

They gently comforted Nora, seemingly concerned she might feel discouraged. While suspicious of the excessive kindness, Nora nodded.

Afterwards, the conversation resumed as if nothing had happened.

“So will the Vandermir couple divorce? The lady’s scandal is now almost certain, isn’t it?”

“Probably so. There’s no husband who would tolerate his wife’s infidelity. The opposite, maybe, but not this.”

“Ah, Lady White. What will you do if the Vandermir couple divorces? Do you have any thoughts of approaching Lord Vandermir again?”

Nora, who flinched at the unexpected question, soon shook her head.

“No.”

She had completely let go of her feelings for Demian that day in the garden. Seeing him not even remembering her past confession played a big part in her losing interest.

Just as she was about to give an angelic answer that she absolutely couldn’t do that out of guilt towards Lady Vandermir.

“Well, if he divorces, he’s no longer a man with a family.”

A strange murmur cut in. Nora looked at the speaker with a bewildered face.

It was Countess Draide.

“Pardon?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I was talking to myself.”

The Countess smiled brightly, but Nora felt uncomfortable and displeased. Her words seemed to target the fact that she once liked Demian, sarcastically implying it was because he was a married man.

However, she could roughly guess why she was acting like this.

It was well-known in social circles that Count Draide had a penchant for women. His mistresses changed several times a year, and he flirted here and there, causing no small amount of stress for his wife.

It seemed Countess Draide still disapproved of Nora’s past of liking a married man.

‘Let’s endure it, I won’t be seeing her for long anyway.’

Rather than causing conflict with her and having that incident brought up again, it was better to just pretend not to have heard.

Afterwards, Countess Draide occasionally picked at Nora’s words or made irritating remarks that grated on her nerves.

Each time, Nora’s insides boiled with anger, but she held it in.

As she was desperately trying to calm her mind, a maid approached and whispered quietly to Nora.

“Lady White, there’s someone who wishes to see you for a moment.”

“Me? Who?”

Nora asked in bewilderment. Today’s party was hosted by Lady Harriet, with whom she normally had little connection, so there was no one she could think of who would want to see her.

The maid looked around and lowered her voice even further.

“You’ll know when you go. It’s a very special person, so I was told to escort you secretly.”

A very special person?

Nora tried to gauge in her mind who could be considered special enough in this gathering.

Since it was Lady Harriet’s party, who follows the Duchess of Kiston, among these people, to be called special…

‘Could it be Her Grace the Duchess of Kiston?’

She glanced slightly at Lady Harriet. Lady Harriet nodded her head slightly.

To Nora, it seemed like a signal confirming her guess and urging her to go quickly. Whether that was actually the case or not.

Why would the Duchess want to call her? To know Arasila’s true face, like Lady Harriet?

Although puzzled, Nora obediently made her way out from among the people and headed to the lounge the maid had directed her to.

Standing in front of the door, she neatly arranged the hem of her dress and knocked three times. The door opened smoothly, and she carefully entered.

Whether the lighting had been deliberately lowered, the lamps on the walls dimly illuminated the room. This created a very secretive atmosphere.

“Your Grace the Duchess…?”

Nora called out cautiously for the Duchess as she ventured further inside.

The lounge was dark, and there was a curtain hanging in the middle that obscured the interior, making it difficult to assess the situation.

‘What’s going on? Did Her Grace the Duchess not call for me…?’

From the start, it was doubtful whether anyone was even in the lounge currently.

At that moment, she sensed someone’s presence beyond the curtain.

As Nora slowly approached and reached out her hand to draw back the curtain. The sound of the door firmly closing behind her was heard along with a familiar voice.

“Do you know something, Lady White?”

“…!”

“Recently, Countess Draide has been searching with burning eyes for the woman who had an affair with her husband.”

Nora turned around in shock. Lady Vandermir was seen leaning against the door. A picture-perfect smile graced her lips.

“La-Lady Vandermir? How did you…”

“Ah, don’t be surprised. I snuck in.”

Arasila raised her hand as if to calm Nora down. Nora looked at her with a dumbfounded expression.

“Are you crazy? Sneaking into someone else’s party. If you get caught, it’ll be a big problem…”

“You’re so concerned about me, Lady White.”

At the sarcastic reply, Nora bit her lower lip hard.

She knows best what kind of actions she’s been taking. She had committed shameful acts that made it hard to face Arasila directly.

However, she couldn’t show that fact. Instead, Nora quietly looked at Arasila.

For someone who had recently faced a series of difficult events, her complexion wasn’t bad. Nora felt a strange mix of relief and anxiety.

The fact that she was in such a normal state meant that what Nora had done hadn’t dealt a significant blow to Arasila, which put Nora in a somewhat awkward position.

After all, that wasn’t what Duke Grant and her parents had hoped for.

“But, it seems like you should be more worried about yourself today than me?”

“What do you mean…”

“Count Draide is sleeping drunk beyond that curtain. He ended up like that after playing with another woman behind his wife’s back.”

Nora blinked. Seeing her face that seemed to ask what that had to do with her, Arasila chuckled.

“Think about it. If it’s revealed that you were alone with a drunken Count Draide in an empty lounge… You might be mistaken as his affair partner.”

“Wh-What nonsense are you talking about!”

Nora, who had turned pale in an instant, exclaimed angrily. Arasila wiped the smile from her face and responded expressionlessly.

“Why is it nonsense? I actually had a scandal with a friend of seven years because of something like that.”

“…!”

“Isn’t it too shameless to say such things to me after conspiring with your parents to spread that kind of scandal?”

Nora could only move her lips without saying anything. Her past actions now held a knife to her present self’s throat.

Arasila, who had been staring intently at Nora, who had turned blue and frozen, brushed her hair back.

“How unfortunate. You had just cleared up the rumors about liking a married man, but now it’s about to spread again. That’s why you shouldn’t be alone in a lounge with another woman’s husband.”

“…Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not just Count Draide and me here, you’re here too, Lady Vandermir!”

“Other people don’t know I’m here, do they? I told you, I snuck in.”

So I’m not a person who’s here. Arasila added, twisting and pulling up the corner of her mouth.

In fact, she didn’t really sneak in secretly, she had Lady Harriet’s cooperation, but that was a truth Nora didn’t need to know.

Above all, the people who knew this were on Arasila’s side anyway and wouldn’t help Nora.

“Ah, it’s really unfortunate. When I think about how much Lady White’s future will be damaged after tonight, I feel like I won’t be able to sleep out of pity.”

“Are you… threatening me now?”

“What are you talking about, I’m just worried.”

Arasila replied with a bright smile.

Nora’s body trembled slightly. She wasn’t unaware of Arasila’s intention to create a scandal by linking her with Count Draide in the same way.

She recalled the process of her coming here. How would her sudden departure after receiving the maid’s secret summons have appeared to others?

Even people who hadn’t thought anything of it might think ‘Ah, so that’s why!’ if they heard false rumors about Nora and Count Draide having a secret meeting.

Of course, she could deny it if she wanted to, but the problem was her past record.

‘If I cause a similar problem again, everyone will see me as that kind of person, regardless of whether it’s true or not.’

As a woman who meddles with married men.

Moreover, hadn’t she said it herself when talking with Paula? Why would they be alone in a lounge at a party if they weren’t in that kind of relationship?

‘Lady Heyden, Lady Harriet… they were all Lady Vandermir’s people. They deliberately invited me and provoked me.’

If so, it becomes increasingly difficult to extricate herself from the scandal with Count Draide.

Arasila, who had been staring at Nora’s face full of dismay, suddenly asked.

“Why did you do it? Do you still like Demian? Or do you hate me enough to want me dead?”

“…”

“Do you want to ruin someone else’s life, and your own life, for such reasons?”

No answer came from Nora, who had her head bowed deeply. However, Arasila continued to say what she wanted, paying no heed.

“Look at yourself now, Lady White. You can’t even look me in the eye. Like a criminal.”

“……”

“I had hoped that Lady White would sincerely repent. So that you could live a new life. Then I would no longer concern myself with you, and though I couldn’t cheer for your future, I wouldn’t interfere either.”

But Nora had betrayed that expectation first. While not quite feeling betrayed, Arasila did feel some pity and disappointment.

“You always disappoint people, don’t you?”

“…Don’t speak to me like that. I, I didn’t want this either!”

Nora cried out with a surge of emotion. Why wouldn’t she want to live as Arasila had said? Tears fell drop by drop.

“I sincerely wanted to live a new life too! But I had no choice…!”

“You had no choice? Is that all the excuse you have?”

However, Arasila’s response was cold.