Chapter 264

“Hello, Duchess Lars. Have you been in peace? ”

“I’m hanging in there, thank you. By the way, if you’re not busy, I hope you can take time out for me.”

I didn’t feel good as she abruptly interrupted and asked me to take time out for her, but she was Carsein’s mother anyway. So I asked why, smiling at her politely.

“I’m not so busy, but can I ask you how you want to see me?”

“Well, it looks like you are hanging out with young ladies. Of course, I don’t want to blame you for that, but isn’t it time you made friends with married women, too? As it happened, most of the women from rival factions are here at the banquet, so why don’t you use this occasion to get acquainted with them? They keep coming to me, asking me to introduce them to you. ”

Although I was curious why she suddenly warmed up to me when she was cold to me usually,

I now knew the reason. I nodded at her meekly because chatting with the ladies was also part of my duty as the hostess of today’s banquet,

“Okay, let me follow your advice. Hey, can you escort Baroness Feden to the break room? ”

I told a maid passing by to escort Beatrice to the lounge, then followed the duchess. Then, after chatting with several women for a long time, I left the place.

When I looked around, I saw young men and women dancing and people chatting together in small groups of two and three. I also noticed the emperor talking with some of the foreign dignitaries and his aide next to him, as well as government officials.

When I looked at the emperor, I felt jammed up on the inside. I sighed and tried to turn his gaze from him when I noticed that the special envoy from the Lisa kingdom was not there.

Where is he now? No matter how bad the Lisa kingdom’s relationship with other kingdoms was, it was not wise for the special envoy to be away from the diplomatic place like this.

When I looked around again with a heavy heart, somebody suddenly shouted from my behind.

Turning back, stunned, I noticed an old nobleman talking down to a servant bowing deeply to him.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Sorry, sir. I’ll bring it right away …”

“Shut up! How come a mere servant like you are talking back to me?”

“Sir, would you lower your voice? Why are you raising your voice in the presence of foreign dignitaries and distinguished guests? Please don’t make a scene in front of them.”

When I stopped him with a frown, Duke Jena turned around and said in a stern voice, “What did you say? Did I make a scene before them?”

“Please calm down. Why are you so upset?”

“How can you denounce me when you don’t know how to manage the servants serving drinks? I don’t like anything about you. Well, who can help you with vulgar blood?”

‘What? Vulgar blood? ‘ The moment I heard it, I felt a surge of anger coming up, but I barely calmed down. I wanted to refute him right away, but I would attract many of the banquet guests’ attention, which was the last thing I wanted.

“As there are many people around us, why don’t we move? We can talk calmly in a quiet place.”

“Are you now going to give me a lecture…”

When I frowned at his annoying voice, someone suddenly interrupted, calling him, “Duke Jena! I’ve been looking for you for long.”

The man who elbowed his way through the guests and came to the duke.

“Oy, you’re with him, Lady Monique. How have you been? ”

“… Hi, Marquis Mirwa.”

He already must have noticed a bad atmosphere surrounding me and the duke, but he smiled casually as if nothing had happened. When I saw him, my raging anger suddenly disappeared.

I felt empty somehow.

“It seems like you were so excited to see your distant relative after a long time. Please understand him generously, Lady Monique.”

“What did you say, Marquis Mirwa? Who is the distant relative of that vulgar woman …?”

“By the way, I’m sorry to bother the amicable meeting between you and your distant relative, but the emperor seems to want to see you.”

Was it because I was dumbfounded? I couldn’t be upset with the duke even when I saw him mentioning ‘vulgar blood.’ Distant relative? Who is his relative? Of course, as he is my grandmother’s brother, it’s true that he is my distant relative. But I didn’t want to be entangled with the duke by kinship at all. It was terrible for me to imagine it.

I was so embarrassed that I forgot what Marquis Mirwa just told me. What did he say to me a moment ago? Is the emperor looking for me?

“… Did you say the emperor was looking for me now?”

“Yes, that’s right. So, please hurry up. You should not keep him waiting for you too long.”

Really? He had no reason to look for me. He stayed cold to me after I parted with him in an awkward situation the other day.

When I tilted my head, Marquis Mirwa winked at me with a smile.

What the heck is this? Did he lie to me?

I made a hollow smile. How could he dare to use the emperor to diffuse the tense atmosphere surrounding me and the duke?

I didn’t feel so good because I thought I played into his hand, but as I thought I didn’t need to get any more attention, I slipped out of the place, with my head down.

‘But why is Duke Jena acting like that all of a sudden?’

As I passed among the people who looked at me, I suddenly suspected him. Was he careless enough to show his domestic quarrel to outsiders? I didn’t think he was. Of course, he and I had a quarrel at the conference meetings a couple of times, but when the foreign princesses were invited, he refrained from getting angry with me or arguing with me.

“By the way, don’t you think Duke Jena is acting strangely these days? He looks impatient and even nervous.”

“You bet. He seems to be upset more often…”

Really? Why was he often angry and nervous these days? Was it because of that?

A few days ago, my father brought me “it” which I asked for the other day, namely the duke’s seal engraved with a sword, a shield, and a rose. My father made an awkward expression when I praised the amazing skills of the blessed criminal who stole the seal from the duke’s house. My father didn’t say anything after handing over the seal to me silently.

Had the blessed criminal been caught? Or did Duke Jena notice that we took it?

No matter how hard I thought, I couldn’t find any other reason than that when the duke was so nervous. In fact, he succeeded in pushing me out, a good riddance, through the decision of the nobles’ council. Besides, he got popular support thanks to Jiun’s display as the sacred woman in the afternoon. In this situation, he had no reason to be impatient and nervous. Nonetheless, he was on pins and needles for some reason.

I clicked my tongue. I was not sure if he smelled a rat, but I felt I had to hurry up.

‘Well, let me take care of it later. Now, let me focus on the banquet first.’

Shaking my head out of the complicated thoughts in my mind, I headed to the lounge.

When I tried to step inside, I heard a man removing a curtain quickly and disappearing somewhere without even apologizing to me. Actually he was the prince of a foreign kingdom who came to the banquet, whose whereabouts I was curious about. Given his status as a foreign prince, he was very rude.

‘Oh, what the heck? Why are they all rude like this?’

The moment I removed the curtain in annoyance, I smelled something wet, smelly and fishy.

“What kind of smell is this…”

I was astonished by the scene before me.

A woman fell down, holding her belly in distress. She was none other than Beatrice moaning there, with her dress stained with blood.

“Oh my God! Is anybody there? Help!”

I heard somebody screaming from behind.

My head was muddled as if I was hit by something, but I instinctively turned and lowered the curtain. When I looked around, hiding my trembling hands under my skirt, I saw the blonde man standing among people.

“Marquis Enesil!”

“Yes, Lady Monique. How can I help you?”

“Please let them walk off to another place, first.”

“Sure.”