In truth, when she first foresaw the tea party at the Duchess of Luminous’ estate, Katrina brushed it off, thinking, ‘It must just be a coincidence.’

So she decided to test it—try to change the hallucinations she saw. Surely, she thought, educated adults wouldn’t really seat someone in the center just to ridicule her.

But even with all her careful preparation, the event unfolded exactly as she had seen.

No matter how she tried to steer the conversation to other topics through written notes, it always circled back to the same, predetermined place.

She had thought about refuting them, too.

But refuting was impossible.

Not only did they never give her the chance to speak, but in reality, they hadn’t even been talking to her. Assuming she couldn’t understand anyway, they treated her like she was invisible and conversed right over her head.

Sentence after sentence struck her like blows, too painful to deflect. Eventually, the words came so fast she couldn’t even keep up reading their lips.

All her hard work practicing lip-reading was useless in front of them. If she hadn’t foreseen the conversation beforehand, she would have missed nearly everything.

So Katrina kept her mouth shut. Forcing words out would only ensure the rumors of society buried her deeper.

That was how terrifying the place was.

If she kept silent, at least the future that awaited her was one where she could go home quietly. That thought alone gave her the strength to endure.

How could she possibly change a conversation through imperfect speech, when even her written notes had no effect?

‘But the scene I just saw now…’

…She wished it were real. For the first time, Katrina fervently hoped it wasn’t just a hallucination.

A child. Daniel’s and hers. Our child. Even the thought made her heart race.

Clutching her trembling chest, Katrina approached the vanity. Her slender fingers picked up a pencil from a crystal cup.

‘Haa… All right. I’ll know if I can write it.’

If she couldn’t write it down, then it must be the future.

For months, she had tried dozens—hundreds—of times to tell someone about these visions.

But whenever she tried to describe what she’d seen, it was as if a curse seized her throat—no words came out.

Even with written notes, it was the same.

It felt like an invisible hand gripping her wrist, refusing to let her move. Only when she switched to mundane, unrelated topics could her pen move again.

Katrina opened the drawer and pulled out paper. She tried to write the sentence: ‘Daniel, I think a child has come to us.’

『 Daniel. 』

But after writing his name, not a single letter followed. Her wrist was locked in place by some irresistible force.

Then this was truly…

Katrina shot to her feet, her hand clapped over her mouth.

‘I have to call Doctor Fortuna…!’

She rushed from the bedroom to summon her physician, forgetting she was still in her nightgown. Her crimson hair rippled wildly, carrying with it the giddy excitement of a mother-to-be.

***

That autumn, on a warm afternoon at the Luminous duchy, a tea party buzzed with two rumors about the House of Sopore.

The first:

“But… is it really the Marquis’ child?”

Katrina’s pregnancy.

The second:

“Why else would he move to Gnotician? A man who claimed he had no interest in power suddenly changes his mind?”

That Daniel would soon become the Duke of Gnotician.

“What could such a flawed woman possibly do, honestly?”

The Duchess of Luminous scoffed, still unable to believe it.

Naturally, the guest of honor—Katrina—was absent from the very tea party hosted by the duchess who mocked her.

Of course, an invitation had been sent. But everyone knew from the start she would never accept it.

After the disastrous “welcome back” reception, Katrina had withdrawn again. It was, for all intents and purposes, her retirement from society.

When word later spread that she had been training in lip-reading, people were unsettled at first. But soon enough, they justified themselves.

“You’re quite right. In Gnotician, the capital is close by, and the social scene is much more demanding.”

“Exactly. And even if she can read lips, you saw it yourself, didn’t you? She couldn’t get out a single proper word.”

“The deaf marchioness is practically a mute marchioness now, ho ho.”

To shake off even the faintest twinge of guilt, they slandered her more viciously.

In the past, they might have gone so far as to say, ‘What can a man do with a woman he can’t even converse with?’ and questioned the couple’s marriage itself.

But not today. Not when the subject of conversation was Katrina’s pregnancy.

And besides, by now they had run out of insults.

They only echoed the duchess’s malice to stay in her favor. After all, Katrina had done nothing wrong.

She was a victim—crippled by an accident whose cause she didn’t even know. The problem was simply that the duchess saw Katrina’s misfortune as her own stroke of luck.

“Still, the blessing of new life is surely something to be celebrated.”

Just as the room began to grow uncomfortably quiet, someone spoke. A graceful voice carried through the ornate parlor.

It was Selena Windsor.

Once Daniel Sopore’s fiancée, and more recently considered a strong candidate for remarriage, the famous young lady of Count May’s house.

She was seated, as always, beside the Duchess of Luminous.

Her soft lilac hair and calm silver eyes gave her an air of purity, while at the same time radiating an indescribable, mysterious aura.

Against the garish wealth and ostentation of the duchess’s mansion, Selena’s serene beauty stood out all the more, dazzling.

‘What an infuriatingly lovely face,’ the duchess thought, stealing a sidelong glance at her companion. If Katrina hadn’t been the rival, she would never have believed Daniel could refuse a woman like Selena.

“……”

But at last, the long-postponed awkward silence fell.

It was because it was none other than Selena who had spoken up, and that made it difficult for anyone else to respond.

In moments like this, should one side with the Duchess, or with Selena?

While everyone was busily calculating in their heads, Jade, who was quicker than anyone at choosing sides, hurried to add her words.

“Lady May is truly generous. For someone like her to be the second wife—it was a ridiculous marriage from the start.”

Jade was well known in high society as a shameless opportunist.

In that brief moment, she quickly judged that siding with Lady May would bring more benefit than siding with the Duchess, whose position was growing weaker.

After all, Selena’s father, Count May, was no ordinary count.

Apart from the Sopore marquis couple, he was the only noble in Bloodyfield who had a direct connection to the Imperial family.

The Roxbeth Empire had long upheld its principle of not granting principalities.

All power was concentrated in the capital, the Imperial City. The rest of the territory, though ruled by nobles, was divided into four large regions and granted no autonomy.

Those lands were Bloodyfield, Mercia, Harris, and Gnotician.

At the center of the continent lay the Imperial City. To the northeast was Bloodyfield, directly below that was Mercia, in the southern sea lay the island of Harris, and the central and southwestern regions (excluding the capital) were Gnotician.

A few years ago, Count May had been granted a rather unique title by the Imperial family:

“Administrator of Territorial Affairs.”

In other words, he was entrusted with authority powerful enough to significantly influence noble houses, whose territories were the very source of their status.

Yet Count May was a man of upright character. He abhorred flattery, and any petition he refused outright by default.

Because of this, nobles had no way of currying favor with him.

Perhaps that was why, at some point, their target shifted naturally to his daughter, Selena.

Since Katrina’s disappearance from society, Selena had stepped into her empty place, exerting unrivaled influence.

“You’re right. The position of first wife should have belonged to Lady May in the first place. The two of them suited each other so well.”

Alice of the Vinia viscount family, who had quickly grasped Jade’s calculation, promptly chimed in.

Her family had recently been struggling with managing their lands, and no one needed Count May’s assistance more desperately.

Yet in her mind, a different picture arose.

No matter if it was at a ball or in the bustling streets, whenever she ran into Katrina, she had always seemed so happy. And beside her, the Sopore marquis had always gazed at his wife with eyes so sweet they seemed drenched in honey.

The two of them were, without question, the most well-matched couple Alice had ever seen. Their striking looks, their preference for clean, unornamented clothing—it all matched perfectly.

But unlike the other young ladies, Alice had never felt jealousy.

Katrina’s mesmerizing red hair, her striking features, her snow-white skin, and her endearing personality—all of it disarmed any will to envy her.

Above all, Katrina was simply someone impossible to dislike.

In a society riddled with hypocrisy and pretense, no one else had ever treated Alice with such genuine sincerity.

***

“Alice. Why are you glued to the wall like that? Have a drink.”

It was a night when no one asked her to dance, nor even approached her to converse.

Jade held out a glass of champagne to Alice, who stood awkwardly, trying to hide her embarrassment.

At first glance, it looked like an act of kindness, but Alice immediately saw through her intentions.

‘…She knows full well what’s going on, and she just came over to mock me.’

The viscount’s daughter, who loved farming and books, was not popular.

Of course, Alice had never truly wished to be, but that didn’t mean she never felt lonely. So, frustratingly, Jade’s sneer did sting.

“I just… don’t feel like dancing.”

She forced herself to reply flatly, trying to mask her feelings.

At that moment, Selena, who had already danced with a dozen young men and was on her way back to her seat, suddenly stopped in her tracks as she passed by them.