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That’s right, the woman looking right back at me with a startled face was-
“Lady Bennet?”
It was Lady Bennet!
Of all the things that happened between me and her.
I never expected to see her attend the opening ceremony…
As I was looking at her, I had a feeling.
I squinted.
‘…her cheeks.”
Although covered with heavy makeup, Lady Bennet’s face had a faint tinge of red.
Someone had hit her.
Lady Bennet didn’t pick a fight with me or look at me viciously like usual.
She instead stumbled as she tried to walk past me.
Just then, Ellen called me.
“Sister’?”
“Oh, sorry. Let’s be going now.”
Suddenly coming to my senses, I shook my head.
Hopefully, I’m wrong.
Who would hit the only daughter of the Bennet family?
I trudged forward, feeling bad for her.
* * *
‘Really, this is why I said I didn’t want to come to the opening ceremony!’
Lady Bennet crossed the aisle, looking almost on the verge of tears.
However, she couldn’t resist her father’s coercion.
*Flashback*
‘No, I won’t go!’
‘I didn’t raise you to be so feeble!’
Her father, Baron Bennet, threatened her with a cruel, distorted face.
‘You know what? You’ll be out of this house if you turn tail and run to that girl, Charlize!’
‘But even you know, father!’
Normally, she would have just obeyed her father’s words.
But she felt hurt by her father’s insults and unfair treatment, and it ate at her on the inside.
Why couldn’t she just overcome these feelings?
‘I already lost!’
‘What?!’
‘I challenged her several times, but I never won!’
Baron Bennet approached his daughter, eyes wide with rage.
The old Lady Bennet would have kept her mouth shut at this point.
Strangely, the words in her mouth came pouring out endlessly.
‘You know what’s worse? She’s not affected by me at all!’
‘Leona!’
‘When I ran into Lady Charlize this time, do you know how she treated me?!’
Lady Bennet continued with her fists clenched.
‘It’s true that she doesn’t like me, but she doesn’t look down on me.’
‘Enough Leona!’
‘She told me that I didn’t need to beat myself up over my misunderstandings!’
The moment Lady Bennet heard that she felt so worn down.
She had always despised Lady Charlize.
She despised how she was a lady-in-waiting of humble origins.
Someone had monopolized the Empress, gained her favor, and the Crown Prince’s affection, and befriended Viscountess Antes.
Everything she wanted, Charlize already had.
So, she deliberately ignored Charlize’s kindness.
In fact, people who loved Charlize were drawn to her sunshine-like kindness.
‘She, She didn’t have to do that…’
Lady Bennet shut her eyes, unable to dispel her deep-seated self-doubt.
‘You’re wrong. I’m not going against Lady Charlize no matter what!’
‘You despicable girl!’
Thwack!!
The piercing sound resounded.
At the same time, Lady Bennet’s body tumbled across the floor like a rag doll being thrown.
Her now reddened face swelled.
‘Even with the prestigious title of Her Majesty’s relative, you still get beaten by some commoner girl!’
‘…father.’
‘You’re a disappointment!’
After the end of that cry, Baron Bennet went outside.
Following that, Lady Bennet didn’t have another conversation with her father.
Only an order was given to unconditionally attend the opening ceremony.
Recalling that time, Lady Bennet quietly touched her cheek without realizing it.
She iced it as best she could, but her cheeks still throbbed.
‘I just ran into Charlize.’
She never wanted to run into her.
As she remembered vividly the subtle look in Charlize’s eyes, the desire to hide surged up again.
Charlize’s expression was a mix of worry and bewilderment, and seemed to be greatly concerned about herself…
“Oh my God, who is that?” exclaimed a noble lady.
“Isn’t that Lady Bennet?”
Lady Bennet, stiffening her shoulders, looked back.
Several noble ladies were looking her way.
“Why would someone as shameful as her attend the opening ceremony?”
“I know, the Empress wasn’t very happy with Lady Bennet either.”
Their gazes met.
However, the noble ladies looked into Lady Bennet’s eyes and pushed up the tips of their lips.
It was blatant sneering.
“If it were me, I wouldn’t have attended the ceremony due to all the embarrassment…”
‘I didn’t want to come either!’
Feeling that everyone was laughing at her, Lady Bennet turned around, biting her lip to make it bleed.
She wanted to somehow avoid people’s gaze.
But the mocking voices persistently chased Lady Bennet.
“Well, she’s so arrogant, she probably doesn’t even know it.”
“You’re right, who in society likes Lady Bennet?”
“She was disrespectful to those higher rank to her and mean to those lower than her…”
Lady Bennet hurriedly ran out into the garden connected to the library.
As the whispers of people gradually faded away, it seemed that only then could she breathe easier.
Lady Bennet crept away from public view and took deep breaths.
“Hah….”
But just then.
‘What?’
In an instant, her pupils narrowed.
From far away, a man was busy coming and going.
He was familiar looking.
‘I’m sure he was a member of the entourage that accompanied His Majesty, the Emperor earlier…”
Lady Bennet reflexively hid in a corner to go unnoticed.
The man busily came and went.
She had no idea where they came from, but the man poured a large barrel’s worth of dark liquid onto the floor.
‘What is that?’
Her question was quickly answered.
The thick smell of oil began to sting her nose.
No way!
Lady Bennet was wide-eyed.
At the same time, the man threw the embers.
Whoosh!
Intense flames began to climb up the walls of the building.
***
Damian and Empress Dowager finally arrived at the garden after touring the entire library. “That took a while. Why don’t we take a break?”
“Sure.”
Damian helped Her Majesty rest on the bench.
As she sat down, she looked at her grandson with a pleased gaze.
“…why are you looking at me like that?”
“Oh, about something in particular.”
The Empress Dowager smiled widely.
“Earlier, when you kissed Charlize on the forehead.”
“Why this all of a sudden…”
Damian’s face turned red.
The Empress Dowager wore a mischievous expression.
Her dear grandson was always so valiant, but whenever the name ‘Charlize’ was mentioned, he turned into a shy boy.
“Didn’t she dislike those sorts of things?”
“What makes you think so?”
Damian pricked up his ears.
The Empress Dowager continued the conversation leisurely.
“Charlize blushed slightly, but she didn’t ask why you kissed her in public as she used to.”
Now that he thought about it, he quickly nodded as the realization set in.
In the past, she would have been straight-faced, but now her attitude’s changed.
At her recently enlightened grandson, Her Majesty slyly slipped in a question.
“So, when will I get to see my great-grandchildren?”
“Ugh, granda mama….seriously…”
Damian groaned and covered his forehead with his hand.
The two had a lengthy chat.
Chatting about the flood problem in southern Lebane and even the harvest festival.
Being busy all the time, he had few opportunities to converse with his grandmother like this.
“So Charlize awakened the power of the divine beast…”
“Yes, she did.”
The Empress Dowager realized that her grandson loved Charlize very much.
Every story he recounted to her began with Charlize and ended with Charlize.
‘I’m so glad.’
Since he was born, the first thing he learned as a child was to give up.
Right before confinement, he was a baby whose darkened eyes didn’t match those of a three-year-old.
But now Damian’s smile is as bright as the sun.
A smile that looks forward to the future yet to come and isn’t hindered by the past.
Damian looks so happy.
‘It was all thanks to Charlize.’
The Empress Dowager would always be grateful to Charlize.
She was the only person to make Damian smile as jovially as he did.
As the Empress Dowager smiled heartily at the fact-
“Uh, who is that person?”
Damian suddenly narrowed his brows and looked ahead.
His gaze met Lady Bennet’s pale appearance. She ran madly, ignoring even her tousled hair.
Her current appearance wasn’t befitting someone who usually spoke at great length about a lady’s grace and elegance.
“Wasn’t that Lady Bennet?”
The Empress Dowager tilted her head and asked her grandson.
Damian nodded.
“Yes, I think so.”
“There might be something urgent…”
Hearing that, Damian balled his fists involuntarily.
Like he had swallowed a whole bucket of ice, his stomach felt cold and numb.
Feeling something ominous, Damian stood up.