Despite bringing Lloyd here amidst criticism from others, Clayton was surrounded by people at the center of the banquet hall.

They had only entered together, but were practically strangers otherwise.

‘Damn it, Clayton. Take care of him! I can’t look after someone rumored to be your mistress!’

Dalia swallowed the words she couldn’t bring herself to say to Clayton.

Hah, damn it.

The male lead tries to drink her blood, and then she’s suddenly pushed to attend a party by the grand duchess.

Nothing was going according to her wishes, from noble ladies suddenly showing kindness when she thought they would criticize her.

As unexpected developments kept occurring, Dalia anxiously bit her lip.

‘What should I do now?’

Glancing at the male lead, she saw his gaze had long since left her. She needed an event to draw his attention back to her.

It was then, as Dalia was biting her lip looking for a way, that she spotted a familiar figure not far away.

‘That person is…’

It was the Marchioness Borsen, who was said to be in seclusion at her mansion after causing a disturbance at the tea house.

It seemed she was attending the banquet with her husband for His Majesty the Emperor’s birthday.

‘My goodness. To think there’d come a day when I’d be glad to see that woman.’

Dalia was genuinely happy to see her. The one person who could change this strangely friendly atmosphere towards her!

She had no doubt the Marchioness Borsen would look down on and ignore her.

‘I’ll have to provoke the Marchioness using the commotion at the tea house as an excuse.’

Since she might not attack her due to the atmosphere, Dalia planned to provoke the Marchioness Borsen first.

Then her desire for revenge would flare up, and she’d eagerly criticize her along with her noble lady friends.

Having made up her mind, Dalia approached the Marchioness Borsen.

To an outsider, it would seem like she was greeting an old hometown friend. Summoning her soul, she spoke with a bright smile.

“It’s been a while, Marchioness Borsen. How have you been?”

The Marchioness Borsen flinched at Dalia’s appearance. She responded with a smile while deliberately ignoring Dalia’s fervent gaze.

“Oh, it’s been a while, Duchess Sayer. I trust you’ve been well?”

“Oh, as you can see, I’ve been fine. But more importantly, isn’t this the first time we’ve met since that day at the tea house? I feel like we didn’t get to greet each other properly that day because of the commotion…”

“Ah, yes, well…”

However, contrary to Dalia’s expectations, the response was lukewarm considering she had deliberately mentioned the tea house.

She thought the Marchioness would have a fit at the mere mention of the word ‘tea’.

For some reason, she couldn’t even meet Dalia’s eyes, like a puppy that needed to relieve itself.

‘Why is she suddenly acting like this?’

There’s no way this woman, who would pounce on her like an ill-tempered Chihuahua whenever she saw her, would miss such a good opportunity.

And that wasn’t all. The Marchioness Borsen was awkwardly acting like she wanted to leave as soon as possible.

“Well, I should go to my husband now… Haha. So…”

“But, Marchioness…”

In the end, Dalia couldn’t even get started as the Marchioness fled the scene.

‘No. Why is everyone acting so strange today?’

As Dalia stood there, dumbfounded by the incomprehensible situation, a trumpet sounded and the hall suddenly fell silent.

“His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress enter.”

It was the arrival of the banquet’s main characters.

With the attendant’s announcement, everyone bowed to the imperial couple as if they had been waiting for this moment. Then the two descended the stairs with dignity.

When the elderly couple gestured for everyone to rise, all raised their heads.

Then they could see the faces of the two clearly, which they couldn’t while paying respects.

‘So those two are the Emperor and Empress.’

The blonde hair and blue eyes, slightly faded with age but surely dazzling in youth, matched the ideal image of an emperor portrayed in novels.

And what about the Empress beside him?

With the same blonde hair as the Emperor, but eyes green as foliage, she looked wise and benevolent.

Dalia thought they were people she had never been involved with, nor would be much in the future.

Of course, being a duchess, she might have some minor conversations with them, but since Dalia wasn’t significantly involved with the imperial family in the original story, she was just watching the imperial couple from afar like a celebrity sighting.

The Empress, who had been greeting important figures one by one, separated from the Emperor and looked around as if searching for someone.

At that time, Dalia thought the Empress was simply looking for someone. But then.

The Empress, who happened to meet her eyes, smiled brightly and approached her as if she had found her target.

‘What? Why is she coming this way?’

The Empress, who had come close in an instant, spoke in a gentle voice.

“You must be the Duchess Sayer.”

“Your Majesty, I greet you.”

Dalia hurriedly bowed to the Empress.

“Rise. I’ve heard much about you. I’ve really wanted to meet you at least once, and now I get to see you like this.”

“…Pardon?”

Heard much about me? Wondering if she had heard some bad rumors, Dalia tilted her head.

Then the Empress continued with a benevolent smile.

“My sister has been so generous with her praise of you.”

“Your sister…”

“Yes. Margaret.”

At the familiar name she had heard somewhere before, Dalia quickly racked her brain.

‘Wait, if it’s Margaret…’

Dalia’s face hardened as she pulled out something from the depths of her memory.

Margaret Magnolia. That was the grand duchess’s name before she got married.

Dalia inhaled sharply as she finally remembered an important fact.

The reason Margaret could remain unscathed in the original story after feeding poison to the female lead. It was because she had a formidable family background.

She was the illegitimate daughter of the former Marquis Magnolia and the half-sister of the Empress standing before her now.

‘I should have realized when she arrived in that splendid pumpkin carriage earlier.’

Dalia was briefly lost in thought, recalling the carriage that was said to be borrowed from her family, when the Empress’s voice brought her back to reality.

“She rarely asks me for favors, but this time I received a letter. Asking me to take good care of you.”

At that moment, the words the grand duchess had said while holding her hand flashed through her mind.

‘Don’t worry about that. No one will be able to ask why you came alone. I told you before, didn’t I? That I had prepared a gift for you. So don’t worry and go on.’

Ah.

Now she understood why people had suddenly become kind to her.

Probably knowing that she was an outsider in high society, the grand duchess must have asked a favor of the Empress.

‘Damn it.’

This plan had failed too.

As Dalia stood there blankly, tasting bitter failure once again, it happened.

Seeing their chance with the Empress’s appearance, the noble ladies who had been keeping their distance gradually approached and spoke softly.

“By the way, Duchess Sayer, whose work is the dress you’re wearing? It’s a design I’ve never seen before…”

“Indeed. How should I put it, it’s extremely simple yet strangely exudes a feminine atmosphere. You look so beautiful.”

It was the first time since her possession that she had heard such flattering words.

Observing quietly, she noticed that while the noble ladies friendly with the Empress were being sweet to her, those hostile to the Empress were just glaring at her from afar.

The Borsen marquis family was also closely connected to the Empress. That’s why even that ill-tempered Chihuahua had no choice but to avoid her.

‘What’s going to happen from now on?’

Her thoughts momentarily stopped, as she had somehow become a central figure in high society without doing anything herself.

Originally, the goal was to endure pain alone, shed tears, and make Clayton feel guilty by catching his attention. But now that plan had gone out the window.

She felt utterly lost about how to act now.

Dalia responded appropriately to the noble ladies’ words while glancing towards where Clayton was.

He was busy discussing business with the nobles, ignoring both his wife and Lloyd, whom he had brought despite the controversy.

He looked like someone who had come to this party alone.

‘Clayton doesn’t even care about me…’

He wasn’t even looking at her, so there was no way that man would know what she was doing here.

‘Sigh.’

It’s over, it’s over.

In the end, Dalia decided to accept that she had spent the royal banquet episode, one of the main events in the original story, meaninglessly.

As she was waiting for the party to end quickly, resigned to everything and squeezed among the noble ladies, at that moment.

A man approached.

Golden hair as if fashioned from the brightest rays of the sun, and blue eyes like a clear lake.

A man with an extraordinary appearance that one could never forget once seen stopped in front of Dalia.

‘Who is he?’

To think there was another character this handsome besides Clayton. As she was unknowingly admiring the man’s face in a daze, it happened.

The noble ladies beside Dalia all bowed to the man.

“We greet Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Crown Prince Alexion.

The eldest son of the Empress and Emperor, and the future Emperor of the Granos Empire.