“Hello, everyone.”
In the midst of hostility directed at her, Kisa made an effort to speak with dignity and composure.
“I see everyone has already arrived.”
It was clearly half an hour before the time specified on the invitation.
Something was obviously wrong. While it was natural to arrive early when meeting with the princess, had these people always been so quick to arrive?
Thinking back, Kisa typically arrived about half an hour early in the past, and about half of the guests would arrive after her.
‘Moreover.’
Kisa’s gaze turned to the table.
Not only were refreshments already laid out, but some teacups were nearly empty.
This certainly didn’t look like a refreshment table for guests who had arrived just minutes ago.
In other words, they had arrived long before Kisa and had been drinking tea.
Judging from the princess’s absence, it didn’t seem like the appointment time had been changed.
So had they coordinated to meet early among themselves? Excluding Kisa.
“Hello.”
“It’s been a while.”
At that moment, two or three ladies awkwardly greeted Kisa.
Their tone was considerably cooler than usual, and the rest didn’t even bother to greet her at all.
Most of them glared at her before turning their gazes away.
The few who did return Kisa’s greeting probably couldn’t completely ignore the House of Hillan’s influence, but they certainly weren’t doing it because they liked her.
“Now then, what were we talking about earlier?”
Before Kisa could even take her seat, Lady Welf led the others in resuming their interrupted conversation.
Among the laughing and chattering people, Kisa silently had to sit in the only empty seat aside from the princess’s designated one.
As luck would have it, it was between Lady Welf and Lady Clifford—a seating arrangement that strongly conveyed the intention to exclude Kisa from any conversation.
As expected, even after Kisa sat down and more than ten minutes passed, they continued their conversation about topics only they knew about.
It seemed to be about their previous visit to the princess’s sickbed, which they had made without Kisa.
“Oh, speaking of that place, I’ve also been—”
“Oh my, my cup is empty. Hey! Could you pour me another?”
Whenever a familiar topic came up and she tried to speak, those seated beside her would somehow prevent Kisa from opening her mouth.
Feeling tired, Kisa decided to just keep quiet.
“My goodness! That’s such a ridiculous man.”
“I know. I was so embarrassed I couldn’t even look up.”
While Kisa silently drank her tea, the lively conversation continued.
To ostracize someone so openly was petty, but if their goal was to hurt Kisa, it was a fairly effective choice.
Despite coming fully prepared, being treated like an invisible person made her spirits sink.
Above all, what made it sad was that until their relationship had soured, all of these people had been on friendly terms with Kisa, even if they hadn’t been particularly close.
If they had simply never gotten along or had treated each other with indifference, she might have felt better than this.
As she was thinking this, her gaze met with Melissa, who was sitting diagonally across from her.
Melissa looked at Kisa with a mixture of slight sympathy and even greater hostility before stubbornly turning her head away.
Though it might have been her imagination, Kisa thought she saw an accusatory look that seemed to say, “You should have listened to me sooner.”
Even if she ended up without a single friend, Kisa had no intention of becoming friends with Melissa again unless she sincerely repented, so there was no lingering regret.
After more than half an hour had passed without Kisa being able to say a proper word:
“Oh? It seems everyone arrived early.”
Princess Arta opened the door and entered the reception room with a welcoming smile.
“Princess!”
“Welcome.”
“How is your health now?”
Everyone rose from their seats and greeted the princess with enthusiasm.
“I’m perfectly fine now. It’s all thanks to everyone’s concern.”
The princess answered as she sat in her designated seat, with Melissa beside her today.
“Melissa, thank you for responding to my invitation and coming here today.”
“No, no! I’m the one who should be grateful for the invitation!”
Starting with the flustered Melissa, the princess called each person by name and expressed her gratitude.
But just when it seemed that she was going around in a clockwise order, the princess casually skipped from Lady Welf to Lady Clifford, not even glancing at Kisa.
“……”
Kisa simply sat quietly, collecting her emotions that were threatening to become upset.
This was nothing. She would be fine.
“Kisa.”
But just as she was trying to regain her composure, the princess suddenly called her name.
It was right after she had expressed gratitude to the lady sitting next to her, in the opposite direction from Melissa.
“Yes, Princess.”
“Kisa, thank you for coming today as well.”
“I’m honored by your words.”
“But why didn’t you come with the other ladies last time?”
She seemed to be referring to the hospital visit from which Kisa had been excluded.
“I apologize. I didn’t receive any notification.”
“Lady Dos clearly said she sent a letter. Isn’t that right, Lady?”
Lady Welf suddenly interjected, looking at Melissa.
“…Yes, that’s correct.”
As Melissa nodded slightly, Lady Welf raised one corner of her mouth.
“Princess, so Lady Vansfelt’s claim that she didn’t receive any notification—”
“Karinne.”
But the princess cut off her words.
“It’s alright. That’s not particularly important. I was purely curious why Kisa didn’t come that day, not trying to blame her.”
Lady Welf’s cheeks instantly reddened.
“I-I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. Karinne, you were just speaking with my feelings in mind, weren’t you?”
Arta flashed a smile and turned her gaze back to Kisa.
“Anyway, I’m glad you came today. As it happens, I had something I wanted to tell you.”
Kisa was taken aback by her less prickly attitude than expected and replied:
“Yes, please tell me.”
“Congratulations on your engagement to Duke Hillan.”
Was this development unexpected for everyone in the room? Kisa felt people collectively holding their breath. She was no exception.
“I’m sorry for giving you my congratulations so late. I’ve been quite overwhelmed lately. During the Habertz charity banquet, I was rather flustered for various reasons…”
“Not at all. It’s an honor to our family just to receive your congratulations like this.”
Kisa hurriedly replied, and the princess’s lips curved into a smile.
“I’m glad to hear that. Oh, would you mind telling me how you met the Duke?”
“Pardon?”
“I’ve heard bits and pieces, but I’d like to hear it from you directly. The love story between the two of you.”
“I…”
“You will tell me, won’t you?”
With the princess offering congratulations and asking like that, there was no way to refuse.
Kisa reluctantly began her story.
“As it’s known, the Duke first saw me at the opera house. At that time, I wasn’t particularly conscious of him, but after my broken engagement, when the Duke visited our mansion…”
The princess listened intently to the fake love story fabricated by Seyard, as if genuinely interested, while the others exchanged confused glances with each other.
Could it be that the princess had truly decided to let go of her resentment toward Kisa and Seyard? As Kisa continued her love story, such a question crossed her mind.
It was surprising and hard to believe, but if it were true, there was no reason not to welcome it.
However, the change came at that moment.
“…Ugh.”
Without warning, Arta began to shed tears while listening to Kisa’s story.
“Oh my!”
“Princess!”
“Are you alright?”
Startled women rushed to her from all directions, but the princess raised her hand to hold them back.
“It’s nothing, please calm down.”
Wiping away a few tears with the handkerchief Melissa offered, she lowered her head.
“I’m sorry for ruining the mood. I tried not to, but listening to Kisa’s words, I started feeling strange and before I knew it…”
After taking a few deep breaths, she continued.
“I know it’s a different person, but because the resemblance is so strong, I keep thinking of Vischer. I went to the opera house with him several times too.”
An indescribable sadness spread across everyone’s faces.
While some ladies comforted the princess, others glared fiercely at Kisa.
Their accusing gazes seemed to say: how dare you inflict another wound on someone who already carries such a painful scar?
“I’m fine. Let’s continue with our conversation.”
The princess, who had stopped crying, looked at Kisa and spoke.
“Kisa, I’m sorry, but could you continue your story? I promise to listen properly this time.”
She still spoke in a gentle voice with a hint of a smile, but Kisa could now sense a clear, unmistakable hostility.
The princess deeply disliked Kisa.
“…Wouldn’t it be better to talk about something else?”
“No, I want to hear more. Please continue.”
To the extent that she absolutely would not allow any escape.
Kisa had no choice but to continue telling the love story that no one in the room welcomed.
It was truly an ordeal. Her voice trembled, and her lips became dry.
Just when she thought she wanted to stop, she suddenly remembered what Seyard had told her on the way:
[Kisa, leave the aftermath to me. I’ll take care of everything.]
Could she really do that?
While her mind was conflicted, her body reacted first.
“Princess, here.”
Kisa took out the item she had brought to give to the princess from her handbag and politely offered it.
“This is my engagement party invitation.”
Since she had been talking about the engagement preparations, it wasn’t an awkward transition.
“Oh, is it?”
For a moment, Arta made a subtle expression, but soon regained her smile and accepted the invitation.
“Well then, let’s see what kind of magnificent engagement party Duke Hillan has prepared for the lovely Kisa.”
She opened the envelope with unhurried hands and scanned the contents of the invitation.
But a few seconds later, the princess’s face hardened terribly.
