CH 21

Chapter 21

“Lady Adeline! Come in!”

Lady Rosa, the host of the party, welcomed Adeline with a strikingly bright smile.

“Thank you for inviting me, Lady Rosa.”

“Oh my, don’t say that. That’s what I’m going to say. Lady Adeline came and made my tea party shine brightly. You don’t know how grateful I am.”

Adeline gave a slightly embarrassed smile, then went inside the mansion.

It was less than a day after the martial arts competition, but too much had happened in the meantime.

Enoch allowed their marriage, and the story about Kael’s splendid swordsmanship when defeating the Corrupted and Adeline wiping out the blood on his face became a huge tale and spread throughout the capital.

Because of that, all the ladies looked only at Adeline at the tea party that took place the next day.

“Ah. Is this my seat?”

“Yes. There are so many things I want to hear that I left this seat for you. Are you uncomfortable by any chance?”

“No. I’m not uncomfortable, Lady Rosa.”

“That’s a relief.”

On top of that, her assigned seat was right next to Rosa, the host.

It was a seat that openly expressed intimacy and liking, and it also revealed her position in society.

Adeline sighed at this stressful situation.

‘It wasn’t like this until the ball. It wasn’t such a big deal even when I spoke to the Grand Duke. I wonder if yesterday’s incident was too much.’

When she tried to use her brain and make something up, not many people believed her, but the results of emptying her mind and moving as she wanted were enormous in many ways.

‘Am I not good at acting… Gosh.’

Adeline shook her head gently.

“Lady Tien!”

“Ah, Lady Viatte.”

“You don’t know how much I wanted to see you today. Lady Rosa did something great today. You brought Lady Tien here.”

“Ahh. Haha. Is that so?”

“The whole capital is talking only about His Grace the Grand Duke of Inver and Lady Tien.”

When Adeline sat down, everyone began to speak to her, starting with Countess Viatte.

“I was there yesterday, too.”

“Oh my! Lady Leah was there too?”

“Yes. I was even quite close to that nasty monster. So, I saw the scene where His Grace dealt with the Corrupted from up close.”

“Oh my, oh my!”

“He was really amazing. To be honest, it was scary. He cut that huge, hideous monster, and I couldn’t breathe.”

“Dear heavens…

“At first, I thought I saw a lot of unsightly things, but I think that was the best spot.”

“What do you mean?”

“Because I saw Lady Tien walking in big strides and wiping the blood off Grand Duke Inver’s face from very close.”

“Oh my!”

Adeline, the person concerned, kept her mouth shut without saying a word, but there was even more commotion around her.

Adeline listened to Lady Leah as if she were listening to someone else’s story.

“I saw it very clearly. Lady Tien wiped His Grace’s blood with a handkerchief, and His Grace smiled brightly the moment they spoke to each other.”

The ladies let out their big and small exclamations at the story about Kael smiling brightly.

“What did you say that made His Grace smile, Lady Tien?”

“Please tell us, Lady Tien. I’m very curious.”

At the sudden question, the pale-green eyes were at a loss for a moment.

The expectation of the ladies grew too much to honestly say that she wiped the blood and said that white or blue suited him better than red.

She even felt a strange sense of guilt when she thought that she would break those gazes that were drunk on romance.

‘In this case…’

Adeline, who was thinking hard, smiled shyly as she recalled one way.

“It’s a secret. Please understand if I can’t tell you.”

“Oh my!”

“Kyaaa!”

There were times when mysticism would be more helpful, and now was the time.

The ladies admired Adeline’s nuance, as if it was a secret between the two of them, like little girls.

“Actually, I was really surprised last time.”

“Why, Lady Pamela?”

Once again, Lady Pamela focused on the ladies who were giggling at each other.

“Enough, enough. Don’t go astray and focus on my story, everyone. Do you remember how His Grace laughed very loudly that day?”

“You’re right! Now that I think of it, he did. I had never seen His Grace laugh like that.”

“I was convinced that day. That His Grace was in love with Lady Tien.”

Thanks to the memory of the ladies, Adeline’s old memories were also recalled.

Kael’s energetic laughter was intensely embedded in Adeline’s mind.

‘And the moment Kael suddenly appeared and laughed like that, Vanessa was next to me.’

Adeline turned her head slightly and looked at the ladies sitting around the table.

Vanessa wasn’t there.

Vanessa was a commonly acknowledged social butterfly, and there was no way she would miss a tea party like this.

But there were no signs of her.

“Lady Rosa.”

“Yes, tell me, Lady Adeline.”

“Didn’t Lady Felix come today?”

Although Adeline asked Rosa only in a low whisper, and everyone else was having a conversation, they all heard Adeline’s question because they had one eye and ear attached to her.

In an instant, the atmosphere subsided.

It was the atmosphere when you make a mistake by saying something you shouldn’t and messing with someone’s weakness.

“Lady Felix refused the invitation because she was sick.”

“She didn’t look very sick yesterday.”

“Exactly. I never thought she would show up at a martial arts contest with a dress that revealed so much of her chest.”

“In fact, she also tended to be a bit like that in the old days. It was often too much.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“By the way, it was Lady Felix who defamed Lady Tien with a ridiculous lie on the day of Lady Delphine’s debutante, wasn’t it?”

All the ladies clicked their tongues displeasingly at Vanessa.

It was something that would never happen in the past, or in the contents of the book that Adeline knew.

‘It’s like mine and Vanessa’s roles have changed. As if I was the heroine and Vanessa the villainess.’

Things had already deviated from the original a long time ago, but the situation was becoming stranger as time went by.

Adeline sighed again as she felt a headache rushing in.

“Everyone! Everyone, I’ve come with huge news! Oh my, Lady Tien! You’re also here!”

The lady’s late appearance cleared the slightly sharp atmosphere.

At the tumultuous appearance, everyone looked at the lady.

“Lady Cynthia, what’s the news?”

“As you all know, I was a little late today because I stopped by Madame Elsa’s salon. Because of my mother’s errands. But what news did I hear there?”

Madame Elsa was the most famous dress designer in the capital.

So all the high-ranking nobles dressed up at Madame Elsa’s salon, and because of that, it served as the base for numerous rumors.

“Lady Tien. Yesterday, His Grace sent you a dress, right?”

“Ah… Yes. How did you…?”

“Madame Elsa got all worked up and told me about it just now. Well, Grand Duke Inver visited the salon himself yesterday.”

The ladies made a fuss at Cynthia’s words.

Adeline also looked at Cynthia with astonishment.

She still had a lot of questions regarding the dress she received yesterday.

“I can’t believe he went there himself without asking a subordinate!”

“Madame Elsa was also very surprised. Besides, there was a lot of blood on his shirt and pants. So, that means he stopped by the salon on his way back after that chaos.”

“Really?”

“Oh my!”

“He seemed in a great hurry. He suddenly looked through the dresses, went to the spot where the light sky-blue dresses were, and bought a dress with a neckline that revealed the shoulders.”

“The dress Lady Adeline wore yesterday was an off-shoulder dress in a light sky-blue color!”

Cynthia’s story was quite surprising news for Adeline as well.

Adeline was also a little surprised by Kael’s delicacy, although it wasn’t as much as the ladies who were making a fuss and saying that it couldn’t get any more romantic than this.

After this, Adeline and Kael were the main topic of conversation at the tea party.

Occasionally, stories about other ladies were told, but only for a moment.

Adeline felt like her energy was getting sucked.

“Ah right, before we all leave, I arranged a special moment.”

When the end was in sight, Rosa, the host, gathered the ladies together with a mischievous look that felt wicked.

“Have you all heard of the fortune teller in front of the library?”

“The fortune teller who is very skilled?”

“Yes. The fortune teller who you have to wait four or five hours to show your palm. I brought that person here today.”

At Rosa’s words, the ladies were happy with their eyes glowing.

Unaware of the rumors, only Adeline, who had no interest in fortune-telling, had a blank expression.

“I want her to start with me!”

“Oh my, Olivia! I’m first!”

While the ladies were making a fuss and being told their fortune, Adeline just watched them from a distance.

But when everyone’s turn was over, and each of them was busy talking about their results, the skilled fortune teller approached Adeline.

Contrary to her thoughts that she would have a scruffy appearance, the fortune teller was a well-dressed middle-aged woman wearing a purple dress.

“You must be the daughter of Marquis Tien.”

“Ah, I’m not interested in fortune-telling. You don’t have to read my palm.”

“Then can I just tell you a few things that I can see? I think I must do it for you.”

The fortune teller drew closer to Adeline, who was bewildered.

She tried to refuse, saying there was no need for that either, but the fortune teller was quicker.

“You live a life surrounded by lies.”

“…”

“There are so many grey clouds around you. There are a few clouds that you’ve made yourself, but they’re just infinitely light. They’re not harmful.”

“…”

“But the other clouds sticking around you…”

The fortune teller looked at Adeline with very sad and pitiful eyes.

After looking around, she stared straight into Adeline’s eyes and continued with a determined voice.

“It’s up to you to decide whether to remove the clouds and face the truth or live with them as they are.”

“…”

“But no matter what you choose, please remember what I say.”

“…”

“Don’t believe what you know. Never.”