“Miss Welter, where have you been?”
“Ah, in the break room for a moment.”
Did she really have to use the bathroom that urgently? Daisy shrugged it off.
It didn’t matter anyways, since while Hestia was gone, Daisy had been with the Countess.
Thanks to her mother who’d moved quickly, Daisy was able to see His Majesty the Emperor, Her Royal Highness the Princess, and today’s guest of honor, Lord Kingston, from close range!
And just like the other ladies, she was secretly glancing at a certain someone, while talking to others.
Adrian Kingston took the seat next to the emperor who was sitting on the throne. He was chatting happily with the Emperor, the Sun of the Empire.
Even the icy emperor seemed to be in quite a good mood. He burst out laughing at what he said and even downed the drink he poured himself.
“Her Royal Highness left after her first dance with Lord Kingston.”
Daisy even shared information that Hestia didn’t ask about. As she’d said, the princess’s seat was empty.
And she could tell that many young ladies were relieved by that fact. The princess was such an incredible beauty that she attracted the attention of all the men.
“I see.”
Hestia answered naturally and moved behind Daisy so that she could not be seen.
At that time, the hall suddenly became noisy. Adrian finished his conversation with the emperor and stood up. As soon as he came down, many people gathered around him.
“Wow, that’s amazing…”
Those people surrounding him were all high-ranking nobles who knew him.
Many of them were his friends, seniors and juniors were from the academy, but there were quite a few fathers and people in power who had daughters of marriageable age.
Countess Carlton knew that Hestia wouldn’t be able to make an introduction, but it didn’t matter; she’d already done her part today, taking care of Daisy and greeting people.
“Adrian, it’s really nice to see you after such a long time.”
“I’m glad you didn’t die and came back with all your limbs.”
“When are you going to start attending club meetings? I’ve missed your absence.”
“Is the Grand Duke in good health? Oh, this is my daughter.”
Adrian skillfully dealt with the frantic crowd of people. Among them were close friends whom he had not seen in a long time, and many of them had ties to ducal families other than his own.
They approached him as if they didn’t know that he’d been disowned by his brother, the Grand Duke of Kingston.
They seemed to think that the fame he had gained in this war would lead him back to the Duke of Kingston. Adrian, who did not want to resolve their misunderstanding, pretended not to know and dealt with them appropriately.
As a result, he had to deal with the Duke of Kingston’s people, so he couldn’t move from that place for a while.
He frantically exchanged greetings, shook hands, and bowed to the young ladies. Meanwhile, he glanced around the room from time to time.
And he found her right away. It wasn’t that difficult.
She was always behind someone, on the edge, in the shadows, and she had to stay there, even though it wasn’t where she belonged.
Adrian looked at her and walked toward her. There she was, right in front of him, the woman he’d never forgotten, not even for a moment.
* * *
“Hello, Hestia.”
Adrian’s eyes were filled with the beautiful sight of Hestia. He’d always imagined this day. The day he’d meet her again. The day when he’d be able to look at her, who he’d only met in his imagination after she left him. Both of his eyes were filled with only her.
“It’s been a while, Lord Kingston.”
Her expression was grave, unlike the others. As if she was neither happy nor pleased to see him again.
“Have you been well?”
He always wondered about her. He prayed and thought about Hestia every day. May she always stay healthy wherever she is.
“Yes, thank you. This is my cousin, Miss Daisy Carlton.”
She gave a cursory answer, as if she had no interest in how Adrian was doing. She even pushed an ugly girl in front of him.
“Nice to meet you, Miss Carlton.”
“Ah… It’s an honor to meet you.”
The girls dress and accessories were extremely flashy. He wasn’t interested in her at all, but since Hestia was the one introducing him, he couldn’t treat her carelessly. If she was a precious person to her, she would also be a precious person to him.
“Beautiful lady, may I kiss your hand?”
“Oh, of course, of course!”
He made Miss Carlton an offer he would never make to any other young lady, only because he wanted to kiss the back of Hestia’s hand as naturally as possible. When everything went as expected, a deep smile naturally formed.
“Hestia, would you like to join me for a song?”
‘Please, please allow me. I want to hold your hand and look into your beautiful eyes.’
“My leg hurts.”
Now that he thought about it, when she greeted him earlier, her posture was slightly tilted to one side. Where did she hurt it, and how badly?
He thought of the healing potions piled up in his mansion. Part of him wanted to go and get them, to hand them to her right now. Unlike him, who was completely occupied with thoughts of her, she just smiled as she put her arm around her cousin’s shoulder.
“It would be an honor if you could dance with my cousin instead. Right, Daisy?”
“Sure… That’s right.”
Did she hate him? Or was her injury really painful? Or was it both?
He suppressed his troubled heart and asked, he could never disobey her.
“Do you want me to?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, if that’s what you want.”
Adrian turned his head with difficulty.
“Would you like to dance a song, Miss Carlton?”
He held out his hand to Daisy. As her hand came to rest on his, he was glad he was wearing gloves.
“Yes… Great.”
He led Daisy to the dance floor and kept his eyes fixed on Hestia until the end. He watched her quietly retreat to the edge of her ballroom.
Even though it wasn’t her place, she always had to be pushed there. He suppressed his impatience once again.
* * *
‘Thank you so much, Hestia, it’s my little gesture of sincerity.’
It was after midnight, Hestia changed her clothes and sat down on the bed, looking at the diamond brooch that Countess Carlton had given her.
It was a gift she received in return for introducing Daisy to Adrian and giving up her chance at dancing with him.
Hestia refused, but Countess Carlton forced it into her hand.
‘If you receive help, you must repay the favor. I don’t want to be known as a shameless person. If you don’t like the brooch, sell it for money.’
Countess Carlton was a person with clear goals, if Hestia refused to the end, she would definitely send money back to her hometown.
She didn’t want that to happen, so she had to accept it in the end.
Having received an unwelcome reward, she decided she had to deal with it as quickly as possible.
Maybe it was for the best. She’d need the money to travel to Windsor once her contract to stay at the Carlton’s was up.
As she stared at the brooch, there was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
“I apologize for the late hour, miss.”
Penny opened the door and came in with an apologetic expression. Since most balls ended at dawn, some of the maids at the mansion had to work the night shift, and it seemed like she was included in the list today.
“It’s okay. What do you need?”
Penny wasn’t the type of person to disturb her this late unless it was quite urgent. Penny held out a small box to her.
“What is this? Did Countess Carlton give it to you?”
Since she had already received the brooch, she had no intention of receiving anything more. But Penny shook her head.
“No. It was given to me by a delivery man, and he told me to give it to the young lady immediately.”
“To me?”
“Yes. Oh my God, he surprised me when he showed up here after midnight.”
Hestia hesitated, then took the box. She could tell Penny was curious, and finally, breaking the maid’s rule of not meddling in the affairs of her superiors, she asked.
“Miss, may I ask you a question? The delivery man was acting a little strange.”
“The delivery man?”
“Aside from the time of day he came, he paid me gold coins for the trouble of delivering the package to you. Do you think it’s okay to accept such a large sum of money?”
Penny held out five gold coins to her, not just one, but five.
In fact, it was common for people courting noble ladies to ask the maids of the mansion to personally deliver gifts and give them a reward.
Usually, though, three silver coins would be enough to make them happy. In other words, it was too much to pay for her services. Five gold coins was a maid’s salary for several months.
“…He must be someone with a lot of money. Those gold coins are just payment for your hard work.”
Hestia thought for a moment and reassured Penny.
“Thank you for giving it to me.”
“Okay, then good night.”
The kindly young lady must have been exhausted, having only arrived in the capital yesterday and attending the ball today.
Penny had a lot of questions, but since she had resolved anything that might cause her harm, she quietly left the room.
Hestia slowly sat down as soon as Penny left.
Someone who spent money like it was nothing. Someone who always seemed to do the unthinkable. She felt like she knew who it was.
She lifted a trembling hand and opened the box, and her suspicions weren’t wrong.
