“Nel, Diane. Thank you for coming.”

“Thank you for inviting us.”

Neris and Diane greeted Angarad and presented small gifts. It was the culture of imperial nobles to give small gifts as a token of gratitude to the person who invited them to a party.

Angarad, dressed cutely in a cream-colored dress following the fashion, smiled with delight. Neris’s gift was a delicious-looking blueberry jam, and Diane’s gift was an expensive, high-quality chocolate.

“The jam looks really delicious, Nel. Diane, the chocolate is truly beautiful. I’ll enjoy them.”

Diane raised an eyebrow as Angarad continued to call Neris ‘Nel’ even after the previous bag incident, but she didn’t point it out now as she was in the position of being invited to the party.

Angarad continued in a rather mature voice befitting a host. The cream-colored satin ribbon in her hair fluttered prettily.

“Megara and Idalia were invited to a gathering of upper nobles. But everyone else has come, so go and greet them.”

While attending the academy, they might casually call each other and take classes together in the same classroom, but in reality, the two marchioness ladies were on a completely different level from the other children.

One archduke family, three duke families, five marquis families.

The members of the nine families called high nobles in the empire were so noble that they hardly even noticed the difference between lower nobles and commoners.

Idalia of the Kendal marquis family tended to stick only with Megara. However, Megara, despite being the daughter of the Likeandros marquis, who had more power than the Kendal marquis, showed a uniformly kind attitude to other students. This was one of the reasons for Megara’s absolute popularity.

‘But if there’s a gathering of upper nobles, there’s no reason to reject that and come to Angarad’s party.’

It was rather fortunate. It would have become complicated if Megara had been involved and started using her brain for what was going to happen today.

Neris took Diane’s hand and entered deeper into the party venue together. Unlike Diane, Angarad didn’t have a dormitory room large enough to host a party for the entire class, so today’s party venue was one of the historic academy’s affiliated banquet halls.

“It’s old.”

Diane assessed the densely lined old-fashioned arch columns on the banquet hall walls in one word. Neris chuckled.

“Because it’s an old building. I heard they used to hold many theology department masses here.”

“I see.”

Diane’s cute eyes widened.

“So the theology department moved to a newly built building, and now this is used as a banquet hall.”

“Yes. This building itself used to be a temple. If you go a little to the corner, there might be a lot of spiders?”

Diane was delighted by the comment as if someone was giving a tour.

“Liz, you really know a lot, don’t you? But I need to go to the bathroom now. The way from the dormitory to here was too long.”

“Let’s go together. The bathroom here is upstairs.”

Although Diane was not the type to ask for unnecessary help, she couldn’t help but nod at those words.

If it had been a more lavish party, they could have received help from the staff, but Angarad only had one maid who was now busy going back and forth between the kitchen and the banquet hall.

“Alright. Thank you.”

“I’m thirsty, so I’ll just have a drink and come back.”

“Okay.”

Neris left Diane to chat with a suitable classmate and approached the table with drinks and food. She poured herself a glass of peach punch, drank it, and then returned to where Diane was.

“Let’s go.”

The lower noble child who was chatting with Diane also spoke to Neris.

“I was thinking of arranging a casual gathering next month with me, Angarad, and Hardy. Would you like to come if you’re okay with it? It’s a gathering of lower nobles, and second and third-year seniors will be coming too.”

Just as there were gatherings of upper nobles like the one Megara and Idalia went to today, gatherings of lower nobles were also held frequently at the academy. It was natural since it was good for exploring marriage partners and gaining benefits by strengthening ties when people of similar status gathered. Besides that, there were endless various gatherings that could only take place at the academy.

In her previous life, Angarad had taken on the role of distributing invitations for class gatherings from shortly after enrolling. And Neris was never on the list of invitation recipients.

Since Neris was the lowest in status and the poorest among classmates, and had no friends, no one raised an objection even if she was blatantly excluded.

“Okay. Send me a card later.”

“Alright, thanks.”

Neris and Diane, after greeting, left the banquet hall and went to the upstairs bathroom. Diane, who quickly finished her business, scooped cold water from the marble basin and washed her hands clean. Neris first helped Diane wash her hands comfortably, then received help herself to wash her hands.

As the two were going down to the lower floor where the banquet hall was, for some reason, loud noises could be heard all the way to the stairs.

Someone seemed to be shouting in an angry voice. And the pleasant noise of the party that had been faintly heard until they went up to the bathroom earlier had completely ceased.

“Is this yours then?”

Diane and Neris almost simultaneously opened their eyes wide. The two girls’ steps became more cautious. Finally, after descending all the stairs, they walked quickly towards the banquet hall door.

The banquet hall door was kept open during the party, and through that door, the noise from inside the hall was leaking out into the corridor, filling the entire building with echoes.

“Look at it properly!”

A sharp voice rang out again. The two girls carefully entered the banquet hall.

In the center of the banquet hall, all party attendees had gathered to form a circle. The two girls stood on tiptoe to see that the people in the center of that circle were Angarad and Alecto.

Angarad’s face was red and her hairstyle was disheveled, while Alecto kept hissing at the sight.

“Oh my, young ladies. Please, don’t fight.”

“Young lady, you shouldn’t act roughly.”

Angarad’s maid and Alecto’s lady-in-waiting were sweating profusely trying to stop their respective mistresses, and Angarad’s hair was a mess.

Seeing the cream-colored ribbon Alecto was holding, Diane covered her mouth. Neris raised one eyebrow.

Alecto fiercely waved the ribbon in front of Angarad’s face.

“You thief! Have nothing to say? Why do you steal other people’s things? And, do you want to shamelessly hold a party wearing stolen goods? A party where bugs come out?”

“What’s that about? Why is Angarad a thief?”

Diane whispered to a nearby child who was watching this situation with amusement. That child answered without really lowering their voice.

“Angarad Nine stole Alecto’s ribbon.”

At those words, Diane frowned.

“Why? She has her own ribbon.”

“That one got soaked in drinks last time.”

“She would have washed it.”

“Who knows, maybe the stain didn’t come out. Anyway, Alecto had embroidered her initials on her ribbon, and apparently that was found on the ribbon Angarad was wearing.”

The child shifted their gaze to Neris and asked.

“Weren’t you close with Angarad Nine when you were young?”

“Well, I don’t remember.”

“When were we ever that close? Don’t talk to me. You’re making the others misunderstand. What if they think I’m a thief too.”

“You’re asking about the reputation of Lord and Lady Trude, the parents of Her Highness the Crown Princess? It’s embarrassing to speak ill of the dead. But, yes… I wouldn’t have accepted the hospitality of a lord my husband could no longer serve. Isn’t that ‘stealing’? It’s obvious what she learned from…”

Neris felt as if she could hear the voices of young Angarad and the older Angarad simultaneously.

A long time ago, when Neris was truly a new student, a child lost a gold coin during a party. It was common for children to lose things while playing, but the problem was that some pointed to Neris as the culprit.

Including Angarad.

The entire class gathered and turned Neris’s bag inside out. A gold coin was found inside.

No one could know if that gold coin was the same one lost at the party, but no one paid attention to that fact. There were even claims that someone ‘saw’ Neris stealing the gold coin, so of course, it must be the same item, right?

Neris’s honest explanation that she didn’t know why she had such an item was of no help, of course.

This incident served as a catalyst for the bullying that had been subtly occurring underground to surface.

Bugs or leaves frequently found their way into Neris’s belongings, hair, and clothes. In one year, it was a popular game among all new students to see who could hit more stones or pine caterpillars into Neris Trude’s ‘bushy and lusterless’ hair.

At that time, Angarad pretended not to be involved while eagerly, and in a humorous and blatant attitude that others soon wanted to imitate, drew a line with Neris.

And whenever she had the chance, she built friendships with the children under the pretext of moral criticism of Neris’s conduct. Periodically bringing up this theft incident to ensure the children didn’t forget it.

Among the rumors Angarad spread in social circles after becoming an adult, there were some related to this incident.

Neris at that time was sad and wronged, but she couldn’t know who the real culprit was. She couldn’t understand what Angarad claimed to have seen when she hadn’t stolen anything.

But now, thinking with a clear mind that wasn’t cornered…

‘Back then, only Angarad could have accessed my bag.’

In the academy where mobile classes were held, there were hardly any occasions for students to leave their bags and walk away. Sometimes when going to the bathroom, a friend in the next seat might look after the bag.

For Neris as a new student, the relationship closest to a friend was with Angarad.

And.

‘It was around that time that Angarad started hosting class gatherings.’

That was a really strange thing.

Unlike the high nobility, which included exactly nine families, the criteria for lower nobility were not clear. However, Baron Nine was a poor rural lord with little connection to the imperial capital, so most children considered Angarad a lower noble.

But to dare to host class parties that included even the children of high nobles throughout her school days? Although it wasn’t hosted solely by Angarad, it was still strange.

Because being in the position to give invitations meant considerable power in the empire’s social culture.

It’s not like Angarad, with her weak background, could have fought to obtain such a good role, right?

Unless someone, a figure ‘acceptable to all children’, allowed Angarad that role in exchange for something big.

And Neris seemed to know who that figure was.

A lady of high nobility who could have mingled only in upper noble gatherings without anyone saying anything, but who somehow always participated in class parties.

“Yesterday was really fun, Angarad. You’re giving out the invitations for the next class gathering too, right?”

“I’m the one who’s grateful that you always come, Megara. I, I want to do that at the next gathering too, of course…!”

Whether as a child or as an adult, from Angarad’s perspective, she might have acted that way for survival. But such excuses were no longer Neris’s business and she couldn’t know.

Because she wouldn’t give her the chance to say such things.

It was the other side that chose the easier and more cowardly path.

“Angarad seems to think we were very close, but I… well, I feel a bit sorry to speak ill in this situation.”

“Why feel sorry? Did you tell her to steal the ribbon or something?”

The child said that with a laugh, and Diane patiently asked.

“What’s the talk about bugs?”

“Oh right, don’t drink the peach punch. A spider came out.”

“Ugh.”

Diane and Neris frowned simultaneously. The child shrugged.

“The building is so old, it’s not strange if some spiders are crawling around.”

“That means there might be spiders anywhere else too.”

“That’s right. That’s why everyone’s leaving.”

Indeed, servants were slowly coming in to take care of their masters. Angarad cried out tearfully.

“It’s not true! I didn’t steal it! It’s my ribbon that Martha washed for me!”