IBMILRFL | Chapter 82

Episode 82

“Hm.”

Lilliana let out a low groan, wearing an unusually displeased expression.

What lay on her desk at the moment were countless invitation cards.

Now that she had become more or less a celebrity, she wasn’t exactly uncomfortable with the flood of invitations coming in at this point.

Nevertheless, the reason her face was slightly crumpled now was…

‘I had a bad feeling about this! I knew this would happen!’

Because the content of the invitations had changed a bit compared to before.

[……Therefore, we invite Lady Locke. We also heard you are close with Madam Windser. We intend to invite her as well, so we would be deeply grateful if you could both attend together.]

Hah.

Lilliana let out a breath as she looked at the invitations with similar content.

Though the wording varied, the main point was essentially the same.

They wanted her to come with Vanessa.

And the reason for that must have been…

‘It’s because of that day we went to see the play, of course.’

Vanessa may not have noticed, but in truth, she was someone admired among girls Lilliana’s age.

She was like a poisonous butterfly—beautiful but possibly dangerous if approached—so people hesitated to get close first.

But since everyone saw her with Lilliana that day at the theater… they must have noticed something different about her usual demeanor.

So now, in hopes of possibly getting closer to Vanessa, they were all inviting her along with Lilliana.

If something really had changed, they were desperate to get close!

‘It’s not a bad thing… no, it’s actually a good thing… but why does it feel so strange?’

Not long ago, she had been annoyed that no one seemed to recognize Vanessa’s worth, but now that everyone was showing interest, she felt oddly uncomfortable.

Lilliana soon realized the emotion behind it.

‘…It’s jealousy.’

She was afraid that someone who didn’t even understand Vanessa’s affection might steal her away.

‘Was I always this jealous by nature?’

She had never been this attached to anyone before, so it was hard to know.

She didn’t know what to do with this subtle feeling.

That emotion lingered with her all day. Eventually, Lilliana, feeling stifled, ended up consulting her brother.

“It’s a natural emotion.”

At his concise and firm reply, Lilliana was filled with curiosity.

“Have you ever felt jealous, brother?”

In her eyes, Tristan was nothing short of a saint.

Could jealousy truly be a universal human emotion, if even someone like him had experienced it?

She had only asked out of curiosity… but Tristan gave her a meaningful smile.

“Ah.”

Only after seeing that smile did Lilliana let out a belated sigh of realization.

‘Right… Mother… got married, didn’t she.’

She had forgotten lately, but Tristan had once suffered a terrible case of unrequited love.

He usually didn’t show his emotions, so others might not have noticed… but Lilliana remembered clearly. His suffering.

Trying to forget his first love who had gotten married, he buried himself in work all night, and even then, the sparkle in his intelligent eyes had gradually dimmed.

At that time, young Lilliana had truly been full of worry. She knows everything now, but back then, not knowing the reason only made it worse.

Tristan had looked so dangerously close to collapse, like someone who might die at any moment.

‘I asked such a foolish question. After seeing all that.’

Sobered by the memory, Lilliana lowered her head in guilt.

But Tristan, the very person concerned, gently comforted her with a calm voice.

“Lily, do you think Madam Windser would neglect you just because she developed affection for someone else?”

“…No.”

Unless there was some unavoidable reason, she would never do that.

Lilliana didn’t believe Vanessa was that kind of person.

“Then there’s no need to worry.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Don’t waste your time worrying over negative emotions. Instead, express your affection without regret. The Madam Windser you know isn’t someone who would cast you aside just because you got a little jealous.”

After hearing Tristan’s words, Lilliana had a clear idea of what to do.

‘It’d be a problem if I became too jealous and possessive… but there’s no need to hide these feelings completely.’

After the conversation, Lilliana returned to her room and began writing a letter to Vanessa, pouring her feelings into it.

As she filled the letter with affection, it eventually spanned seven full pages. She chose pretty stationery and envelopes and wrote carefully with firm strokes. All that remained was to send it…

‘Hm, something’s missing.’

It had been a long time since she’d written a letter, so she wanted to put even more care into it, but she wasn’t sure how.

That’s when it happened. While thinking for a moment, her eyes landed on a lily-shaped perfume bottle on her desk.

“Oh! That’s it!”

She stepped back slightly and sprayed perfume onto the letter. Now, what had been just fancy stationery emitted a lovely scent.

‘Not bad.’

She decided that from now on, she’d use the same method when writing letters or replies.

With that resolution, Lilliana rose from her seat.

At that time, she couldn’t have known.

Just how far-reaching the consequences of that one thoughtless action would be.

After the day she went to the theater with Lilliana, a small change had occurred.

“My lady, this time a letter of invitation has come from the Count of Soron’s family.”

“Again?”

“Yes… They insisted they really want you to come.”

“Turn them all down. I don’t have time to worry about such things right now.”

“Yes, my lady!”

As seen, invitation letters kept flying in from every direction.

‘All it took was behaving decently a couple of times for everyone to act like this.’

Originally, I was infamous for being tyrannical, so I was rarely invited to social gatherings meant for friendly mingling.

But on the day I went to the theater with Lilliana, everyone seemed impressed by how quietly I behaved.

The fact that they’re now boldly sending invitations like this proves it.

It wasn’t a bad development.

‘I never intended to live forever with the image of a villainess anyway.’

The past, when I had to act like a villain to survive, was different from the present.

Most of the political threats and collateral branches that dared challenge our family had already been dealt with.

So I’d been thinking it wouldn’t be bad to gradually change my image a bit… but I didn’t expect this level of attention, whether it was goodwill or mere curiosity.

‘Not that I plan to accept any invitations, though.’

Lilliana did seem a bit jealous, but I hadn’t planned on accepting them in the first place.

Because…

I was way too busy these days.

‘All thanks to our lucky charm, Lilliana!’

Recently, the demand for perfume had skyrocketed.

It was always popular, but now it was on another level.

People who had already bought it were now coming back to buy multiple bottles.

‘So at first I thought it was strange. After all, there’s no real reason to buy several bottles of perfume.’

Even if someone used it frequently, there was a limit to how much one could use. Usually, a few sprays a day was enough.

Moreover, since I used natural ingredients, the shelf life of my perfumes wasn’t extremely long.

So it was strange that people were buying multiple bottles in a short time… and when I looked into it…

‘It turned out to be because of Lilliana!’

Ever since she began spraying perfume on her letters and replies, it became a trend.

Everyone started spraying so much perfume on their letters that the supply couldn’t keep up.

‘Thanks to that, I’ve profited greatly.’

Lilliana had done it without much thought, but…

‘It seems our Lilliana has a real business sense. She can even come up with ideas like that.’

These days, she was so precious to me I could die from how cute she was.

But not everything could be pleasant all the time.

“My lady, another invitation…”

“Did I not tell you to refuse them all?”

“Well… I think you should take a look at this one personally.”

The servant glanced at me cautiously and handed over the invitation.

The moment I received it, I couldn’t help but frown.

An envelope made from fine paper. A golden lion-shaped wax seal stamped on top.

I didn’t even need to check the recipient to know who had sent it.

The sender of this invitation was none other than Crown Prince Leo Ignarium.