Indeed, there had been a beginning, middle, and end to the invisible struggle of the social world.

In order to do so, enough buildup was needed.

Rather than fighting back against Dorothea’s provocation right away, I first calmly asked her,

“What do you want to say, Miss Dorothea?”

“Oh my……. Are you angry? I didn’t know. That Elodie would want to hide the truth.”

It was a typical rhetoric in the social world to drive the opponent into an emotionally excited state and assert that their logic was correct.

If it had been the past me, I would have gone along with Dorothea’s intentions at this stage and run amok.

But now, I’m not going to fall for such an obvious and amateurish trick.

“No. I’m not angry. Can’t you see I’m smiling?”

I smiled as if to show off.

Having experienced me once before, Dorothea was not so surprised this time.

She spoke, covering her mouth with her hand, as if annoyed and upset.

“I’m relieved, Miss Elodie. That you weren’t upset. It was said out of concern for Miss Elodie. I’m afraid people might look unfavorably if something like this…… gets out.”

As the conversation dragged on, the people at Ishtar’s fountain began to pay more attention to us.

It seemed like a deliberate attempt to tarnish my reputation.

I didn’t want to bother dealing with her, but because of what Dorothea was saying, I had no choice.

It wasn’t just an insult to me, but an insult to Ferdia itself.

Duke Ferdia conspires with the temple just to get me involved in the gathering?

‘Damn it. You should make sense.’

Even a passing dog would laugh.

Duke Ferdia is not the kind of person to do such a thing for his illegitimate daughter.

But there are various people in the world, and some are taken in by such nonsensical stories.

“Is that…… true?”

“It could be. It’s possible with Ferdia.”

Yes. Exactly like those people.

The young apprentice priests began to whisper and chatter among themselves.

I stared straight at Dorothea Angelos.

‘She’s the one who appears as a villainess in the original work.’

In this world, where I was born and raised, my first clash with Dorothea was at the last ball.

Living mainly in Ferdia’s outbuilding, and occasionally coming to official events, I did not mix with people and instead grabbed the hair of insolent boys who threw lowclass insults.

Dorothea, the direct descendant of one of the four great families that was called the flower of society and the center of attention.

Our worlds were different, so she did not care about me.

Occasionally she would use me to show that she was kind to everyone by offering a greeting when I was alone.

‘Even though I didn’t do anything conspicuous, why is she antagonizing me?’

All I did was enter the ball with Leian.

Although I’m not particularly interested in her, if she comes and scratches at my nerves like this, I have no choice.

You started it first.

I glanced at Duke Angelos, who was watching our conversation nearby, and asked her.

“Miss Dorothea. Was what you just said the position of the Angelos family?”

“Huh?”

“I was wondering if Miss Dorothea’s position coincided with that of the family.”

“What about the family’s position……. It was just something I said because I was worried about Miss Elodie.”

Dorothea tried to gloss over it, but I pressed her to the end.

“What are you talking about? Miss Dorothea is the successor to the Angelos family, isn’t she? Isn’t she?”

“I am the successor, but it doesn’t matter[—].”

“Miss Dorothea of the Angelos family claims that there has been some collusion between the Ferdia family and the temple, so it doesn’t seem like something that can just be passed over.”

I escalated the squabble from a minor personal dispute into an issue between families.

Anyway, from my perspective, if I let this squabble go, the nonsensical story that ‘Duke Ferdia used the temple to let his unqualified daughter participate in the gathering’ would become an established fact, so I had nothing to lose by making a big deal of it.

But it would be different for Dorothea.
It was just a slight intention to scratch my temper.

I turned to look at Duke Ferdia, who was standing crookedly with his arms crossed.

“Father. Leave this matter to me. I will talk to Lady Dorothea.”

After all, Duke Ferdia didn’t care what I did, so it would be the same this time.

“Yes.”

He simply responded out of annoyance, not trust, but somehow the fact that he had responded to my words felt reassuring.

I felt more confident in teasing Dorothea.

“I told the vicar directly, but I don’t know why I fell at the temple, Lady Dorothea.”

“Do you have evidence?”

“Evidence? Then, Lady Dorothea, do you have evidence that my father conspired some deal with the temple?”

With every word she spat out, I countered and refuted, and Dorothea’s cheeks turned redder.

“Lady Dorothea?”

“I don’t have evidence, but isn’t it quite possible? With Ferdia’s power, it would be easy to bring Lady Elodie.”

Finally, Dorothea not only refused to acknowledge her mistake but even betrayed Ferdia. Murmurs were heard from the priests all around.