Chapter: 51
The party ended in great success.
The lights in the banquet hall of the Ansi Viscount’s residence remained lit until late into the night.
For the record, around the time the party ended, the Duke had already returned to the hotel.
“You could stay at our mansion, you know.”
“No. Eva is already imposing on you, is she not?”
As he said that, the Duke glared at the Young Lady with a sharp look in his eyes.
“Hmph.”
The Young Lady stuck out her tongue and hid behind my back.
“…In any case, since things have turned out this way, please take good care of Eva just for tonight.”
The Duke continued, staring at the Young Lady with a fierce gaze.
“I will come to pick Eva up tomorrow.”
“Aw.”
Having suddenly found herself leaving for the capital with the Duke, the Young Lady looked at me sadly.
“Well, Lady Ansi has come back to her hometown for the first time in a while. She should spend a few days with her parents.”
Then she continued, pretending to be aloof.
“I’m not that lacking in understanding, you know.”
Her slender, pretty hand slowly reached out and gently took mine.
“But you can’t stay too long, okay? I’ll get bored. Got it?”
“Of course.”
I gave the Young Lady a warm smile.
After that.
I saw each of the guests off one by one, and it was only quite late that I was finally able to return to the bedroom.
“Lady Ansi, you’re late!”
The Young Lady, dressed in her pajamas, immediately raised her head and greeted me.
She must have been opening the gifts the Duke had given her.
Ribbons and wrapping paper were scattered all over the bed.
“Wow, it’s beautiful.”
I opened my eyes wide.
Rustle.
Under the light, a bracelet made of strings of blue turquoise beads was revealed.
“Brother really put some thought into it this time. But…”
The Young Lady, who had been examining the bracelet from every angle, suddenly turned toward me.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, this? The Duke gave it to me as a present.”
I held out the gift box I had been carefully carrying in both hands.
“When he bought your present, he apparently bought something for me as well.”
For some reason, I felt my face growing warm, so I absentmindedly fiddled with the corner of the gift box.
“I’m very grateful, but I don’t know how I should repay him…”
“Oh?”
The Young Lady’s eyes sparkled.
“Brother prepared a present for Lady Ansi?”
“Yes, he did, but…”
“Wow. What’s gotten into that insensitive man?”
The Young Lady moved right up beside me.
“I feel a little bad saying this as his younger sister, but our brother has absolutely no sense when it comes to these things.”
“R-Really?”
“Of course. The fact that he buys me presents whenever he goes on a business trip is something I trained him to do. He would never buy one on his own. But~”
The Young Lady gave me a sly grin and glanced at me.
“He bought one for Lady Ansi all on his own~?”
“That’s because I’m your friend, isn’t it?”
“Well, that could be true.”
The Young Lady shrugged and continued.
“But at the very least, it’s obvious that our brother likes Lady Ansi quite a bit.”
“Oh, come on. There’s no way that’s true.”
I tried to laugh it off, but instead, the Young Lady turned serious and looked at me.
“I’m serious, you know? If that weren’t the case, no matter how many letters I sent him, he wouldn’t have gone out of his way to come to the party…”
The Young Lady stopped there and suddenly closed her mouth.
But my eyebrows had already shot up.
“Young Lady, did you send more letters to the Duke without telling me?”
That day when the Young Lady had declared in front of Seraphina and the other ladies that “the Ansi Viscount family will be holding a party,” I had caught her in the act of sending a letter to the Duke.
“Young Lady, the Duke is a busy person.”
“His work should be finished by now anyway.”
“Even so, you can’t.”
The Young Lady seemed quite dissatisfied and pouted her lips, but she eventually gave in to my persistent persuasion and promised not to send another letter.
But…
“Did you perhaps… ask the Duke to come to our party?”
When I had asked him that, there had been that deep exhaustion that briefly crossed the Duke’s face.
“Well, I can’t exactly say that wasn’t the case.”
And that weary voice, too!
“No matter how much Eva pestered me, I wouldn’t have attended a party I had no desire to attend.”
“You mean you came because you wanted to.”
Of course, he had kindly added that much himself…
Meanwhile, the thoroughly flustered Young Lady merely moved her lips.
“Huh? No, I mean, well!”
“Really, I told you not to send letters to the Duke. But in the end…”
As signs of a lecture began to emerge, the Young Lady hurriedly burrowed under the blankets.
“I-I’m sleepy! I’m going to bed! Lady Ansi, you wash up and go to sleep too, okay!?”
Then she squeezed her eyes shut and pretended to be asleep.
Sigh.
I let out a deep sigh inwardly.
Truly, being cute was an incredible thing.
Even though she was so blatantly shouting with her entire body, “I don’t want to be lectured!”, I could only find her adorable.
“I’ll go wash up. Go to sleep.”
I shook my head and got to my feet.
Click.
The sound of the bedroom door closing could be heard.
‘…Lady Ansi is gone, right?’
Evangelina cautiously poked her head out from beneath the blankets and looked around.
Then.
The gift box Larit had left on the table suddenly caught her eye.
Evangelina crawled out from under the blankets and peered into the gift box.
A pair of pale pink earrings caught her attention.
‘You can tell at a glance that this isn’t something she picked out carelessly.’
The delicate craftsmanship, and even the color, which closely resembled the color of Larit’s eyes.
It was obvious that she had carefully considered what would suit Larit before choosing it.
‘Even if Lady Ansi is close to me, would she really put this much thought into it?’
Something about this was suspicious.
Her blue eyes narrowed with suspicion.
I returned to the bedroom a little later.
‘The Young Lady… Hmm, she’s asleep.’
The Young Lady was sprawled out on the bed, sleeping soundly.
I carefully straightened her golden hair that had fallen messily across her pillow and tucked the blanket securely around her neck.
Then I glanced away.
Under the moonlight streaming through the window, the rose quartz earrings shimmered.
‘I really owed the Duke a great deal today.’
He had deliberately attended my family’s party and put Count Gusto’s nose out of joint.
He had asked me for the first dance.
And in front of everyone, he had shown consideration for my parents.
Besides…
‘If it hadn’t been for the Duke… I might have been stuck with Gregory for quite some time.’
The Duke’s words to me echoed in my ears.
“Enduring someone else’s rudeness is not always the best course of action. At the very least, make sure others cannot treat you carelessly.”
“You are not someone who deserves to be treated that way.”
That firm voice of his.
I suddenly gave a bitter smile.
‘I envy you, Seraphina.’
In the past, I couldn’t even bring myself to envy Seraphina.
I merely admired her, believing her to be someone so far above me that I could never dare compare myself to her.
But things were different now.
I had resolved that I would no longer be swayed by Seraphina, and I had been making my own efforts to achieve that.
And yet.
‘There really are people I can never reach…’
The Duke, along with the Young Lady, was the first person to recognize my abilities.
And when I thought that someone like him would one day, by fate, come to love Seraphina…
‘Enough. I should stop thinking about it.’
I collapsed onto the bed.
Beside the Young Lady, who was sleeping peacefully, I desperately tried to fall asleep.
But it was strange.
Although my body was already exhausted from being worn out by the party all day…
…I simply could not fall asleep.
