“…….”

Elena suddenly clenched her fist tightly.

As her teeth gritted, her temples tensed involuntarily.

Meeting Elena’s hardened gaze, Ariana smiled even more brightly.

“I’m always pleased that you make good use of the things I’ve handled. It makes your elder sister so happy.”

Saying that, Ariana gently grasped Elena’s hand.

Except for mentioning ‘man’, she hadn’t lowered her voice at all, so everyone was listening to this conversation.

If she got upset here, she would be seen as the strange one.

Elena desperately tried to manage her expression.

But without giving her a chance, Ariana tilted her head.

This time, Ariana’s gaze was directed at Adolf. Her voice lowered again.

“But your new man, he’s not one I’ve passed down to you?”

Ariana murmured with narrowed eyes. Loud enough for only Elena to hear.

Suddenly finding himself under Ariana’s intense gaze, Adolf blushed, not knowing what to do.

Watching this, Ariana continued speaking.

“As family, let me advise you… Well. His eyes look rather murky.”

“…What?”

“It’s best not to carelessly pick things up. As I warned you before.”

“Ha!”

Elena let out a sharp, mocking laugh.

She abruptly pulled the dazed Adolf closer and linked arms with him. Then she raised her voice for all to hear.

“Ah, let me introduce our Adolf. You’ve already been introduced before, right? He’s the heir of Viscount Schmidt, and a genius investor. You know that trading company everyone’s investing in these days?”

Leaning her cheek against Adolf’s arm, Elena continued.

“Our Adolf here was the first to invest a huge sum in that company. So naturally, his return rate is the highest.”

Ariana responded with a calm smile.

“Is that so? Then… wouldn’t his losses be the greatest if things don’t go well?”

Elena flinched for a moment.

Though the tone seemed concerned at first glance, it didn’t sound kind. As if she was hoping for that to happen.

Adolf stepped forward, laughing confidently.

“Haha, doesn’t great glory always come with great risk? But don’t worry, the company has already secured a profitable exclusive route. You could say it’s a goose full of golden eggs.”

At Adolf’s assurance, nobles here and there nodded their heads.

“Perhaps the Duke hasn’t invested yet? Oh my, what a good opportunity… Shall I arrange a seat and horoscope reading for you now? There might be a way to invest even if it’s a bit late.”

At those words, some people’s expressions became subtle as they glanced at Ariana.

For someone merely the heir of a viscount family to advise on the Duke’s investments. It was excessively presumptuous.

‘It seems Adolf’s pride has grown quite a bit.’

‘Well, hearing about the investment amount and return rate, it does sound like they’ll make a huge profit once the ships return.’

Ariana smiled faintly.

“Thank you, but my husband manages his own finances.”

At her gentle but firm tone, Elena inwardly scoffed.

‘Trying to act like a wife when you’re so neglected you attend balls alone.’

Adolf shrugged as if it couldn’t be helped.

“Ah, of course. Still, next time…”

“Ariana!”

Edward strode over quickly.

‘How dare that thieving wench show her face here!’

Seeing her shameless smile, anger welled up, but frustratingly, Ariana was still the Duchess.

Forcefully suppressing his emotions, Edward raised the corners of his mouth.

“…It’s been a while. I didn’t send an invitation knowing you were busy, what brings you here?”

“What brings me here?”

Staring at Edward, Ariana opened her mouth with an expressionless face.

“I came to retrieve my maternal grandfather’s belongings.”

“What?”

“How could you think to scatter his possessions like this?”

The blatant protest caused a great commotion around them.

Edward’s face turned bright red.

“How to handle Lopez family items is for me, the head of the family, to decide. It’s not for an outsider to concern herself with!”

“An outsider, you say.”

Ariana let out a hollow laugh, then composed her expression and put on a light smile.

“Then you should give me a memento too. I’m a guest as well, after all.”

“…Give one to the Duchess too.”

At Edward’s nod, a servant handed her a slip of paper.

A blue memo paper bearing traces of age.

Receiving the palm-sized paper, Ariana slowly opened her lips.

“…Ah.”

Moisture gathered in her emerald eyes, shimmering.

The people standing around her all doubted their eyes at once. The Duchess shedding tears!

“This little girl… it’s a drawing of me.”

Gently stroking a corner of the memo, Ariana smiled faintly.

“I remember. I liked to wear my hair braided like this when I was young.”

Moist eyelashes and a voice tinged with emotion.

A solemn atmosphere suddenly enveloped the gathering.

No one dared to speak carelessly to the woman who shed tears upon discovering a drawing of herself made by her deceased family member.

Some murmured in sympathetic voices.

“Oh my… It seems the Duchess was close to Master Eduardo.”

“How heartbreaking.”

Those who had been muttering looked down uneasily at the memo papers they had received.

When it was Count Lopez himself handing them out, they hadn’t thought much of it when receiving them, but seeing this, it felt like they had thoughtlessly accepted something they shouldn’t have.

Among them, a count’s daughter looking at her memo widened her eyes slightly.

“Oh. There’s a girl with braided hair drawn here too, could it be…”

Ariana turned to look at that memo and gave a faint smile.

“Ah, yes. That’s me.”

The count’s daughter, who had been staring blankly at the ethereal smile, hesitated before holding out her memo to Ariana.

“Here, I’ll return this to you. If I had known it was something precious to the Duchess, I would never have accepted it!”

The count’s daughter hastily explained.

Watching this, those around them whispered in low voices.

“Indeed, even though Count Lopez himself handed them out… I felt a bit uneasy about it.”

“Exactly. I’m ashamed I came without thinking, just hearing we could receive items from a music master.”

Soon, a young man cleared his throat and held out his memo to Ariana.

“Ahem. I almost took away a precious memento containing the Duchess’s important memories. Please accept mine as well.”

“I’m sorry, Duchess. But fortunately, I treated it very carefully so there’s not a single scratch.”

The guests began returning their memos to Ariana one after another.

Watching this scene, Edward’s cheeks flushed red. The situation was taking a strange turn.

“Oh my… I’m sorry. It seems I’ve said something unnecessary.”

As Ariana made a troubled expression, those returning the memos strongly denied it.

“What are you saying! We’re grateful you told us!”

Some even looked at Edward with disapproving eyes.

‘I hope we didn’t leave a bad impression on the Duchess. We apologized properly, so she must have forgiven us, right?’

‘Why did he hand out something like this as a souvenir in the first place…’

‘If only Count Lopez hadn’t done such an unnecessary thing, we wouldn’t have had to apologize to the Duchess.’

Feeling people’s gazes, Edward gritted his teeth hard.

‘That damned girl.’

Though the people seemed to have been completely fooled, Edward could see clearly.

The trembling eyelashes, the sorrowful expression, it was all despicable acting.

She had deliberately shown signs of sadness to make people feel guilty and humiliate him.

Though his insides were boiling, Edward struggled to maintain composure as he approached Ariana.

“…Ariana. Let’s have a talk for a moment.”

“Ah, yes, elder brother.”

Ariana, who had already collected quite a few memos, nodded obediently.

After taking her to an empty room, Edward growled as soon as he closed the door.

“What are you doing?”

“That’s what I should be asking. What on earth is this about?”

The pitiful lady from earlier was nowhere to be seen as Ariana spoke in a firm voice.

So it really had been an act just now. This abominable thing!

Edward was about to get angry when he suddenly flinched. Ariana’s green eyes facing him were burning blue.

“To scatter grandfather’s belongings like mere promotional items.”

A voice filled with anger, though not particularly loud.

Momentarily overwhelmed by her aura, Edward missed the timing to retort.

Ariana took one step closer.

“You’ve hidden Part 3 of Fantasy Butterfly too. I thought it had been lost…”

Edward’s eyes widened at her eyes tinged with betrayal.

Ariana spoke in a voice barely containing her anger.

“Tell me, elder brother. What else have you hidden from me?”

Edward felt a strong sense of dissonance.

Recently, Ariana had been behaving strangely. As if possessed by Satan, she had suddenly changed and repeatedly humiliated Edward.

But the current Ariana was different from that recent behavior somehow.

Unlike her calm and serene demeanor while thoroughly humiliating people, the current Ariana was emotionally agitated.

‘I’ve touched a sore spot.’

In that moment, Edward felt a base thrill.

Being able to shake someone’s emotions by grasping their weakness meant gaining the upper hand in the relationship.

“Calm down, Ariana.”

Edward said in a voice that had suddenly become smooth.

But Ariana’s eyes lost even more of their composure.

She cried out in an exaggerated voice, as if for others to hear.

“If Part 3 of Fantasy Butterfly was with you, elder brother, could it be that you’ve been hiding that score all this time too?”

‘…That score?’

Edward frowned and muttered.

“What score are you talking about?”

“Are you pretending not to know? The score grandfather was working on until the day before he passed away. His true final work…”

Ariana bit her lower lip as if upset and said.

“It’s music he was going to create based on the first melody I made. It’s mine!”

Edward’s eyes widened for a moment as if he’d been hit on the back of the head.

‘…There was such a score?’

A true final work that even he, the head of the Lopez family, had never heard of. It was hard to believe, but if those words were true…

That score would cause quite a stir.

A dark glint flashed in his eyes.

Witnessing that light, Ariana bit her lip to suppress the corners of her mouth from rising.

That look in Edward’s eyes was one she knew well.

‘The look he always had when stealing my music…’

That thieving gaze.

Once again, her elder brother was true to form.

That habit would ultimately lead Edward to ruin.

This time for sure.