Did Eris have a bad relationship with the duchess? Looking at the faces around, I donât know who they are, but they donât seem to like Eris very much. I looked almost like an uninvited guest as she showed her reluctance to greet me. Thatâs why the maids decorated Eris up.
âLady Kazar has matured a lot. Donât the women of Kazar always grow up fast?â
Bzzt bzzt. Lightning flashed from the eyes of both the duchess and I. We had been arguing the whole time, but there was no need to back down so soon. I looked around, closed my eyes and smiled.
âEveryone, please sit down. Come to think of it, there are a few people who are old here, so I think I spoke too long without noticing.â
The womenâs expressions crumpled at my words.
Thereâs nothing as cheap as using age for an attack. However, it was necessary to be a little cheap for this situation.
I was being subtly ignored. No one included Eris in their conversations. No matter how I tried talking to them, smiled, or responded to a question, they would not continue the conversation.
I wasnât hurt because I didnât know them before, but I wondered if the original Eris in the novel was treated like this.
I donât know if Eris had been hiding it because of her pride, or because of the crown prince, or that all of a sudden, these people looked down on herâŠ..
I thought the original Eris was a pitiful kid who was easily judged by others due to her bluntness.
Or had Eris always been weak against these socialites? Working like a servant only to be easily ignored and later betrayed.
Whether it was the former or the latter, it was all up to Eris to be treated like this.
I know that one of my weapons is rusty due to the mess Iâm currently in, also I was seriously thinking about taking this opportunity to get revenge.
âIf I were to become the crown princess, I would get even more retribution. I was struggling to not be
discouraged myself here as Iâm the one being bullied, but somehow they seem more desperate.
I decided to close my mouth for a bit, and wait and see. As I was sipping tea and listening to the others, a girl who seemed to be of Erisâs age spoke to me as if she was sorry.
Another lady was quick to respond to the womanâs soft jest. I tilted the teacup I was holding a little to measure the amount left over, and made eye contact with the girl and smiled.
âLady Morgan, do I look bored? I can enjoy as much as I want with just one gesture.â
âWhat?â
As I blinked, the girlâs face was blue when she noticed the still steaming teacup in my hand.
âNo, youâre joking too much.â
âDoes it sound like a joke?â
Everyone stood up in fright. The woman called Lady Morgan was almost about to faint.
Well, I laughed and waved because I thought Iâd frightened her enough.
âOf course itâs a joke. Itâs because you seemed so scaredâŠ..â
Lady Morganâs face turned red as she listened to me. Another young lady near Lady Morgan spoke up for her.
âItâs because you have such a venomous and cruel personality, which is why youâre abandoned by His Highness!â
She seemed surprised to say the remark herself, but she didnât want to rescind what she just said. Rather, the people around her laughed and drove themselves into a mood of secretly sympathizing.
I was going to think about whether to say that I was dumped or not by the crown prince, but someone put a hand on my shoulder.
I turned my head, and right behind me, Jason was looking down at me, grinning. With a sly face and a boyish voice, he asked the women of this group.
âItâll be just a minute. I have something to tell her.â
When Jason laughed, the cold hearts of the women melted very quickly. They kept a straight face and said he could take me.
He should have asked for my permission, rather than permission from these women, but Jason grabbed my wrist before I could respond and we left the garden. Then words came out from him.
âA âThank youâ should suffice.â
âWhat should I thank you for?â
âDidnât I save you from a difficult situation?â
I think having such an illusion is enough to be a disease.
âTo put it bluntly, you didnât save me, you saved the young girl. If it had been a little longer, I was going to pour hot tea over her face.â
He smiled at my correction even as I was in a terrible, mood.
Hot tea should have been poured on his face, not the young lady, as he shouldnât have brought me out. I was wrong
âAre you tired? I can lend you my shoulder.â
âNo need.â
I turned away because I didnât want to deal with him. It was hard. This was because I didnât usually walk away from fights, but at the same time, I didnât like fighting either.
But even if I, Eris, died, I didnât want to lean on him. I pressed my eyes while looking far away, and he talked to me again.
âNo, Iâm one who just forgets if I canât point it out on the spot. So letâs forget my business, Lord Kazar.â
âIâm sorry, but I canât do that.â
Here we go again. I donât understand why heâs acting so sympathetic all of a sudden, and I donât really want to understand.
I was just trying to ignore it and move on, but a word, from Jason caught my step.
âDo you mind if I tell His Highness about your mental illness?â
âAre you really out of your mind?â
Thereâs no way he could spit that out without sounding crazy. I was so overwhelmed and speechless that I even felt numb.
âNo matter how great the Marquis is, the imperial family will not tolerate it. They donât want the blood of the imperial family to be mixed with madness.â
How can he say something like this when he looks at me in a funny way? I wanted to flip my hair, but today my hair was fixed beautifully, so instead Iâve been smoothing my forehead over and over again.
Then she shook her head. I smiled and looked at Jason. Letâs see. I didnât mean to lose that much to Jason.
âTell them if you dare. Letâs see whoâs being treated like a madman.â
âAlso, you seem to be mistaken, because I donât have any lingering attachment to the Crown Prince anymore.â
At these words, Jason blinked slowly, surprised. This was a new reaction. So you thought Eris would love the crown prince even after all that humiliation?
I wasnât saying this because I was the soul in this body, It should have been said that the love was over from the moment Eris wished to be gone from this worldâ.
If Eris loved Alecto, she would remain in this world. No matter how painful it is, she would want to see him.
âWhy do you look like that?â
âIt was so⊠unexpected.â
âDid you think Iâd love him for the rest of my life?â
Isnât that considered selfish greed? Expecting a woman to still love him even when he wonât even look back. Everyone dreams of someone who will love themselves unconditionally at least once.
Unrequited love and unconditional love clearly differ. Unrequited love can end alone, but unconditional love sometimes canât. If I met a bad person, I could have been tortured with hope. And it drives people crazy
Humans donât want to love, but they want to be loved, and when they get used to the unconditional love they receive, they would use it recklessly.
What if you know the other person is using you and you canât say no? Worst of all, why do this to yourself when there is someone in the future who will love you. No one should have the right to carelessly do what they like.
âI realized that kindness cannot be called love.â
This was something I wanted to say to Jason, too. If you really love Helena, and if you want to win Helenaâs heart, you shouldnât just be friendly. If he showed his feelings more earnestly, he would have a chance of winning.
At this point, Helena wonât love Alecto yet.
However, this does not mean that Jason should show the darkness inside of him. It means to express his feelings with words, butâŠâŠ
To give Eris an excuse, she didnât try to express herself in a subtle way like Jason. She always expressed her affection directly to Alecto. Eris did her best in everything.
Although Iâve never been loved, I didnât knowâŠâŠ even though it seemed to be stubbornness rather than love.
Eric believed that time would solve everything. One day the crown prince will give up.
âOnce upon a time, I thought that if I continued to love him, His Majesty would turn to me. Thatâs why I offered myself to be in the position of the Crown Princess. When I looked back at myself, I needed a
position where I could be seen. A place where I can wait for him with confidence.â
But what Eris couldnât calculate was that Alecto was as blind as Eris. He had long been blinded by Helenaâs sun, so even if Helena is happy with another man, he will perhaps not turn to Eris.