If she were to try to attend the party in high spirits, they would probably chase her away at the entrance, saying it’s a fake invitation.

Neris folded the invitation with a smile and spoke to Isabelle.
“Thank you for thinking that way, Valentin. Then I must attend.”

Alright. Isabelle smiled inwardly with a smile of repentance.

Sure enough, no matter how malicious, this little girl didn’t know everything, even the personal emblem of the Duke’s daughter. Even if she did, unless there was a reason to doubt the invitation that Isabelle brought herself, she wouldn’t scrutinize it closely.

“Then I’ll go to do what Miss ordered.”

“Sure, go.”

Neris had kept Isabelle, who had been taken along for a while to avoid getting involved when Megara scolded Valentin, away for a while. It was too bothersome otherwise.

Seeing Isabelle’s departing figure, Diane looked at her with an obvious displeasure.

“Oh, don’t pay too much attention.”

Neris said with a smile. Diane frowned visibly.

“Weird, Liz. Everyone else invited is from a family that’s been around for over two hundred years or at least a viscount’s family or higher. Why did they invite us?”

Diane had also received Valentine’s invitation. Neris had kept that fact a secret, as ordered.

Neris spoke gently.

“Your family also wields considerable influence in the empire, Diane. People are just trying to deliberately ignore that fact.”

Hyenas that gathered at the McKinnon House in winter. What did it matter if a few generations back in the family tree, they were nobles?

Without money, they had no choice but to go to such a house and hope to be treated as guests.

However, understanding didn’t dawn on Diane’s face.

“Hmm… Still, your cousin doesn’t seem necessary for our family.”

That was true. In fact, there were only a handful of houses that the Ellandria family had to curry favor with. Valentin was overwhelmingly arrogant even within that household.

“It’s reasonable to invite you.”

Neris thought that Valentin’s purpose was clearly one of two things: either she planned to take Diane away from Neris, or she intended to enjoy chasing them both away from the party.

But Diane didn’t need to know that fact. After all, Valentin had a way to end the situation before laying a hand on them.

“I’ll go to the Karthak Circle from here. Pay attention in class, Diane.”

The two girls, who were on their way to the next class, parted at a crossroads. Diane shook her hand, looking disappointed, and Neris raised her hand in return.

Neris’s eyes darkened as they traversed the wide yard of the Karthak Circle.

In her previous life, Neris truly hated social gatherings. What happened with Annagrad and the invitation was just a prelude.

As she grew older, all sorts of things happened. Especially because of Megara.
Even in the previous life, Megara always ruled like a queen among her peers. The extent of her absolute power, even when she openly scolded, created an image of Megara in the children’s minds that was noble and kind, beyond words.

Her crown, as hard as a diamond, was oddly bizarre. Even if she directly did and ordered wicked deeds, and orchestrated them, except for Neris, no one could find any moral flaws in this little queen.

The affection bordering on worship resulted in a twisted moral compass for children who had grown somewhat. Arguments like, ‘Megara is never wrong because Megara can’t be wrong,’ went unchallenged in a classroom, just like the claim, ‘Neris is wrong because Neris can’t be right.’

The shameless double standards made all of Megara’s actions even more forceful for the other children.

One day, Neris remembered, probably around the age of sixteen, a peculiar tea party invitation arrived. Even though everyone knew that she was not invited out of goodwill, Neris couldn’t resist the terrifying authority of the sender, so she reluctantly went.

And soon, she regretted it.

Megara’s tea party by the lakeside on a beautiful spring day was absolutely perfect. On a round table, various finger foods and ceramics with rose drawings were displayed.

Children dressed in the best dresses and adorned with jewelry were treated to fragrant tea. Outwardly, everything seemed fine.

Well, except for Neris’s seat, that is.

When Neris arrived at the invited place, she was not initially surprised by the fact that there was no chair for her. In fact, this kind of thing had happened not just once or twice.

However, she was surprised when Megara pretended to know that fact.

“Neris, don’t stand in the corner. Is it because you don’t have a chair?”

“Yeah.”

Neris nodded cautiously. At that time, Megara, who had already spoken casually with her dazzling beauty like a blooming rose, said,

“Your seat is over there. Servant, bring the lady.”

While Neris was still stunned at the servant’s astonishment as he observed the coffin placed in front of the lake, when she screamed for him to let her down, it was useless. Firmly, he threw Neris’s small and thin body into the coffin. And before Neris could get out, he pushed the coffin into the lake.

To be fair, the coffin was quite sturdy. It was probably waterproof. It floated for quite a distance, carrying the small fifteen-year-old girl quite far, before smoothly heading out into the lake.

The reason Neris didn’t make a judgment to jump out quickly was due to fear. When the coffin first floated on the water, Megara pointed out with a lazy face,

“This one is dead. You shouldn’t move.”
The classmates were too busy laughing at that time.

Neris remembered it well. At that time, Valentin was sitting next to Megara.

As both of them were children of prominent nobles of similar age, they frequently invited each other to their respective social circles. How Valentin must have enjoyed that time.

So, small pranks like the ones today had no meaning at all.

Even on that day, when Neris barely crawled up on the lakeside, soaking wet, Valentin laughed, and she was treated to a dead mouse as a delicacy and forced to eat it.

Since then, even the sound of a mouse crawling on the ceiling was dreadful to her.

Anyway, Valentin wouldn’t bring mice to ‘her’ party, right?

Lost in thought, Neris’s steps came to a halt in front of the upperclassmen’s classroom. Her next class was ‘International Resources and Trade.’ The direction Neleusion walked out when Valentin visited last time…

“Neris.”

A genuinely friendly voice. With a pleased expression, Neris turned her head.

Neleusion was standing there, smiling as usual.

“Did you come to attend the class?”