6. Founding Festival (3)

“Miss!”

Even though the sun had been up for quite some time, Saena hadn’t moved from her room, and it seemed the news had reached her nanny, who came looking for her.

Ugh. The nanny’s energetic voice carried an ominous tone.

Saena pulled the blanket over her head, pretending to be asleep, but it didn’t take long for her act to be discovered.

“I know you’re not sleeping.”

“……”

“You need to get up and get ready. How about going to visit a salon during the day today?”

Saena slowly lowered the blanket and mumbled softly.

“I’m not going out today.”

The nanny sighed deeply, her face showing a clear expression of ‘Ah, the homebody strikes again.’

“…Well, you have been pushing yourself a lot lately, so I suppose it makes sense. Alright.”

Thankfully, she accepted it quickly. Saena internally let out a sigh of relief.

“But even if you’re not going out, at least stop by the first-floor drawing room.”

“Why?”

“Because our young lady was so stunning yesterday that gifts have been pouring in from all over. Hehe.”

“…Gifts?”

“Yes. There are so many bouquets, and there are a ton of heartfelt letters as well. The head butler will organize them, but you should still take a look yourself.”

In her previous life, she had received some gifts after her debut, but most of them were purely formal.

They never even made it up to Saena’s quarters. They were merely ceremonial gifts exchanged between families and were handled entirely by the administrative staff.

Was this because she changed her dress and partner?

She didn’t have high expectations, but since she didn’t have anything else to do, she decided to follow the nanny’s suggestion. After washing up, she changed into an indoor dress.

As she approached the first-floor drawing room, where the gifts had been gathered, she could already hear someone’s voice inside.

“…Blinded by the lady’s beauty? What a ridiculous guy. How did a blind man even write a letter?”

“…Wants to meet her just once? Ha, keep dreaming.”

“If only you’d allow me, I’d visit you immediately… You’re going straight onto the ‘banned visitors’ list.”

It was Sage’s voice.

‘What on earth is he mumbling and grumbling about all by himself?’

Her curiosity was soon answered. When she entered the drawing room, she saw countless opened letters scattered all over the place in front of Sage. Without much thought, Saena picked one up to read and was startled to see her own name written at the top.

“Brother, did you… open all my letters without permission?”

Only then did Sage notice her presence and turn around, startled.

“Sa-Saena?”

Saena ran her fingers over the pile of letters in front of Sage. They were all addressed to her.

“What kind of behavior is this?”

Letters sent to the family were usually sorted and lightly screened during the classification process. Just by looking at the envelope, one could often guess the purpose of the letter, and the sender’s name or seal gave a rough idea of its importance.

Therefore, there was no reason to open all the letters and read their contents.

[“…Your figure is like a single lily, blinding me with its beauty…”]

However, as she read a phrase from the letter in her hand, Saena’s expression immediately hardened, and she dropped the letter.

‘The contents of these letters are blinding me.’

[“…You are like a noble white deer…”]

[“…From the moment I first laid eyes on you, my heart was torn to shreds and then reborn…”]

Even after skimming through a few letters, they were all written in the same vein.

Saena glanced at the open letters spread out in front of her, shivered at the goosebumps rising on her arms, and stepped back. After reading their contents, she didn’t even feel like scolding Sage anymore.

Sage, perhaps realizing he had done something wrong, seemed to be watching her nervously.

“Brother, you don’t write letters like this to women, do you?”

“Huh?”

“Take this as an example of what not to do. If you write like this, you’re guaranteed to be rejected.”

“…You don’t feel anything after reading these?”

“A white deer? Ugh, it’s creepy.”

Saena moved on from the letters and turned her attention to the invitations. There were so many. Of course, she hadn’t received many invitations before her debut, but even combining her previous life’s experiences, this was an overwhelming amount.

They were diverse as well. Tea parties, salon invitations, evening ball invitations—there were so many that just writing rejection replies would take a considerable amount of time.

She then scanned the pile of gift boxes, bouquets, and baskets stacked on one side of the table. There were modest ones, but there were also quite a few that seemed quite expensive.

‘This… doesn’t feel real.’

Gifts and courtship pouring in after her debut.

If something like this had happened in her previous life, she would have turned red with excitement, eagerly reading each one and writing replies. She might have even gone out of her way to attend the invitations.

But the current Saena knew all too well that these things were just a fleeting trend.

“Since you’ve already opened them, you might as well sort everything and prepare appropriate replies. Only send me the ones you think I need to handle personally.”

“Huh? Alright… Wait, what?”

“And don’t do this again. I’d appreciate it if you respected my privacy, especially when it comes to personal matters.”

Saena opened one of the gift boxes, glanced inside, and then shut it again as she spoke.

“Saena, you’re still young. I don’t know how you’ll take this, but I wonder if you can truly discern the malicious intentions of those who approach you…”

When someone young hears, “You’re too young to understand,” they often get defensive. In that sense, Sage’s advice was poorly delivered. However, Saena simply smiled faintly.

‘I can’t argue with that. I really don’t seem to have good judgment when it comes to men…’

But she did have some knowledge about a person’s character, proven over time.

She might not know every little detail, but her previous life had taught her which men to avoid and which ones were decent.

Well, it might be a bit of an unfair advantage.

“Don’t worry. I won’t marry anyone unless you and Dad approve.”

Sage looked surprised at her words.

In her previous life, her father, Sage, and even Yuri had all tried to stop her. But back then, she had believed she had no other choice.

Her first masquerade ball in her past life.

Saena, unaware of her alcohol tolerance, drank and eventually passed out. She woke up to a splitting headache and the sound of a high-pitched scream.

When she sat up, clutching her throbbing head, the door to the room was wide open, and a crowd of people had gathered outside.

「Is she… dead?」

「Is that blood?」

For some reason, there was a massive red stain on the sheets she had been lying on. A maid, mistaking it for blood, had screamed, causing a commotion.

As a result, people swarmed in, and Saena, still dazed and confused, had to endure their shocked stares while clutching the sheet to cover her naked body.

「She’s awake?」

「It’s not blood; it smells like wine.」

「Oh my, what could she have been doing all night with wine…」

The large red stain on the white sheet, reeking of strong wine, evoked a sense of ominous disgust.

But the problem didn’t end there.

A man, awakened by the commotion, yawned and sat up on her right side, and then another man sat up on her left.

「It must have been quite a night.」

「She must have been waiting for her debut. How could a newly debuted lady act so scandalously… Tsk tsk.」

Not one, but two men.

A night she couldn’t even remember.

She had merely blacked out and woken up, but Saena’s world had been turned upside down.

How could she even begin to describe the shock of that moment?

At that time, she felt as if she had been hit by a massive carriage, unable to process the passage of time. She had felt fortunate that George Hollander was willing to marry her, despite the scandal and the disgrace she had brought upon her family.

One of the men who had been in the room that morning was George Hollander himself, but she thought it was a blessing that he was willing to marry a woman known to have spent the night with another man. That’s why she had endured his cruelty throughout their marriage without complaint.

“A man knows another man best, right? Isn’t that enough?”

But she couldn’t let herself get entangled with someone like George Hollander again.

“Of course! Haha, that’s my sister!”

Sage ran over, ruffling her hair with a laugh.

“And as I’ve said before, I’m not getting married. I’ll just live with our family.”

“That would be even better.”

Sage pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, laughing happily.

Though, whether he’d still be this happy if she were thirty and living as a spinster in his household remained to be seen.

‘His future wife might not be thrilled about it.’

No wife would want to live with her husband’s grown sister under the same roof.

‘In that case, I could always move to the small estate in the countryside and live with Dad.’

Saena genuinely thought so.

Though she didn’t yet realize that even after living ten years longer, life was still unpredictable.

Knock knock.

At that moment, there was a knock at the door.

“What is it?”

The butler stood outside the drawing room, looking somewhat troubled.

“Uh, you have a visitor.”

“A visitor? Was there someone scheduled to visit today?”

“His Grace, Duke Kramer, has come to see you.”

“…What?”

Both Saena and Sage exchanged surprised glances.

“Is Father out?”

Sage asked, considering that this was the level of a guest that the head of the household should personally attend to. However, since the Duke had come to see Sage, it seemed he was not available. Regardless, this was not a visitor they could keep waiting, so Sage quickly stood up.

“The Duke has requested to meet with Miss Saena.”

“……”

“……”

A brief silence filled the space between them.

‘He came to see me? Why on earth…?’