She sobbed and ran out of the reception room like a novel protagonist, covering her mouth and scattering tears. 

 The heads of the three idiots’ families would probably try to control the situation while watching Father’s reaction to minimize damage to Bershua, so she only needed to plant the impression of ‘the pitiful daughter abandoned by her brother’ in people’s minds.

Such visible actions would surely shine at future parties as well. 

 So she came out to the garden and walked slowly, trying to time her return to the reception room.

Coming out from the crowded place to a quiet spot to calm down felt like she could breathe again. 

 There was still about an hour until the party……

It seemed fine to return to the reception room right before the party. 

 Since she was inside the Count’s residence, there was no need to worry about danger from walking alone. 

 While walking for a while, as if someone had predicted her expectations exactly, she felt a presence behind her.

As her footsteps quickened or slowed, the footsteps following her matched her pace, so she pretended to collapse in the garden while picking up a large tree branch. 

 Then when the unknown person grabbed her shoulder with a thud…… 

 Bang! 

 She struck the stranger’s head with the branch with all her might.

And when she carefully opened her eyes, she saw not a bird…… but a person who was blocking her branch with his hand while breathing heavily with a surprised expression.

“Hey…… is it your hobby to hit people’s heads when you’re startled?” 

 Hearing that familiar voice, she felt relieved but her legs gave out and she collapsed in the garden. 

 No, why is he here……

And why does he keep walking around other people’s houses wearing a cloak…… 

 “You…… scared me! Besides, when did I ever hit your head before that you’re asking if hitting heads when startled is my hobby……” 

 When she shouted at him, he quickly covered her mouth with his hand. 

 “People might hear……”

“……Did you sneak in again?”

“Not sneaking, Count Debussy knows. Being quiet isn’t for my sake but yours. What would people think if they saw a delicate Marquis’s daughter shouting at a suspicious cloaked stranger?” 

 Hearing those words, she nodded saying “Ah.” 

 He held out his hand to her sitting on the ground, and she grabbed it to stand up quickly. 

 “But why do you always appear so threateningly? I thought I was going to die of fright……”

“It would be weird if I just said ‘Hi?’ to you in this state too, right? I came to investigate this gathering on His Highness the Crown Prince’s orders.”

“What investigation?”

“Ah, that…… you know. It’s no exaggeration to say that most of the nobles in this gathering handle 90% of the Empire’s business. He was worried they might be plotting something strange……” 

 Certainly…… this is the largest gathering among all gatherings in the Empire.

It’s true that many nobles important to running the Empire are gathered here. 

 “They’re still far from plotting anything strange.” 

 The man tilted his head at her words.

Well, she couldn’t tell if he actually tilted his head because of the cloak, but that’s how it looked to her. 

 “This gathering was only established recently. It’s only been 3 years, there’s not enough trust between people who’ve only met for that long to plot anything strange, right? By my intuition, this gathering will last quite a while, so it won’t be too late to investigate then.” 

 In reality, about 8 years later, this gathering would commit many illegal acts by conspiring among themselves to get their hands on underground money as well.

It took over 2 years for the Imperial Palace to figure it out, so one can’t even imagine how large the scale was. 

 While talking about various things with him, suddenly someone popped out from around the corner ahead. 

 “……Young Lord Delion?” 

 Why are you…… coming out here? 

 “Miss Rowenloa…… and beside you……” 

 Young Duke Delion, who had been puzzled, saw the cloaked man standing next to her and his eyes flashed before drawing the sword at his waist.

The cloaked man seemed startled, then pushed her aside and made a gesture of threatening her with a knife he pulled out. 

 “Ah…… lucky!” 

 ……You call that acting? 

 As the cloaked man tried to escape, Young Duke Delion chased after him earnestly, and when Young Duke Delion quickly blocked the escape route, the two ended up facing each other with swords drawn. 

 And…… soon they began fighting with the clang-clang of swords. 

 ……What should I do? 

 The cloaked man swung his sword to secure an escape route, and  Young Duke Posilia swung his to not let him escape.

As their swords got closer to each other, suddenly there was a commotion and the sound of people rushing over from one side. 

  Young Duke Posilia seemed not to hear it and kept focusing on the fight, but the cloaked man must have heard it as his attention was momentarily diverted, leaving him off guard, and in that moment  Young Duke Posilia’s sword thrust toward his arm. 

 “Kyaaaaaah!” 

 She screamed and fell backward.

Or more precisely, pretended to fall. 

 She could feel her forcefully closed eyes trembling. 

 “Rowenloa!” 

 Seeing her fall,  Young Duke Posilia put down his sword and ran toward her, allowing the cloaked man to escape from Count Debussy’s residence.

As soon as he moved toward the escape route, people came running to where she and  Young Duke Posilia were, probably having heard her scream.

From their attire, they appeared to be maids of the Count’s residence. 

 The situation they witnessed was…… somewhat strange.

 Young Duke Posilia looking at her with an extremely urgent expression while lifting her body, and her looking at the maids who had just run up while almost being held in the Young Duke’s arms……

They were looking at them with expressions that said they didn’t know how to react. 

 “We…… we’re sorry, we suddenly heard a scream……” 

  Young Duke Posilia shifted his gaze to them and opened his mouth. 

 “An unknown assailant…!” 

 And as soon as he opened his mouth, she grabbed…… his collar.

 Young Duke Posilia looked at her with startled eyes. 

 “Could you…… keep what happened earlier a secret from others?” 

  Young Duke Posilia looked at her with eyes that didn’t understand her request. 

 “What do you mean…… we need to find out who the culprit is!” 

 She shook her head at his response. 

 “If rumors spread throughout the Empire that a noble family’s daughter was with an unknown assailant, that would bring new dangers to me.”

“But…!”

“I’m not hurt and perfectly fine. You know how good maids’ imaginations can be……” 

 Hearing those words,  Young Duke Posilia seemed to contemplate before finally sighing deeply and nodding. 

 Hah……

Saved…… 

 This excuse only worked because  Young Duke Posilia was still young. 

  Young Duke Posilia stood up and held out his hand to her, and she got up from the ground with his help. 

 “The Young Duke just helped me when he saw me fall while taking a walk.” 

 Hearing those words, the maids let out sighs of relief. 

 “All of you may go now.” 

 At  Young Duke Posilia’s command, the maids bowed to us and began chattering among themselves again as they moved away from us. 

 ……This might lead to strange rumors too, but it’s still better than rumors about what I was doing with the cloaked man. 

 “The party will begin soon. Other young ladies are busy changing clothes, will you be alright not going?” 

 Hearing those words, she looked at the Young Duke in shock.

Then she arrived back at the reception room guided by the Young Duke, and was led by Masipacius household maids to an empty room within Count Debussy’s residence to change dresses. 

 “Oh my, Miss. It suits you so well! It was worth the trouble getting it!” 

 Even to her own eyes, her appearance in the light blue dress was slightly…… beautiful.

She nodded to Mylene with a satisfied expression and headed back to the reception room where Father was. 

 Soon, the party began. 

 The banquet hall opened, and people began moving there one by one. 

 “We’re second to last.” 

 However, Father spoke while watching people eagerly heading to the banquet hall from inside the reception room.

Probably  Young Duke Posilia would be last.

And…… we would be second to last. 

 Really, nobles’ pride comes from the strangest places. 

 We only got up to head to the banquet hall after everyone had left the reception room.

Seeing us get up, Duke Posilia and the Young Duke nodded lightly and greeted us. 

 “Then, we’ll see you at the banquet hall.” 

 Father also briefly greeted the Duke before leading us toward the banquet hall.

It was a rare opportunity to attend a party before one’s social debut, so it was obvious that many people would be interested in her. 

 She took a deep breath to prepare herself mentally, then followed Father into the banquet hall. 

 The bright lights of the banquet hall shone upon them, and the sound of people murmuring and music flowing from inside could be heard.

She opened her closed eyes and put on a smile. 

 People rushed toward them.