Viscountess Balzac reluctantly spoke.

“……That’s right. It’s still a beautiful necklace.”

“Then, is that outfit borrowed? Or surely, she didn’t steal……”

“That can’t be. It was just my small gesture to congratulate my beautiful new sister on becoming family.”

I couldn’t just leave it alone—I cut off Countess Fontaine’s words before they could be misinterpreted. Countess Fontaine’s eyes widened.

“Oh my, then the rumor that she has no jewelry of her own must be true! When I first entered court, I wore a historic necklace brought from my family home. To think she’d be so lacking in gems that she’d have to wear what her sister-in-law gave her—”

Her determination to somehow tear down Mélisande was admirable.

Actually, what she said about Mélisande coming empty-handed to marriage was correct. Since noble marriages involved dowries ranging from chests of gold coins to territorial deeds, most marriages were arranged between families of similar status and wealth. A kind of business aiming for plus-minus zero.

Even so, to be so low-class as to openly nitpick and attack Mélisande like this. I was seriously considering how to stop that mouth from spewing more nonsense when an unexpected person stopped Countess Fontaine’s ranting.

“Wouldn’t she wear such a meaningful item at such a significant occasion precisely because of its deep meaning?”

Long black hair resembling the empress and intelligent black eyes. Eyes that connoisseurs compared to black pearls sparkled.

“Tell me. Is my guess correct?”

A clear voice asked Mélisande. Though Mélisande’s eyes widened briefly, perhaps not expecting to be addressed, she soon answered calmly.

“Yes, because it was a gift from my newly connected sister, it was all the more precious.”

Nice, Mélisande. You must have been nervous but didn’t show it at all—our sister answers so well!

‘She’ smiled slightly after hearing Mélisande’s answer. Though Countess Fontaine’s mouth twitched as if she had more to say, she couldn’t dare oppose and closed her mouth.

‘Her’ gaze met mine. Analyzing with big data accumulated over many years, that look definitely meant ‘Know that you got through the crisis thanks to me.’ Tsk, I’ll definitely be extorted for a jewel. I clicked my tongue inwardly, and she turned to look at the empress.

“It’s good to see Marquis Levizet’s wife and sister getting along so well. Don’t you think so, Mother?”

‘Her’ identity was the empress’s youngest daughter, Princess Elene.

In the typical Cinderella story ⟨Mélisande’s Grand Duke⟩, wouldn’t Princess Elene be considered the greatest victim?

Princess Elene, one year younger than Mélisande and the same age as me at nineteen, was originally the woman who had been internally designated as Antoine’s bride with talks going back and forth. However, through Caleb’s scheme, calculating that his influence would weaken if the princess became marchioness, and Antoine’s faithful execution as Caleb’s exclusive marionette, the position of marchioness was suddenly taken by an out-of-nowhere country woman (Mélisande), leaving the princess in the position of a dog chasing chickens.

Though her pride as a princess must have been quite wounded, Elene didn’t particularly make a big fuss at the time. However, problems arose as the novel’s main story progressed. When the Northern Grand Duke Nicerion appeared after finishing the war, the princess fell for him at first sight—that was the problem.

And as you know, when Mélisande again unintentionally snatched away the grand duke in a surprise attack, the princess had her husband candidates stolen consecutively by the same person. She had endured until then, but after having her second marriage prospect stolen, Her Highness the princess was truly at her wit’s end and, together with influential women in court, designated Mélisande as a public enemy, unleashing social carpet bombing.

Spreading rumors, changing party locations without notice after tea party invitations, inviting to parties without telling the dress code then mocking Mélisande for wearing clothes that stood out alone, etc.

Well, in a way, she was also the person who provided the foundation for Mélisande, who had been trying to endure everything alone like a fool, to awaken and begin earnest revenge. Because the princess’s decisive attack finally broke all her patience and made her decide to completely revenge everything she had suffered.

Eventually, Princess Elene was pushed away to a distant island nation duchy as the nominal duchess of a puppet ducal prince by the emperor, who decided not to make an enemy of the increasingly powerful war hero Grand Duke Nicerion.

Setting that aside, the biggest question now is this: Why did Princess Elene help Mélisande?

I wasn’t the only one with such questions—the noble ladies’ fan-fluttering speed increased. It felt like question marks were floating above people’s heads. But no one was bold enough to dare ask why Princess Elene would help her, considering the princess was the empress’s beloved daughter and one of the powers in court society.

Among the women gathered in this Amethyst Hall, those with enough authority to do so would be the empress and my mother. However, the empress had no reason yet to attack Mélisande so openly as to oppose her daughter’s intentions in front of gathered people.

Also, mother, though she might not like her daughter-in-law, wasn’t unwise enough to drag family matters into Amethyst Hall where the empress conducted official activities, throwing food to those constantly seeking gossip material.

When the two seasoned court assassins remained quiet, other women who had been watching the situation began agreeing with Princess Elene’s opinion one by one.

“Indeed, the affection between the two is like the moon and star sisters from mythology.”

“Though they share no blood, to have such good relations is enviable.”

Realizing that her plan to somehow embarrass Mélisande wouldn’t work due to the princess’s intervention, Countess Fontaine bit her lips and stepped back. Her uncontrolled rage showed clearly on her face. Unable to even manage her expression. In this place where everyone hid their true feelings as if wearing masks, it was perfect for exposing one’s hand. Without the emperor’s protection gained through her voluptuous beauty, she would have been expelled from court society immediately.

Well, if a stupid person harbors malice, it’s rather easy. She was foolish enough to only use obviously readable moves. But that would make her easy for someone else to use too. Like Caleb, for instance.

“Louise, escort the marchioness to her room.”

The empress’s command cut off my continuing thoughts. The youngest lady among the empress’s attendants bowed her head and approached Mélisande with quick steps.

She was a woman slightly younger than me, a distant relative of the head lady-in-waiting, I believe. Anyway, this young lady-in-waiting was poor at hiding her expression, and faint pleasure showed on her face. It was definitely not pleasure from good intentions. Like a child who had dug a shallow trap and was waiting for someone to fall into it—surely not?

“The Marchioness Levizet shall use the fifth room on the second floor of Piety Palace.”

Ah, how could I forget that? I felt my lips stiffen at this mistake so unlike me.

I reproached myself while raising my fan to cover my mouth. I had been so focused on decorating Mélisande’s appearance that I had forgotten what was truly important.

The empress didn’t have enough justification to openly torment Mélisande. However, she also wasn’t generous enough to overlook someone she considered beneath her standards strutting around the heart of court.

The empress’s antipathy toward Mélisande never showed openly, but it was expressed in ways sufficient to support others’ harassment. The first of these was the room issue.

The room the empress assigned her was only slightly better than rooms used by maids, with no attached bathroom and poor heating. It was absolutely not a room suitable for a marchioness.

Originally, rooms suitable for high nobles all had names. The Emerald Room, the Rose Room, the Fir Room, etc.

The room the empress just mentioned, which could only be called by ‘such-and-such palace, such floor, such number room’—rooms without names meant they weren’t worth that much.

These were mainly rooms used by lower nobles in unstable positions who might be expelled from court at any time, lower priests or craftsmen who had to avoid luxury, low-ranking attendants or maids who didn’t serve royalty, etc. Far from having a small reception room for the salon that would normally come with a high noble lady’s room, it didn’t even have a private bathroom.

The naive Mélisande from the original work only realized she was being mistreated after becoming a laughingstock for washing in the communal bathroom, then begged her husband to ask the emperor or crown prince for a better room. However, Antoine didn’t even pretend to listen.

‘Honey, please. I can’t stay in this place any longer.’

‘Don’t make such complaints with a full stomach. Do you think it’s easy to get any room in court? There are plenty who would cut off an arm to get into that room.’

‘Please, everyone mocks me. They say the Marchioness of Levizet lives in a room worse than a low-ranking maid’s.’

‘Wouldn’t Her Majesty the empress have chosen the most suitable room among the vacant ones? Surely you’re not daring to say Her Majesty the empress’s consideration was insufficient?’

Yes, I remember this part. It was the part where I almost quit reading from frustration like pushing five sweet potatoes down my throat without water. I gritted my teeth. No, if you brought in a wife, even a puppet one, shouldn’t you give her appropriate treatment?

Actually, Antoine gained many benefits by bringing in a puppet wife, the most important being complete succession of the unstable title of marquis.

After father, the previous marquis, died young, mother had managed the family until Antoine came of age. For Antoine to inherit not just the simple position but also take over the territory’s affairs that mother had controlled, he needed a new marchioness.

The title of an unprecedented romanticist who transcended social status, plus the justification to ward off subtle marriage pressure from his surroundings, was a bonus. The young ladies who had been hovering around him and getting on Caleb’s nerves fled anyway, afraid of being compared to Mélisande’s looks.

If you’re going to bring in a wife and suck out all the benefits, shouldn’t you at least treat her like a wife? He should have either revealed his homosexuality and made a contract marriage. The act of exploiting someone with the pathetic excuse of love because he didn’t want to offer equal contract terms was truly garbage-like. Though he had been a brother I somewhat liked, my heart sank upon realizing this fact.

***