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Chapter 06
Before the solitary Yevgenia, the coachman who stood alone didn’t know what to do and said:
“I, um, Your Ladyship, shall I escort you at least…”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll get off alone.”
Yevgenia, carefully stepping down one foot at a time, let out a sigh of relief.
Perhaps because it was so absurd, she wasn’t even angry.
She was only curious why Raymond was acting to such an extent.
‘Has he finally lost his mind?’
As Raymond himself had said, as long as his name was on Yevgenia’s shoulder, annulment was impossible.
In that situation, openly bringing his future mistress to a banquet was incomprehensible from a common-sense perspective.
‘Could it be that he thinks my talk of annulment is just a bluff?’
Although she said she wanted to annul the engagement, in reality the engagement ceremony was proceeding without any issues, so it was plausible to think she was just boasting.
If that was his misconception, she could roughly guess why Raymond was acting like a madman.
‘He probably thinks I’m pretending to be strong-willed to deliberately make him break up with Stella.’
Before awakening to her past life, she had indeed done such things several times.
Threatening to jump if he didn’t come back immediately, or ordering to block Stella from all the capital’s ateliers if he didn’t go on a date with her…
In other words, she had committed all sorts of arrogant and outrageous acts to get Raymond’s attention.
‘Thinking that nonsense like “Will you look back at me?” or “What about me?” was deliberately provoking him…’
Perhaps that was Raymond’s own way of showing goodwill.
The feeling that if he gave her this much freedom, she might look at him once in a while.
But unfortunately, Yevgenia was someone who wanted to run as far away as possible from that ‘goodwill of his own making.’
‘I’m not even sure if such a thing can be packaged as goodwill in the first place…’
Tsk. Yevgenia clicked her tongue softly and muttered.
“I think I really need to make things clear to Raymond.”
Your love? I fully support it.
So, I’ll go my way, and you go yours—how should she phrase it to sound sincere?
Lost in thought as she walked, she soon found herself at the entrance to the hall.
Giving a slight nod, the doorman opened the door and announced:
“Her Ladyship Yevgenia Martyr, legitimate daughter of the Martyr Ducal House, is entering!”
The warmth of the banquet hall rushed out, causing Yevgenia’s red hair to flutter.
Simultaneously, the cheerful atmosphere of the venue froze coldly.
Eyes that had been swiftly glancing at Raymond’s suit and the dresses of Yevgenia and Stella narrowed thinly.
Snickering, lowly laughter and rapidly fluttering fans.
Yevgenia knew better than anyone what that meant.
“Ha. How dare they…”
Before she became the crazy woman of the Artlux Empire’s social circles, and after.
No one dared to mock her openly.
Whispering a word or two behind her back, trying to bring her down—well, in absence, even the king is slandered, so that was understandable.
But mocking her right before her eyes was unacceptable.
‘I’ve been quiet for about a month, and they’ve lost their senses.’
How could grown adults be so short-sighted?
Frowning, Yevgenia defiantly widened her eyes and gazed one by one at the eyes behind the fans.
Those who hurriedly averted their gaze upon meeting her eyes were amateurs.
Those who flinched, trembled, and then pretended to be unperturbed as they slowly turned their gaze were intermediates.
And those who stared back at her even more brazenly…
“…Lady Nagelsman? Long time no see?”
“Oh my, indeed. The last time we met was… at the tea party hosted by the Count Giovanni family, right?”
A response clearly intended to provoke Yevgenia’s temper.
First, the last time Yevgenia and Lady Nagelsman had met was two months ago, and the tea party at Count Giovanni’s was four months ago.
Although she couldn’t possibly not know that, the reason she deliberately brought up that day was obvious.
‘That day, because Raymond didn’t escort me, I bullied Stella and accidentally spilled tea on her, and then Raymond miraculously appeared and escorted Stella away.’
For Yevgenia, it was a humiliation; for those present, it was no different from a drama.
Yevgenia twisted her lips upward and said:
“No, the last time was the Imperial Palace Spring Banquet two months ago. To already have your memory confused like this, how… You do remember your own name, right?”
“W-what did you say?”
“I heard there’s a doctor who specializes in treating memory loss. Shall I inquire for you? With the Martyr Ducal House’s power, we can surely find that doctor before your condition worsens.”
It wasn’t that Lady Nagelsman didn’t understand her words and was just listening blankly.
Rather, she understood too well and couldn’t find a response.
Between absurdity and fluster, Yevgenia lightly patted the shoulder of Lady Nagelsman, who stood with her mouth agape, unable to close it, and gently curved her eyes.
“Even if you seem fine now, if you were to go for a night stroll and get kidnapped without a trace, abandoned on a remote island with no people or anything, wouldn’t your condition become more serious?”
“…K-kidnapped? Lady Martyr! What on earth…!”
Yevgenia, quietly observing Lady Nagelsman’s pale face, suddenly burst into laughter.
Ahaha. Ha, ha.
A clear laugh erupted, instantly drawing the attention of others.
Being the center of attention was very familiar to Yevgenia.
Curiosity, lowly interest, or fear.
Enjoying for a moment the gazes mixed with various emotions, Yevgenia shook her head side to side.
“It’s merely a hypothetical, a hypothetical. Why are you so surprised?”
Still wearing a smile.
But the golden eyes visible between her curved lashes were as cold as ice.
Yevgenia, lightly grasping Lady Nagelsman’s shoulder, added as if joking:
“…Well, I won’t deny that the Martyr Ducal House has the power to realize that ‘hypothetical.'”
“…!”
“Act moderately, moderately. To an extent I can overlook. Understood?”
Yevgenia had never pushed Lady Nagelsman in this way before.
The reason was simple.
Because she was Raymond’s cousin.
But that was only important to the past Yevgenia who clung to Raymond.
For the current her, it wasn’t an issue at all.
‘I hope she runs to Raymond like this and badmouths me, urging him to annul the engagement. Should I act this way in front of the Duke Larson couple too…’
Releasing the thoroughly frightened Lady Nagelsman, Yevgenia received a wine glass from a server.
As she sipped her drink, looking for a good place to kill time, the calm music abruptly stopped.
“What’s happening? The music stopping so suddenly…”
“Lady Nagelsman must have prepared something again. She always hosts such new events, no wonder her banquets are so popular.”
“Not just changing the music but stopping it altogether, she must have prepared something truly amazing.”
For the nobles who always pursued novelty and trends, such events were no different from festivals where dopamine exploded.
Amidst the murmurs that gradually swelled, a sense of confusion mixed with undeniable excitement could be felt.
Click— click—
Lady Nagelsman, appearing with a flourish of her lavish dress skirt, somehow didn’t look very bright.
As if she wasn’t doing this by her own will.
“Everyone, today we have prepared a very… enjoyable event. It is…”
Taking a short breath, Lady Nagelsman forced a smile.
As she snapped her fingers with a click, two sturdy men ascended from below the stairs where she stood.
The two handsome men were dressed quite unconventionally.
Without shirts or anything, bare-chested with only jackets draped loosely, standing on either side of Lady Nagelsman, they looked exactly like…
‘Hmm, they don’t look like people engaged in respectable work.’
Observing them with an awkward gaze, a belated realization dawned.
The jackets of the two men matched the color combination of Lady Nagelsman’s dress perfectly.
Even though they wore different outfits, the fact that they used the same fabric subtly revealed a couple—no, triple look.
The moment she noticed that fact, an ominous feeling crept up.
‘…Surely not?’
I even warned her; surely she wouldn’t ignore my kindness.
Surely not.
“Today, we have selected the owners of the most ‘couple-like’ attire at this banquet… and would like to grant them the right to spend the summer at a seaside villa located in the Nagelsman Marquisate…”
…It seemed Lady Nagelsman truly had early-onset dementia.
Acute, at that.
