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Chapter 8
“You!”
Sierra shouted, her eyes turning red with anger, but Ariel was faster.
“Don’t you remember? You always had trouble getting along with people, so I was the one who constantly helped you. Your father even personally asked me to look after you. He said you lacked many things and hoped I would help you.”
Sierra’s face instantly turned bright red.
To think she would crumble from a humiliation this small. Compared to the contempt Ariel had endured, this could hardly even be called an insult.
Glancing at the people around them, Ariel extended her hand toward Sierra.
“Anyway, Sierra, I’m truly sorry. For ruining your party, and for not being considerate enough toward you.”
“……”
“And about the donation I mentioned earlier, it’s fine. You may not know this, but noble charity events aren’t supposed to be held for personal purposes. You can’t use that money however you want.”
“Ha!”
Sierra’s flushed face twitched.
She opened and closed her mouth, unable to contain her embarrassment and humiliation.
Naturally, this wasn’t the direction she had expected things to go.
Biting her lip hard, Sierra glared at Ariel.
Those emerald eyes still shone proudly even in this situation. To Sierra, they looked as though they were silently condemning her as trash.
Finally losing her composure, Sierra threw the box onto the floor and shouted,
“What do you mean I don’t know anything?! At least I know better than you just how awful you are right now! You come here with some worthless antique and still act so high and mighty!”
The box slammed roughly against the floor, and a pocket watch bounced out from inside.
Clack.
A magical pocket watch crafted five hundred years ago.
One of the treasured heirlooms of House Blante.
And now that watch lay pitifully on the floor.
Ariel’s face froze like ice.
Even the nobles who had been watching Sierra’s outburst with amusement looked shocked.
The party hall fell silent in an instant.
Only then did Sierra seem to come back to her senses.
She looked around nervously.
Ariel was no longer the center of attention.
Everyone’s eyes were now fixed on Sierra.
“I… I mean… this is…”
Stammering, she took a step backward.
At that moment, two men moved.
Ariel stared coldly at the shrinking Sierra before lowering her gaze.
More precisely, toward the pocket watch that had been discarded like garbage.
She didn’t notice the two men approaching as she slowly bent down.
Just as she was about to pick up the pocket watch, a large hand suddenly entered her field of vision.
It reached the watch before she could.
Startled, Ariel straightened up and met the gaze of the person who had picked it up.
Gray hair.
Brown eyes.
A man with an ordinary, unremarkable appearance stood there holding the watch.
He gave Ariel a mysterious smile before speaking.
“This is an extremely valuable item. To throw something like this onto the floor… Lady Bayern truly has no eye for worth.”
He clicked his tongue at Sierra.
Ariel paused.
The voice that came from the man did not match his plain appearance at all.
Not only was it a pleasant deep voice—
His pronunciation was precise, and his manner of speech was refined and gentlemanly.
It was absolutely not the voice of an ordinary person.
And why does it sound familiar…?
That was the strange thing.
For some reason, Ariel felt as though she had heard this voice before.
As if she had met him somewhere in the past.
But…
I’m sure this is the first time I’ve seen his face.
Just as Ariel narrowed her eyes, the man turned completely toward Sierra as though he still had more to say.
“My lady, do you not intend to apologize to Lady Blante for throwing such a precious item?”
Sierra looked at him in shock.
She tried to say something but immediately fell silent.
The brown eyes staring at her were so cold they sent chills down her spine.
Though his face was ordinary and his clothing unremarkable, an indescribable aura overwhelmed her.
Who is this man?
Sierra couldn’t identify him.
Had there ever been a noble like this?
As she examined him, the man spoke again.
“Lady Bayern, why are you silent? I heard your social skills were lacking… Could it be that you don’t even know how to apologize?”
He openly mocked her.
The moment Sierra’s fingertips trembled at his cold sneer, another deep voice rang through the hall.
“When you are pressuring someone with that kind of aura, who could possibly open their mouth?”
Ariel knew that voice all too well.
She didn’t even need to see the speaker’s face.
It was Kylance Seyard.
At some point, he had arrived near her.
Ariel instinctively turned her head toward her side.
Her gaze wavered when she found empty space there.
Only then did she realize where Kylance was standing.
Not beside her.
Beside Sierra.
As though sensing her gaze, Kylance looked at her.
For a brief moment, their eyes met.
But soon he turned toward the unfamiliar man standing before Sierra.
“It is not gentlemanly to pressure a lady in such a manner. Please step back.”
His tone was formal and polite.
Yet the eyes with which he looked at the man were razor-sharp.
The angrier Kylance became, the more polite he was.
As someone raised in the etiquette of royalty, his anger was not blazing fire but freezing cold.
And because he was frighteningly rational, he was all the more terrifying.
Others might not realize it.
But Ariel knew.
Kylance was extremely angry.
Why is he so upset all of a sudden?
He had remained silent when she herself was being humiliated.
Yet now he was furious to this extent?
Why?
Ariel frowned and looked at Sierra.
Could it be…
Because of Sierra?
Come to think of it, even what he just said sounded as though he was protecting her.
A nervous thump echoed in Ariel’s chest.
Kylance had always been cold toward people he didn’t care about.
For someone like him to step forward on Sierra’s behalf and display such obvious anger…
They weren’t even that close.
At least, not in Ariel’s memories.
She was certain the two of them had never shared any connection.
But Kylance’s anger was too clear to dismiss as a misunderstanding.
If…
If they had some connection she didn’t know about…
If the reason he had gradually drifted away from her was because he loved someone else…
Still…
Not Sierra.
Anyone but Sierra.
To fall in love with someone who had once been my friend…
That’s just…
That’s truly unacceptable.
Ariel clenched her fist while staring at Kylance.
But he never looked at her.
At that moment, Sierra suddenly grabbed Kylance’s wrist with both hands, as if deliberately showing it off.
“Your Highness, thank you for helping me. I’ve never met someone who openly showed me such hostility before… It was truly frightening.”
Pretending to be afraid of the strange man, Sierra moved close to Kylance.
He did not push her away.
Even though he usually despised physical contact.
Normally, he would have shaken her off instinctively.
Yet he made no attempt to stop her.
Instead, he even stepped forward, positioning himself protectively in front of her.
At that sight, Ariel felt her heart sink.
The worst possibility she had feared was true.
Kylance at Sierra’s party.
Kylance allowing Sierra to touch him.
The familiar atmosphere between them made Ariel feel as though the blood in her veins had turned cold.
Since when…?
No.
The butler was right.
I never should have come here today.
The price of walking into a place where she did not belong was far too high.
“So Lady Bayern and His Grace the Grand Duke are this close. I had no idea.”
The unfamiliar man curled one corner of his lips into a smirk and stepped back.
“Well, if even the Grand Duke himself is telling me to withdraw, then of course I should comply. Lady Bayern, I apologize if I frightened you.”
“To commit such rudeness and then offer such a short apology… How lacking in manners. Besides, I’ve never seen your face before. Are you truly a guest invited to this party? Show your invitation—”
With the Grand Duke stepping in, the atmosphere of the party completely changed.
Everyone seemed to have forgotten Sierra’s rude behavior.
Instead, they focused on the confrontation between the Grand Duke and the mysterious man.
At the same time, they cast glances toward Ariel, who had seemingly been abandoned by the Grand Duke.
Sierra intended to use this opportunity to brush aside her earlier misconduct toward Ariel.
With Kylance backing her, she thought she could get away with it.
But just before Sierra could speak, a calm, indifferent voice echoed throughout the hall.
