Chapter 48
Liriette answered honestly.
“Yes. I want to become friends with Lady Karina.”
Angela smiled.
“I understand. Karina is incredibly beautiful. Until just a few years ago, she was immensely popular. There wasn’t a single noble in the North who didn’t adore her.”
With her lush crimson hair and dazzling, beautiful face, Karina attracted the attention of both children and adults alike.
Many believed that once she came of age, she would grow into a breathtaking beauty and lead Northern high society.
“But then… something happened.”
“If you mean the incident…?”
“Karina’s father became addicted to gambling and accumulated an enormous debt. The Redsia Barony fell into complete ruin.”
Karina could no longer wear the elegant dresses she once did.
Instead, her family reached the point where they had to worry about finding food every single day.
Liriette already knew from the other girls that Karina’s family was struggling, but she hadn’t realized it was this severe.
“So that’s what happened…”
Angela nodded.
“As the Redsia family became poorer than commoners, the other nobles stopped seeing them as fellow aristocrats. Naturally, they stopped inviting them to parties as well. But I couldn’t do that. No matter how far she’d fallen, Karina was still one of my precious friends.”
“I’m glad Karina has you, Angela. She must have found a lot of comfort because of you.”
Angela smiled sweetly.
“That’s right. It’s a little embarrassing to say it myself, but Karina likes me very much. She hardly speaks when the other young ladies are around, but when we’re alone, she’ll talk to me about many things. That’s why… I’ve been wondering whether I should tell you this.”
She looked at Liriette with a troubled expression before making up her mind.
“Karina hates you.”
For a moment, it felt as if Liriette had been drenched in icy water.
She knew Karina didn’t particularly like her.
But she never imagined it had gone so far as hatred.
“…Why?”
Angela answered carefully.
“While Karina’s family fell into ruin, you went from being a commoner to becoming the daughter of the richest and most powerful family in the Empire.”
“…”
“She keeps comparing her situation to yours. She told me that whenever she sees you, she becomes so angry she can hardly bear it.”
Liriette had always assumed there would be many nobles who disliked her.
But hearing that Karina was one of them came as a tremendous shock.
Her heart ached.
Angela gently stroked Liriette’s small shoulder as if comforting her.
“I told her those feelings were foolish. I told her you’re a good person and that she should try getting along with you. But it seems her heart isn’t so easily changed.”
“…”
“Please don’t be angry with her.”
“…Her feelings belong to her. Why would I be angry?”
Liriette smiled as she answered maturely.
But she couldn’t completely hide the sadness in her eyes.
The corners of Angela’s lips curled upward ever so slightly.
“Take care, Liriette.”
Angela saw Liriette off as she left the estate.
After Liriette departed, Angela turned around.
She wasn’t heading back to the tea party room where she’d spent the afternoon with the other girls.
She was going to her own bedroom.
Inside the lavishly decorated room sat Karina, dressed in her shabby old dress, her expression gloomy.
Angela smiled.
“I kept you waiting while I talked with Liriette. Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine.”
“Our Karina is so kind, just as always. Even dressed in rags, you’re still beautiful.”
“Maybe that’s why… Liriette seems to like you very much.”
The moment those words were spoken, Karina’s face stiffened.
Frowning, she said,
“I’ve been doing everything I can to avoid getting close to the Windsorice young lady.”
Aside from a brief greeting, she never spoke to Liriette.
Whenever their eyes met, she deliberately looked away.
Angela nodded as though she knew everything already.
“You did. And yet Liriette kept looking at you. Just like everyone else used to.”
Karina’s expression darkened.
Angela gently caressed Karina’s slender face as she continued.
“I suppose the problem is that this face of yours is still intact. Maybe I should burn it now. …No, that won’t do. If you suddenly had burn scars, people would ask how it happened. Perhaps it’d be better to claim you fell and scrape it with a stone instead.”
Angela spoke those horrifying words with the same innocent smile as always.
Karina shouted,
“Stop saying such horrible things! I’ve done everything you’ve told me to!”
After her family fell into ruin, Karina had been completely cast out by noble society.
The first time she attended one of Angela’s tea parties afterward, the other girls sneered at her.
“I heard she’s so poor she can’t even afford tomorrow’s meal, and yet she still came to a tea party. She must be crazy.”
“Does she still think she’s a noble? Just look at those beggar’s clothes.”
Under their cold stares and ridicule, Karina silently endured it all.
The noble girls whispered among themselves.
“Angela is too kind. She still calls someone like that her friend.”
No.
They were all wrong.
Angela had never invited Karina to her tea parties out of kindness.
Nor out of friendship.
And certainly not out of pity.
“Don’t you see, Karina? Gatherings where everyone says only pleasant things become boring. They need someone to tear apart—that’s what makes them entertaining.”
That was why Angela invited Karina to every tea party.
So the other noble girls would have someone to bully.
Karina spoke with a trembling voice.
“You’re the one who said you needed me.”
Angela looked at her.
Her shabby dress.
Her worn-out shoes.
Her rough, neglected hair.
Her thin, pale face.
From head to toe, it was obvious she had not been cared for properly.
And yet…
Karina was still as beautiful as a flower.
That was precisely why she had value.
Crushing a beautiful girl who had once been loved by everyone was far more entertaining than tormenting someone who had never had anything.
“Yes,” Angela said.
“You’re right. I shouldn’t damage your face.”
“Not yet.”
Karina let out a sigh of relief.
But Angela wasn’t finished.
“However… you still have to be punished for making me angry.”
At the word punishment, Karina’s face turned deathly pale.
Smiling like an angel, Angela beckoned with her finger.
“Come here, Karina.”
Tears welled up in Karina’s large eyes.
She looked exactly like a mouse staring at the cat that was about to tear it apart.
Karina opened the front door with a pale face.
The house was so small and shabby that no one would ever imagine it belonged to a noble family.
Inside, a little girl lay on a bed.
The moment she saw Karina, she smiled brightly.
“Big Sister!”
It was Seria, Karina’s younger sister.
A faint smile appeared on Karina’s pale face.
Walking over, she gently placed a hand on Seria’s forehead.
“Are you feeling any better?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Seria answered cheerfully.
But Karina couldn’t relax.
The fever was still there.
“Where are Mother and Father?”
“They went out to try to borrow some money.”
Karina’s beautiful face twisted with bitterness.
After the family fell into ruin, Baron and Baroness Redsia had tried, in their own way, to save their household.
Unfortunately, their idea of “trying” wasn’t honest labor.
Instead, they simply went from person to person begging for money.
Because of that, the Redsia family became even more despised by the nobility.
“They’ve no shame at all. Begging like common vagrants.”
And they’ll probably come back empty-handed again today…
Filled with despair, Karina looked at her little sister, who had spent the entire day alone at home.
Five-year-old Seria had been frail since birth.
Back when the family was still wealthy, she had eaten nutritious food and received regular medical care, allowing her to stay relatively healthy.
But after the family’s collapse, they could no longer afford proper treatment.
Her health deteriorated rapidly.
She developed fevers every other day, and sometimes became so ill it seemed as though she might stop breathing altogether.
There was only so much Karina could do for her little sister.
Hold her hand.
And somehow obtain medicine.
“Come on, take your medicine. Your fever will go down soon.”
“Did Lady Angela give it to you?”
“…Yes.”
After the Redsia family fell into poverty, every noble—and even the commoners who had once associated with them—turned their backs on them.
Only Angela had not.
She invited Karina to every tea party.
And each time, she secretly gave her medicine for Seria or something to eat.
Because of that, Karina’s entire family felt deeply grateful toward Angela.
