Chapter: 107
It was bound to become dark. After all, at the same time news spread that a charity party was going to be held,
“Isn’t it true that High Priest Evans entrusted Lady Lopez with planning the charity party this time?”
“My goodness, the two of them must be really close.”
“Don’t you think the two of them make a wonderful pair?”
Rumors like these were circulating everywhere.
As far as I could tell, the rumors were true.
Thanks to her close relationship with High Priest Evans, Seraphina’s reputation, which had once fallen into disgrace, had risen so high that it seemed to pierce the heavens.
“What on earth could she be plotting?”
I muttered to myself, furrowing my brows.
After agonizing over it for a while, the young lady suddenly threw her arms around my neck.
“Well, I have Lari, so I’m not worried.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Of course. No matter what tricks Lady Lopez pulls, I already have my very best friend.”
After boldly declaring this, the young lady smiled sweetly and rubbed her cheek against mine.
“I don’t care about things like reputation at all.”
“But, Young Lady.”
I patted the young lady’s back as I continued.
“Wasn’t the reason you initially wanted to restore your reputation because of the reduction in your allowance for maintaining your dignity?”
“Ah.”
Apparently, I had hit the nail right on the head.
The young lady froze like a cat whose tail had suddenly puffed up, then quickly lifted her chin proudly.
“Oh, would I still care about that now? There’s someone I need to make a good impression on.”
Then she shot me a sly sideways glance.
……No, why is she looking at me like that?
Regardless, the young lady rested her chin on my shoulder and stared intently at the invitation in her hand.
“But, Lari.”
Keeping her gaze fixed on the card, the young lady asked,
“What exactly is this event called ‘The Brightest Star of November’?”
I pondered the contents of the invitation.
[As a lighthearted form of entertainment, we wish to select the brightest star of November.
If you donate an item, we will put that item up for auction and sell it.
All proceeds will then be donated to charity.]
‘What? This is basically the Rose Game!’
I filled the young lady’s empty teacup with warm tea and asked,
“By any chance, Young Lady, do you know about the Rose Game?”
“Ah…… I’ve only heard the name.”
The Rose Game.
It was a game played at social gatherings where men and women mingled, accompanied by a hint of romantic interest.
Usually, ladies would put small personal items up for auction, such as a drawing they had made themselves, embroidery, or even a fan they normally carried around.
The gentlemen would then bid on and purchase those items.
The proceeds would be used to give expensive gifts to everyone attending the gathering.
For a lady who already had a fiancé, it was customary for her fiancé to purchase her item.
The game could also become something of a battle of pride among the ladies.
The reason was……
“It is an auction, after all, isn’t it?”
I shrugged indifferently.
“By seeing how much money gentlemen are willing to bid on a particular lady’s belongings, you can tell how much attention she receives from them.”
“Oh-ho, so there was something like that?”
The young lady nodded with a face full of curiosity.
For the record, Seraphina had always been the winner of the Rose Game.
Gregory had once bid enough money on a single handkerchief that Seraphina had put up for auction to rent a small banquet hall for an entire day.
And what had I been doing all that time?
I had watched Seraphina and Gregory being all lovey-dovey and said things like,
‘Wow, that handkerchief is really pretty! They both have such wonderful taste!’
……That sort of nonsense.
For the record, Gregory hadn’t even participated when it came to an item I had put up, let alone bid any money on it.
Haah, my past self.
Did you really have to live such a pathetic life?
After bitterly reminiscing about my past for a moment, I glanced sideways at the young lady.
‘If only our young lady had attended social gatherings, Seraphina wouldn’t have even been able to raise her head!’
For the record, the young lady had never participated in a game like this in the first place.
She hardly ever attended social gatherings at all.
And yet, she still reigned as one of the most famous figures in high society and the most dazzling rose of them all.
Just how beautiful, elegant, and lovable was our young lady……!
While I was passionately admiring the young lady in my heart,
“Hmm, so, to sum it up.”
The young lady narrowed her eyes and asked me,
“It’s a game that serves as a measure of how much attention a lady receives from gentlemen. Something like that, right?”
Gasp.
I suddenly snapped out of my internal fangirling.
Because……
‘Whenever the young lady gets like this, doesn’t something always happen?’
The young lady muttered in a dark voice,
“Then we can’t let ourselves be outdone.”
“Huh?”
This feels ominous.
But the young lady was already fired up……
“Lari, what are you going to submit?!”
“Um…… I haven’t thought about it yet.”
I answered somewhat awkwardly.
Hmm. Since they had borrowed the format of the Rose Game, it would probably turn into a bit of a battle of pride, right?
“We don’t necessarily have to submit an auction item. It might be better to simply make a donation……”
“No!”
The young lady firmly shook her head, her eyes gleaming fiercely.
“This is a challenge.”
“Huh?”
“It’s obvious that Lady Lopez organized this event because she wants to show off how popular she is!”
Hmm, she had a point.
There was no way Seraphina would organize an event like this without any ulterior motives at all.
She must have at least picked out a man who would buy whatever item she put up for an exorbitant price.
And there was a very high chance that person would be High Priest Evans.
‘Still, do we really need to play along with her?’
If we simply made a donation instead of submitting an auction item, there would be no need for us to be compared with Seraphina.
But apparently, the young lady thought differently.
With a sly expression, the young lady tightly clasped my hand.
“I kind of want to be just a li~ttle bit mischievous.”
“Huh?”
“You’ll help me, right?”
“Huh?”
“Of course, it won’t hurt the charity party. If anything, it’ll benefit it.”
Unable to keep up with the young lady’s train of thought and repeatedly responding with nothing but “Huh?”, her smile grew even wider.
“Hehe, hehehee, hehehehehe……”
What on earth was that sinister smile?!
No, what exactly was she thinking?
Just then,
“Miss Larit.”
Amy came hurrying over and handed me a letter.
I looked up at Amy in confusion.
“What is this?”
“It’s a card sent in the name of the Claudius ducal family.”
“Huh? But I’m right here.”
The young lady also looked over, clearly having no idea what was going on.
“Other than me, there’s no one in our family who would send Lari a card…… Ah, could it be?!”
At that moment,
The young lady whipped around to look at me, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
“Is it my big brotherrrrr?”
“……”
I deliberately ignored the young lady’s piercing gaze and opened the envelope.
Even so, I couldn’t help feeling strangely excited.
‘Come to think of it…… Is this the first time the Duke has personally written a card to me?’
The card was densely covered with writing.
‘Ah.’
I gently traced the words on the card with my eyes.
‘So this is what the Duke’s handwriting looks like.’
The letters were slightly slanted, and the strokes were long and narrow vertically.
It was somewhat cursive handwriting characteristic of someone who did a lot of paperwork, yet somehow that only made it feel more elegant.
“What are you doing, Lari?”
I had been staring blankly at the card for quite some time when the young lady’s disgruntled voice suddenly brought me back to my senses.
“Are you having a staring contest with the card?”
“No, no, I’m not.”
I quickly lowered my gaze back to the card.
