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Chapter 03
What a dirty, shameless world this was.
“I’m terribly sorry, but the list is already full.”
“Oh my, how disappointing. I’m so sorry, but so many families are seeking me out that I can no longer take on any more.”
“I’m far too busy…”
Was it really this difficult to find a tutor? For the past several days, she had visited not only tutors in the capital but even those in the outskirts, yet every single one said their schedules were already full and they could not take her on.
Cedric had tried to help, but…
—
*”I’m very sorry, my lord, but we cannot teach Lady Odellia.”*
*”One needs a certain baseline of fundamentals to teach. There’s too little time and too much to cover, so I’m afraid it’s impossible. My apologies.”*
—
Every last one of them said such things to her face and fled.
Odellia slumped onto the sofa with a thoroughly disgusted expression. Another day of coming up empty-handed.
“I’d have better luck finding a bed on the battlefield.”
“Was that supposed to be a joke, Odellia?”
“……Got a problem with it?”
“No, not exactly a problem… But how is it that not a single one of them is willing? It’s not like they’re all in cahoots.”
Then, with a gasp, Cedric looked at Odellia with a disgusted face. *Surely not.*
Odellia slowly nodded. Perhaps that was exactly the kind of talk that had been going around. *Don’t bother teaching culture to Odellia—she may be the people’s hero, but she’s still nothing but a spinster butcher’s daughter.*
“If that’s the case, what will you do, Odellia…?”
This innocent young lord stuck out his tongue, saying that although he himself was a noble, he was once again frightened by the nobility.
“What else? Push forward. When the enemy pushes in on the battlefield, do you run? The moment you flinch, you lose. The moment you flee, you die.”
Just as she was speaking earnestly, someone pounded heavily on the door.
“Here we go again!”
With the social season approaching, more nobles had moved into their capital townhouses, and occasionally some ill-mannered young lords would knock on Odellia’s door and run away.
Cedric flung the door open and went outside, but returned quietly after a short while. Odellia was about to say, *Don’t get so worked up over that sort of thing—if you scare the young lords, we’ll be the ones to suffer*—when she noticed.
“What are you holding, Cedric?”
“Seems like a noble house’s footman—wearing some kind of white wig and even caked with white powder on his face. Fashions are getting more bizarre by the day. Do nobles not scold their servants for looking like that?”
“What did he give you?”
Cedric pulled a letter from the envelope and unfolded it, then began rubbing his eyes as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“What’s wrong?”
“See for yourself.”
Taking the mail, Odellia read it aloud.
—
*”Dear Lady Odellia,*
*We cordially invite you to the banquet hosted by the House of Hortensia this coming Friday.*
*We kindly request the honor of your presence, that you may show your charms to all without reserve.”*
—
“……This is a real problem—it’s only two days away! There won’t even be enough time to have a dress made. Turn it down, Odellia. Besides, their intentions are transparent. They clearly sent the invitation late on purpose.”
A clumsy appearance would only expose her weaknesses to others.
“If only I could go with you, but I wasn’t invited. The Duchess of Hortensia’s banquet is an exclusive affair with limited attendance.”
Odellia fell into thought. Then she said:
“I’ll attend.”
“Odellia!”
“I’m going.”
Cedric sometimes found Odellia hard to read. She seemed cautious yet reckless, reckless yet cautious.
When Odellia had that look in her eyes, it made him feel like something would work out. Even on chaotic battlefields, when Odellia wore that expression, he could entrust his life to her. He had been saved by that very Odellia many times.
No—he couldn’t be swayed! Right now, he had to stop her.
“This is different from the battlefield!”
Odellia thought differently. How was it different? Everyone was charging forward, viciously trying to bite and tear each other apart.
—
***
As Cedric had predicted, what the people at this banquet wanted from Odellia was nothing more than a humiliating spectacle born of her lack of culture.
“I don’t think she’ll come. She’s of low birth, after all. Can she even read? On the battlefield, she at least knew how to swing a sword—something her father taught her—but here it’s a different story.”
“That’s right. She probably won’t come. I heard she couldn’t even find a single tutor.”
“Would any tutor with any sense take her on?”
They all seemed to hope that Odellia would recognize her place and give up early. Perhaps they wanted to see her flustered, red-faced, and helplessly shuffling away in embarrassment.
“Indeed. The atmosphere did seem to be one where taking her on would be inadvisable.”
However, Odellia had no such intention.
“Eek!”
“Oh my goodness!”
At the sudden interjection, everyone clutched their startled hearts and whipped around. And there stood none other than—Odellia.
“……Lady Odellia…!”
Their faces turned pale, and their eyes all said, *How on earth did she get here?* It wasn’t as if a dead person had come back to life—why were they all so surprised? Odellia added nonchalantly:
“Regrettably for you all, I do know how to read and write.”
“……!”
The young ladies’ faces flushed red, and they quickly unfurled their fans to cover their faces before each going their separate ways. Odellia found it all so anticlimactic that she scratched her head awkwardly.
Everywhere she looked, she was under close scrutiny.
Though everyone pretended otherwise, the atmosphere had subtly shifted the moment Odellia set foot in the ballroom. Some looked at her as if appraising a calf to be auctioned; others as if they’d encountered a pile of dog dung on a beautiful street.
“Is she—is she wearing trousers? A woman?”
“Good heavens. She must not even know whether she’s a man or a woman.”
“She only ever wore armor on the battlefield. Perhaps we should praise her for not wearing that here.”
No matter what others said, Odellia was not one to be swept along. If she were that kind of person, she would have already taken an arrow and died on the battlefield. Odellia thought this inwardly as she took a step forward.
Odellia was so tall that her head rose a full head above most people. She was probably slightly taller than the average adult male height.
Which also meant that the ready-made dresses, designed for the petite, delicate porcelain-doll bodies of imperial ladies, would never fit her.
She would need to have a dress custom-made, but unless one was a high-ranking noble, that kind of money was unavailable. Odellia had not yet received her full reward, as she had no husband yet.
She had received some gold, but that had to be saved for an uncertain future. Odellia was neither aesthetically inclined nor financially comfortable enough to invest money in a dress.
Anyway, putting all that aside, her current attire was a tailcoat borrowed from her comrade and friend, Cedric. Even if he was a rural noble, a noble was still a noble—the quality of his tailcoat was surprisingly good.
Unlike Odellia, who was reasonably satisfied, everyone else seemed far from pleased.
What, had they all wanted to see her squeezed into a dress so tight it would burst, gasping for breath, or waddling awkwardly because it was too constricting?
It was a pity she couldn’t meet their expectations, but she had judged that wearing a tailcoat would be a more effective strategy for presenting herself than forcing her body into ill-fitting clothes.
As the saying goes, you can tell a person by their clothes—Odellia also vaguely wanted to reveal her rebellious nature, that she was not one to easily conform.
Sure enough, the people in the ballroom sensed that trait in Odellia and began whispering among themselves.
“Oh my, Lady Odellia… Isn’t that a man’s garment?”
Making her dislike plain, the ringleader of a group approached.
She had a truly angelic, lovely appearance, but her eyes and tone were sharp—rather like a tiny, ferocious puppy, Odellia thought.
This woman… ah, she must be Yudith of House Herdel. The young lady who led other ladies around as if they were her handmaidens. The one who, if someone caught her eye, would publicly tear them down?
Wondering what sharp remark she would throw at her, Odellia faced her with a mixture of anticipation and wariness.
“I didn’t have a dress that fit, so I borrowed it in a hurry.”
“Borrowed it in a hurry, you say…”
“From an acquaintance.”
“An acquaintance, you say.”
“Surprisingly enough, a man.”
“I don’t know which house your acquaintance belongs to, but it’s clear he has no aesthetic sense whatsoever. Hoho. Instead, how about I lend you my butler’s clothing next time?”
At that, Odellia’s eyes sparkled.
“Did you say you’d share?”
