CH 16.4

It wasn’t a conscious act, but a sudden speechlessness. The sun was just beginning to set and the red sunlight streamed through the window.

Walking through the waves of red, Lila looked like a goddess leading the night, the sunlight behind her like a halo.

She was so dazzlingly beautiful that they could barely look her in the eye.

Today, she was so beautiful that it made them feel apologetic that words alone couldn’t express it.

“Have you been waiting long?”

The voice sounded sweet in contrast to the intensity. Lucas and Michael snapped out of their daze.

“… Not at all.”

“… Me too.”

“You two look great, I think you did a great job matching the set, hehe.”

The two men in suits similar in color to hers were very handsome, and like they did, Lila stared at Lucas and Michael in awe.

They wore identical suits, an ultramarine blue darker than Lila’s dress, but with different shirts and accessories.

Lucas wore a silver shirt with black diamond buttons and cuffs, and a black cummerbund around his waist.

Michael wore a pure white shirt with pink diamond buttons and cuffs, and a chocolate-colored cummerbund.

Lila beamed with pride.

“I love that we’re wearing matching colors, it makes the three of us look like one big family, doesn’t it?”

“… We are one family, Lila.”

Michael stepped closer, careful not to step on the hem of her dress, and took her hand.

“That’s right, Michael.”

“I thought you were supposed to call her Auntie…”

Lucas grumbled, stepping toward her and holding out his arm. Lila, not noticing his uncharacteristic blank stare and flushed cheeks, casually took his arm.

“Let’s get going before we’re late.”

Lucas strode away, and they moved with him.

“Goodbye, my lady!”

“Duchess, you look so beautiful, heh.”

Kate was so overwhelmed by the sight of the three of them that she couldn’t think straight.

Jessie felt the same way. As did Vincent and Owen. The rest of the servants were speechless at the sight of the changed Lila, Lucas, and Michael.

“Jessie, I’ll be back safely. You know that Autumn Balls usually end late, right?”

“I’m well aware of that from what the butler told me, and I’ll be staying up to wait for you!”

“You can stay up, but I’ll be late home anyway.”

Michael climbed into the carriage behind her, and Lucas was the last to board.

Jessie was right in front of the carriage, stomping her feet and talking.

“Make sure you get something to eat. My lady, you haven’t eaten much today!”

Lucas laughed at Jessie’s words. Instead of expressing his gratitude, he made a snorting sound, saying that she resembled Lila.

“I’ll take care of your mistress, now get out of the carriage. We’re off now.”

No sooner had he spoken that the carriage slowly moved. The long-tailed, disappearing sun was halfway across the ridge.

* * *

The palace’s largest banquet hall was already bustling with people. The Autumn Ball was even more crowded than usual because people had to bring their children.

“You’re sure the Duke and Duchess of Montefeltra are coming today?”

“I heard that but…why hasn’t they come yet?”

“Oh, yeah… The dinner party will be starting in a few minutes.”

Their attention was focused solely on Lila and Lucas. Rumors of her had already spread far and wide around the Imperial capital, but no one had seen her in the flesh.

“I think Lady Este is being a little too nice, how could she refuse the gift I sent?”

“Oh, did you send a present? Is that too much of a pressure?”

The lady, who hadn’t been able to break her habit of gossiping about Lila, spoke up in a displeased tone, but she didn’t even bother to argue back, instead suggesting that there was something wrong with her behavior.

At her words, the other nobles began to speak in unison.

“If you send a gift, you should have to accept it, right? Or maybe you sent something that’s not worthy of Lady Este’s level.”

“Yes, we call her Lady Este but in reality, she’s like the mistress of House Montefeltra now. If we’re going to send a gift befitting someone like that, shouldn’t it be a set of teacups from the Duchy of Charlesworth?”

“Porcelain from the Duchy of Charlesworth! I’d love to get that, but it’s not easy to get hold of it. Where on earth could it have disappeared to?”

“You couldn’t even get it from the Count? Heh, heh. Isn’t the Count usually very good with porcelain?”

“Hmm, I suppose so.”

Naturally, the talk of Lila died down, and instead they began to wax lyrical about the pottery.

One of the boys, who had been listening to the adults, whispered to another boy nearby.

“That ugly boy is coming today, isn’t he?”

“Who? Ah ah, Michael?”

“The one who’s a year younger than me, with his cheeky little talk.”

“Come on, it’s about the last class, isn’t it? But when he presented it, what was it? I was kind of curious about those little grains of jewelry.”

“I can’t believe he distracted the class with that, but the professors loved it. It was a novelty, all because of the Duke’s power. Such absurdity has no place in the Academy.”

“Well, that’s true.”

While everyone, adults and children alike, was wondering about the Duke and Duchess of Montefeltra, the courtier spoke up. It was an introduction reserved for royalty.

“The Duke of Montefeltra, the Duchess-to-be Her Grace Lady Este, and the Little Duke are here to dine!”

The unusually boisterous introduction drew the attention of all the nobles to the entrance. It was the long-awaited entrance.

The grand doors slowly slid open on either side of them, and everyone’s mouths dropped open in unison at the sight of the three entrants.

The suits and the dress code of a harvest ball were as old as time.

It was mostly yellow and gold to celebrate the harvest, and red to celebrate the changing of the leaves and autumn.

So the banquet hall was full of color. It was like a walkway full of maple and gingko leaves.

But Lila, Lucas, and Michael were a different story. They were as disparate as if dark ultramarine blue paint had been dropped on the walkway, and they definitely stood out.

As if they were determined to stand out.

But it was Lila who stole the show. The gems sparkled like countless stars on her royal blue dress, like a faintly rising dawn. Every time she moved, the gems bounced off of the gemstones.

She moved like a wave or a breeze, and the people were speechless.

Her bare white shoulders and collarbones also glistened in the light. Gazes naturally traveled to the nape of her neck going upwards.

People couldn’t help but exclaim at the sight of the woman they had only heard rumors about. She was, if you dare call her that, a mythical creature from the distant past, a woman with whom Lupus was said to have fallen in love. She was said to be blindingly beautiful, and if she were alive today, this is what she would look like.

The nobles let out long sighs, covered their faces with fans, or clamped their hands over their mouths.

“What was that?”

The boy who had been complaining about Michael earlier pointed a finger. The boy next to him muttered in disbelief.

“He doesn’t have any freckles, does he?”

The two boys couldn’t believe it. Whenever they saw him at the Academy, he always had a face full of freckles.

It was so disgusting, it made them feel nauseous every time they saw it…

“How?”

“No way.”

Their disgust was preceded by the feeling of being pushed aside in terms of their appearance, which they considered to be superior to Michael’s.

They stuck out their lips at his dazzling good looks, which were supposed to be worse than theirs.

“What has he done to change like that? The rumors of the Duke’s wealth must be true. He must have done something with it.”

The children’s whispers brought the adults around them to their senses. The appearance was so unreal that they listened to the children.

“She must have been full of freckles, but how could they disappear in an instant? Could she have used forbidden alchemy?”

Clumsy knowledge can sometimes be a terrifying weapon. The nobles nodded their heads in agreement, even though a more rational mind could easily recognize that the children’s story lacked credibility.

Something must have been done to make the ugly young lady Lila beautiful. It has something to do with Lucas’s wealth. So if she could looked good to him, they could see how.

Covering their faces with fans and hands, the nobles began to whisper.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, watching them from a corner of the ballroom, shuddered at the intolerable speculation.

This is ridiculous.

How could ugly Lila change overnight?

She’d heard Alfonso’s story, but she didn’t believe it. No, she didn’t want to believe it.

For someone to be more beautiful than she was.

It’s impossible. No way. Charlotte could barely breathe, her anger so intense she felt as if she were suffocating.

At her side, Heinrich put his arm around her shoulders, worried about her.

“Charlotte, you don’t look well, shall we go to the break room for a while?”

Charlotte, who would normally have responded to his words with kindness, sharply pulled her hand away. She wanted Lucas, not this weak Heinrich.

In terms of wealth and power, she thought Lucas was ahead of Heinrich, but more than that, she wanted Lucas because he was by Lila’s side.

Heinrich, who seemed to be shocked by Charlotte’s behavior, and Alfonso, who was watching Charlotte with a completely distorted face, let alone managing her expression, burst into laughter.

“Hahahahahahahaha!”

Shivering to the bone, he folded his arms at the waist and continued to laugh, oblivious to his surroundings.

“Hahaha, Marquis, what’s so funny that you’re laughing so heartily!”

The young Lords around him asked with interest. Alfonso laughed until he was out of breath, then wiped the tears with his fingers.

“Hmph, I can’t resist laughing, pfft.”

With a smile still on his face, Alfonso turned to a young lord, who was next to him.

“I can’t help but laugh at the way you dismiss them as ugly. And now that they’re beautiful, you’re saying they must have cheated.”

At his blunt words, the nobles listening around him blushed at the same time.

“Yes, this is the nature of nobles.”

Alfonso looked around at them and nodded in understanding.

“Envy and jealousy, what a colorful, duplicitous nobility.”

Charlotte and Heinrich frowned at his words.

“What on earth are you talking about?”