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Chapter 8
As expected, a lady named Hana started walking towards Deatrice. However, another lady dissuaded her and led her into another direction.
Then, a voice spoke.
“Oh my, this lady. You must take good care of your body. Everyone says it’s good to walk when you are pregnant, but it’s not good to push yourself too hard! You don’t want to attract bad elements with the weather that we have.”
Then a certain lady side-eyed her pertinently.
Perhaps it was a warning that meant, ‘Don’t risk losing your reputation for nothing in front of the emperor just because you spoke with the fallen Deatrice!’
The socialites were certainly kind to those they considered to be part of themselves.
And very brutal to those who don’t.
The lady who was approaching her also took a detour to another place. Since no one took the initiative to talk to her, this time, she could see Lucius entering the room.
He wore his uniform and was noticeably more casual in his action than the other tensed knights. Looking around, Lucius soon found her and, with a playfully secretive smirk on his face, walked into his own group.
The young ladies who witnessed that smirk immediately began to gossip.
“Who was he smiling at?”
“I’ve heard of rumors that he’s having an affair with Berry Spirt these days.”
“But she’s not even here yet!”
“Who else could it be then? We all know that, for Sir Elliot, marriage is his ultimate goal.”
Had it not been for his status as an illegitimate child, the gossip would’ve ended on a slightly more positive note. However, Lucius was now like a poisoned golden apple seducing you with its beauty, but you wouldn’t be able to take a bite unless you had a death wish.
Deatrice suddenly thought that she had to get drunk in order to get through this whole ordeal.
With just a smirk, people were already in heated discussions. She dreaded the thought of them finding out that Deatrice and Lucius had supposedly ‘fallen in love again’.
But just as she had left and picked up a cocktail, a more daring and venomous voice uttered mockingly.
“So, who will she be engaged to this time?”
“Oh my—Miss Kepler! You shouldn’t ask such questions in public…” Even when this other lady was busy ‘rebuking Miss Kepler’, she made eye contact with Deatrice. Even her last words had that gossipy tone to them.
When she felt their gaze on her, Deatrice came to realize that they were referring specifically to her.
Another young lady who could not see Deatrice because she had her back to her, increased the volume of her voice that was tinged with interest. It was probably because she felt that the topic she had chosen was very clever.
“She’s already had a failed engagement for the second time, aren’t you curious on who would be her next target?”
Then everyone else chimed in.
“I know, right? Usually, if an engagement had already been broken once, people would start avoiding them like a plague.”
“She’s lucky she’s a noble, that’s why she had another offer. But,” she slightly lowered her volume for added dramatics, “people say that she won’t be able to bear it this time. She might even enter the temple!”
The other ladies mock-gasped.
“Well, she is famous for going to the temple on every holy day…”
A fakely concerned voice chirped, “Would she still decide on going to the temple? There are still a lot of men who want her.”
“But they’re too scared, she’s bad luck. Who knows what misfortune would befall them if they proposed?”
Everyone listened to Eva Way. As if she was telling a scary story, she slightly bowed her body and created an eerie atmosphere.
“That’s right! Who knows what kind of cursed blood dwells inside of her?”
Really, why is she so pathetic?
Majority of the ladies had this thought running through their heads. But before a grimace could fully be displayed on Deatrice’s face, someone stood up.
“Would everyone please stop?”
It was a voice that put a halt to the heightened atmosphere. People nervously confirmed who it was, but they soon backed away with an embarrassed expression on their faces.
The woman who stood up for her was Dixie Bell, and before she had married, her name was Dixie Fenry.
Lucius’ sister.
She was also another victim of the scheme her father pulled off because of what was revealed in the duke’s house.
At that time, Lucius had lost everything and he couldn’t inherit anything due to him being an illegitimate child. Dixie had no choice but to quickly choose a man to secure the inheritance so she could take care of her mother after the Count died.
Of course, she was said to be doing well on her own now. But Dixie was just as hurt as Lucius back then, and Deatrice felt indebted to her.
Moreover, a few days before the incident was revealed, Dixie visited Deatrice and said some words to her.
“A suspicious woman named Bella Anise is staying at your house. She had already come to see me and the Count… She must have done something to harm my brother.”
Up to this day, Deatrice remembered what she had said to her.
“Even if you come up to me and force me to tell my father’s guest to leave, I am unable to do it. If, by any chance, she really is truly dangerous to Lucius, please get him to come and speak for himself.”
She had refused to chase out the woman, causing the whole incident to happen. She could still recall Dixie’s expression and her tone after she had finished speaking.
Disappointment.
“So… you have never sincerely loved my brother, after all.”
At the time, Deatrice saw Dixie as an overly emotional woman. But now that she had thought back to it, the notion that ‘maybe Lucius’ sister was right’ crossed her mind.
Her own dignity was more important than Lucius, she wanted to put herself first, her heart for herself was greater than her heart for him.
She was selfish.
But if it was truly dangerous, Deatrice wondered why Lucius had never told her about it.
“Miss.” A voice called out to her.
Deatrice woke up from her reverie and raised her head. An officer in uniform, whom she had only seen a few times, stood in front of her.
She put down her glass on a table and glanced at him.
“What is it?”
The man smiled in a flustered manner because of her somewhat stern attitude, then he recomposed himself.
Surprisingly, this man held out his hand.