[Merrien! I’m planning to hold a tea party soon.

I’m inviting the young ladies, and I would really love for you to come too. It’s a must!]

’…Ah, this is it! ’

Merrien’s index finger pointed at ‘tea party.’

Although she didn’t know what she might hear there, most of the strange rumors would have died down by now, so it was perfect for a first attempt.

‘Things are working out smoothly.’

As that thought crossed her mind, an irrepressible smile leaked out.

Perhaps that’s why Ariel asked skeptically.

“…What’s written there that’s got you floating on air?”

“Saint Charlotte says she’s inviting me to a tea party!”

“Don’t go.”

“What?”

Her elated mood plummeted at his immediate and firm response.

Merrien almost crumpled the letter she was holding.

“Well, that Saint…”

“…What?”

She wanted to say ‘Are you crazy?’

But there were quite a few servants watching.

Though she had shown the servants herself hitting Ariel’s back before, she had no intention of using crude language openly.

She was maintaining her image, after all!

Whatever he was thinking, Ariel looked extremely serious.

His gaze was sharp enough to tear the letter in Merrien’s hand to pieces, while his hand resting on the bed trembled slightly like an anxious person’s.

“Answer me.”

“No, Ariel. I need to go to the tea party to explain that while we are dating, the rumors are wrong.”

“Ah.”

As if finally understanding something, Ariel’s eyes widened.

The ominous atmosphere that had filled the room disappeared instantly as if nothing had happened.

‘Haah…’

Merrien swallowed a sigh and slowly folded the letter into her pocket without letting him notice.

‘…No matter how I look at it, he seems to be going more insane by the day. Yes, definitely.’

Merrien had never felt the strange aura Ariel was emitting before.

But now she could be certain of its existence.

After all, the servants who had been shivering with their arms wrapped around themselves were wiping away tears of relief at having survived.

Then, as if not forgetting his innocent face from the Whitey incident, Ariel tilted his head and asked again in that same manner.

“So you like me better, right?”

“Ah, yes. Of course.”

“Good, me too.”

“……”

Ah, now I really don’t know anymore.

Whenever he was in a really good mood and his blue eyes disappeared into crescents like this, Merrien couldn’t help but smile back.

[♥ 138]

[♥ 140]

And now she understood why his heartbeat jumped even when he wasn’t sick.

Because her own heart was fluttering in the same situation.

But what she had been forcibly ignoring came unexpectedly.

[Healing Amount 7000/10000]

[30% of healing amount remains.]

The healing amount in the air that she had deliberately avoided checking suddenly appeared in the center of her vision, warning that there wasn’t much left until the healing was complete.

As if to say there was no such dreamy future as they imagined.

“……”

The text blinked several times before disappearing.

There was Ariel, smiling shyly, knowing nothing, but Merrien’s face crumbled miserably.

Merrien knew she had to accept reality.

It would be nice if it ended with hopeful words, but from the beginning, he and she couldn’t have that kind of relationship.

So she needed to steel her heart even more.

“Well then, you should go buy a dress for the tea party.”

“…What? We bought plenty of dresses for going out last time.”

“Tea party dresses are different. You need to establish dominance over the noble ladies.”

“Why do I need to establish dominance.”

Unaware of her inner turmoil, Ariel was spouting nonsense again. At this rate, there would be no room to realize reality.

Rather, his interest seemed to have completely shifted to dresses, and he was contemplating very seriously.

“It’s your first tea party. The butler told me that at times like this, you need to wear a refund dress.”

“What’s that?”

“First, you buy an extremely intense and flashy dress. Then they’ll be scared at first sight, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s a method to get immediate refunds for wrongly purchased items by making them tremble at your appearance. I heard it’s trending among commoners these days.”

“……”

No, hey.

She forcibly held back the harsh words that were about to come out by biting her lip.

Why had she been listening to this seriously?

‘Just how absorbed in this are you?’

Thanks to this nonsense, there was no room to become gloomy. Especially if it was the butler’s claim, there was even less reason to listen.

She firmly put off going to look at dresses.

Instead, she consoled the sulking Ariel by suggesting a date next week.

But when Merrien actually arrived at the tea party venue, she deeply regretted ignoring both Ariel’s and the butler’s suggestions.

“Ohoho, Saint Merrien. It’s been a while. Oh, but we saw each other at the banquet hall, so I suppose it hasn’t been that long!”

Baroness Marist, sitting across, snapped open her fan with a sharp sound and let out an affected laugh.

“Haha, that’s right, Lady Marist.”

Merrien smiled awkwardly with her eyes and grabbed the hem of her orange dress, which matched her eye color, under the table.

The young ladies didn’t seem easy to deal with, as if they had come with some kind of resolution.

That intense first impression seemed more important than expected.

She thought she would just be having tea with lovely young ladies in a flower-embroidered garden.

Most of the attending ladies were wearing dresses in red or black tones.

Just as Ariel had said, Merrien had lost the initiative.

Especially Lady Marist’s group from the banquet hall, not only taking seats right across from Merrien but also sending blatant glances her way.

‘What are they plotting?’

Fortunately, no one seemed to misunderstand that she had been intimate with Ariel, but the social circle’s unique sarcastic tone was tremendous to hear in person.

“By the way, you’re really amazing, Saint Charlotte. Some people can only use old-fashioned healing methods, right?”

“Indeed! No matter how expensive and classic clothes they wear, there’s nothing to be done about being ‘unsightly.’ Hohoho.”

Lady Marist’s group clung persistently to Charlotte, the tea party’s host, as if they had received something from her.

Their gazes were still unpleasantly scanning Merrien.

‘Wow, that… They’re definitely copying exactly what Count Monti said about the ‘unsightly’ Saint?’

They clearly meant for her to hear it. Moreover, thanks to their momentum, there were quite a few ladies mocking Merrien.

‘Maybe I should have done stronger makeup.’

Until this morning, the butler, still attached to that ‘refund whatever,’ had insisted on at least doing strong makeup.

She should have listened to him today.

No matter how firmly she tried to stand her ground, she was facing multiple opponents. And they were all ladies with bright red makeup!

‘How can I build a good reputation?’

She hit a roadblock from the start.

As Merrien was constantly racking her brain to break through this situation, a plate was carefully slid in front of her.

“Merrien. Please try this strawberry cake!”

A gentle touch and a clear voice that seemed to have never breathed in dust.

The one who pushed the plate was Charlotte, whom everyone had been praising just moments ago to criticize Merrien.

Though everyone stirred at this unexpected development, Charlotte, either completely oblivious or uncaring, even brightened her eyes as she passed various desserts to Merrien.

“These macarons are really delicious too. Oh, have you tried the chocolate pudding? The fluffy texture is absolutely exquisite.”

“…Ah, thank you, Charlotte.”

After a brief pause, Merrien accepted the plate graciously.

Instantly, what had seemed like a confrontation between the two completely reversed.

Due to Charlotte acting as if Merrien was the only one in the space, the other ladies felt disconnected from them.

Getting close to the sickly Duke Hartez, seducing the Second Prince.

These ladies had been contemplating how to bring down Saint Merrien, who was already a thorn in their side.

Recently, it seemed the Second Prince’s attention had shifted to Saint Charlotte, and they tried to use that, but she was actually smiling happily while carefully considering Merrien’s feelings.

The ladies who suddenly became background characters either fanned themselves or turned their heads to hide their expressions.

“You’re really amazing, Merrien. How can you perform such healing without physical contact? I could never do that.”

“Is that so…?”

“Yes! The dress you’re wearing today is really beautiful. It’s perfect, especially matching your eyes. Of course, Merrien would be more beautiful than anyone even wearing tattered Saint’s robes.”

Finally, the ladies who had been listening like dead mice bit their lower lips and kept their mouths firmly shut.

It was the moment when everything they had said was completely denied.