<strong>The inside of the banquet hall was warm.</strong>
It wasn’t that hot, but I could feel my face get flushed.
The brilliantly glittering chandelier and its light reflection off splendid shiny statues made me squint and close my eyes. As I opened my eyes, Juliana, the saintess, and I identally met each other’s gazes.
Her eyes smiled at me.
She seemed busy talking to people from the temple.
“Lady Melford, your dress is so beautiful.”
A voice from my side drew my attention. It was a group of youngdies.
“Your outfit…. Did you match it with the Duke of Agernia? Is that a couple outfit?”
What an extraordinary coincidence. The design of the dress I wore was subtly simr to stair’s.
When I had first seen his outfit I thought it looked simr to mine but had dismissed my thoughts as wishful thinking. No, it couldn’t be.
“No. It’s just happenstance.”
“Oh my. Is it a coincidence? It looked like a couple’s look….”
She seemed convinced that we were doing a couple’s look.
I didn’t bother trying to persuade her.
I doubt speaking would work. I turned my head towards stair.
Naturally, many aristocrats swarmed around him. stair rarely participated in banquets, so plenty of nobles wanted to be introduced to him.
“Are you two courting?”
A youngdy who could not hold back her curiosity asked openly; her friend red at her for her breach of manners. But in the end, they both looked at me with inquisitive eyes full of anticipation for my answer.
“No. It’s just we’ve been friends since childhood,”
I said dryly.
The girls’ sparkling eyes grew dim with disappointment at my sour reply.
Many others were pretending not to eavesdrop released a breath with relief.
stair had a talent for captivating people.
Thanks to that,dies continued to fly towards him.
-“You must be delighted to be so popr, huh?”
When we were younger, I looked at him and teased him of his bewitching ways.
-“Then what are you going to do? I’m not popr with you.”
I had clicked my tongue at his displeased face.
It was a memory from my childhood.
“What are you talking about?”
Youngdies were chatting next to me when someone approached me with a question.
“I was wondering what Madame nche’s design the Lady Melford would wear. It’s an exquisite dress.”
It was Erzea Sylvania.
She was a friend to the heroine Juliana.
If it goes ording to the original story, she loved stair and hated his beloved Serina.
Her goal was to hinder her enemy, Serina and interfered with her affairs while she informed Juliana of everything.
“Thank you, Lady Sylvania. Lady Sylvania’s dress is also stunning.”
“By the way….. did you two dress as a couple?”
Ugh.
Did you approach me to ask this? She had the same reaction as those girls before.
Are our outfits that simr?
“It’s just a coincidence.”
My denial did not look suspicious, and I smiled brightly—mainly because I enjoyed watching her stomach turn due to her unpleasant personality.
“But aren’t your outfits too simr for it to be a simple ident?”
“So what would thedy like me to say? I replied no because it isn’t. And if it was really a couple look, there’s no reason to hide it, right?”
I retorted and nced discreetly at stair’s clothes.
He turned his head.
Ekk! My heart leaped. He caught me staring.
His red lips drew a pleased line.
I turned right away.
Erzea Sylvania entered my sight again.
“I apologize for the misunderstanding, Lady Melford. But it’s better to be careful next time. If the ensembles are simr, the Duke could be embarrassed. I’m just saying this because I’m just worried about yourdyship.”
You’re worried about me? Bullshit.
She was subtly ming me that my dress resembled stair’s
Why is it my fault when Madame nche designed my dress?… Surely not?
As far as I know, stair also gets his clothes at Madame nche’s dressing room.
It was highly likely that Madame nche intentionally gave a simr suit to stair.
Madame nche was convinced that there was something between stair and I.
How annoying. To think such a big incident would ur because I didn’t bother correcting her.
“You don’t have to worry about that. I know the Duke of Agernia doesn’t get embarrassed by these little things, and he doesn’t care.” You’re the only one that’s sensitive.
Erzea’s eyebrows went up.
She unfurled her fan quickly, trying to cover up her distorted expression.
“And if you keep saying that they are simr …. I think that would be offensive to Madame nche.”
Every artist wants their work to look creative and original, especially when it came to Madame nche, who had a high degree of pride in her work.
“She said that this dress was one of her masterpieces of which there are only enough to be counted on the fingers on her one hand. Wouldn’t she be saddened to hear your assessment of her work?”
I made the most troublesome expression possible.
Several pairs of eyes pointed towards Erzea, but then they immediately lowered their eyes.
It’s not hard to sway fickle people.
“Oh my! Is this a dress designed by Madame nche herself?”
“A dress that is counted on Madame nche’s fingers…”
Their concerned looks turned to gasps and exmations
“But Lady Melford….”
“Young Master Mikhail Melford arrives!”
I looked right at the door.
Erzea was speaking, but it was as if a fly was buzzing.
All the sounds and noises of the banquet hall blurred out to an indistinguishable din.
My nerves were all over the ce. After I left the Melford mansion, I had written him many letters.
I was really anxious about him, so I wrote several letters to him, feeling apologetic that Duke Melford would have punished him.
[I’m sorry.]
[Are you okay, brother?]
This sentence was repeated countless times.
Every time I wrote down each letter, it was as if there were thorns on the pen I held; my hand hurt in guilt.
[I’m okay.]
I knew you were only trying to appease me.
“I’ll talk to youter.”
“Ldy?!”
Erzea cried as if she didn’t believe what she heard and thought it absurd. I slipped past them.
***