Chapter 17
The shabby doll dress was an item that Aira, whom Reina despised, had put up for auction. Naturally, it was a worthless item that no one would bid on—almost like trash…
As expected, no one but her bid on the Rita doll dress, and it was sold to Reina, who ended up holding it in her hands, while Aira sat down with a faint smile.
“…”
Reina, holding the dress, felt confused. The Rita doll dress really did resemble the torn dress from her childhood.
‘But still… Luna wouldn’t have lied to me like that…’
To Reina and the other noble ladies, Luna Marceline appeared to be an honest, kind, and cheerful girl who was struggling because of her cold and malicious stepsister.
‘Yes, I may have misunderstood Aira back then, but now, I’m sure…’
As Reina tried to shake off the conflicting thoughts, Luna entered the room wearing the dress and opened the door.
Unaware that Aira was there, Luna flashed a smile and showed Reina the ring she had brought.
It was an item with an engraving of a woman, and according to Luna, it was one of the gifts her mother had given her.
One of Luna’s friends, a noblewoman who followed her, happily took the ring and handed it to the auctioneer.
The auctioneer, who had a background in gem appraisal, widened his eyes as soon as he saw the item.
Luna proudly wore a satisfied expression as she enjoyed the attention of the other noblewomen.
She didn’t even know who was sitting at the front.
“This ring, made of jade and moonstone, seems to be an ancient treasure. It’s quite a rare item.”
Once the auctioneer finished speaking, Luna slightly raised her chin and spoke.
“This ring is one of the many treasures my mother passed down to me. If you look at the engraving of the woman, you’ll see that it’s a precious item, just like many of the things I brought.”
Luna had told the noblewomen, including Reina, about her background.
In reality, she was the hidden daughter of a high-ranking noble with immense wealth, and Aira’s mother had taken her place after getting pregnant first.
She had said that her mother had been courting Count Marceline before Aira’s mother, and that Count Marceline treated her as a legitimate daughter.
After Luna’s explanation, the auctioneer began the bidding, and soon people started calling out higher amounts of Berk.
For a moment, Reina, who had doubted Luna, gripped the doll dress tightly in her hands to calm her mind.
‘Yes. If Luna wasn’t a genuine girl, she wouldn’t be offering her mother’s keepsakes for a charity auction like this.’
But the lively auction was interrupted by Aira, who raised her hand.
Aira, who stood up, locked eyes with Luna, and Luna flinched as if struck by lightning.
With a cold expression, Aira raised her hand, signaling the auctioneer to stop the proceedings.
“A… Aira, why are you here…?”
Luna, shocked and pale, stammered, while Reina raised an eyebrow, looking at Aira.
With all eyes on her, Aira spoke.
“I am the owner of the ring, Aira Marceline, and I request that the auction for the ring be halted.”
At those words, Reina spoke up.
“Even if you’re the illegitimate daughter of the Marceline family, I understand this ring to be a personal possession of Lady Luna Marceline. Aira, you have no right to stop this auction…”
“As I said earlier, this ring is not Lady Luna Marceline’s personal possession; it is mine.”
At her words, the noblewomen began murmuring.
Hadn’t Luna just said it was her mother’s keepsake?
Luna was taken aback by Aira’s sudden appearance, as she had never shown interest in such parties before.
“A… Aira…”
Feeling the heat of the moment, Luna rushed to Aira, grabbed her arm, and tried to pull her away, but Aira easily shook her off.
Other women caught Luna, who nearly fell backward, and glared as if disapproving of the roughness, but Aira remained calm.
“The woman engraved on the ring is Seredena Adwints, my great-grandmother. My great-grandfather, Marquis Adwints, had a famous artist create an engraving based on her likeness, and that same engraving is on this ring.”
“Marquis Adwints?”
“That Adwints? The one with vast lands in the Western Plains…”
Marquis Adwints wasn’t involved in central politics, but he was a distinguished noble with extensive land and wealth.
Most nobles in the empire, even if they hadn’t met anyone from the Adwints family, would have at least heard the name.
Though it wasn’t widely known, the late Countess Marceline had been the third daughter of Marquis Adwints.
“If you know anything about gem appraisal, you’ll recognize the engraving pattern.”
“That’s correct. This engraving is characteristic of the Adwints family.”
As the auctioneer spoke, all eyes in the room turned to Luna.
Aira revealed that her biological mother had been the daughter of Marquis Adwints, and the auctioneer, skilled in gem appraisal, confirmed that the ring was an Adwints creation.
But this contradicted Luna’s words.
Both Aira and her stepsister had claimed that “their mother” had left these items as keepsakes.
Reina’s gaze toward Luna was shaky.
“I… I…”
Luna trembled, looking around with a helpless expression, her lips quivering.
She then grabbed Aira’s arm and forced a smile, saying,
“E-Aira’s mother was like my mother too. She was the Countess, and I am a child of the Count’s family. So…”
“That’s a flawed argument, Luna.”
Aira gave a cold smile and spoke clearly.
“You came to our mansion after our mother passed away. But for you to use the treasures stored in the family’s vault like this, who gave you permission?”
“Of course, it was the Count! The Count told me to manage the treasures…”
“He told you to manage them, not use them. Especially not to sell them off like this.”
Aira, as if there was no more to say, gave a faint smile and turned to the auctioneer.
“That ring is an item that was never formally authorized. I apologize to everyone who participated in the bidding, but I will reclaim it.”
With that, the auctioneer, looking stunned, took the ring and approached Aira, while the murmuring among the crowd grew louder.
“What’s going on here? So, it wasn’t Luna’s mother’s keepsakes, but Aira’s biological mother’s keepsakes? But why did Luna…”
“Didn’t Luna say she was loved like a legitimate daughter by the Count?”
“Still, to take something that’s not even her own personal possession and present it like that—it’s theft, isn’t it?!”
As the murmuring increased, Luna’s face grew even more pale.
Aira looked at the ring she had reclaimed, the ring that had once belonged to her mother.
How many keepsakes had Luna carelessly squandered like this?
“Luna.”
As the charity event started to fizzle out and the murmurs grew louder, Reina approached and stopped between Aira and Luna.
Then, in a cold voice, she asked Luna,
“Tell me, then. All the items with the engraved woman that were part of your collection, even…”
Reina raised her wrist, showing the bracelet Luna had given her months ago.
It also had the engraved woman on it.
“Was even this… something you stole from the family?”
“Re-Reina…”
“And this doll dress!”
Reina shoved the Rita doll dress, which she had tightly clutched in her hands, in front of Luna’s face.
Luna, who had initially been confused about what it was, rolled her eyes. Reina twisted her lips.
“When I went to the Marceline family’s house at twelve years old, you heard the sound of me crying because of a doll dress, and Aira told you she couldn’t stand it and went inside, but that wasn’t true, was it? You were actually making this.”
At those words, the noblewomen who were standing beside Reina gasped in surprise and covered their mouths.
They had heard stories about Reina and Luna’s first meeting, but they never expected that the dress Aira had put up for auction earlier was the same dress from that time with the Rita doll!
Luna couldn’t believe what was happening.
She had only come here today to show off her jewels and gain attention—where had things gone wrong?
Looking at the pale Luna, Reina twisted her lips.
“You… you’ve been sowing discord between me and Aira.”
