Chapter 1

Episode 1

Chapter 1: An Illustrated Birch Tree Invitation

The smell of roses permeated the air during May in Swan city, the capital of Swanton Kingdom. Although Aunt Talbot’s house, where Alice and Chloe had taken up residence, was far away from the city centre, the scent of roses had managed to invade the house with the gently blowing spring breeze,

“I feel dizzy… I must have smelt too much perfume in the dressing room earlier.”

Alice announced wearily as she flopped down on her bed. If Verdier, her father, had seen her do such a thing, he would’ve scolded her for being so unladylike.

“But how could you skip dinner? Auntie will be worried.”

Chloe asked, concerned, as she opened the bedroom window.

“Wouldn’t she be happy to wash her hands of me?”

“Alice.”

The sisters were well aware that Mrs Talbot, who absolutely detested guests, only took them in for the social season. It had been two years since the long war had ended, and the kingdom had finally found some stability. It was high time Alice found herself a nice groom.

“It will be better this way as I won’t have to tighten my corset tomorrow morning. But sister, aren’t your legs hurting? You had to run about for quite a while in search of the dressing room because that bloody horseman was mooching around.”

Alice frowned when she noticed Chloe putting down her cane. Chloe smiled in return, hiding her left leg as it began to stiffen.

“If you’re aware that I worked hard, you must be at your best tomorrow. You know you can’t make trouble like last time, don’t you?””

During the last social season as well, Alice had stayed at Aunt Talbot’s residence. As she had just reached adulthood, and because of her striking beauty, Alice had been invited to over twenty parties. However, her third party at a Count’s residence had caused quite a scene. She had drunk five glasses of Sherry, gotten totally hammered, caused a commotion, and returned unconscious on a servant’s back. Her aunt had been taking an active stance in finding a groom for Alice and she was horrified to see such chaos unfold. Alice was labelled a disgrace, and that she would be hard-pressed to find a suitor who would possibly accept the Talbot family.

“It was so boring that I couldn’t help it.”

Alice laughed, oblivious to Chloe’s feelings.

“But I think it will be much better if I go with you this time, sister. I will dance with you”

They had thought Alice wouldn’t get any invites this year since last year’s mayhem had created quite a buzz. However, just a month ago, an unexpected invitation arrived at the Verdier residence.

How surprised their father, Viscount Verdier, was when they received an invitation with a birch seal.

“C… Chloe. daughter. As far as I know, there is only one nobleman who uses a birch seal in the kingdom… Am I wrong?”

“No. I think it’s the invitation from Duke Tisse.”,

“Oh, God!”

Her father, who had been away from church for a long time after her mother died, was looking for God.

“I’m not kidding, Alice. You have to behave really well tomorrow.”

It was a ball hosted by the duke and no one else. Damien Ernst von Tisse. The power of the young duke, the only son of the duke who led the great victory of the war and

succeeded the family early due to the death of his father, was great.

His territory is in the northern Tisse region, but the villa he had in Swan was rumored to be as beautiful as the royal palace. It was no exaggeration to say that there would be more roses in the villa than the roses in the entire city, which was given when his mother and current king’s sister, Duchess, received gifts from her father when she was a princess.

There were countless steps between the Duke of Tisse, the King’s nephew, the war hero, and the Viscount, who managed a small estate in the countryside. One could think of it as the distance from the edge of a church steeple, the tallest building in the capital, to the ground.

“For the sake of kindness to the respected person who invited you.”

It was a great honor to have been invited to a party where all of Swanton’s high-ranking nobles were gathered, but Alice’s face was only somber.

“Yes, Yes. All right. I’ll dress up like a doll and go dance with all the men there, sipping lemonade instead of alcohol like a lady.”

Chloe’s heart, who was leaning against the window on the second floor under the shadow of the Birch tree, became a little heavy. As she approached her bed, limping her legs, Alice turned and looked at her. Chloe whispered softly as she arranged Alice’s curly hair that ran down her beautiful forehead.

“I’m sorry, Alice.”

Although she became an adult, she’s a kid who likes running through the meadows more than attending formal parties. Chloe felt like she had placed a heavy burden on Alice, and she was hardly at ease. Maybe her father would feel the same too.

“What are you sorry about? If someone is at fault, it must be our Viscount Verdier, who loved our mother so much that he spent all his fortune on the hospital bills and failed to manage his estate.”

Chloe gently patted Alice’s shoulder as she pouted and calmed her down.

“It’s not just our father’s fault that there had been poor crops for three years. Typhoons and droughts are the domain of God. Even if he couldn’t speak, he’d be a lot more sorry for you now, wouldn’t he?”

“Even in this situation, my sister does not resent the father.”

“You should because we are family. That’s obvious.”

As Chloe gave a faint smile, Alice let out a long sigh. It wasn’t that she didn’t know Chloe’s heart that she was Alice. If it had been Chloe, she would have been militantly attending every party in the capital to rescue her family from debt and find a husband. Only if she…..could,

“When I see my sister, I think I should come to my senses.”

Alice lifted her head which was buried, and sat down. She wrapped her arms around Chloe’s waist and laid side by side on her bed, then blinked her eyes.

“Sister. But I thought I was going to marry someone who completely stole my heart.”

“Who knows? Maybe a nice gentleman will come to the party tomorrow and steal your heart.”

Alice chuckled as Chloe lowered her voice. She felt as if she had returned to her childhood, she giggled on the bed.

“I still can’t forget the look on my father’s face when checking the party invitation. It was as if he had been called upon by His Majesty the King, wasn’t it?”

It doesn’t matter if they’re not a part of any political party, how influential or not these countryside nobles are; They will all tremble in fear when they hear Tisse’s name Perhaps all the nobles who are considered to be the best will attend the party tomorrow, so it was only natural for the Viscount to be nervous at the invitation. Chloe didn’t want to burden Alice any longer, so she gently brushed her hair.

“At first, I was bewildered because I wanted to know what Tisse had to do with our family, but I later remembered what Uncle Chester had said before.”

“What did Mr. Chester say?”

“During the war, our father gave up his castle to the duke’s soldiers. He (Chester) complained that our property was wiped out because he (father) swarmed and treated injured and beggar-like people.”

Chester, the butler, had a habit of lightening his mouth when he got drunk. He seemed to have said useless things to Alice, who was not familiar with the situation because she was studying at the monastery at the time.

Well, I can’t say it’s not true, though.

“Yes. But father is grateful that he was invited because the duke did not forget that fact and remembered it.”

Chloe sighed. Looking through the window, the deeper the night, the heavier her heart felt at the thought that tomorrow was getting closer.

“Sister. Actually, you don’t want to go either, do you?”

At the words of Alice who suddenly raised her head and asked, Chloe blinked involuntarily. She didn’t think Alice was that smart. As expected, the sisters thought alike.

“I was reluctant because the rumors weren’t very good.”

“Weren’t good? The mistress has given birth to one or two illegitimate children, but everyone says they were silently killed off.”

“Alice.”

Chloe could also guess where the rumor Alice was talking about came from. Recently, it was clear that the capital had acquired gossip newspapers being published without the permission of the royal palace.

“His personality is a total mess, and if he sees something wrong, he’ll completely lay down the nobility or whatever. There are overwhelming opinions that it would have been nice if he had died on the battlefield….”

Chloe’s delicate hand finally covered Alice’s squeamish lips lightly.

“Anyway, it is true that it was an undeserved invitation from our position.”

“But sister, why did you ask our father not to go?”

Chloe paused and asked again with a nonchalant expression on her face.

“Did our father say that?”

“No. Uncle Chester.”

Apparently, after several servants resigned, the butler seemed to lack people to chat with.

“Actually, I was surprised that sister said something like that, but it was even more surprising that father did not comply with that request. Father doesn’t like sister leaving the house.”

Viscount Verdier did not welcome Chloe, who had an injured leg after suffering from a fever, to leave the castle. It was all the more so after losing their mother due to illness.

“If possible, father respects and follows sister’s opinion.”

After their mother died, Chloe was also forced to serve as hostess of the castle in place of the heartbroken Viscount. Originally, her meticulous and calm personality was further strengthened due to the surrounding environment.

“When he said you weren’t going to attend, I thought about it deeply and told to leave….”

Alice paused her speech for a moment, frowned and rolled her eyes.

“Father is more like a vicious matchmaker!”

Chloe let out a small laugh and took Alice into her arms. She now holds her sister, who is now taller than her, in her arms, and she stroked her hair as her mother always did in her old days.

“Shall we just go home early tomorrow morning?”

“Sheesh. I don’t like it.”

Alice muttered in her arms with a slightly tired voice. She was very tired as she had been dragged by her aunt for a long time today, putting on and taking off her dress several times.