Chapter – 47
The fact that the girl who hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye when I left for the Academy was now talking about being a “true friend” was honestly laughable.
Still, there was a time when I genuinely believed Judith was my only friend.
After skimming through the letter, I tossed it toward the trash can. Naturally, I missed, and the spy maid quickly picked it up and put it back.
Meanwhile, I lifted the crimson flower hair ornament from the box.
“Hmm. She must’ve spent quite a bit on this. Not my style, though.”
“Young Lady, are you throwing this away too?”
The spy maid spoke up immediately.
“It’s rather heavy. You might hurt your fingers. Shall I throw it away for you?”
Apparently everyone in this ducal household thought I was made of paper.
Shaking my head, I replied,
“No. I’m going to wear it later. Make sure it’s ready when you help me get dressed.”
The spy maid accepted the ornament from my hand, looking slightly uneasy.
Wearing matching hair ornaments at a major social event was essentially a public declaration of friendship. Judith really was a typical member of House Purves. No one wanted to tear down the Frelais family more than she did, yet she couldn’t resist showing off our supposed friendship.
“Y-Yes…”
As she carefully put away the ornament, she muttered loudly enough for me to hear.
“Lady Judith… um… she doesn’t seem nearly as nice as the rumors say… If she ends up giving you trouble…”
“Don’t worry, Spy.”
I answered lazily.
“I’m meaner and smarter than she is.”
Today wouldn’t end with House Purves merely being inconvenienced.
A very pleasant day was just beginning.
Grinning, I stretched and sat down at my desk.
“I’m writing a reply now. Deliver it to House Purves immediately. And since I’m a bit tired, bring me some cof—”
“You’re tired? I’ll prepare some herbal tea right away!”
The spy maid hurriedly cut me off.
Sigh. She uses the same routine every time.
The moment she left the room, I opened a drawer and secretly packed several magical tools.
I was planning to cause quite a bit of trouble today.
The imperial banquet began as the sun started to set.
Judith had arrived early with Rodrigo and secured their seats.
Wearing an elegant blue floral hair ornament, Judith quietly glanced toward Hiten.
The banquet’s guest of honor sat proudly at the center of the platform. Beside him sat the Third Imperial Consort, his birth mother, dressed in lavish attire.
The Emperor, having remained unconscious for a long time, naturally wasn’t present.
The Empress had excused herself due to poor health.
The Empire’s only princess, Celiette, was nowhere to be seen either.
But no one bothered asking why. The princess had long since faded from everyone’s attention.
“Funny, isn’t it?”
Rodrigo murmured beside Judith.
“Five years ago, nobody could’ve imagined a scene like this.”
Judith nodded.
Before the Crown Prince disappeared, the central seat on the platform had naturally belonged to him. The elegant Empress had always sat beside him.
So much had changed.
Nyx, the knight who had once guarded the Crown Prince, was now Commander of the First Imperial Guard and sat among the honored guests.
“Which means I can do it too.”
Rodrigo looked toward Leon, the eldest son of House Purves, who sat with the Duke and Duchess.
“Five years from now, I might be the heir of House Purves.”
Judith showed little reaction.
She had no interest in her brothers’ succession struggle.
Still, Leon was almost foolishly obedient, somehow accomplishing whatever their parents ordered him to do. Rodrigo, on the other hand, preferred solving everything through connections.
He had once been close to the Crown Prince.
Now he was close to Hiten.
And he wanted to tie himself to Frelai through marriage.
“By the way, I heard Kiana’s dating someone.”
Judith examined her nails as she spoke.
“So Prince Hiten’s pressure has become useless. How can he force a political marriage if she already has a lover?”
“She probably just hooked up with some random guy for that exact reason.”
Rodrigo snorted.
“He’s a commoner whose background nobody even knows. Kiana Frelai would never stay with someone like that for long. How long could that possibly last?”
He turned toward Judith.
“You didn’t forget to thoroughly crush Kiana today, did you?”
“What kind of question is that?”
Judith’s eyes sparkled.
“In the past, Kiana never attended banquets. There was a reason.”
Judith was confident she understood Kiana’s psychological weakness.
“Living out in the countryside must’ve made her forget. I’ll make sure that very thing she fears happens again. I’ve already arranged everything.”
Even Kiana’s reply letter that morning had matched Judith’s expectations perfectly.
At that moment, a servant rang a bell and announced new arrivals.
“Lady Kiana Frelai has arrived! Marquis Cesare Levin has arrived!”
Everyone turned toward the entrance with curious eyes.
After all, it was the first major social event for both of them.
“Ah…”
A collective gasp spread through the crowd.
Everyone had become captivated by Cesare’s appearance—the very man Rodrigo had mocked as a commoner.
Dressed neatly in formal military attire, Cesare radiated a presence that dominated the entire hall.
His expression was relaxed and playful, as though he found the extravagant banquet amusing.
Judith had nearly lost herself staring at him.
Only after several moments did she regain her senses and quickly search for Kiana’s hair ornament.
Just as I thought!
Kiana was wearing the crimson flower ornament Judith had sent that morning.
Admittedly, the extravagant ornament looked completely out of place with the beige checkered dress adorned with ribbon bows that Kiana had chosen to wear.
Around them, people were already whispering.
“Ah, Lady Kiana and Lady Judith must truly be the closest of friends.”
That had been part of Judith’s plan, but what pleased her even more was the fact that Kiana still seemed willing to follow her every suggestion.
“This is going smoothly.”
Judith smiled.
“It’ll be even easier than Melissa.”
Melissa had endured Judith’s bullying in silence.
Yet somehow she always made sure other people witnessed it.
With that pitiful yet brave expression, she earned sympathy from countless noblemen throughout the capital.
But Kiana was different.
Wasn’t she the gloomy villainess whom nobody pitied?
Turning her into a villain was easy.
Judith only needed to subtly provoke her in public, make her lash out at Melissa, and afterward spread stories about how violent and cruel she was.
No one would take Kiana’s side.
Of course, Judith was somewhat jealous that Kiana had arrived with a man as handsome and impressive as Cesare.
Still, he was only a commoner.
For someone aiming to stand beside Prince Hiten, he wasn’t even in the same league.
And strangely enough, once she looked away, she found it difficult to remember Cesare’s face clearly.
Perhaps he wasn’t actually that memorable after all.
Having convinced herself of that, Judith cheerfully fiddled with her hair ornament.
As soon as we entered on schedule, the first dance began.
Naturally, I danced with my partner, Cesare.
“Marquis.”
As we moved through the steps, I spoke with genuine admiration.
“You’re really good at dancing. You said you weren’t very coordinated, so I wasn’t expecting much.”
“Ah, well.”
Cesare smiled gently.
“I was being modest. I’m not quite that hopeless.”
“What? Really?”
“At the time, you were drunk, so I had to be careful.”
A deeper smile appeared on his lips.
“Under normal circumstances, I could handle not only a crowd like that but also an entire group of dockside thugs. So if you ever require a bodyguard, feel free to call on me.”
“Hmm. Have you actually been to places like that? Not the western ports—I’m talking about somewhere like Oldford Harbor in the capital.”
I wondered whether he was bluffing.
But he answered immediately.
“Of course. I go there often at night and always return safely.”
“Ah…”
My goodness. He goes there often?
After seeing Oldford Harbor last night, I knew how dangerous it was.
Criminal gangs, shady organizations, and all kinds of criminals looking to make a quick profit practically swarmed the place after dark.
According to Avian, it hadn’t always been that bad, but enforcement had become lax several years ago after the First Guard Commander changed.
A man who wasn’t even a sailor and still frequented such a place?
That painted a pretty clear picture.
He’s even worse than I thought… If he’s that much of a delinquent, this is honestly shocking.
Back at the Academy, he’d looked absurdly wealthy whenever financial support was mentioned.
Was all of that dirty money?
Then again, the chances that a contract boyfriend I’d chosen solely based on his appearance would also have a flawless personality were practically nonexistent.
At first, I’d thought it would be fine as long as he wasn’t spending his time in gentleman’s clubs.
But if every new thing I learned about him revealed another questionable habit, this was becoming a serious problem.
This won’t do. If I keep getting involved with him, I might end up dragged into something dangerous too…
As expected, there was no way a man who looked that good and wasn’t complete trash would still be single.
