The peaceful House of Count Windelson was turned upside down by a letter that arrived early in the morning. 

After graciously serving tea to the messenger and sending him on his way, the Count and his wife couldn’t hide their excited faces as they gazed at the letter they held with reverent eyes.

“Honey. Open it quickly.”

“Wait. Let me take a deep breath.”

The Count, looking at the luxurious letter crafted with gold leaf with deeply honored eyes, let out several long breaths before moving his trembling fingers.

Carefully extracting it, seemingly afraid it might tear, the clean white background contained an extremely concise sentence.

Expressing a desire to marry the lady of Windelson.

The Count and his wife’s faces naturally met and turned pale.

“Honey. This is…”

“Hah…”

Their excited expressions became ambiguous and fell to the floor.

The sender of the letter was Duke Elkas van Berenberg, the young head of the powerful and prestigious Berenberg Ducal Estate in the empire. The head of this most respectable family had personally sent a messenger to propose marriage.

However, there was one problem.

“What do we do? Sheila is already married.”

“Everyone was quiet when marriage proposals were coming in, so why is His Grace only now…”

Their daughter Sheila, renowned as the most beautiful in the empire, had already married a year ago. At that time, noble houses high and low had sent marriage proposals, but the only place that didn’t was Berenberg.

Since proposals had poured in from the empire’s most prominent families, they had secretly hoped that a proposal might come from the Berenberg family and were disappointed. 

Even though they deliberately dragged out time just in case, no contact came from the Duke, and eventually they married their daughter to the prestigious Marquis Douglas.

And now, less than a year later, a marriage proposal arrives.

Could there be such misfortune?

When they had dragged things out for nearly half a year, the Duke had no news, but now he sends a marriage proposal.

“What a waste.”

At the Countess’s face that looked ready to die of regret, the Count also stroked his chin with a complicated expression.

Had the Duke not heard the news of Sheila’s marriage, who until just a year ago was praised as the empire’s greatest beauty?

A year had passed since that day, which was the hottest issue in high society, so perhaps the Duke had forgotten in the meantime—the couple was continuing this thought when:

Knock knock. 

At the same time as the knocking sound, the door to the couple’s private drawing room burst open. Seeing the woman who poked her head in, the Countess frowned.

“Evelyn. You should knock and then open the door after hearing the other person’s permission.”

“Ah…”

“When will you become a lady like your sister?”

“I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful.”

The Countess shook her head at her second daughter, who always forgot how to knock properly, then turned her head to her husband with sudden realization. 

The Count also looked at his second daughter Evelyn, who had opened the door and entered.

A brief silence flowed between the couple. At the same time, the same thought filled their minds. Could it be? Could it be? 

They stared at Evelyn with surprised eyes.

Was it the Duke’s mistake? Or could it really be their second daughter?

But the couple soon shook their heads, thinking it couldn’t be. There was no way such a great Duke would send a marriage proposal to their lacking second daughter instead of the perfect and proud Sheila.

Having organized their thoughts, the Countess opened her mouth while looking at her second daughter, who stood there blankly, fiddling with the door.

“So what is it?”

“Madame Isabel has arrived and is waiting. She brought the dresses for tomorrow’s banquet.”

“The dresses are already finished? Honey, let’s go quickly. Your formal wear must have arrived too.”

“Oh my. We should.”

The couple set down the letter they had been holding preciously on the desk and quickly disappeared past Evelyn.

Evelyn glanced at the letter envelope sparkling on the desk where warm sunlight poured over, when the Countess’s voice came from the corridor.

“Evelyn, what are you doing instead of coming? You need to try on your dress too.”

“Yes, I’m coming.”

Unable to check the letter after all, Evelyn withdrew her gaze from the envelope and followed the Count and his wife.

* * *

“Hmm. I’m pleased with both the dresses and the tailcoat. Thank you for your hard work, Madame Isabel.”

“Not at all. When the Countess personally visits to place an order, I should bring it myself at the very least.”

Her mother, who had been sensitive just moments ago, showed a picture-perfect smile upon seeing Madame Isabel. Her mother’s complexion looked bright, seemingly quite looking forward to tomorrow’s Emperor’s birthday celebration.

In the cheerful atmosphere, Evelyn sat facing her teacup, fidgeting with her hands. Listening only to boring talk while sitting still made her feel like she’d go crazy from restlessness. 

But if she moved her body here, she would immediately incur her mother’s wrath.

“Miss Evelyn looks bored—if you’re having a hard time, you may excuse yourself.”

When Evelyn, who had decided she had no choice but to keep quiet, was lifting her teacup to her mouth:

She was restless and had hooked her finger on the teacup, lightly scratching the surface, when somehow seeing this, Madame Isabel spoke to her with a gentle smile.

“Pardon? Ah… I’m enjoying myself.”

Evelyn answered immediately with a start, but it was already after being caught by her mother’s sharp eye. The Countess, narrowing her beautiful eyes, spoke in a stern voice.

“Evelyn. You need to sit still.”

“…Yes. I’m sorry.”

As she spoke in a shrinking voice, perhaps sensing the strange atmosphere, fortunately Madame Isabel changed the subject.

“Now that I think about it, Miss Evelyn is gradually showing signs of womanhood. When she used to follow around next to Miss Sheila, she seemed like a child. Tomorrow at the banquet, she’ll attract attention.”

Though she had her debutante a few years ago, this was Evelyn’s first time attending an official imperial banquet. Last time she had held her sister’s hand and gotten through it somehow, but thinking about being in that awkward space alone without Sheila already gave her a headache.

She hadn’t even memorized all the other nobles’ names yet…

“Of course. How could she compare to Sheila?”

“Speaking of which, I heard not long ago that Miss Sheila gave birth safely. Congratulations. I heard the Marquis was so delighted he gifted the Yeharna estate.”

“Yes. The Marquis even sent us a grand gift.”

Before she knew it, the topic naturally flowed to things related to her sister.

Sheila, the first daughter of the Windelson family, was famous enough to be the talk of the empire.

Priests unanimously said her beautiful appearance was crafted by divine love, and her gentle disposition and elegant grace drew admiration to the point that even the imperial family coveted her. 

If the Emperor had been unmarried or if the princes had been of marriageable age, she would have immediately become a member of the royal family.

Because of this, the Count and his wife never lost the smiles from their faces due to their eldest daughter. 

Nobles with daughters enviously asked how they raised her so elegantly, inquiring about their educational methods, and nobles with sons were eager to establish connections by any means.

In contrast, there were virtually no rumors about Evelyn, the second daughter with a seven-year age gap. 

Though her appearance was beautiful like Sheila’s, her presence was barely revealed because she was hidden in her glamorous sister’s shadow.

The tedious gathering only ended after all the dress fittings were completed.

After carefully examining the dress Evelyn would wear to tomorrow’s Emperor’s birthday banquet, the Countess made a dissatisfied expression and wore a fierce look this way and that, finally nodding only when told that Evelyn’s face in the dress that was all the rage in the capital these days showed traces of Sheila.

Having barely escaped from the seat where she had difficulty keeping her bottom planted, Evelyn let out an early sigh as soon as she stepped into the corridor.

“Hmm. Did I open it too quickly after knocking? No, I definitely counted to three in my head before opening.”

Trudging along, Evelyn tilted her head, recalling the incident in the study where she had been scolded again today.

She definitely waited for an answer after knocking, but she heard loud voices inside so she thought they had answered and opened it. And with that hastiness, she received another lecture about being woefully inadequate compared to Sheila.

Walking down the corridor, Evelyn stopped for a moment and looked down at herself. To her own eyes, it seemed her tomboy-like aspects had almost completely disappeared…

“Isn’t this ladylike enough?”

She no longer got dirt on her dresses and didn’t run through the corridors. Moreover, she had worked hard to speak prettily and kindly like her sister, but to her parents she still seemed to be a daughter lacking compared to her sister.

Being compared to the perfect lady Sheila meant Evelyn’s life was full of scoldings rather than praise. Since there wasn’t a day that passed without being scolded, it wasn’t something to be newly hurt by, but still, the bitter taste in her mouth was unavoidable.

Her parents were gentle, but endlessly strict with their lacking daughter.

Sometimes the discrimination from her sister was hurtful, but she didn’t resent her sister. Evelyn also acknowledged why her parents—no, why people praised Sheila so much.

Her sister was truly an angel. Her personality was so kind that from childhood, whenever Evelyn caused trouble, it was her sister who played the role of calming their parents’ anger on her behalf.

“Because there’s no one who wouldn’t love my sister.”

Evelyn also loved such a sister. Though she married a year ago and they didn’t live together, on days when her sister occasionally came home, they enjoyed each other’s company like old times.

Evelyn knew she was still far from catching up to her sister, but there was no need to feel particularly inferior. However, the inner disappointment was unavoidable.

Evelyn’s gaze, walking down the corridor, caught on Sheila’s portrait sitting demurely with her luscious blonde hair flowing down.

“If You were going to give it anyway, why not give me blonde hair too? Sigh…”

How could she be so unlike her sister when they were born from the same womb?

Unlike her sister’s blonde hair that flowed with luster like spun gold thread, her own hair was pale platinum blonde. Naturally, compared to her sister who captured attention, her presence was so minimal she was barely noticeable.

Muttering to herself in disappointment, Evelyn suddenly slapped her palms against both cheeks with a smack.

“Hmph. Just you wait and see. In a few years, I’ll become a wonderful lady like my sister too.”

A somewhat funny expression reflected beyond the frame’s surface, but it didn’t matter since no one was around. 

Being treated like an ugly duckling—was this the first or second time? Hadn’t she decided to stop comparing herself to her sister when she was young?

Her continuing thoughts turned to the drawing room where she had been scolded.

“Wait, what were they looking at so intently earlier?”

Suddenly recalling that her parents had been staring intently at something, she cast her gaze. 

Eventually, Evelyn couldn’t overcome her curiosity and changed the direction of her steps that had been heading to her room.

The voice of conscience circled her ears saying that secretly peeking at someone else’s letter wasn’t behavior befitting a lady, but she kept being bothered by how strange her parents’ expressions had been the moment she entered.

“What’s the harm in looking for a moment? It’s fine if I don’t get caught.”

The drawing room she carefully entered was quiet, submerged in darkness. 

Quietly closing the door, Evelyn’s eyes widened as she quickly scanned the contents she slipped out from the luxurious envelope where moonlight had settled. 

Soon the paper caught on her fingers fluttered and fell to the floor.

* * *

Splendid carriages stamped with each family’s crest passed through the golden-painted main gate of the imperial palace one after another.

As the dusky orange sky where the sun was gradually setting darkened, the light seeping from the entrance of the hall, lavishly decorated for the Emperor’s birthday celebration, grew increasingly brighter.