Lariella knew this, of course. She had simply felt uncomfortable appearing before others with the title of duchess when she hadn’t even consummated her marriage. She had wanted to postpone it until after the consummation, but before she knew it, more than a month had passed.

“Yes, Mrs. Deshiri. Thank you for your appropriate advice. I’ll set a date immediately, even today.”

Lariella quickly agreed with Mrs. Deshiri’s words.

She would have to do it eventually, and there was no need to upset Mrs. Deshiri and invite more severe scolding.

“That’s what you should do. Shouldn’t you properly fulfill at least one of the duchess’s many duties?”

Lariella’s hand on the chair handle twitched at Mrs. Deshiri’s pointed retort.

The most important duty of a duchess was to receive the duke’s seed and produce his heir. It was a snide remark suggesting that since she couldn’t even do that, she should at least do something else properly.

The intention was obvious, but responding to such comments would only make her look more foolish.

Lariella pretended not to understand and gave a bright smile.

“You’re right. With all your good guidance, I’m sure I’ll do well this time.”

When Lariella answered so willingly, Mrs. Deshiri added a few more words of nagging before leaving with a triumphant expression.

The moment the green dress hem disappeared through the doorway, Marie chattered in a sulky voice.

“My goodness, she’s getting more and more arrogant every day! I heard she’s just a very distant relative from the duke’s maternal side. Someone might think she’s the duke’s great-aunt or something. Madam, are you going to just let her be like this?”

“What can I do? She didn’t say anything wrong.”

Lariella let Mrs. Deshiri be, not because she didn’t notice how Mrs. Deshiri and the head maid had become partners and grown increasingly insolent day by day. She knew that replacing Mrs. Deshiri with someone else wouldn’t make much difference.

A half-duchess who hadn’t consummated her marriage with the duke was both the lady of the house and not. If the duke were to take a mistress, Lariella’s position would become as ridiculous as a duck egg abandoned in a chicken coop.

Mrs. Deshiri had undoubtedly judged that there was no hope for Lariella, who hadn’t consummated her marriage after more than a month. So she flaunted her status as a distant relative of Duke Elmano and strutted around acting like an elder of the household.

The hierarchy would naturally be sorted out once she consummated her marriage with Duke Elmano. Wasting time on unnecessary power struggles didn’t suit her personality.

But even on that night when she had prepared more diligently and tended herself more carefully, her lovely peach-colored nightgown remained stubbornly on her enchanting n*ked body.

* * *

After seven more futile nights without consummation, the day of the tea party arrived.

Lariella rubbed her gritty eyes from lack of sleep and moved busily from early morning.

She put on the elaborate pink dress Marie had selected, checked the condition of the teacups and the arrangement of refreshments, determined where the flower decorations would be placed, and inspected the gifts for the guests.

She found it amazing that society ladies could manage such labor-intensive and troublesome events so frequently when just one was enough to exhaust her.

“The flower arrangement should be moved a little more to the right. That chair a bit more to the left. That painting looks slightly crooked. Hmm, yes. Now it looks right.”

The reception room where the tea party would be held was quite nicely decorated, thanks to Marie’s help, without which Lariella’s eye for such things would have been woefully inadequate. What’s especially impressive were the wisteria flowers cascading gloriously along the terrace railings and the arch leading to the garden—something anyone would admire. The day was also perfectly sunny, and with the windows wide open, the sweet fragrance of wisteria filled the entire reception room.

There were seven noble ladies in total, recommended by Mrs. Deshiri as the most influential in society.

In the afternoon, carriages carrying the noble ladies began to arrive. Lariella greeted them with a smile so awkward it made the corners of her mouth twitch.

“It’s truly an honor to receive an invitation from the Duchess of Elmano.”

“Indeed. Elmano Castle has been without a lady for so long that I wanted to visit but couldn’t. Please invite us often from now on.”

“When I saw you at the wedding, I thought Duke Elmano had excellent taste, and seeing you today confirms how beautiful you are.”

“The duke must be so happy to have welcomed such a beautiful wife.”

“Yes, you make such a picture-perfect couple.”

“Next time, I’ll invite you to our mansion. You must come.”

“I hear the Devers marquis family has built a new annex that’s incredibly splendid. Please let us see it too, my lady.”

So that one is the Marchioness of Devers, and this one is the Countess of Caster, and here is the Countess of Tabanel…… ah, I don’t know.

Despite her efforts to memorize them, it was not easy to distinguish between ladies who all covered their mouths with the same hand gesture, chattered in similar voices, and laughed in the same tone.

Moreover, they were all so elaborately dressed that had she not worn the dress Marie recommended, she would have been completely buried under seven voluminous dress hems.

But that was just the beginning.

When the seven women crowded into the reception room and sat around the table, talking incessantly, Lariella’s ears rang, her head spun, and her eyes nearly rolled back in her head.

Yet even while chattering away, they elegantly drank tea, neatly ate refreshments, and never forgot to raise their hands to cover their mouths when they laughed.

It seemed that “most influential in society” meant “most talkative in society.” For Lariella, just keeping up with the conversation was challenging enough, so she didn’t dare try to join in.

While all sorts of society matters, the upcoming ball at the imperial palace, fashionable dresses and shoes this season, a new opera opening, and a young painter sponsored by some lady were being discussed—topics Lariella neither cared about nor knew about—someone politely knocked on the reception room door.

The person who entered after Lariella’s permission was Marie.

“Madam, I’m truly sorry to interrupt your precious time. There’s something you need to check urgently.”

But it was the Countess of Caster, not Lariella, who responded to Marie’s words.

“My goodness, something terribly urgent must have happened. Don’t worry about us, just go quickly.”

“Yes, we have plenty of time, and we’re enjoying ourselves here.”

“That’s right. Take your time.”

Marie’s face looked quite troubled, though not particularly urgent.

But when even the Countess of Tabanel chimed in to agree with the Countess of Caster, the other ladies also added their voices, eagerly pushing Lariella out. They acted as if they had been waiting for her to leave.

Permission had been granted before she could even ask for it, but Lariella, tense as she was, didn’t notice this atmosphere at all.

“Then please excuse me for a moment.”

Dazedly rising from her seat, Lariella soon followed Marie out of the reception room.

Completely unaware that the true pleasure of a social gathering begins when one person leaves.

* * *

“What’s the matter, Marie?”

Lariella asked with a worried voice once they were in the corridor.

Marie’s eyebrows drooped as she answered. She knew very well how hard Lariella had worked to make today’s gathering perfect.

“What should we do, madam? A maid cleaning broke one of the crystal vases.”

To apologize for the late invitation, Lariella had prepared seven crystal vases.

She had confirmed that they were all intact and lined up neatly until that morning, but one maid had dropped a vase while cleaning, and it fell to the floor.

The vases weren’t bought from a store but specially ordered as gifts for the noble ladies. It would take at least several days to receive an identical replacement.

“Why don’t you ask one of the guests for understanding? Tell her you’ll place a new order and send it to her mansion separately.”

Given the immediate shortage of gifts, doing as Marie suggested wasn’t a bad idea.

But after briefly picturing the faces of the seven noble ladies one by one, Lariella shook her head firmly.

They were all proud and talkative people. Although not as high-ranking as the Elmano ducal family, they were all nobles with prominent positions in society. Not only would it be difficult to choose just one person, but if handled poorly, that person might become greatly offended, feeling disrespected by the Duchess of Elmano. She couldn’t risk creating animosity at a tea party meant to build friendships with the noble ladies.

“It would be better to say that the ordered gifts haven’t arrived yet. Marie, please order a new vase right away. Keep the remaining vases well-stored, and when we receive the new vase, send all seven to the ladies simultaneously. I think it’s better to be slightly discourteous to all seven than to be rude to just one.”

Despite the awkward situation, Lariella calmly gave instructions without panicking.

Fortunately, she hadn’t yet mentioned the prepared gifts to the guests. If she had already told them about the gifts, she would have truly been forced to choose one person out of the seven.

“Yes, I understand, madam.”

But Marie didn’t leave immediately and hesitated on the spot. She hadn’t decided whether to tell her mistress what she had seen.

When she had rushed over earlier at the sound of the breaking vase, Marie had seen the cleaning maid give a subtle glance to the head maid. She had also clearly seen the corners of the head maid’s mouth twitch when she saw the shattered vase.

That wasn’t all. The head maid, who would normally have dragged the maid away for a beating, had let the serious offense of breaking a precious vase pass with just a few words of scolding.

This was no accident. It was clearly a malicious scheme orchestrated by the head maid.

Before the duchess came to the castle, the head maid had run the household as if she were the lady of Elmano Castle, where the position of mistress had been vacant. She looked down on the duchess, who was not only from the countryside but also had yet to consummate her marriage.