Chapter 67. Unloved By Her Husband

Meanwhile, Yuelina, who knew nothing, sat at the end seat with Maelyn.

Emily, firmly suppressing her anger, gestured to the maid waiting behind.

Soon after, the maid began filling the teacups with hot tea.

“Your Highness the Grand Duchess. Thank you for accepting our invitation.”

“Not at all, Lady Emily. The honor is mine.”

“I heard this is your first social gathering?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Emily smirked.

“Hmm. I wonder why? That means you’ve never received an invitation, right?”

She pretended to worry about Yuelina while stroking her chin.

“Being the Grand Duchess and all, I’m concerned about rumors spreading that you don’t get along well with the noble ladies of the principality.”

Maelyn pouted, feeling indignant at Emily’s words.

Not receiving invitations from the noble ladies wasn’t Yuelina’s fault.

The fault lay more with the noble ladies who didn’t send her invitations.

Yet Emily was subtly scolding as if Yuelina had done something wrong.

“That’s right. This is the first invitation I’ve received, and it’s from you, Lady Emily. That’s why I’m so excited today.”

“……?”

“This is my first time visiting another house since coming to the principality. It feels just like visiting a friend’s house.”

Yuelina answered brightly.

Maelyn at the table, and the other noble ladies all wore bewildered expressions.

“…Friend. What a nice expression.”

“Is it?”

“Then may I call you Yuelina? Like friends do?”

Maelyn finally understood why Emily had invited Yuelina.

She wanted to humiliate Her Highness the Grand Duchess!

Maelyn was dumbfounded.

Saying she would call her by name instead of her title was an outright show of disrespect.

If Emily truly wanted to be friends with Yuelina, the proper procedure would have been to first call her ‘Mrs. Phaenyx’ using Theo’s surname.

“Sure!”

“Your Highness!”

But before Maelyn could stop her, Yuelina had already granted Emily’s request.

“Then may I call you Emily too?”

“Please do.”

“And may I call the other ladies by their names too?”

“Everyone agrees, right?”

The noble ladies nodded at Emily’s words.

Maelyn was exasperated.

Telling her to use their names but not even introducing themselves!

Maelyn even felt sorry for Yuelina.

After all, she was the one who had insisted that Yuelina must attend Emily’s tea time.

Maelyn was about to suggest they return to the mansion.

“Hello, I’m Yuelina. What are your names?”

“Oh? Ah, yes. I’m Teresa Smith.”

But Yuelina began introducing herself while making eye contact with each of the noble ladies.

Maelyn sat dumbfounded with her mouth open.

“Nice to meet you all! Teresa, Chloe, Mary, and Emily!”

Everyone nodded as if enchanted by Yuelina’s cheerful voice.

Something had gone terribly wrong.

Emily realized it as she was nodding.

At this rate, she would completely lose control of this gathering to Yuelina.

“Shall we drink tea first?”

Emily tried to change the atmosphere by redirecting the conversation while staring intently at Teresa sitting next to Yuelina.

Since the plan had gone completely awry, she needed to change her mind about not directly tormenting Yuelina.

Emily had subtly suggested something to Teresa just in case.

That if the tea was too hot, it might accidentally spill.

“Teresa, be careful, the tea is hot.”

Teresa nodded with a grave expression.

She had read Emily’s signal.

Teresa deliberately tilted her teacup toward Yuelina.

It was an opportunity to soil the dress she had carefully worn, even if it wouldn’t cause burns.

“The tea is really hot…”

Just as Teresa was about to pretend to accidentally spill her teacup on Yuelina…

Someone roughly grabbed Teresa’s wrist.

Teresa’s body turned backward from the force.

“My lady, that’s dangerous.”

It was Raye who had grabbed Teresa’s wrist. Raye took Teresa’s teacup with an expressionless face.

Her expression didn’t change even as she held the steaming hot teacup.

She just quietly stared at Teresa.

“Th-thank you.”

“Not at all, my lady. Please drink carefully.”

“Yes. I will.”

Teresa’s cheeks reddened at Raye’s low, stern voice.

Raye stood behind Teresa and placed the teacup back in its place, almost as if embracing her from behind.

Teresa glanced at Raye’s arms. Though they looked slim, they were toned with muscle.

“Your Highness, shall I bring the gift?”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

Raye left the garden with Yuelina’s permission.

Teresa turned her head sharply to look at Yuelina.

“What did you say that person’s name was?”

“Raye?”

“Raye. Does she not have a surname?”

Teresa asked Yuelina with an almost enchanted expression.

Emily gritted her teeth and forced a smile.

“Teresa. Raye is a maid, remember? Didn’t you hear?”

“Ah… A-a maid, I see.”

Yuelina nodded.

“That’s right. Raye is a maid, but she’s also a knight.”

“A knight?”

“Yes. I heard she participated in the war with His Highness the Grand Duke. She received her knighthood for her excellent swordsmanship and recognized abilities.”

Teresa was bewildered.

Knighthood wasn’t given to just anyone.

Moreover, being a knight meant she was practically minor nobility.

“Wh-why is a knight working as a maid?”

“Huh? Is that not allowed?”

“No, it’s not that it’s not allowed… But knights are almost nobility. She wouldn’t need to do menial work…”

“Raye does it because she wants to. She says she prefers her current work.”

Yuelina answered very clearly.

But the expressions of Emily and the other noble ladies grew darker.

Emily in particular was very troubled.

To think Raye was a knight. And one who had participated in war with Theo at that.

That would mean she was someone specially favored by Theo.

And they had ended up not offering a chair to such a person.

“Your Highness.”

Just then, Raye arrived with the gift.

Yuelina stood up and handed the gift to Emily.

“It’s not much, but I prepared this.”

“What could it be?”

Emily received and opened the paper box Yuelina gave her.

Inside was a chestnut pie.

While desserts were always good items for gifts, considering it was from the Grand Duchess, it was indeed quite modest as she had said.

“It’s pie.”

“I made it myself. I hope it suits your taste.”

“You made it… yourself?”

Emily’s eyes sparkled.

This was finally her chance to trample all over Yuelina.

“Since our Yuelina made it herself., we should all try it together, right?”

Emily gave the noble ladies a meaningful look while cutting and distributing the pie.

Maelyn and Yuelina watched anxiously as the noble ladies tasted the pie.

“How does it taste?”

Emily was using all her taste buds to find something to criticize.

Fortunately, the pie wasn’t perfect.

The crust was a bit soggy, and the chestnuts were oversalted.

Emily frowned and used her napkin to spit out the pie.

“Ah, I’m sorry, Yuelina. Even though you put in the effort… I simply can’t swallow it.”

“Me neither…”

“Me too…”

Following Emily’s lead, all the noble ladies put down their forks.

For the first time, Yuelina’s expression hardened severely. Raye, who was watching from behind, had the same reaction.

Maelyn couldn’t control her angry expression and breathed heavily.

“It tastes so bad you have to spit it out?”

Maelyn picked up her fork and tasted the pie from Chloe who was sitting next to her.

While it wasn’t up to a chef’s standards, it was satisfactory.

Emily sneered at Maelyn who couldn’t even hide her emotions.

“My husband is quite particular about desserts. I suppose I’ve become the same.”

“Count Brown’s taste is well-known. He’s such a gourmet after all.”

“That’s right. The cake Count Brown gave us as a gift the other day was really delicious.”

Emily smiled with satisfaction at the noble ladies’ fawning.

Yuelina sat with her lips tightly sealed, looking completely deflated.

Finally, Yuelina was showing the appearance Emily had so desperately wanted to see.

Emily secretly rejoiced.

At last, she felt like she could breathe.