At first, formal greetings that seemed to come straight out of an etiquette book were exchanged.

They scrutinized Ael with hawk-like eyes examining prey. Under those sharp gazes, Ael felt like a criminal dragged into the town square.

Ael’s gaze, finding nowhere else to escape, finally turned to the clothes she was wearing.

Before coming here, what troubled Ael the most was precisely her clothing. Having been suddenly invited, she had to choose something to wear from among her existing clothes, but there was no way she had anything suitable for a tea party among her remaining garments.

At best, she managed to find clothes she had worn in her debut year, but even then they were already quite out of fashion.

Moreover, due to being neglected for so long, they were discolored in places and in no condition to be worn out.

There was only one option left. Borrowing clothes from Elize.

Naturally, Elize wouldn’t be happy about it. But even Elize wasn’t stupid enough to prioritize her own feelings over this serious situation.

Knowing well that Ael wearing old clothes would immediately affect her own reputation too, Elize tearfully handed over one of the outfits she had bought for this year’s tea parties.

Securing clothes wasn’t the end of the problem. Elize’s clothes didn’t fit Ael.

To wear the latest fashions every season, Elize always restricted her meals.

After all, in Denertum, a woman’s virtue was in her slender arms, legs, and waist.

Also, too soft body curves were considered vulgar, thought to inspire lust in others. So everyone wrapped and tightened their bodies, striving to appear even thinner.

Of course, this wasn’t the case for Ael. The moment she first put on Elize’s clothes, Ael’s expression turned serious.

While the arms and waist fit more or less, the chest area didn’t.

She could barely manage to wear it, but at this rate, she wouldn’t be able to move properly, like a wooden doll.

Ael and Jena hurriedly began altering the clothes.

If they had entrusted it to a tailor, it might have been done faster, but it was so urgent that even the tailors declined, saying it would be difficult, so Ael had no choice but to do it herself.

The experience of altering clothes that Elize had grown tired of wearing greatly helped.

The Baroness, seeing the clothes Ael had altered, said with a satisfied face that this would be sufficient.

“This should be fine for wearing to the event. But isn’t that ungainly body a bit embarrassing? I hear your father is making a final effort this year to find you a marriage partner, so be careful to appear modest from now on.”

Saying this, the Baroness looked at Ael’s chest area and sighed deeply. Ael had to bow her head with a reddened face.

Along with the momentarily forgotten issue of marriage, the Baroness’s gaze, as if looking at something vulgar, felt like it was poking deep into her chest.

It was the same now. The look in others’ eyes towards her was as if they were seeing a maid who had entered this place.

Riena guided Ael to her seat. It was the third seat from Riena, the host of the tea party.

Usually, seating at tea parties is determined by one’s closeness to the host.

The third seat was too close for Ael, who was participating for the first time today. Yet it wasn’t close enough to warrant sending a carriage to fetch her separately.

‘Why on earth?’

Why had Riena bothered to call her to this place? Her, not Elize.

One thing was certain: she hadn’t done anything wrong. Then, having accepted this invitation, she should just enjoy herself lightly as written on the invitation card and leave.

Ael relaxed a little and straightened her posture.

Was it contrary to their expectations? When Ael relaxed and picked up the teacup placed before her, those seated around her wore expressions of surprise.

The Aradis Baronial family. The vulgar house of Elize, who ran wild relying solely on her face.

And her sister, no better than Elize, who couldn’t hide her frivolity and angered the old nobility in her debut year, retreating to seclusion at home as if expelled.

Everyone had barely remembered her name, but when someone mentioned the name Aelfrida, laughter erupted here and there.

It was because they immediately remembered a being so different from that name, which was said to be the strongest successor in mythology.

Others were curious as well. Why had Riena called Elize’s lacking sister to this place instead of Elize?

Their questions didn’t remain unanswered for long. Not long after the tea party began, Riena finally hinted at the purpose of this gathering that everyone had been wondering about.

“It seems Miss Elize is quite busy these days, so I ended up inviting only her sister, Miss Aelfrida. Could you please let her know that I received the tea from Ash Trading Company well? It was truly fragrant, something hard to obtain.”

“Of course.”

“Come to think of it, I heard that tea was obtained by helping Ash Trading Company. Being from the same family, Miss Aelfrida must know well what that help was.”

Of course. After all, that whole affair had started from her in the first place.

Just as Ael was about to speak, Riena, as if she had forgotten something, pointed to a man sitting a little distance away and said,

“I forgot to introduce for a moment. This is Mr. Ino Balten, the deputy branch manager of Ash Trading Company’s Denertum branch.”

At Riena’s explanation, the man who had been sitting in the corner looking at the table in front of him with a face as if the world had collapsed, slightly bowed his head in greeting.

“As befits a deputy branch manager, he seems to know everything about the affairs within the company. Isn’t that right, Miss Aelfrida? So I’d like you to speak honestly.”

Ael couldn’t understand why Riena was suddenly saying such things to her.

To anyone listening, it sounded as if she was telling a lying child to be honest because she already knew everything.

Ino seemed equally perplexed. Judging by his expression, it didn’t seem like he and Riena had plotted anything together, so Ael calmly talked about the commotion that had occurred that day.

Of course, she appropriately omitted mentioning that she had gone out on an errand, fearing it might unnecessarily cause trouble later.

But when Ael finished speaking, Riena wore an extremely surprised expression and then said in a deliberately loud voice that was clearly intentional,

“Is that really true? The story I heard is quite different?”

“Yes. From what we heard, Baron Aradis and Miss Elize had greatly helped Ash Trading Company…”

“And they say they begged her to accept it, impressed by Miss Elize’s discerning eye.”

People’s words continued after that. From their words, Ael could realize.

Why they had called her to this place, and why they had arranged for someone from Ash Trading Company to be present.

‘Elize must have lied.’

She must have boasted to make herself look better while generously giving away tea, cookies, and other items as gifts.

Ael swallowed a sigh. No wonder Elize had seemed unusually anxious, biting her nails before Ael left. She must have been worried about this situation.

If that was the case, she should have said something before Ael left.

That she had already said such things in social circles. So please match your words accordingly.

‘…Of course, her pride would have been too hurt to do that.’

Elize had lived her whole life giving orders to her. Even though she was her older sister, she treated her worse than a maid.

For such a person, admitting her mistake and asking for cooperation would have been harder than death for Elize.

Ael could easily guess Elize’s thoughts. That was the image of Elize she had observed all her life.

* * *

Having achieved her goal, Riena no longer paid attention to Ael.

‘After all, I only needed to confirm that thing’s lie.’

Elize had been acting arrogantly lately, boasting about getting her hands on Ash Trading Company’s tea before her.

‘How did she manage to get what even the royal family hasn’t bought yet?’

Moreover, even the Grand Duke seemed to have softened his gaze, praising Elize’s discerning eye more than before.

Seeing this, Riena felt like her eyes were going to pop out. She had been pondering how to break that arrogance when she learned that Elize’s stories to different people were inconsistent.

At that moment, she had an intuition. There must be lies among Elize’s words.

‘That’s why I deliberately called Aelfrida.’

Even if she had summoned Elize and pressured her, that fox-like creature would have used her tongue as usual to make excuses.

And she would have skillfully escaped. If cornered to the end, she would surely have pretended to faint to escape.

So she deliberately called in Aelfrida, who knew the situation to some extent but wasn’t as cunning.

‘It went as planned.’

Riena was satisfied that her plan had worked splendidly. Now it was time to clear away what was no longer needed.