Marilyn Lehr stepped out of the carriage with a pale face and looked up at the unfamiliar mansion.
As she passed through the main gate, the scenery that unfolded before her eyes, as if a beautiful forest had been moved there in its entirety, overwhelmed her.
Even though the Marquis of Highclere has been living in seclusion in his mansion recently, there is no noble in the empire who can ignore the Highclere family.
'Even if I wasn't overly excited that day.'
Ever since her father had an affair with a woman of humble origins, she has been extremely sensitive to the origins and status of the people she interacts with.
When she found out late that Dorothea Highclere was attending Valerie Germain's tea party, she couldn't attend because she had already accepted the invitation.
She never thought she would lose her mind to the point of making such a fatal slip of the tongue in front of everyone, so she attended, albeit reluctantly.
She must have lost consciousness for a moment.
Her eyes became blurry as she recalled that day.
It wasn't just that she couldn't bear the Prince's fierce gaze and fell down in her seat in an ugly manner.
As she bit her lower lip, Valerie Germain's warning automatically played in her ear.
'If I were a Young Lady, I would at least think several times about how I should behave in the future before I open my mouth.'
'...'
'Although His Highness the 7th Prince's origins are popular among many people.'
Eyes filled with pity and mockery thrust the final blow deep into Marylin's lungs.
'Even if it is said that being from a noble family is his weakness, the Lady is the child of a noble family, but he is a Prince.'
The eyes of those who were silent were not that different.
Even pity only adds to the shame.
Nevertheless, the reason why she kept knocking on the door of Highclere Mansion was very clear.
'If I don't resolve this matter somehow, it will spread into a problem between families.'
If by mistake this falls into His Majesty's ears.
When Marilyn imagined that, her eyes got dizzy.
“Please wait a moment and I will send a message to you, Young Lady.”
Marilyn sat down, barely able to hear the kind voice of the maid who guided her to the reception room and closed her eyes, anxiously waiting for the other person.
“...”
How much time has passed... The lady of the mansion didn't seem to have any intention of showing herself.
A deep shadow fell over Marilyn's face.
It seemed that Dorothea Highclere had no intention of forgiving her easily or overlooking this matter leniently.
'Still, I have to endure here.'
She couldn't go back like this.
Marilyn needs to somehow apologize to her and put an end to what happened with the Prince...
"Excuse me."
A maid with a loud voice and a huge tray stood in front of Marilyn.
Marilyn lifted her head in a daze and looked at the sight of each plate being filled with colorful and delicious food.
The maid's skill in stacking these many plates on the table without overlapping them was very skillful.
“What is all this?”
“These are snacks for tea time.”
“All of this?”
"Yes."
After the smiling maid went out dragging an empty tray, the person who entered the reception room was not Dorothea Highclere this time.
“Excuse me. I am Dane of the Highclere family. I came by to hear that a friend of Thea’s was visiting.”
Marilyn stared blankly at the young man who approached her with a polite voice, then greeted him hastily.
“This is Marylin of the Lehr family. Nice to see you."
“It seems like the tea time was quite friendly as the young ladies who had become friends with Thea visited for two days in a row. Since it was her first social activity, the whole family was nervous.”
“...”
The atmosphere of the tea party was like ice, and Marylin was so lost after the Prince left that she had no time to feel anything else.
Valerie Germain gave Marilyn a stern warning, and Marilyn is here now to apologize.
'It seems like everything that happened that day has been kept secret.'
Now that she thinks about it, Valerie advises her not to document any trivial matter that happened at the tea party or to disclose it to anyone else.
No, it was a threat.
At least it was some consolation that the only people who knew about her scandalous behavior were the attendees of the tea party.
“Your complexion is pale, my lady. Are you okay?”
“Yes, it’s okay.”
“Thea will probably come down soon. It looks like she is paying more attention now that the young lady is here.”
'You must be trying to embarrass me.'
She had to endure the humiliation of being left in the waiting room for such a long time.
She raised her head with a resolute face.
“It’s okay. I have to meet Young Lady, even if it’s a little late.”
“Thank you for your understanding, my lady.”
Admiring eyes turned to her.
“Please have something to eat while waiting.”
"It's okay. I don’t want to make the mistake of drinking tea in the parlor when the owner is not there.”
She can't afford to get nitpicked again when she's already made a mistake and come here to apologize.
Her polite refusal added even more trust and admiration to Dane's eyes.
'Why does this guy keep hanging around?'
Since Marilyn was already on edge, the man in front of her was really annoying.
It was a time when she was licking her lips, hesitating whether to politely ask him to leave.
“You said you were waiting.”
A characteristic slow and monotonous voice flowed into her ears.
Marylin's heart began to beat like crazy as she immediately recognized the owner of the voice.
***
“I didn’t expect you to come back and make so many friends.”
Jane babbled happily.
“She came to see you, and you seemed a bit more calm and gentle than the Young Ladt who came yesterday.”
"Yes?"
Dorothea, who was annoyed and stopped talking, slowly changed her clothes.
With Valerie gone, there was only one person worthy of visiting this place.
'The Prince must have been really scared.'
The confident appearance of outspoken words shriveled like a deflated balloon the moment the person in question appeared and was directly attacked.
'It's trivial.'
He was a human being who wasn't even worth caring about.
But at least the servants of the mansion looked excited and happy.
Instead of going out of her way to sprinkle ashes in the atmosphere, Dorothea obediently headed to the drawing room.
In the space where Marylin thought she would be alone, unexpectedly, a cousin from whom she was less distant was present.
“Ah, Thea.”
“Why are you here?”
“Because you are too late. Did you oversleep? No matter what, you shouldn’t make guests wait.”
“..."
Dorothea glanced at Marilyn, letting Dane's rare words of advice slip by.
She stood up stiffly, as if she was very nervous, and pursed her lips.
'I was just teasing you to keep your mouth shut, it wasn't that great.'
Just coming here trembling was enough.
There was no reason to be considerate, but that doesn't mean there's any need to insult her further in the face of someone who seems to have already paid enough for her sins.
“You can leave now.”
"Yes."
As soon as Dane, with his eyes dripping with regret, disappeared from the drawing room, Marilyn quickly got down from the chair and knelt down in front of Dorothea.
“I apologize to Young Lady. What happened that day was my fault for being foolish, ignorant, and lacking.”
"Wake up."
Dorothea helped her up as she was trembling.
Many eyes were watching the mansion, so there was no reason to raise unnecessary doubts.
“You must have heard it from Miss Valerie.”
Marilyn flinched.
“What happened that day must never be known to anyone. It doesn’t matter what was said or who was there. Just erase it all from your mind.”
“...”
“There was no need to come here and apologize. Nothing happened that day.”
Indifferent eyes scanned Marilyn.
Marilyn cringed at the look in her eyes as if she was displeased with the fact that she had even come here.
She was staring blankly at the floor, then moistened her dry lips and asked again as if she wanted a definitive answer.
“Nothing happened?”
“Yes, nothing. Nothing.”
Dorothea, with an ambiguous expression that seemed neither smiling nor smirking, sat down and looked down at the plate on the table.
She carefully examined the food on the plate one by one, then picked up the nearest meat pie and opened her mouth to look at Marylin, who was still standing.
“Sit down and have some tea. If you just keep going like this, it’s going to look weird.”
There was no need to make others suspicious.
Marilyn, who had been observing Dorothea's words as if she thought they had a point, sat down cautiously.
Then she looked at the piled-up plates of food that filled the table.
“For your information, it would be best to attack from the closest plate, preferably at the top. Unless you want to knock it over.”
While Dorothea had finished the first plate and was picking up the second plate, Marylin, who had been hesitant, also closed her eyes and chose a pretty piece of cake and brought it to her.
The sweet cake and bitter tea went well together.
As the warm tea warmed her body and the food appeased her empty stomach, blood began to slowly flow into her body, which had been stiff from tension.
She said it with a sigh, feeling a tingling sensation she had never felt before.
“Thank you, Young Lady.”
“There’s no need for you to come to this mansion anymore. It would be better for both of us if we didn’t get involved, if possible.”
"Yes."
With a short answer, Dorothea picked up the next plate, and then the next plate.
Marylin, who had barely emptied one plate, looked carefully.
She understood that since she had come all this way, she should drink tea so as not to look strange to people.
The question is when they can get up.
“Aren’t you eating?”
"Yes?"
“You’ve only emptied one plate so far.”
“...”
Should I eat more?
As Marilyn, blinking, carefully picked up the second plate, Dorothea reached for the fifth plate.
Every time Marilyn's hands stopped, looking amazed at her ability to quickly and neatly empty the plates, Dorothea asked slowly.
“Aren’t you going to eat anymore?”
“...”
It didn't take long for her face, which was already as white as a sheet of paper, to turn pale, as if her body had been filled with food without any room for air.
***
Dane, who was delighted at the thought of his cousin finally having a 'normal' friend, was telling Edwin stories about this and that.
“In my opinion, the young lady of Baroness Leire looked much better than the young lady of Viscount Germain who came yesterday.”
"In some aspects?"
“First of all, I felt like she was being very careful about etiquette every time she said a word.”
No matter how carefully she spoke, it took quite a while for her lips to open.
Dane felt refreshed at the way she finally spoke after mulling over the thoughts in her head a few more times.
“Besides, Thea, who overslept arbitrarily, didn’t seem to care much even though she made her wait for quite a long time. She even comforted me by saying she was okay.”
“She is a very patient person.”
It wasn't that Valerie Germain had any shortcomings or felt particularly uncomfortable, but from Dane's perspective, Marylin seemed much more like an 'aristocratic lady'.
“I hope she maintains her ‘special friendship’ with Thea in the future.”
Edwin, who was looking out the window while listening to Dane, saw someone in a dress running across the garden with the bottoms rolled up to her calves, forgetting to wear a dress.
Edwin, who saw the noble lady with messy hair hurriedly getting into the carriage without looking back, glanced at his younger brother who looked happy, then fell silent.
Contrary to Dane's wishes, it didn't seem likely that Marilyn would ever return to the mansion again.
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