ITCYLITCOTRGC CH 04

The next day, Michelle watched me anxiously as I prepared to attend the Imperial Ball.

“Young Lady, are you really going to hide a book there?”

“Yep. What do you think? You can’t see it at all, right?”

“You really can’t see it. But isn’t that precisely the problem?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Ah… Never mind. If you don’t understand, then it’s fine.”

Michelle seemed frustrated, as though she had been about to say something but decided against it.

What was wrong with her? Everything was perfectly fine.

I looked at the novel I had rolled up and hidden inside my dress through the mirror.

“Why? You can’t see it, can you?”

“That’s what I’m saying. You’re going to wear the shawl, right?”

“Yeah. Put a brooch in the middle too. If Sasha sees it, he’ll make a huge fuss again.”

“If you’re worried about that, wouldn’t it be easier to simply not wear it?”

“Huh?”

“Nothing, Young Lady. I’ll go get the brooch.”

She wasn’t like this when she was younger.

These days, Michelle seemed to have completely given up on me. She had been stopping herself halfway through her sentences more and more often.

Once Michelle fastened the golden brooch for me, my appearance looked perfectly normal.

Sure, if the shawl slipped off, the book wedged between my breasts would be obvious, but so what?

In other words, as long as the shawl stayed on, everything was fine.

I would hide the book as soon as we arrived, so as long as Sasha didn’t catch me, everything would be perfectly okay.

“Young Lady, the carriage is ready.”

“Okay! I’ll be down in a minute!”

I quickly answered the butler and carefully walked down the stairs.

My parents looked at me with emotional, teary eyes just because I was walking so demurely.

But in reality, I was only walking that carefully because I was worried the book I had secured might move.

The moment I climbed into the carriage, the coachman hurriedly started driving.

Inside the carriage, Sasha looked at me strangely.

I flinched at his gaze and suddenly felt guilty for no reason.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“They say clothes make the woman, and I have to admit, it really suits you. The shawl is absolutely terrible, though.”

“No! It’s fine. I really, really like this shawl.”

“The brooch makes it even worse. What is that thing? Did you pick it up somewhere off the street? Seriously.”

Clicking his tongue, Sasha pulled out the brooch he had brought with him.

It was clearly a much more luxurious piece than mine, which was scratched and worn.

“Stay still. I’ll put it on for you.”

Sasha approached me.

If he touched the shawl, he would immediately realize that I had hidden a book underneath it.

Panicking, I kicked Sasha in the stomach.

He let out a gag at the sudden kick.

“You…!”

“You suddenly came at me! What was I supposed to do?! D-don’t make such a big deal out of it! Just give it to me. I’ll do it myself.”

“Because I suddenly came at you?”

“Yeah! It’s your fault, Brother. Anyone would get scared if someone suddenly came that close.”

I felt a little sorry for Sasha, who had been kicked in the stomach while completely defenseless, but instead I shamelessly raised my voice.

Contrary to my expectation that he would get extremely angry, Sasha praised me.

“Well done.”

“What?”

He handed the brooch to me and continued with his strange advice.

“I said well done. If someone approaches you like that, forget about manners or appearances and just kick them away.”

“Got it?”

I nodded vaguely at Sasha’s words.

But my thoughts were completely different.

I had only acted that way because he was my brother and I was comfortable around him.

Would I ever behave like that toward someone outside?

If I actually did, I would be the one people pointed at and called an uneducated lady.

Unfortunately, that was simply the kind of world this was.

And in order to survive in this world, I had evolved into a truly shameless, highly skilled lady who was practically a ninth-degree master of pretending to be proper.

Thanks to Sasha suddenly acting very much like an older brother for the first time in a while, the atmosphere became rather strange.

As Sasha brushed the footprints from my shoes off his clothes, I inexplicably scolded him loudly.

“Who would even approach me? Everyone thinks I’m the most boring and well-behaved person in the world.”

I had put on such an innocent act for so long that at social gatherings, I had practically volunteered myself to be part of the wallpaper.

I made my expression as forgettable as possible, blending into the background so naturally that people barely noticed I was there.

Then, before anyone realized it, I would quietly disappear.

That was my specialty.

At a ball, there would be an entire carriage-load of people desperate to stand out, so hiding one insignificant person like me was incredibly easy.

But Sasha spoke with a slightly serious expression.

“That’s because someone you need to be careful around is coming.”

“Who?”

“Armin Grey.”

“Armin Grey? That Young Master Grey?”

I widened my eyes and asked again.

Armin, the only son of the Grey family.

He was around the same age as Sasha and me, but there were already widespread rumors that he would soon inherit the title of duke.

The Grey family was one of the oldest and most prestigious central noble families in the country.

I had heard they rarely showed much interest in social gatherings, so why was he attending this time?

I tilted my head and asked Sasha,

“Why is Young Master Grey, the one I’ve only ever heard rumors about, coming?”

“Apparently, for a reason similar to yours. I heard he’s looking for a bride before inheriting the dukedom.”

“Really?”

I grinned.

Sasha looked so tense about Armin Grey, whom I had never even seen before, that I found it amusing and jokingly said,

“That works out nicely. I’m looking for a husband, and he’s looking for a wife. It’s a win-win.”

“Absolutely not. Not him.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s not someone who could ever understand you.”

Sasha shook his head firmly before continuing.

“The Grey ducal family is one of the oldest central noble families and one of the closest families to the Imperial Family. Just imagine marrying into a family like that. You’d wither away and die within a year.”

“Ugh. You have a point.”

I immediately backed down.

Seeing me like that, Sasha let out a deep sigh.

“Other noble families might tolerate your strange behavior because they want to establish connections with our family.”

The Roha Viscountcy had recently accumulated enormous wealth through overseas trade.

Although they were only a viscountcy, thanks to that wealth, they ranked among the top ten richest families in the country.

The fact that Sasha casually told me to choose a husband also reflected his confidence in the family’s financial power.

There was probably also a small hope that if I became interested in a man, I might improve my behavior a little.

“But the people of the Grey family… they’re absolutely not the kind of people who would understand you.”

I became interested when I heard something I had never heard before.

“What are they like?”

“The Duke of Grey is one of the most influential people in aristocratic society. He has quite an aggressive personality. When he likes someone, he gives them his full support, but…”

“But?”

“He’s famous for being merciless toward people he doesn’t like.”

Sasha made a gesture across his neck with his hand.

Somehow, it didn’t feel like an exaggeration, and a chill ran down my spine.

I swallowed and asked about the Duchess.

Unlike the Duke of Grey, I actually knew quite a bit about her.

“I heard the Duchess doesn’t really like participating in social life.”

I seemed to remember hearing that she rarely attended social events and only associated with a few close acquaintances.

Sasha nodded.

“She’s famous for being arrogant. Unless she genuinely believed she couldn’t associate with people beneath her station, the mistress of a ducal household wouldn’t behave that way.”

The more I heard, the more it seemed that most people in the Grey family had cold personalities.

They were completely incompatible with me.

Perhaps because I looked nervous, Sasha reminded me once again.

“So whatever you do, stay away from Armin Grey. His family has nothing to be dissatisfied about in any respect. Don’t even think about attracting his attention.”

“Worrying about things like that is pointless. I heard Armin Grey has incredibly high standards. Why would someone like him be interested in a girl like me?”

“A girl like you?”

Sasha immediately became indignant.

He normally acted like he wanted to chew me up and spit me out, but apparently the rule of ‘I’m allowed to criticize my sibling, but no one else is’ applied just as firmly among noble siblings.

My brother was always picking on me, but he couldn’t stand it when someone else underestimated me.

“What’s wrong with you? You’ll probably be the prettiest girl at the ball.”

“Please put some saliva in your mouth before you say such things. All the gorgeous blondes and silver-haired beauties will be gathered there. Do you really think anyone will remember someone as plain-looking as me?”

“You really don’t know yourself at all.”

Sasha stared at me as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Conversations like this always made me cringe.

The people in my family were far too soft on me.

“Okay, okay. So what you’re saying is… you’re worried Armin Grey and I might somehow get involved with each other?”

It seemed like a completely pointless thing to worry about, but I nodded anyway.

There was no reason to waste energy worrying about something that would never happen.

All my attention was focused on figuring out how quickly I could get out of Sasha’s sight and sneak into an empty room to slack off.

“You absolutely won’t even run into Young Master Grey, so stop worrying. Got it?”

“Do you even know what Armin Grey looks like?”

Sasha asked incredulously after I confidently declared that I would avoid someone I had never even met.

I gathered together all the rumors I had heard about him and answered,

“Silver hair and violet eyes. Apparently, he’s so handsome that you can see his radiance even from ten kilometers away.”

“Silver hair…? Is that right? Sounds vaguely familiar. But who on earth comes up with such cheesy descriptions?”

“There are always young ladies at social gatherings talking about Young Master Grey. You come up sometimes too, don’t you?”

“Ugh.”

“What was it? Something about a smile resembling sunlight and hair like the warm earth, or something like that.”

“Stop. I don’t want to know.”

“Apparently, they want to be held by him.”

“I said I don’t want to know.”

“Why? I haven’t even gotten to the rest.”

The part about wanting to be held was a complete lie.

There was no way shy young ladies would say something like that.

Sasha had already realized I was teasing him.

He looked at me with an expression of utter exasperation as I snickered.

“So are you ever actually going to get married?”

“You and our parents are the ones constantly pestering me to find a husband even though you say I’m probably incapable of finding one.”

“If you can’t find one, you’ll become the mistress of a merchant guild within a year.”

“Ugh. I really hate that.”

“You’ll have to call Andre ‘dear husband.’”

“Ah! Stop it!”

Only after we had both taken enough emotional damage did we finally fall silent.

The rhythmic sound of the carriage wheels continued.

Clop, clop, clop.

I looked out the window.

The Imperial Palace was getting closer and closer.