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Hesion‘s eyes showed confusion.

“Let’s use each other instead of all this talk of feelings. It’s simpler that way.”

“Vieta.”

Hesion could not understand this sudden coldness in her.

“You said it yourself. I need protection. That’s why I want the engagement with you. Now you tell me. What do you want from me?”

Vieta waited for Hesion‘s answer.

What came back was Hesion staring at her with an expression that said he could not understand her at all.

“There’s no need to look at me like that. You already knew I wasn’t such a good person. I can’t even manage a proper thank-you, I get angry at the person who saved me, and you’ve experienced firsthand how I only come looking for someone when I need something and make things difficult for them.”

“Do you think of yourself as selfish? Do you think a child who only cares about herself could prepare a gift with genuine feeling behind it?”

“What?”

“You had that dress made and gave it to my mother so she could finally wear it herself, instead of only being able to look at it as a memory.”

“……I needed to make the stalled engagement happen. That’s why I gave Lady Rekton that dress.”

Vieta had at least expected Hesion to get angry with her.

He might even declare he wanted nothing to do with an engagement like this.

If that happened, not only would her contract with the Duke fall apart, but her own circumstances would collapse just as completely.

Even so, Vieta had found the courage to accept that outcome.

If that was Hesion‘s choice, she was prepared to step back without a trace of regret.

That way she could focus entirely on her revenge.

“So don’t go reading meaning into things that don’t mean anything.”

Vieta walked away without hesitating.

She opened the door and walked alone down the long corridor, and she did not look back.

Hesion was not following her. Taking that as answer enough, Vieta crossed the corridor faster and went down the stairs.

She reached the back door leading to the greenhouse, stretched out her hand, and pulled the handle, and someone came up behind her and pushed the door shut again.

“All right. Let’s each get what we want.”

Vieta could not hide her surprise at Hesion appearing out of nowhere with those unexpected words.

Hesion‘s expression was calm, like someone who had sorted through every feeling he had for Vieta and set it all aside.

“You said you want the engagement from me, didn’t you?”

Vieta answered his question without hesitation.

“Yes.”

“I want a perfect performance from you.”

Her heart dropped at the word performance.

“I’m not asking for sincerity from you anymore. But to make the engagement convincing, you can at least act like you care about me, can’t you?”

Vieta hesitated at Hesion’s suddenly cold manner.

“You argued that feelings are a luxury, and I’ve finally given in to that. It was a decision I could make.”

Hesion grew even more distant toward her, who seemed to be doubting him.

“So choose. Whether to perform alongside me. Or to get into the carriage your stepmother and half-siblings arrived in instead of going to the greenhouse.”

※※※

Following the ladies into the greenhouse, Amy could not hide her amazement at how the space that had seemed unfinished just a short while ago was now perfectly capturing the feeling of spring.

‘It was still rough when I came earlier. Now it’s perfect.’

She was struck by the swaying decorations hanging from the ceiling, the beautiful melody stirring something in her chest, and the fact that she was part of it all.

Amy shared a table with four other young nobles and noticed the seat beside her was empty, quietly hoping Hesion would sit there.

‘Vieta won’t be able to come, so the seat next to me will naturally go to Hesion.’

Her eyes brightened and her lips curved up.

She was certain that if she could show Hesion how skilled Vieta was at lying and what she had done to her family, his cold attitude toward her would clearly change.

“May I sit here if there’s room?”

Lady Rekton‘s voice reached Amy from behind at just that moment.

‘She must have brought Hesion herself!’

Amy answered brightly on purpose and turned around.

“Of course! Please sit any……”

She could not finish the sentence.

She doubted her own eyes.

The person Lady Rekton had brought to sit beside her was Esta.

‘Why is Esta here? Could it be that Hesion still has feelings for her?’

She thought back to her own birthday.

‘I’m sure my brother was cursing about Hesion and Esta leaving together.’

That meant the two of them had not grown apart.

‘But the one staying at the Rekton family and spending time beside Hesion is Vieta.’

Amy could not make sense of the situation and felt thoroughly confused.

Before she could sort out her thoughts, Esta had already taken the seat beside her and Lady Rekton had moved off toward Amy’s mother.

Amy glanced sideways and observed Esta.

At Amy’s birthday, she had acted like a frightened puppy, but there was none of that here.

She thought she had caught a glimpse of something almost cold in Esta’s eyes for just a moment, and it threw her.

‘What was that expression just now.’

Amy narrowed her eyes without realizing it, and Esta smiled again as though nothing had happened.

“It seems Hesion has found someone he likes more than me.”

Amy understood at once who that someone referred to.

“You mean Vieta?”

“Well, Lady Vieta is the only one staying at the Rekton family, after all.”

Amy did not like hearing Vieta called a lady, but she could not take it out on Esta.

Esta might be useful in helping her take the seat beside Hesion.

Amy had been planning to tell Esta all of Vieta‘s faults.

‘Then Esta won’t be able to stand by and watch Vieta occupy the place beside Hesion.’

Watching the two of them fight, Hesion would lose all affection for both, and she could step into the gap.

The moment Amy smiled, the music came to an end and a new piece began.

The waltz-like melody lifted Amy’s spirits, and then the voice of a young noble beside her reached her.

“Who is that young lady next to Hesion? I’ve never seen her before.”

“Right? Should we go say something to her in a bit?”

The eager voice made Amy turn her head toward the greenhouse entrance.

Vieta stood beside Hesion, who was wearing the warmest smile, dressed in a white dress with the exact same design as Lady Rekton‘s.

She appeared holding Hesion‘s hand, entirely naturally.

Amy’s mouth fell open at Vieta‘s brilliantly bright smile, like someone who had just been struck.

‘Since when could Vieta make an expression like that?’

Amy felt a strange emotion looking at Vieta‘s face.

Unhappiness had always been Vieta‘s lot. That was certainly how it had been at the Lukbiche family. Seeing Vieta miserable had been what made Amy feel happy.

But watching Vieta look happy made her uneasy.

‘It looks like the two of them are going to live happily ever after.’

Amy clenched her fist without thinking.

Watching Vieta smile with joy after making her family miserable stirred something in her that felt like humiliation.

It rekindled Amy’s anger and jealousy all over again.

The moment Amy bit her lip, Vilter was bouncing his leg and staring only at Vieta.

He watched only her mouth.

He had grown afraid of her, who might expose what he had done.

Vilter blew out every candle on the table one by one and paid no attention to the stares from the other young nobles around him.

Amy watched Vilter’s sudden strange behavior with uneasy eyes.

Vilter gripped his own head with both hands and glared at the tablecloth.

His leg shook harder than before and the table trembled with a steady rhythm.

Vilter had been pretending to be calm all along.

The act he had put on, pretending not to be afraid, crumbled the moment he laid eyes on Vieta.