IHRS 15

Chapter – 15

The social world was sensitive to change, but it wasn’t immediate.

Some people, like Lady Warrington, reacted instantly to shifting trends and approached accordingly. But they were only a minority.

Most people kept a certain distance, whispering among themselves as they observed the situation.

“Is she being quiet today because she entered with His Highness?”

“She’s probably watching her step. If she gets abandoned by His Highness too after her family has already fallen, she’ll be completely finished.”

“How long do you think that attitude will last?”

“Well… a month?”

“Oh dear. I was betting on two weeks.”

“Honestly, what does she even have left besides her family name?”

“Then is this His Highness’s final act of kindness toward her?”

“Thinking about it like that makes her a little pitiful. She must have had such high hopes, even had a dress specially made.”

Their dropping voices were filled with malice and ridicule.

To me, now possessing Laura’s body, these kinds of remarks were fairly familiar.

“…Have you always had to listen to things like that?”

For Asel, who rarely attended social gatherings, this seemed quite shocking.

Not only his clenched fist, but even his voice—like he was grinding his teeth—was filled with tension.

“Well… that’s a sudden question. I’m not quite sure what exactly you’re asking.”

I deliberately joked it off, but it didn’t seem like a light matter to Asel.

“Always… alone…”

Right. He was probably asking whether I had endured those words by myself.

When I intentionally stayed silent, shadows seemed to deepen beneath Asel’s eyes.

After staring into space for a while, he bit his lower lip as if making up his mind.

Just as he was about to step forward toward the nobles—

“Just leave it.”

I grabbed his arm.

“If you respond to every little remark like that, we’ll just end up looking ridiculous. They’ll probably say I was the one at fault. That they were just chatting, and I suddenly came over to pick a fight.”

I said it calmly, as if it were nothing, since this kind of provocation was common.

But—

“You…”

Asel murmured quietly, almost like a groan, then fell silent again.

He was probably thinking about how many of Laura’s past incidents had started exactly like this.

Most of what Asel remembered really had been caused by Laura’s difficult personality, but if he wanted to misunderstand things on his own, that worked in my favor, so I stayed quiet.

“By the way, aren’t you busy today?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, you always seemed to leave saying you had urgent state matters.”

I didn’t mean anything special by it.

If he was staying because of me, I would feel a little guilty.

But—

“I’ll stay here.”

Asel frowned as if he had been deeply insulted, then added shortly:

“…What?”

“Today… I’ll stay by your side.”

That was surprising.

The Asel who tried to linger at social events just to stay near me was someone I had only seen before the curse appeared.

I didn’t expect to see this so soon.

Feeling strangely happy, I let a small smile form. When our eyes accidentally met, Asel flinched and quickly turned his head away.

“……”

Things became awkward.

Fortunately, something happened that changed the atmosphere.

Oh?

“Um… if it would be alright…”

Princess Marien, who had been standing like a wallflower, had asked Asel for a dance.

Since I had already shared the first dance with him, I thought it would be perfectly reasonable for him to accept at least once out of courtesy to a princess.

But—

He’s… coming back?

After only a brief conversation with her, Asel returned to my side.

When I looked up at him in confusion, he lightly took my hand as if escorting me.

“Didn’t I say I’d stay by your side?”

His voice sounded lower than before, as if emphasizing the point.

I see.

That slightly pouting expression seemed like a complaint toward me for doubting him.

Amid the soft music in the distance, the loud murmurs, and all the gathered gazes—

Beside me stood the male lead who had made me love this world.

“I suppose so.”

What else could I do?

I had no choice but to trust this man one more time.

* * *

The banquet welcoming a diplomatic delegation varied in scale and form depending on the status of the visiting country and its representative.

Arieta was a small nation, but since Princess Marien herself had come as a royal representative, the banquet was scheduled to last three days.

For all three days, Marien dressed herself up meticulously and attended the ballroom. However, as time passed, fewer people paid attention to her.

It was obvious she wouldn’t be chosen by Asel, and she also failed to satisfy the curiosity of those who had initially shown interest.

The decisive incident happened during a conversation with a noble lady who operated a merchant company based in the Marcellin territory.

“I heard you came to establish a trade agreement with the Empire?”

“Yes. The Empire is a large nation in many ways. I thought building trade relations with a resource-rich country would greatly benefit our kingdom.”

“I see. What are your kingdom’s main export goods?”

“I was thinking seafood, handicrafts, and gold.”

“They all require very different handling. What are your logistics plans?”

Logistics plans?

Why would she need something like that?

Marien wanted to ask back, but conscious of the watching eyes around her, she forced out an answer.

“Well… first we would load them onto ships…”

“What I meant was, since seafood can spoil, are you considering drying or salting them?”

“Salting? You mean preserving fish with salt? Why? Wouldn’t that make it too salty to eat?”

The atmosphere turned cold.

Even Marien, who usually only cared about attracting attention, could feel it.

The lady briefly explained, as if excusing her ignorance, then moved to another topic.

But—

“You mentioned gold among your export items earlier. Has this been negotiated with His Highness the Crown Prince?”

That topic was a trap that would push Marien straight into the mud.

“Negotiated…?”

“If a large quantity of gold suddenly enters the imperial market, its value would drop. Especially since the Empire uses the gold standard…”

“The gold standard?”

Marien quickly shut her mouth, but she couldn’t stop the change in the gazes directed at her.

However, with her limited education, she didn’t know how to recover the situation.

All she could do was watch as people slowly began to leave.

Before she knew it, she had become a wallflower.

What’s so important about knowing those things anyway?!

She fumed belatedly, but nothing changed.

“……”

Since she had nothing else to do, Marien remained in the ballroom.

But staying didn’t mean she would suddenly be given something to do.

All she could do was stare blankly at the hall, and even that she couldn’t do properly because of her anxiety.

What should I do now?

Throughout the three days, Laura had stayed constantly by Asel’s side, pushing Marien’s anxiety to the extreme.

I can’t go back to my homeland like this.

Marien knew of half-siblings who had failed missions given by their father, the king.

But she didn’t know what had happened to them.

She only knew that one day they simply disappeared from the palace.

That was even more frightening.

Not hearing that they had died. Not hearing they had been exiled. Just… erased.

If I want to avoid that, I have to do something.

As she suppressed her anxiety and clutched her dress—

“Are you alright?”

There was still someone worrying about her.

A smile began to form from relief, but the moment she saw who it was, it immediately fell.

It was Sir Angel, the knight commander assigned as her partner by Asel.

He looked at her with concern and tried to hand her a drink, but Marien found his very existence unpleasant.

A commoner.

When she didn’t know him, she had been grateful for Asel’s consideration.

Now his presence felt like mockery.

As if it meant that no matter what she did, she could never surpass someone who was merely Asel’s shadow.

And yet that knight was worrying about her.

Is he making fun of me?

“No thanks.”

Marien snapped shortly.

No matter what, she couldn’t take the hand of a commoner.

She turned her head away.

* * *

…Unbelievable.

Angel was just as displeased.

To treat me like this.

Angel wasn’t just any knight—he was one of Asel’s closest confidants.

It was true he was a commoner, but he had stayed beside Asel for a long time, and privately they were even milk brothers who had grown up together.

Because of that, anyone with even slight knowledge of the Empire’s power structure would never ignore Angel.

Even if they looked down on his birth, they wouldn’t show it openly.

At least, that used to be the case.

“Um… Sir Knight Commander, what family do you belong to? I’m not very familiar with the imperial nobility…”

Princess Marien had been different.

She had asked about his family with a shy smile, and the moment she learned he was a commoner, her attitude changed.

Angel didn’t believe he himself deserved special treatment.

However, he had become her partner because of Asel’s consideration.

In other words, Angel was practically Asel’s representative. Yet the princess seemed not to consider that at all.

And her level of conversation is far behind too.

It was obvious she would never become Empress, but even if she did, she wouldn’t help Asel govern the Empire in the slightest.

She lacked even basic knowledge.

At the same time, Angel renewed his respect for his lord.

My lord truly is remarkable.

In just a few short exchanges, Asel had already judged that Laura was the better choice compared to this woman.

And Angel agreed with that judgment.

If Marien had become Asel’s fiancée, the Empire would have become a far more troublesome place in many ways.