While Lorelei was provoking Sylvia, Ariadne and Kieron had already arrived at the venue.

Jade, who had arrived earlier, was strengthening the groundwork he had prepared beforehand.

“Oh my, oh my. So you mean the bridesmaid dress was stolen this time?”

“That’s what I’m saying. Young Master Derayan has been bragging nonstop about how beautifully the designer made the dress!”

“Is that true, my lord?”

Only invited guests were permitted to attend Princess Sylvia’s wedding.

However, that didn’t mean those who weren’t invited couldn’t watch.

The ceremony was to take place in the banquet hall of the imperial palace, which was entirely encased in transparent glass. Anyone passing by could see everything happening inside.

According to Heidel, Sylvia had originally been adamantly opposed to this venue.

Since the wedding was supposed to be small, she thought a more secluded venue would be far more suitable.

But, given the way things had unfolded, Sylvia was now thankful that she had chosen this hall.

Ariadne had to suppress a laugh when she spotted Jade among the noble ladies gathered outside. Jade was pretending to be utterly heartbroken, sighing dramatically in an attempt to blend in as she watched the ceremony.

Goodness!

How did he manage to act so convincingly?

“Of course, Countess Gello. Because of that, I won’t be able to serve as a bridesmaid this time.”

“Oh dear heavens. Who would do something so outrageous? Then… does that mean there will be no bridesmaid today?”

As Jade lowered his head, the noble ladies began to murmur to each other more loudly.

Who could have caused such a disgrace at the princess’s wedding?

How upset the princess must be!

Meanwhile, a few ladies whom Jade had discreetly persuaded beforehand began stirring things up.

“I heard that Young Master Derayan and the Duchess of Ambrose, who are supposed to be bridesmaids today, are very close friends. His Grace the Duke of Ambrose even chose the color of the gown himself. Was it green, my lord?”

“Correct. Green suits the duchess very well. And it matches my own hair color.”

Jade agreed with her words and let out another deep sigh.

“The design sketches were excellent. Her Highness the Princess was very pleased…”

“When I first heard the news, I truly thought I might die from despair.”

“They say everything else was untouched except for that one dress, isn’t that right? Doesn’t that mean it was targeted deliberately?”

“Her Highness also thought so… but there’s no physical evidence yet.”

At Jade’s gloomy response, the noble ladies—befitting members of the capital who held Derayan’s favor tightly began to console him from every direction.

“Oh my, please don’t be too upset. Whoever did that will surely be punished by the heavens.”

“Yes, my lord! Today is still a happy day, after all.”

Jade Derayan was renowned not only for his profound appreciation of the arts, but also for his generous support of artists and craftsmen. The noble ladies could not afford to offend him.

After all, his family owned more than half of the boutiques on the capital’s boutique street. Angering him might result in them suddenly being unable to commission a dress.

This was precisely why Jade had been given this role.

His words would spread the fastest and make the greatest impression on everyone present.

And their expectations were correct.

The noble ladies gathered around him at once, offering endless sympathy and gently patting his arms and shoulders while murmuring soft words of comfort. Eventually, they spoke to him in low, earnest tones.

“Then… does that mean there won’t be a bridesmaid today?”

It was the question they had all been waiting for.

Jade smiled gently and pretended to be modest, shifting her gaze to the side. Right on cue, Ariadne appeared and nodded slightly.

With a polite bow, he drew everyone’s attention towards her and Kieron.

“Of course not, Marchioness Dante.”

“Hm? Then…?”

As their gazes moved, so did everyone else’s. And what they saw there was—

“Good heavens! Isn’t that the Duke and Duchess of Ambrose?”

“Oh my. Don’t tell me they are the bridesmaids today?”

“Their outfits are stunning. Which boutique made those?”

The Ambrose couple had not appeared in public once since their wedding.

In the silence they left behind, rumors had taken root: that their relationship was strained, that the Duchess was incompetent and scorned by her husband, that the Duke merely held his title, and that the two of them fought endlessly.

Now, they were at the center of the empire’s gossip, appearing at a princess’s wedding — an event attended by the largest crowd and watched by the closest observers.

“Their outfits matched so perfectly that I begged them to help at such short notice. Don’t they look stunning together?”

As the couple approached, Jade praised them lavishly, insisting that everything had been resolved thanks to them and that even Her Highness the Princess was delighted.

“Welcome, both of you. Your seats are prepared inside.”

Having disclosed everything he had planned to leak, Jade escorted the couple inside, posing as their guide.

They could hear soft murmurs behind them, but none of them turned around.

They felt that if they did, they might lose the fragile thread of composure they were clinging to.

Once they reached the antechamber outside the bridal waiting room, the trio finally sighed with relief.

“Ah. My heart is still pounding.”

“You did well, Jade.”

“Did well? I nearly died of nerves. You can’t let your guard down around noble ladies for even a second.”

Jade ran a hand down his chest, shaking his head so hard it was clear he never wanted to do something like this again.

“Shall we head inside? We should greet Her Highness.”

“Ah—yes. I’ll open it now.”

Everything was in place. All that remained was to carry out the rest of the plan. They were just about to knock on Sylvia’s door and talk to her when—

“You don’t need to try so hard! Nothing you do is going to change anything, anyway!”

As soon as Jade reached out, a shrill voice pierced the silence on the other side of the door. It was high-pitched, sharp and cutting. The three of them jumped and looked at each other, all sharing the same expression. They quickly pushed the door open.

“That’s my line, Lore.”

The moment they opened the door, they were confronted by Princess Lorelei.

She was dressed so ostentatiously that it was almost pitiful.

Her entire outfit sparkled with excessive embellishments, and her arms and neck were weighed down by an absurd amount of jewelry — so much so that ‘dangling everywhere’ was the only fitting description.

It wasn’t just overdone. It was so garish that it was unpleasant to look at her.

All three of them instinctively grimaced the moment they laid eyes on her.

“What is this? Duke Ambrose! Why aren’t you wearing the outfit I gave you? Don’t tell me you’re trying to ruin the wedding!”

When she heard the door open, Lorelei turned around to see the three of them standing side by side, each with an unmistakably displeased expression on their face.

Her own face contorted with alarm as she suddenly realized that everything had gone horribly wrong.

In that moment, they were certain.

Of course!

Princess Lorelei was behind it all.

Now that her intention to slip into the ceremony as Kieron’s bridesmaid had been exposed, Sylvia also looked stunned.

She hadn’t just planned to replace the bride’s bridesmaid — she had intended to replace the groom’s as well!

“Lore! Did you lose your mind? You even planned to drag Duke Ambrose into this?”

“And why not? I’ll be taking that place soon anyway. If something’s going to be mine, why shouldn’t I claim it early?”

Lorelei lifted her chin and stared directly at Kieron, her eyes gleaming with shameless greed.

Wearing that ridiculous dress and flaunting her ambition, she was the very embodiment of repulsiveness.

Kieron, Ariadne and Jade all took a step back instinctively.

Jade was the first to regain his composure.

Pretending to retreat, he pushed the half-open waiting room door wider — just enough for the noble ladies chatting near the windows to get a clear view inside.

They had planned to expose Lorelei publicly, but they hadn’t expected the timing to be quite so perfect.

As Jade shifted position, so did Ariadne and Kieron, subtly positioning themselves so that Lorelei would be fully visible to everyone outside.

“Your Highness. Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?”

“What I’ve done? I only tried to take what should rightfully have been mine.”

When Ariadne let out a breathless laugh and spoke, Lorelei crossed her arms and replied with an even more brazen expression.

“And what about you? Do you even know what you’ve done?”

“Me? All I remember is suffering damage because of Your Highness.”

But Ariadne did not back down.

She refused to cower as she had before, and refused to remain silent and miserable.

Instead, she stood up straight, lifted her chin and spoke proudly.

“I hope Your Highness understands the immense damage caused by your discourteous behavior. Furthermore, you almost ruined my brother’s wedding! Do you not realize how serious it is to make an enemy of the Peytons?”

“Despite my younger sister marrying before me, I came here to serve as a bridesmaid at her wedding, and I’m still expected to worry about trivial things like that? I’m simply doing what I ought to do.”

How shameless.

Lorelei scoffed, waving a dismissive hand toward Ariadne.

“Wake up, Duchess. You’ll be out soon.”

‘Who on earth loses their bridesmaid dress? So careless.’

She must have planned to use this incident to once again approach the Council of Elders, accusing Ariadne of lacking dignity and pushing to have her removed from her position.

Even though that same Council had already been shaken once by the Marquis Peyton.

“We’ll see. Let’s find out who’s going to be ‘out.’”

Ariadne lifted her chin even higher, facing Lorelei’s cold arrogance with unshakable confidence.

How dare she try to threaten anyone?

The words ‘You have nothing but the shell of a title’ burned on the tip of her tongue, but she held them back.

Lorelei acted as though she had everything, but in truth she possessed nothing. This was nothing more than the desperate thrashing of someone who had never truly owned anything.

Ariadne met Lorelei’s gaze directly and added:

“It would be wise to choose your words more carefully, Your Highness. Right now, you are nothing more than the thief who stole Princess Sylvia’s dress.”

“W–what?!”

The moment those clear, deliberate words struck her, Lorelei staggered, clutching the back of her neck as if she’d been physically hit.