Chapter: 53
“Why? Why are you asking that?”
“Just in case. It would be rude to give her something that doesn’t suit her tastes……”
“Is it bothering you that Lady Ancy doesn’t wear earrings?”
“……”
He had been hit right on the mark.
It was rare to see Dietrich look so flustered.
Evangeline looked at her brother with a pitiful expression, then shook her head and continued.
“She seemed to like them.”
“Really?”
Dietrich’s face brightened as he looked at his younger sister.
“Yeah. But those earrings are rather expensive for something to match with everyday clothes.”
After answering, Evangeline casually slipped in a question.
“Brother, you spent quite a bit of money this time, didn’t you?”
She had heard that the jewelry store where Dietrich had purchased gifts for both Evangeline and Laritte was the most popular one in the Ancy Viscounty.
The prices must have been quite steep……
“She’s been getting along well with our little troublemaker, so of course I should spend that much.”
“Who are you calling a troublemaker?!”
Evangeline had snapped back, but only for a moment.
Inside, she clicked her tongue.
‘Well, there’s no point digging any deeper right now.’
People were naturally bad at recognizing their own feelings.
Especially someone like Dietrich, who had lived a restrained life as the head of his family.
‘Rather than stirring things up myself, it would be better to let my brother figure it out on his own.’
Thinking that, Evangeline forcibly kept her mouth shut, even though it felt unbearably itchy to keep asking questions.
Then she smoothly changed the subject.
“By the way, Brother. The Viscountess Ancy told me she was grateful that I’ve been getting along well with Lady Ancy.”
“Viscountess Ancy?”
“Yeah. She said she was happy that I’d made a good friend.”
After opening the conversation that way, Evangeline carefully watched Dietrich’s reaction.
“And…… I heard you told her I was admirable too?”
“Who?”
“Lady Ancy.”
“……”
Since it was true, he had nothing to say.
Evangeline’s eyes curved into a pleased smile.
“I was honestly really happy, you know? Both you and the Viscountess Ancy. It was the first time I’d ever heard things like that from other people.”
“……Eva.”
Evangeline spoke in a rare, bashful voice.
“I really like being with Lady Ancy. It’s hard to explain……”
Fidgeting with her fingers, Evangeline shyly looked away and finished her sentence.
“I feel like maybe I could become a good person too, from now on.”
“……”
Dietrich gazed quietly at his younger sister.
She had been plagued by all sorts of nasty rumors in high society and had even been branded arrogant and overbearing.
‘She’s just immature. She’s not a bad-hearted child.’
Seeing his younger sister blush at just a few words of praise made him feel rather sorry for her.
After a moment, Dietrich opened his mouth.
“Eva, you’re already a good person.”
“……Brother?”
Evangeline blinked in surprise.
Dietrich added mischievously,
“Of course, you’re stubborn, a troublemaker, never listen to a word anyone says, and whenever you’re about to say something, you start screeching at the top of your lungs.”
“Hey! Why did you suddenly turn this into badmouthing me? I was just about to be moved!”
Evangeline, who had been hanging on to every word her brother said, glared at him with narrowed eyes and huffed indignantly.
“Even so…… Lady Ancy and I both.”
Dietrich gave a small laugh as he faced his sulking sister.
“We both care about you very much.”
“……”
At those words, Evangeline fell silent.
Dietrich continued gently.
“Ever since you met Lady Ancy, you seem to be living much more happily. And that makes me happy too.”
“……Whatever.”
Unable to overcome her embarrassment, Evangeline deliberately turned her gaze toward the scenery outside the carriage.
A comfortable silence settled between the two siblings.
And so, the carriage continued on toward the capital.
Chapter 4. My Best Friend
‘Did the sun happen to rise in the west this morning?’
With a bewildered expression, I stared down at the pile of invitations covering the table.
‘Otherwise, there’s no way I’d receive this many invitations.’
Well, there had been the incident with the Claudius Duke’s family’s salon.
And rumors had spread that the young lady and the duke had attended the Ancy Viscounty’s party, so I had expected my reputation to have improved somewhat.
But still.
I hadn’t expected this many.
My mouth fell open.
‘The Claudius effect is seriously amazing……?’
For reference, among those invitations was an invitation to a tea party hosted by the Ventner Barony, sent by Gregory.
It would definitely contain his usual nonsense.
[My aunt is hosting it, and I’ll be attending too.
So make sure you come and show your face.]
……Something along those lines.
It was so predictable that, without even reading further, I simply crumpled the invitation in my hand.
The young lady immediately leaned her head toward me.
“What is it? Who is it?”
I answered in an indifferent voice.
“Gregory.”
“Ugh.”
The young lady grimaced in disgust and snatched the invitation from my hand.
She stared at the crumpled invitation with such disgust, as though she were looking at something extremely filthy.
Then she tore it to shreds like an angry cat……
“Why does this man always act like he’s close to Lady Ancy?”
After dumping the scraps of the invitation into the trash, the young lady dusted off her hands and complained irritably.
“It’s been ages since the two of you broke off your engagement!”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
I sighed deeply and agreed with her.
Seriously, I was sick of it.
When on earth was he going to accept that we were no longer engaged?
As I rummaged through the countless invitations, one suddenly caught my eye.
‘Hmm?’
I picked up the invitation.
Compared to the flashy invitations characteristic of high-society gatherings, even the envelope itself looked rather modest.
The contents of the invitation read:
[Hello, Lady Ancy.
It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.
My name is Kate, and I am the daughter of the Count of Sherwood.
If it would not be an imposition, I would like to invite Lady Ancy to the Watkins Book Club, of which I am a member.]
……Watkins?
The Watkins who was famous as a historian and author?
I made a strange expression.
It was, well…… an incredibly scholarly-sounding club name.
For reference, the names of social clubs traditionally popular in high society were usually flower names such as Camellia, Peony, and so on.
‘Come to think of it, wasn’t the name of the club Seraphina belonged to “Peony”?’
I shrugged and continued reading.
[Our Watkins Book Club currently has three ladies who regularly attend, including myself.
The purpose of our book club is to cultivate the ladies’ refinement and broaden their knowledge.
To that end, we select books and meet once a week to share our thoughts and impressions about them.
We sincerely hope that Lady Ancy will attend and grace our gathering with her presence.]
‘The Watkins Book Club.’
I fell into thought for a moment.
Kate, the eldest daughter of the Count of Sherwood, had relatively little presence in high society.
The reason was simple.
Kate was a quiet person who enjoyed reading more than social gatherings.
The fact that she personally ran a book club was enough to show how serious she was about reading.
Honestly, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that sort of preference, but the mainstream atmosphere of high society leaned more toward socializing through parties and various events.
If I had to put it one way, book clubs were closer to being an unconventional sort of gathering……
‘Well, it might actually be good for me.’
The social events and gatherings in high society were currently dominated by the ladies surrounding Seraphina.
The so-called “popular” ladies, I suppose.
Naturally, they probably wouldn’t look kindly upon me after I had cut ties with Seraphina.
But this book club was somewhat outside those ladies’ interests.
Besides……
‘The Count of Sherwood is still a central noble family.’
The eldest daughter of the reasonably prominent Count of Sherwood.
With that level of status, she could afford not to worry too much about what the mainstream ladies thought.
In fact, if she hadn’t possessed that degree of influence, the book club probably would have had difficulty continuing in the first place.
‘Besides, I do like reading…… All right.’
I made up my mind.
