“Was that nonsense you said earlier just to avoid that Lady?”
“Well… to be more precise, I wanted to avoid Duke Averil. Nothing good ever comes from getting involved with that family.”
Letticia sighed, and Lenoa frowned.
“Why? Don’t tell me it was that shoulder-grabbing thing again?”
“Not exactly, but remember when we booked a boat ride at the park with Lord Bright and our brothers? Those people rented the whole place on the day and had their knights block us from entering.”
“Rented the whole place? Have they no conscience?”
“Exactly. Lady Avril invited us to join her, so we managed to get in, but then those three fools insisted on riding with her and made such a fuss. In the end, we had to split up, with one person from each side riding together. Because of that, I completely lost my chance to sit with Lord Bright.”
“They’re really making trouble wherever they go.”
Lenoa was genuinely upset about what her sister had gone through. It was clear in moments like this that they were sisters.
“Anyway, I don’t want to run into that family again, so next time, could you change direction and go with me?”
“If you’d told me you were avoiding that Lady, I would’ve followed you. But when you started talking nonsense about eating grass and becoming a rabbit, I wasn’t going.”
“Yeah, even I think that was a bit of a stretch.”
Letticia admitted it, and Lenoa, still frowning, said,
“But that Lady was acting really friendly towards you. Maybe she wants to be friends with you?”
“…That might be the case.”
Letticia recalled what Lenard had told her and agreed with a heavy heart.
If someone doesn’t attend company dinners or work overtime and struggles to get along with their colleagues, it’s not strange for them to try to befriend Letticia, who has nothing to do with their work.
‘She did talk to me first five years ago… but I really dislike those people.’
It’s not just about her; she also have to consider the crazy antics of those three fools that come as a package deal. Honestly, no matter how great her personality is, she didn’t want to be friends with her.
At least Achilles seemed to have somewhat improved, but it didn’t seem like the Duke or Alexander had changed at all.
‘How is it that the one who actually grabbed my shoulder is the one who’s most regretful?’*
Letticia clicked her tongue in irony. Lenoa, who had been staring at her, asked with a hint of concern in her voice.
“She seems a lot like Princess Judith in terms of personality. Do you think you’ll be okay?”
“Her Highness Judith and Lady Averil? Why do you think that?”
“Even if you say it’s a bother, she’ll probably keep coming over, asking you to do this or that.”
“…Do you outright tell Her Highness Judith it’s a bother?”
“These days, yes. Princess Judith doesn’t get mad about it.”
If someone else had overheard, they might have considered it an insult to the imperial family, but Letticia just laughed it off without much thought.
What was more important than that was how Ariette would act in the future.
“… Brother Ren, said that by fall, Lady Averil will likely make her debut in society.”
“Then she’ll probably invite you a lot to try to get close. Won’t it be hard to decline?”
“It will be.”
Maybe a few times would be manageable, but if she kept declining after that, it would be seen as avoiding the person altogether. After all the effort put into the reconciliation performance, rejecting her repeatedly would cause even more trouble.
“If it weren’t for those crazy three, I wouldn’t be worrying about all this. If I became friends with her, they’d probably investigate everything about me from the days when I only lived in the mansion, to make sure I’m safe to be around their daughter.”
“Really? They’d go that far with a friend of their daughter’s? That’s not just overprotective, that’s insane. Why would they do that?”
Lenoa was genuinely shocked, and Letticia responded with a cynical tone.
“I don’t know. To those people, Lady Averil must be like a divine blessing sent from the heavens, the only breath of life that keeps them alive.”
“Then until that misunderstanding gets cleared up, don’t bother trying to be friends with them. People who aren’t in their right mind will try to deny you by force if they can’t find any flaws to criticize.”
***
“It’s a pleasant surprise that you’re showing interest in our March Blossom, but I don’t quite understand why the eldest daughter of Marquess Eskis, a great noble, would take an interest in the gathering of mere new nobility.”
“That’s exactly why I’m interested. I’ve heard that gatherings under the pretense of studying together often turn into mere social clubs, but at least until now, March Blossom has remained true to its original purpose.”
In the tea room on the fifth floor of Faymont, Swan (Seraphina) and Baby’s Breath (Dayna) were facing off.
Rose (Letticia), who was observing both sides from the center, occasionally chimed in while mixing milk into the tea brought by the server.
As promised, Letticia had invited Seraphina and Dayna to the fifth floor of Faymont and had the desserts served first, hoping to ease the atmosphere as much as possible.
Seraphina, as always, maintained her elegance, and Dayna, not one to openly show hostility, so she was able to introduce the two without much trouble.
However, that didn’t mean the conversation flowed in a warm, friendly manner.
Seraphina was not someone who would forgo etiquette just to appear familiar, and Dayna, as the daughter of a merchant family, hid her negative feelings, carefully sizing up Seraphina.
‘At least Seraphina seems to consciously avoid using terms like ‘nouveau riche’…’
Thanks to her previous warning, Seraphina now only referred to new nobility as ‘new noble’ and never mentioned that bloodlines were everything.
Letticia, who hadn’t imagined that Seraphina would pay such close attention to her words and actions, slightly adjusted her judgment of her in a more favorable direction.
Unaware of Letticia’s inner thoughts, Seraphina revealed to Dayna the real purpose behind introducing the two of them.
“If I ever enter high society in the capital, one thing I’ve always wanted to do is start a gathering. That’s why I wanted to ask both of you for advice on it.”
“If it’s advice you need, it’d probably be easier to ask your cousin, Lady Wallace?”
Lady Wallace had been running her own gathering since their academy days. Unlike the March Blossom study group, Lady Wallace’s gathering was more of a social club for people with personal connections to her.
Without mentioning that difference, Dayna deflected the topic back to Lady Wallace, and Seraphina responded with a tone as if she had made up her mind.
“No, I need advice from both of you. The gathering I want to create isn’t a social club, but an educational one.”
Letticia and Dayna exchanged a brief glance. It was Letticia who spoke first.
“May I ask who your target audience is and what kind of education you’re planning?”
“I plan to teach manners and culture, just as both of you have. The target audience will be old noble whose families have fallen from grace, and new noble who have recently entered society.”
“New noble as well?”
While Letticia seemed puzzled, Dayna, who had twitched her eyebrows, half-lost her smile and asked,
“I can understand educating the fallen noble, but why include the new noble? Is it because their manners don’t meet the Lady’s standards?”
“While it’s a problem that doesn’t meet my standards, the bigger issue is that their behavior often embarrasses or makes others frown. If they want to survive in society, they need to possess the proper virtues so that no one has to turn away in disgust.”
“Originally, education in manners and culture was the privilege of the noble. Even if someone newly gains a title, they don’t receive the connections that would allow them access to this education. They never had the opportunity, except for those like me and lady Letticia.”
Dayna’s gaze grew colder, but Seraphina answered calmly.
“I understand that part. Unless you’ve entered into a marriage alliance, no noble will introduce a tutor to a family that has been noble for less than three generations.”
“Then I assume you understand that you can’t evaluate the old noble and the new noble by the same standards?”
“In terms of lacking opportunities, they are the same. The difference is what they were lacking.”
Seraphina didn’t fully agree with Dayna’s question. The difference between them was simply a matter of wealth or connections, but in the end, both lacked cultural refinement.
‘It seems like she’s not willing to compromise on that part at all, but it’s still fascinating to see her face the reality of it.’
Letticia cut a piece of the new Southern-style ice cream cake and put it in her mouth. The cold and sweet taste spread in her mouth, lifting her spirits and making her smile without realizing it.
However, the two of them were so engrossed in the conversation that they hadn’t touched their desserts. To be precise, it was because Seraphina was so passionately speaking that there was no time to eat.
“I want to provide those people with the opportunity to learn the proper manners and culture they need. That’s why I thought it would be best to receive advice from Lady Sharon and Lady Hailey.”
“But if people know that our advice is part of the plan, those who will be running the gathering with us won’t be too pleased.”
“I’ll only suggest it to those who can accept that. There are still many who doubt that new noble can possess the proper culture and dignity, but once they see the actual results, they’ll come to accept it.”
“So, it’s still in the planning stage?”
“Yes. I plan to start recruiting after I’ve worked out the detailed plans for the gathering.”
Feeling thirsty, Seraphina took a sip of her tea, finally having a moment to breathe. Then, she made a surprising proposal that caught both Dayna, who was about to take a bite of the ice cream cake with her fork, and Letticia, who had been about to eat a tart, off guard.
“Actually, if possible, I’d like to not only receive advice from both of you, but also ask if you’d be willing to join my gathering.”
🍓; *Letticia surprised or perplexed by the fact that the person who directly caused an issue (by grabbing her shoulder, Achilles) is now the one feeling the most remorse or regret. She expresses a sense of irony or disbelief that the person who acted inappropriately is the one who seems to be most affected by the situation.
