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Chapter 04.
“S-Sorry.”
I made a show of dabbing at my eyes, though I didn’t actually wipe away any tears.
“It’s just… I was afraid I might, um, offend Lady Ickel again, like ‘last time’…”
Anyone who looked closely enough would realize that my words and my behavior didn’t quite match up.
Just like the Duke, who was looking at me now with barely veiled disgust.
After all, my asking him whether he was seeing Merina was, in itself, a declaration that I didn’t believe her words.
But most people here would simply see me as pitiful.
From their point of view, I had only invited the Duke to a tea party—and then, out of nowhere, some woman who followed him around had caused a scene with absurd accusations.
As Merina was about to burst into tears, Stella smoothly stepped in.
“How shameless of you, Lady Ickel.”
“W-What?”
“I heard everything. You cornered Lady Revián, didn’t you? Told her to stay away from His Grace.”
“I heard it too,” added Violet, who was well known in the social circle.
The daughter of Count Clen wasn’t particularly close to me—neutral, really—but her tongue was notoriously loose.
“She said you and His Grace had mutual feelings, didn’t she? That’s why you told Lady Revián not to meet with him.”
“Is that true?”
A chorus of shocked gasps rippled through the crowd.
“Yes! She even pushed Lady Revián!”
“No wonder—there was a stain on her dress…”
Merina froze under their reproachful stares, looking completely lost, while I lifted a gloved hand and delicately dabbed the corner of my eye.
“Please, everyone, let’s stop. I’m sure Lady Ickel didn’t mean any harm.”
I spoke with a gentle, benevolent smile.
“But I am relieved,” I added lightly, “that I won’t be offending anyone if I continue to speak to His Grace in the future.”
My soft laugh set the others laughing too. The only one excluded from the mirth was Merina.
By the end of the afternoon, Merina Ickel had become, in everyone’s eyes, a wretched girl who—relying on her elder sister’s power—had dared to shout at the Marquess’s daughter and even resorted to violence.
Not everyone would believe the rumor, given that I was known to dislike her, but there had been too many witnesses.
It was enough to dilute my own bad reputation.
And more importantly, it seemed I had succeeded in provoking that cold-eyed man with the icy blue gaze.
Though it was all according to my plan, when Duke Liciansius looked at me with that frozen expression, my heart felt as though it were slowly icing over.
No. You must stay away from me.
Look at me with contempt—with the disgust of someone who cannot help but loathe what they see. Never, ever think of giving me your heart.
I kept my expression carefully composed as I glanced around at the others.
“I-I should go.”
Merina bit her lip, murmured that she would take her leave, and departed.
I changed out of my stained dress, returned to my guests, and the tea party ended in perfect success.
On my day off, my younger brother Calvin burst into my room, slamming the door open.
“Sis! Did you bully Merina again?”
Ah, here it comes.
I straightened from where I had been lounging on the sofa with a book.
“What are you talking about, Calvin? Me, bullying Lady Ickel?”
“Don’t play dumb! I heard you made her cry at the tea party!”
Among the male leads, Calvin was the youngest—skilled as a knight, perhaps, but still childish at heart.
“I don’t know who told you what,” I said calmly, “but, Calvin—won’t you hear my side too? A knight should be fair, shouldn’t he?”
At the mention of a knight’s honor, Calvin bit his lip, then reluctantly nodded.
“You know Lady Ickel attended the tea party our family hosted, right? And you might not know this, but His Grace the Duke of Liciansius came too.”
“The Captain did?”
“Yes. I asked him personally to attend—back when I went to Count Ickel’s birthday party.”
“You asked him?”
Knowing that I rarely asked favors of anyone, Calvin looked shocked.
“Of course, I invited other guests as well.”
“And Merina was one of them?”
“That’s right. She called me aside, saying she had something to tell me—and confessed that she had feelings for His Grace.”
“What…?”
True to his nature as the first of the male leads to recognize his own feelings, Calvin’s expression wavered at the news that Merina liked someone else.
“She even asked me to stay away from him.”
“Merina… likes the Captain…”
“I’ll admit, I had been interested in His Grace myself. But after hearing her, I began to wonder if they were… something special.”
“Something special?”
“Yes, she made it sound as if they met often.”
I could see the jealousy flaring in Calvin’s eyes. He had already forgotten why he’d come storming in here in the first place.
“Since it’s improper to covet someone who’s already involved, I asked His Grace directly—if he and Lady Ickel were serious.”
“And?”
“He said they weren’t.”
Calvin swayed a little, as though struck.
“So… Merina cried because she was rejected…”
“Exactly.”
I reopened my book.
“Sis, I’d better go.”
“Hold on, Calvin—don’t you have something to say to me?”
“…I’m sorry, Sis. I shouldn’t have gotten angry without knowing the truth.”
“I appreciate that. And I’m grateful you realized I wasn’t in the wrong.”
When I smiled faintly, he flinched.
“Calvin, since you’re her friend, you should go comfort Lady Ickel.”
“That’s a good idea. Wait—Sis, I thought you didn’t like Merina?”
I sighed softly and shook my head.
“I don’t dislike her. If anything, I’d like to get along—but we’re so different that we end up clashing. You understand?”
“I do. Still, Sis… you really like the Captain, don’t you?”
“Sadly, it doesn’t seem he feels the same.”
I shrugged, pretending to be disappointed, and Calvin’s face darkened—then brightened again.
“There’s an event coming up at the knight order. A demonstration of our training, for immediate family only. Would you come?”
“There is? I’d be honored to, if you invite me.”
Of course I already knew about it—but I pretended otherwise.
In my previous life, I had used that event to try to grow closer to the Duke.
This time, I would use it to drive him further away.
“I’ll find out what kind of woman the Captain likes, so just wait and see!”
“Thank you.”
My dear, foolish little brother.
He thought that if I ended up with the Duke, Merina’s heart would be free for him.
But, Calvin, the Duke is merely one of the story’s male leads. He’s destined to love Merina, not me.
And as for the kind of woman he loves—one with a fragile heart, too gentle to hurt even an insect, someone sweetly obedient—
That’s something I could never have, even if I died forty-eight times.
“Welcome, Lady Clen.”
“Thank you for inviting me, Lady Revián.”
It seemed that this forty-ninth, and hopefully final, life of mine was destined to be filled with tea parties, just like the one before.
“Right this way, please.”
I had invited Violet Clen—the very one who had criticized Merina at the last tea party.
Bait for bait, as Stella had put it.
Besides, Violet was simple-minded and easy to use.
After a few polite exchanges to set the mood, I got to the point.
“Thanks to you, Lady Clen, for speaking up for me last time. You saved me from a rather unpleasant situation.”
“Don’t tell me Lady Ickel has been treating you that way all along?”
Instead of answering, I simply smiled. Violet shook her head in disbelief.
“For a girl from such an insignificant house to act that way toward Lady Revián—outrageous!”
I neither agreed nor denied her words.
People like Violet would spin the story themselves, spread it far and wide, and if the rumor ever traced back to me, I could simply feign innocence.
Still, there were limits to how far I’d let it go. When Violet’s remarks began to get too harsh, I deliberately changed the subject.
“Lady Clen, you’re always so well-informed about society’s news, so I wanted to ask you something.”
“Oh? Go ahead.”
“This must stay strictly between us, all right? Promise me.”
Violet tried to assure me I could trust her, though her lips were already curved in anticipation of gossip.
“The other day, I went to the rose garden and saw Lady Ickel together with Young Lord Gerdon.”
The color drained from Violet’s face at once—Gerdon was the very man she fancied.
