The atmosphere inside the returning carriage was extremely quiet.

Brother Rubert and I were focusing only on the scenery outside the window to cool our emotions, unable to hide our excited faces, while Father was just looking alternately at Bershua and the documents with an angry face.

And Bershua, while watching Father’s reaction and lowering his gaze to the floor, was occasionally busy glaring at Brother Rubert as if he felt upset.

Rembro and Leila hadn’t exchanged a single word with the emperor.

While it was understandable for Leila since she hadn’t been a noble for long, for Rembro, it must have been a very humiliating experience.

The emperor moved according to my thoughts better than expected.

I even received an unexpected gift.

So my heart lightened as we headed back to the residence again.

Now it was time for me to handle the emperor’s task, but I wasn’t worried about it.

What the emperor asked me to do is easier than eating cold soup while lying down.

Upon arriving at the mansion, I went to bed earlier than usual to get some rest for tomorrow’s tea party.

Compared to my previous life, my life has really changed 180 degrees.

The Rowenloa who used to be stuck in her room studying to avoid others’ attention was now gone.

Now I was living a wonderful life, shining brightly and showing off my abilities.

Ah, I’m so amazing!

What will await me tomorrow!

I fell asleep with a heart full of expectations.

And the next day, the Brel family’s carriage carrying Heris arrived at the main gate of the Masipacius family.

“Miss, Miss Heris has arrived.”

Hearing those words, I quickly moved to the first-floor hall.

“Oh, you came early?”

“Well… I was so excited about meeting you, Rowenloa, that I hurried my preparations… Is it an inconvenience?”

I quickly shook my head at Heris’s timid question.

An inconvenience?

I’m the one who needs to become friends with you.

I felt grateful that she showed such interest in me first.

“I just finished my preparations too! Mylene, could you prepare some snacks in the garden?”

So I sent Mylene away and took Heris’s hand.

“Our garden is quite pretty. Mylene will prepare some simple snacks for us, so shall we take a short walk?”

Hearing my words, Heris nodded with blushing cheeks.

So Heris and I walked slowly through the garden located behind the Masipacius marquis’s mansion.

“Um… I’m really sorry about last time, Lady Masipacius.”

I held Heris’s hand more firmly.

“You really don’t need to worry about it. I actually found it amusing.”

Hearing my words, Heris slightly smiled as if recalling that time.

“Still… I think you’re amazing, lady. I become so small in front of people who act even slightly forceful toward me.”

Certainly.

In her previous life, Heris inherited the position of the head of the Brel family and worked at the imperial palace.

However, according to rumors, she couldn’t be as active as the previous head due to her timid personality.

But in this life, Heris will live a completely different life from her previous one.

Why?

Because she met me!

“It’s okay. People naturally become smaller in front of strong people. Probably at this tea party too… Peres and the other girls won’t be very pleased to see you with me, Heris, will that be okay?”

Hearing that, Heris let out a worried sigh and then nodded.

“Even at previous parties where I didn’t accompany you, those ladies always looked at me with displeasure. As if I shouldn’t be there…”

I gently patted Heris’s shoulder a few times.

“Hearing that makes me think you’re even more amazing, Lady Brel.”

Heris looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“Even though you knew that the other ladies thought… badly of you, you didn’t avoid meeting them. That’s really amazing.”

Hearing those words, Heris’s eyes reddened.

“Oh no, you shouldn’t cry. We’re going to a tea party soon, and we can’t go with puffy eyes. Let’s go to the garden in front of the main palace now! Mylene will have prepared snacks for us.”

So we chatted about various things while eating snacks even before going to the tea party, then boarded the carriage at the right time and headed to the venue.

Fortunately, this tea party seemed to be held at Pelena’s home, the Clevan residence.

And Marquis Clevan was a person belonging to the Gels Council.

Marquis Clevan is a good politician.

It was a fact known throughout the empire that after he started working at the imperial palace, the financial situation of the palace improved significantly.

But there was one modifier that always followed him.

Conservative.

Marquis Clevan had a very conservative mindset, so he didn’t particularly like changing or breaking what was already established.

And if such a person heard that Marquis Masipacius might be newly incorporated into the Gels Council, he would surely be angry and raise an agenda at the Council.

Opposing Marquis Masipacius buying land and joining the Gels Council.

I tried to hide my rising smile while being conscious of Heris in front of me.

The carriage gradually slowed down and came to a complete stop, and the carriage door opened.

As I got out, the splendidly decorated Clevan residence caught my eye.

“Oh, it’s an incredibly splendid castle.”

Heris nodded at my words.

“I heard that Marchioness Clevan is interested in decorating the castle, so she always pays attention to it. The interior of the castle is also incredibly beautiful.”

With that, I entered the Clevan residence with a heart full of excitement and anticipation.

“Are you Miss Heris Brel?”

A man who looked like a butler approached us and asked.

When Heris nodded, the butler politely opened his mouth again.

“And the person next to you is……”

“This is my guest I invited today. This is Rowenloa Masipacius.”

Hearing those words, the butler looked at me with surprised eyes and then bowed politely to me.

“I will guide you.”

Entering the room following the butler’s guidance, I saw young ladies wearing pretty clothes and eating pretty food in a beautifully decorated room.

Those ladies were about to greet Heris when they froze upon seeing me standing next to her.

“Um… Lady Brel? The person next to you is……”

“This is Rowenloa Masipacius from the Masipacius family. There was a rule that we could bring one guest each to the tea party, right? Lady Masipacius sent me a letter first saying she wanted to become friends with the ladies, so I invited her today.”

Pelena frowned upon hearing Heris’s words.

“Those whom I met at the duke’s residence before, and those whom I’m meeting for the first time today. I am Rowenloa Masipacius.”

The ladies looked at me with disgruntled expressions after hearing my words.

It seemed that Pelena and the other ladies had been gossiping about me extensively.

“Um… please sit down.”

One of the seated ladies awkwardly pointed to an empty seat, and so the tea party resumed.

Since it was a tea party of young ladies, there wasn’t particularly any useful content.

It was all talk about how pretty a dress from a certain boutique was, how difficult it was to obtain certain jewels, or how handsome a young man from a certain family was.

I was waiting for the right timing to bring up something related to the Gels Council when Pelena looked at me and then cleared her throat to focus everyone’s attention.

“My father heard this from the Gels Council recently, but His Majesty the Emperor will be bestowing a gift to our family.”

The other ladies looked at Pelena with envious eyes upon hearing those words.

Pelena enjoyed those gazes and scanned me with an unpleasant look.

It was as if she was saying, “Your family can’t attend the Gels Council, right?”

But I was very grateful to Pelena for this.

Yes, I was counting on it.

I knew you would mention something related to the Gels Council to provoke me.

Before the topic of the Gels Council cooled down, I quickly spoke to Pelena.

“Wow, that’s really amazing, Lady Clevan. My father was also excited, saying he might be able to attend the Gels Council this time… I hope such an honor comes to our family too.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the eyes of all the ladies attending the tea party turned to me.

Especially Pelena, who was looking at me as if she had heard something she shouldn’t have.

“What… what do you mean… How could Marquis Masipacius possibly join the Gels Council……”

“Oh, it seems my father is trying to purchase land owned by the imperial family for business. The process isn’t complete yet, but if we buy that land, the size of the land we own will be larger than the Kredion family currently in the Gels Council, so it seems we might be able to attend the Council instead of the Kredion family. I also heard that the business will proceed under my brother Bershua’s name?”

Hearing those words, the ladies began to look at each other with sparkling eyes.

It was a look that they had found a good topic to talk about.

I raised the corners of my mouth in a grin as I watched them.

That’s right.

Go ahead and spread lots of rumors.

Until you can’t distinguish what’s real and what’s fake.

Until everyone forgets who first brought up the story.

Muhahaha.