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People didn’t dare look directly at Kellerhan for fear, yet they acted very differently to me and Yuta.
They murmured as they alternately looked at me and Yuta with eyes full of blatant curiosity.
I was accustomed to being noticed in a good or bad way, so I was able to walk around pretending to be okay.
It was Yuta whom I was worried about.
If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have had to receive such unpleasant glances.
But again, there was no need to worry.
He was surprisingly calm.
Although he occasionally gave attention to those who looked at him, he didn’t show any signs of feeling burdened or embarrassed.
“Kellerhan! You did come. It’s a little late, though.”
As people were walking in their gaze, I heard a familiar voice in front of me.
In this Empire, there was only one person who could call the Duke of Barmuth, “Kellerhan”, friendly.
“I’m greeting Your Imperial Majesty.”
Kellehan greeted first, then Yuta and I bowed along.
Even with my head bowed, I could feel the Emperor’s gaze touching me.
As soon as the greeting was finished, the Emperor beckoned to me with a sparkling face.
“Lady Schwires. Come here.”
I once again bowed my head and cautiously approached the Emperor.
He took my hand with his hand and was incredibly friendly.
Today’s event itself was a place to show that the Emperor was taking good care of me, so his behavior was understandable.
“Long time no see. How have you been? Was there not a lack of respect for you in Barmuth?”
“With Your Imperial Majesty’s grace, I’m living the happiest days of my life.”
In fact, the only thing I was grateful for to the Emperor was that he didn’t send me to Lodgemund, but I spoke with courtesy.
The Emperor stared at me for a moment without saying a word.
I noticed that his eyes were different from usual.
The eyes that used to be kind and sloppy were now shining in a slightly different light.
What is it?
It was a moment when I had doubts.
“I heard Lady’s performance well.”
Performance?
I didn’t know what the Emperor was talking about, so I just smiled vaguely.
The Emperor looked at my smile and let out a, “Hmm.”
“You gave the 1st Knights an unexpected gift.”
For a moment, I froze on the spot.
If it was a gift given to the 1st Knights, it was definitely the story of the re-investigation of Lake Roban.
On the day of my engagement, I pointed out Heiner as the culprit in the Lake Roban incident
I didn’t know that the Emperor would bring up the story of the Lake Roban case.
To be precise, I must say that I thought he didn’t care.
Because the Emperor in my mind was an indifferent person who didn’t pay any attention to what was going on.
“Duke Lodgemund turned down my invitation, probably offended by it. No matter how innocent his son is, the re-investigation itself is a disgrace.”
I swallowed my saliva.
This… Is he blaming me?
I don’t regret doing it at that moment.
People tried to undermine Kellerhan and Yuta, saying that Barmuth, who accepted me, was a strange family, and I couldn’t stand it.
However, the story is a bit different if it caused the Emperor’s hatred.
Barmuth is loyal to the Imperial Family, and the Gottfried Knights belong to the Imperial Family.
But if the Emperor keeps Kellerhan in check because of me…
“Your Imperial Majesty.”
Then, Kellerhan intervened.
“Did you not promise me not to mention that?”
“Is that so? Fufu, the older I get, the less memory I have.”
“Yes, you promised. So, let’s stop talking and start having a tea party. Everyone is waiting for Your Imperial Majesty’s words.”
A promise, he said. It seems that Kellerhan stepped in and took care of it.
I looked down at my toes without saying a word.
I saw the cute shoes that Kellerhan picked out yesterday.
While the Emperor thanked the nobles for coming to the tea party, Kellerhan took Yuta and I down the large garden tree.
“Isabella, raise your head.”
Kellerhan said.
Yet despite his orders, I couldn’t easily raise my head.
I didn’t regret what I had done, but I couldn’t raise my head at all to think that it had harmed Kellerhan.
“Are you discouraged now that His Imperial Majesty has mentioned the re-investigation of the Lake Roban case?”
“That is…”
I bit my lip.
“His Imperial Majesty must have seen the Duke badly about this. It’s my fault.”
I knew that apologizing would mean nothing now, but the words came out of my mouth.
I heard Kellerhan’s sigh.
Shrugging his shoulders, he squatted and placed his hand on my head.
“I told you. Don’t say that you did something wrong.”
“However…”
“How can you become Barmuth’s daughter-in-law with that much guts?”
My eyes widened at Kellerhan’s words.
“There will be countless things worse than this to deal with the real bad guys in the future.”
Kellerhan said with a frown.
“Isn’t it you who said that it was better for you to be called a hound and dig up the truth, rather than live ignoring the truth while being praised as a benevolent person?”
He repeated what I said in Rudger’s Mansion.
Even though it was only a few months ago, the memory of that time, which felt like a long time ago, made me dazed for a moment.
“I liked those words, that’s why I took you as my daughter-in-law.”
My heart was pounding at his words.
It was the first time that Kellerhan personally pointed out something from me and said that he liked it.
I see, Kellerhan liked those words.
Is it because of those words that he’s kind to me?
No, I think there must be another reason…
“This much is really nothing.”
Kellerhan said, stroking my hair.
“Since we’re originally in a tight relationship with Lodgemund, there’s nothing to get worse, and it’s actually an advantage because we’ve won the favor of the 1st Knights.”
Clearly, Kalman of the 1st Knights was kind enough to serve me as a lady he respected.
“His Imperial Majesty has mentioned this to test you.”
Kellerhan smiled and said in a serious tone.
“Whether you knew everything or it was just a child’s play. It’s not like he’s trying to keep me or Barmuth in check.”
Kellerhan continued to speak.
“If you acted on purpose, there will be big changes among the capital’s security agencies in the future, so he wanted to be prepared for that.”
That’s what he meant?
It occurred to me that the Emperor wasn’t just a lax human like I thought.
Even if he’s not interested in young children, he’s definitely in politics.
Well, I mean, he has been ruling this vast empire without any trouble, right?
“How is it, Isabella? What were you thinking then…”
As Kellerhan was about to ask something, the Imperial servant approached us and announced that the tea party had officially begun.
Reluctantly, we had to stop the conversation and head back to the tea party garden.
As I walked, I was deeply troubled.
It was because I felt that I had to decide the course of my actions in the future.
I regressed.
Although I didn’t get much from my previous life, I’m definitely different from children in my age in thinking and keeping in mind.
If I acted naturally and without thinking, there would surely be some who doubted that I was childish.
Just because I’m not childish doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a bad thing.
There will be cases where I will benefit from the knowledge of my past life, such as the favor of the 1st Knights.
On the other hand, if I ask all the knowledge from my previous life and act like a child, I won’t get any useless doubts, but I won’t benefit from it either.
…Should I walk on a tightrope?
Pretend to be a child, but benefit from situations where I can.
But if I think it will be too difficult to deal with the aftermath, don’t overdo it and step back.
If I take such a strategy, I will be able to avoid the same thing as before.
After thinking a little bit, we arrived at a place where the tea party tables were gathered.
“Duke Barmuth is this way, the Young Lord and Lady Schwires are this way.”
The servant who was guiding us said.
We parted from Kellerhan for a while because, according to social etiquette, adults and children had to sit separately.
With a look of immediate boredom, Kellerhan headed to the table where the adults were gathered, and Yuta and I headed to the table where the children were gathered under the guidance of the new servant.
As soon as I entered the children’s area, I instinctively looked for Heiner.
Fortunately, Heiner and I were at different tables.
This was also thanks to the social etiquette that separated men and women.
“The Young Lord is that way, the Lady is this way.”
Because of that, I was separated from Yuta as well, but I hate seeing Heiner more so let’s hold it in.
In addition, Heiner must be holding a grudge against me because he was under investigation by the 1st Knights for the Lake Roban case and scolded by Duke Lodgemund.
Heiner was sitting between me and two tables, and even from that distance I could feel him staring at me.
But I didn’t want to be entangled with him, even only with eyes, so I completely ignored him.
I could feel Heiner very dissatisfied when I didn’t look at him.
Let’s ignore it. I’m ignoring him.
I erased Heiner from my mind and focused on the kids sitting at the same table as me.
Whether it was the Emperor’s consideration, the teenagers sat together with the older ones, and the single-digit children sat together with the younger ones.
That meant the majority of the population at my table were little kids.
Yuta is also nine years old, and when I see him, I don’t think he’s young at all, while the kids here look really young.
“Nice to meet you, Lady Oris.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Gynan.”
Besides, they used hard, adult-like tones that don’t match each other’s looks, which, conversely, made the children look younger.
“Isn’t this the first time I’ve seen you since we met at Lexus’ Villa then?”
“I really enjoyed it, though.”
Everyone, except for me, actively greeted each other across the table, I could see how well they knew each other.
Of course, if I mobilized the knowledge of my previous life, there were a few faces I knew.
But I didn’t want to pretend to know.
It was because I didn’t know them in this life, and I wasn’t that close in my previous life.
It’s not a ‘close relationship’…
I smiled bitterly at the words that came to mind.
Not being close is too gentle an expression for what they’ve done to me.
If I want to get revenge, I can get revenge, but the desire to do so didn’t cost even the slightest bit.
In my previous life, I was really sad and afraid, but when I went back and saw the children who were eight or nine years old, I was relieved.
What would I do to those kids with plump cheeks and small hands that can’t even cover a teacup?
“Nice to meet you all. My name is Isabella Schwires.”
I emptied my mind and joined the conversation with plain words.