Chapter 84: The Appearance of an Unexpected Person

Bliss, who had been by Caelan’s side before disappearing, found herself in an awkward situation.

‘Duchess Blast.’

She had created gatherings to draw her in, watched her, and thrown warnings. Rather than trying to cancel the already made bet, she had told her what would happen if Caelan won.

But as everyone could see, Caelan had won. Though Duchess Blast’s words were pleasant enough, her expression was not. Even Countess Azel beside her was fidgeting at her rigidly frozen gaze.

Bliss glanced in the direction where Caelan should be. Surrounded by others, he couldn’t be seen, which meant he probably couldn’t see her either.

Just as she was wondering how to get back to his side, the duchess spoke.

“So it has come to this.”

As Bliss kept her mouth shut, the duchess’s voice grew even lower.

“After I said all that, he still went and won. My goodness, I didn’t know Marquis Adrian was so obtuse. Did nothing I said get through to him?”

At the duchess’s reproach, Bliss shook her head.

“I remember well the concerns you expressed then.”

“If Marquis Adrian wins, you might keep the dagger. But I want to specially inform you that you’ll lose much more. You should think carefully. Whether you can really live well in this empire after turning your back on the duke’s family. Now that I say it out loud, it seems more like concern than a warning.”

The duchess probably hadn’t known then. That at the end of this bet, Caelan would become a duke.

“So how does it feel to be at odds with our duke’s family?”

“The tournament luck was good. Thank you for your congratulations.”

Displeased with the answer, Duchess Blast’s expression worsened.

“Not content with taking the dagger, you’ve even received a duke’s title. You’ve got the whole world now.”

She swallowed the explanation that the dagger had become Echo and had disappeared somewhere since this evening and hadn’t returned. They weren’t close enough to share such things, and she didn’t want to spread the dagger’s secret.

“But you know you’re still just a marchioness, right?”

“Of course.”

Despite how close that day was, Duchess Blast didn’t hesitate to pressure Bliss. It felt like she was taking out her frustration from losing the knight tournament this way.

Just as Duke Blast was the villain in the original story, his wife wasn’t of pleasant character either. They never let things slide when someone among the nobles tried to step over them.

They had become villains especially because of their desire to cut down the sprouts of talents who might become great in the future.

So now too, she was openly showing her displeasure, but the more she did so…

“I may be a marchioness now, but soon I’ll be equal to a duchess. I wonder how our relationship will change then.”

Her transparency made it obvious how to deal with her.

“You inso……”

Seeing the duchess trembling with anger, Countess Azel intervened. She seemed to have decided this couldn’t go on.

“Don’t get excited.”

Countess Azel’s eyes moved quickly before she put on a public smile.

“Rather than scratching at each other’s feelings over the bet… shouldn’t this be a time to strengthen our relationship for the future?”

Countess Azel expressed her thoughts to the duchess.

At this persuasion that they should look to the future rather than dwell on the present, as Bliss had said, the duchess could be seen biting her lip.

Being an experienced duchess, she couldn’t have failed to understand Countess Azel’s words. In other cases, the duchess might have stepped in to mediate herself. But when it happened to her directly, her thinking narrowed and emotions took over.

Seeing from the duchess’s expression that Countess Azel’s words were getting through, Bliss remained quiet. She could throw back all the words she’d heard from the duchess, but…

‘Maybe because Caelan won, I don’t feel like hitting back.’

She didn’t feel angry even when asked if she had wanted to win that badly and faced with sarcasm. So when she just looked at the duchess, the latter seemed to glare before abruptly turning and leaving. Left alone with just the two of them, Countess Azel sighed.

“How could you just stay quiet like that.”

When Bliss looked at her as if asking why, Countess Azel asked as if she really didn’t know.

“It came across as the composure of a victor.”

“Did I do that?”

“Yes.”

Countess Azel reacted strongly before bursting into laughter.

“Though that made it more interesting. I almost laughed when the duchess waited and then left.”

Only after she said this did Bliss understand why the duchess had stared intently before turning away.

She must have been waiting for her to reach out first.

“Would it be wrong to catch up to her and talk even now?”

As Bliss muttered regretfully about why she hadn’t noticed earlier, Countess Azel waved her folded fan.

“That doesn’t seem like a good idea. Anyway, congratulations. Both for being able to give a token to the knight tournament winner and for becoming a duchess.”

Unlike the usual congratulations for having a husband win the knight tournament, Countess Azel’s words were similar yet different.

“It worked out well after you endured making that in such an uncomfortable place.”

Having been at the gatherings together, she must have remembered how painfully Bliss had done the embroidery.

“But did you plan from the start to use that embroidery on a sword?”

“It just happened by chance…”

It was something she thought of while trying to find a way to make her embroidery less noticeable.

“This time, putting embroidery on swords will become fashionable.”

As Countess Azel said this while looking somewhere, Bliss touched her necklace.

“That necklace is from then, right?”

When Countess Azel recognized it right away, Bliss nodded. But why had the conversation naturally flowed to the necklace?

“You know too, don’t you? How orders flooded in to the craftsman after you wore this that day.”

Though Caelan hadn’t told her, she had heard about it by chance.

“That shows how good Marquis Adrian’s eye for things was. Quite a few women must have ordered other accessories from that craftsman.”

“Is that so?”

Bliss responded just enough not to seem affected. She had worn the necklace just for Caelan to see, but hadn’t expected to be discussing it with Countess Azel.

“It means many people want to copy you. That’s why I said putting embroidery on swords will increase too.”

“I should be happy about that, right?”

Bliss asked with a confused face.

Until now, she had been the bad person who tormented others, and had received negative attention for making a good marriage.

“The rumors about you have always been hot. If you think of it as interest, it’s easier to understand.”

At least she hadn’t drawn attention by tormenting someone, so she decided to think of it positively.

“But looking at this necklace again, it really is beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

Bliss openly showed her pleasure at Countess Azel’s compliment. Now she too had found enough peace of mind to examine the necklace’s craftsmanship in detail, and thought even more that Caelan had chosen the design with care.

“Actually, on the day you wore this necklace, I wondered if something might happen.”

As if recalling that time, the countess’s eyes lifted briefly to empty space before coming back to Bliss.

“Marquis Adrian originally had someone else, didn’t he?”

Even without mentioning Latte’s name, she came to mind immediately.

“Since she had such strong feelings for Marquis Adrian, I thought she would come to find you.”

“…What?”

Having been following along well, Bliss cut in at the part she couldn’t understand.

“Come to find me?”

“You didn’t know? Latte came that day too.”

Bliss slowly raised her eyes to the fan Countess Azel was waving. It was to understand her words. But taking Bliss’s inability to understand properly, Countess Azel explained once more.

“Latte who was at the gatherings with us. Latte Hice.”

Even seeing the countess’s expression wondering how much more she needed to explain, Bliss showed no reaction.

[“I heard about the Marquis giving you a necklace at the ball. It must have been surprising when he suddenly appeared, and then to receive a gift… He’s really such a caring person.”]

She recalled her first meeting with Latte at the party Leonard had held, and their conversation then. She had been too busy with other thoughts then, but had passed over those words assuming Latte hadn’t come to the ball.

“Did Latte come into the ballroom then?”

She could have heard about the necklace gift from someone else. But the mention of sudden appearance bothered her strangely. As if she had seen it directly…

“She didn’t come in while I was there. So I was curious why she didn’t come, but never had the chance to ask. Oh? There’s Princess Jasmin coming. I should go see the main character who’s making such a stir in society right now.”

Countess Azel dropped a small bomb in Bliss’s heart and disappeared.

Left alone, Bliss muttered.

“Latte came that day?”