I felt anger inside me.
Isn’t it you Gabriel, who doesn’t even want to touch me?
Those words rose up inside my throat.
I raised my head and looked at him with resentment.
It must have been at that moment.
“…….”
“……”
Gabriel’s eyes widened as he locked eyes with me. A look of incomprehension flashed across his face for a moment.
‘Now.’
I definitely saw Gabriel’s lips twitch.
‘Or was I mistaken?’
I might have looked more closely at the change in his expression if I hadn’t heard a familiar voice at that very moment,
“Sister, Is that you?”
It was Roseriel.
“!”
I let go of his hand, which I was holding as if I had been caught stealing.
With appalling rudeness.
‘Ah…..’
Gabriel, who was about to say something, shut his mouth, and at that moment my heart sank coldly.
I made a mistake, but I didn’t have the confidence to say sorry to Gabriel right away.
I turned my head and saw Roseriel shaking her head.
A clumsy smile hung on the corners of her mouth.
My younger sibling.
My precious little sister.
‘What was I going to do?’
I snapped out of it.
I was…….
“Sis, that chocolate over there is so good, do you want to go get some?”
Rosé’s smiling face blinded my eyes.
My throbbing heart seemed to be telling me something I didn’t want to acknowledge.
Bdump,badump,badump.. (sound of her heart)
I don’t want to know.
I don’t want to realize.
I squeezed my eyes shut ignoring my feelings for the first time.
The banquet went on for a long time after that. I left Gabriel’s side and was dragged around by Rose.
“Ladies, I’ve brought my sister!”
Rose exclaimed, pushing her way through the crowd of strangers. It was rude. It certainly was.
“Look, Countess Hildael. This is my sister, just as I told you she’s very pretty, isn’t she? I think she’s the prettiest girl in the room.”
“My goodness, did you bring your sister with you, Roseriel?”
“Yes!”
What? Who?
I gasped in silent astonishment.
Countess Hildael was someone I knew about.
While I was preparing for my debutante ball, I had received several pieces of advice from Madame Lumière, who is much more socially literate than I am.
Among them one was about Countess Hildaël too.
“If you want to make yourself at home in society,” Madame Lumière said, “you’d better be in Countess Hildaël’s good graces.”
“Why?”
“She has a lot of money. Her status is also noble. Thanks to this, neither the empress nor the emperor can easily touch her. But there’s a problem.“
“What problem?”
‘She became a countess through an arranged marriage but before, she was the wife of an immensely wealthy landowner.”
“Their relationship was as good as if they were in a love marriage.“
“She’s very perceptive,” she says, “and she’s very quick to recognize those who want something from her.“
The Countess said that she was distrustful of people because there were too many people who wanted to take advantage of her.
There’s also information that she’s a tricky person who’s fed up with the behavior of nobles who are divided between the Empress and the Emperor factions.
I remembered Madame Lumière’s advice that she was the perfect person to win over, but the most difficult to do so.
Why would someone like that be here?
Perhaps unaware of my absurdity, Rosé grinned, and the countess turned to me.
Her eyes twinkled.
“I’ve never met you before, lady Hildea. Hoo-hoo, what a cheerful little sister you have. Rose has been talking about you all day.”
“Oh…….”
I was flustered, but quickly made a polite greeting.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Hildea Hillington from house Hillington. It’s an honor to meet you.”
And an embarrassing silence followed. No wonder there was nothing more to talk about.
Then the ladies beside her, who were beaming at Rose, turned to me, unable to hide their awkward faces.
“…….”
“Lady Hildea, I see you are a quiet woman, a beauty that suits your elegant demeanor very well.”
I wasn’t sure if her words were meant to reprimand me for keeping my mouth shut, or if they were a compliment.
I bowed slightly and picked up a plate from the table to hide my awkwardness.
It was then.
“No, not this sister.”
“…… Huh? What, Rose?”
Rose snatched the plate from my hand. My mouth dropped open, dumbfounded by her behavior.
Rose, what are you doing?
“Not this, eat that. It was highly recommended by Countess Hildael, and it’s so good, I swear everyone would start fighting it if they knew how good it tastes.”
“Oh my!”
The ladies burst out laughing in unison at Rose’s comment.
“Perhaps it’s good; how does the sisters get along so well? Hillington must be blessed.”
“Ah…….”
I don’t know why, but I’m only looking at the plate that’s been taken away by Rose, and the ladies’ eyes are suddenly much more flexible than before.
(TL/N : Here she means by flexible is that now the ladies are also observing her with curiosity instead of just looking at Rose.)
Now that smile is directed at me too. I flinched at the return of the favor when I had done nothing.
Rose. Are you a human talisman?
Even this time, another lady spoke to me.
“Lady Hildea was a bit unapproachable earlier, but she seems to cower in the presence of Lady Rose.”
The dignified-looking lady had narrow eyes, an almost as cold appearance as mine, and a very attractive mole at the corner of her eye.
It was not an easy mood to be in, but Rose was powerful.
My sister, with a giggle and a sweet smile, responded in a way that was so casual that it felt almost comical.
“Oh, she’s not cowering, Marquise de Sionel. She just loves me too much, don’t you, my sister?”
I broke out in a cold sweat as I looked into their eyes. Because the ladies were looking at me and Rose in unison, their eyes squinting like cats at a piece of cheese.
I felt a little awkward in this position.
“Well, yes, but Rose.”
I replied, then realized something even more alarming.
I realized that the lady who was speaking to us was the mother of one of the young ladies who had followed the princess earlier.
And that the other ladies beside her, smiling fondly at Rose, were close aides of the empress.
‘Wow, as expected of Rosé.’
I had memorized all of this information from Madame Lumière, having been told the looks and characteristics of the main nobles, just in case.
But my desperate preparations were useless in front of Rose.
It was all useless in front of such a lovely heroine.
Whoever’s even not in favor can’t help but smile at her.
Suddenly, I looked around my surroundings and realized.
The difference between the ballroom I was standing in and the one I’m standing in now, next to Rose, is unbelievable.
‘Lovely Rose.’
Rose smiled wryly, then turned the conversation to a cheerful one.
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. My sister is so smart….”
She linked arms with me, her kindness clearly visible as she tried to include me into the conversation.
I was flattered by the favor.
‘So lovely. My sister, I love you too very much…….’
I stared at the sight, dumbfounded.
What might have been criticized for if I had done it was replaced by smiles at the cute little girl when she did it.
Everyone was smiling while looking at Rose. All of them.
‘Strange.’
I care for and love Rose as much more than they do.
I remembered her little hand so clearly, the one that saved me from my depressed childhood.
There is such innocence in her eyes wen she smiles at me.
She’s a joy to look at and always warms my heart when we talk.
I’ve never been jealous of her, but when I see people smiling at her, I feel like my heart has been ripped out of my chest.
‘It’s so weird.’
It was a feeling similar to being hungry.
‘Am I sick?’
I stared in disbelief for a moment, and then Rose shoved something into my mouth.
Our eyes met and she smiled, with her beautiful sparkling eyes . Somehow, the eyes of the people who were laughing at Rose turned to me.
I hunched my shoulders.
“Rose, what’s this?”
“Try this macaron sister.”
“….Rose, wait.”
“Are you done? Then try this too.”
While Rose repeatedly fed me food like a baby bird, the ladies who were looking at me awkwardly were no longer around.
They passed the joke on to me and laughed. Still, I didn’t feel better.
‘…….’
My mood plummeted further as I watched my dad, who happened to make eye contact with me, cough and look away.
He even lost sight of the wine glass he was holding. The same dad who never got tired of social etiquette.
It was a shameful to think he felt sorry for me .
‘Ugh.’
I raised a hand to cover my mouth. Because my stomach was suddenly churning.
The best I could do on the spot was to be silent, listening to Rosé’s talking voice which felt like singing.