Chapter 34
After arranging to meet Alexander next, Lucy returned to her annex and immersed herself in reading.
With her intelligence stat increased, she was able to read more books than before.
“Hoo…”
Some time had passed.
Lucy looked up to check her status window.
[Intelligence: 30
Stamina: 40
Reputation: -180]
Her intelligence had finally reached 30.
“At this level, the Disaster Mouth skill won’t activate in front of the conquest target.”
Lucy felt proud.
With her stats increased, she could now speak for longer and more coherently than before.
In particular, she no longer gave replies that seemed lacking in grace.
Her stamina had increased too, allowing her to go for a walk once a day.
By exercising with the sacred dumbbells she had brought from the temple, her stamina improved faster than before.
“Today, I’ll go fishing.”
Raising stamina through fishing had become slower, but she couldn’t stop, given the chance to catch rare items.
Just as Lucy was preparing her fishing rod to go out, a servant came to her.
“Your Highness,” the servant said.
“We have a visitor.”
Lucy’s eyebrows rose in surprise.
Then her expression brightened.
“Bartholomew came?”
She had been debating whether to send him a letter to check on him, so she was happy to see him visit after so long.
But the servant gave an unexpected answer.
“No, it’s Patrick Yeong-sik from the Marquis Helio family.”
Lucy’s eyes widened.
Patrick came to see me?
Patrick waited for Lucy in the annex’s sitting room.
He looked around the room.
To put it nicely, it was simple; to put it harshly, it was shabby.
It was far too modest a place for a princess to stay.
A place that truly reflected Lucy’s situation.
Patrick was reminded once again that Lucy was the abandoned princess.
Yet he showed no reaction.
The mask he had cultivated through rigorous etiquette training was precise.
No matter that she was an abandoned princess, he could not act rudely in front of her.
He discreetly observed the room, conscious of the annex staff’s eyes, and waited for Lucy.
Finally, a servant announced that she had arrived.
Lucy felt a strange sensation seeing Patrick in the sitting room.
Perhaps because of his radiant blond hair, his delicate features stood out even more.
Overall, he exuded a glamorous aura.
He seemed almost out of place, like a piece of furniture that didn’t belong in the annex.
“Patrick Yeong-sik.”
“Princess Lucy.”
Patrick greeted her politely and spoke.
“I apologize for visiting without notice.”
“Indeed. That’s not very Patrick Yeong-sik of you,” Lucy said frankly.
It was customary to send a letter before a visit.
Of course, Bartholomew was an exception.
Lucy considered him a friend and always welcomed his visits.
But with Patrick, there was no reason or prior friendship to justify a sudden visit.
Even for someone so meticulous with etiquette, this was uncharacteristic.
Patrick wasn’t surprised by Lucy’s somewhat sharp remark.
Her reaction was within the range he had expected.
Coming without prior notice had been deliberate; he was curious to see how she would react.
“Not like me, huh?”
Patrick felt a strange sensation.
She spoke as if she knew him extremely well.
In reality, they had only met once at a social party.
They hadn’t really conversed.
Yet Lucy acted as if she knew him well then, and as if she still knew him now.
Patrick could have ignored it, but he found it distracting.
He began to wonder if she knew more about him than the rumors suggested.
Patrick quietly observed Lucy.
Her gaze.
Yes. He was curious about what lay beyond those eyes.
How she defined him and why.
Perhaps seeing him unexpectedly could reveal that.
A smile appeared on his lips, faint as if drawn on.
“I came to deliver something to you,” he said.
He took something from his pocket.
It was the handkerchief Lucy had left behind at the last social party.
Lucy was a little surprised; she hadn’t realized it was missing.
She wondered why he had brought it personally rather than sending someone.
“Seems like it’s not an event.”
The system window hadn’t prompted, meaning it had nothing to do with the game’s story progression.
“Thank you.”
Lucy took the handkerchief and looked at Patrick.
He did not avoid her gaze.
It was clear he did not intend to just deliver the item and leave.
As the host, she couldn’t simply send him off.
“Since you came all this way, please have some tea.”
“I’d be happy to,” he answered immediately, as if he’d been waiting to hear it.
They sat across from each other on the sofa, the sitting room table between them.
The servants were puzzled by the unexpected visitor but served tea anyway.
They drank in silence.
Lucy didn’t feel entirely comfortable.
She couldn’t read his intentions.
Finally, she broke the silence.
“Did you come to apologize?” she asked.
She guessed that might be the reason.
At the last social party, she had said something because of the Disaster Mouth skill.
“Of course not,” Patrick said lightly, shaking his head.
“Rather, it seems there was a misunderstanding about me, so I wanted to visit you again.”
He put down his teacup and looked at Lucy.
“May I ask why you thought that way about me?”
Faced with such a direct question, Lucy paused.
She couldn’t say she knew him from playing the game.
“Patrick grew up under a violent father.”
He had to obey his father unquestioningly.
He had to be the perfect heir, the perfect Yeong-sik in society.
He had always suppressed his true feelings and worn a mask.
When Lucy played the game in her previous life, she hadn’t known this.
She had been fooled by his polite exterior.
Certainly, her affection level had risen smoothly.
But once it reached a certain point, Patrick had revealed his true colors.
He no longer hid his cynicism and subtly insulted Lucy.
As if he were displeased that she acted as if she knew him well.
He had always felt no one could understand him, so when someone acted like they did, his demeanor changed.
His prickly personality surfaced.
Lucy had been completely frustrated by this dual nature.
“Did he come to mock me again?”
Regardless, she acted as if she knew him well.
She casually said things that would bruise his pride.
It surely annoyed him.
“So, you did come to apologize after all,” Lucy said.
Patrick smiled.
“I only came to satisfy my curiosity.”
Lucy furrowed her brows slightly.
‘Is he hoping I’ll insult him again or what?’
Though she wanted to vent the grievances she hadn’t resolved in the previous playthrough, she restrained herself.
Even if she gave up raising Patrick’s affection, she didn’t want a repeat of the social disaster from the last party.
“I also wanted to clear up any misunderstanding you may have about me,” he added.
Clear up a misunderstanding…
What was his intention?
Lucy looked at him warily, but Patrick remained calm.
He took something from his pocket.
“It’s an invitation to the social party I will host.”
“….”
“I hope Princess Lucy will attend and grace the event with her presence.”
Lucy’s face registered surprise at the unexpected offer.
Ding!
[Quest Activated! Social Party Redemption!]
[You have been invited to the social party hosted by Patrick.
This is your chance to redeem yourself for turning into a human durian at the last social party.
Attend the party and try to raise your reputation!]
[Success: Reputation +100]
[Failure: Reputation -100]
Lucy’s eyes sparkled.
It was an all-or-nothing quest.
If she failed this quest, her reputation would plummet.
But if she succeeded, she could recover the reputation lost last time.
Now, with both her intelligence and stamina increased, Lucy had no reason to refuse.
She took Patrick’s invitation and said,
“Thank you for the invitation.”
Her tone was composed, but her inner resolve was firm.
She would succeed in this redemption.
