Chapter 17
I followed Mrs. Mayer toward the group of ladies.
“Ladies, I’m here,” Mrs. Mayer greeted them first, and all eyes turned toward us. As soon as they saw me behind her, they looked visibly surprised. Mrs. Mayer half-turned and introduced me.
“As you all probably know, this is the Duchess of Vissen, Lady Diana.”
The ladies greeted me first, and I gave them a slight bow in return. Their gazes, unsurprisingly, weren’t very welcoming.
‘Ugh. I guess it can’t be helped.’
Memories of what happened between ‘Diana’ and these ladies resurfaced in my mind. The middle-aged woman with the brown hair had a daughter who was drenched in water because of ‘Diana.’ The woman with light green hair, who looked a little older than Diana, once had her hair pulled by her… And most of the others had also experienced some kind of commotion caused by Diana, either directly or indirectly.
‘…Diana, couldn’t you have lived a little more peacefully?’
It felt like cold sweat was running down the back of my neck, as if I were in the middle of enemy territory.
Still, none of them openly rejected or showed hostility toward me, probably because Mrs. Mayer had brought me, and also because I held the title of the Duchess of Vissen.
But that’s all as far as my title could protect me.
“I hear Madame Montbli is designing a new style of dress,” one of them said.
“She might set another trend in high society, like she did last time.”
“…”
The moment I joined in on the conversation about dresses, there was a brief silence—about three seconds long.
One of the ladies, who had made eye contact with me, smiled awkwardly and nodded.
“Yes. That Madame could definitely pull it off.”
“Oh, have any of you tried the strawberry cake from the dessert shop opened by the retired Imperial chef? I haven’t managed to try it yet. They don’t take reservations, and I keep missing out.”
“It’s really hard to get a spot. I barely managed to get one recently.”
“Oh my, really? I’m so jealous, Lady.”
“I heard they’re switching to a new dessert next week. I wonder what it’ll be?”
“Maybe macarons? The chef’s specialty was macarons, after all.”
“…”
Again, a strange silence hung in the air after I spoke.
“Yes, the Imperial chef’s macarons were always excellent,” one finally said.
“When there was a banquet at the palace, everyone ate the macarons. Oh, by the way, have you heard the rumors about Baroness Mathilde?”
Each time I tried to join the conversation, they responded with a smile but then quickly changed the subject, so I couldn’t complain outright.
Once I stopped talking, their conversation flowed smoothly again. The weight in my chest grew heavier as it became clear they were deliberately steering the conversation away from me.
I glanced at Mrs. Mayer, but she was just observing the situation without getting involved.
‘She’s not going to help me out here.’
Maybe this was what Harold meant when he said Mrs. Mayer was testing me.
And it wasn’t just her. Surely, the other major nobles attending this party were watching as well.
They all wanted to see if I was still the troublemaking monkey who disrupted social gatherings or if I’d become more civilized.
‘Right. I’m the Duchess of Vissen.’
With that thought, the forced smile on my face became more natural.
When I just smiled and didn’t try to join in, the ladies who had been leading the conversation began glancing at me nervously. Their shifting eyes were filled with confusion as if they were unsure how to handle the fact that I wasn’t behaving like the old ‘Diana.’
I didn’t avoid their glances; instead, I stared back confidently.
The more I did, the more unsettled they became.
Finally, one of them spoke up.
“Duchess, have you heard about Lady Strella?”
“I’ve been busy with family matters since my marriage. Could you fill me in?”
The noblewomen, as if they had never tried to exclude me, now acted as if everything was normal. Lady Mayer also joined the conversation naturally.
‘So, I didn’t need to be cautious and try to fit into their conversations after all.’
Just like Harold had said, none of these women had higher status than me. All I had to do was make them watch their words around me.
Suddenly, I felt someone was watching me, and when I turned, I saw Harold’s back as he walked in the opposite direction.
‘Wasn’t someone just looking at me from over there?’
I shook off the odd feeling and returned to the conversation with the ladies.
* * *
“Excuse me, ladies.”
Just as we were chatting lightly, Ella approached. She must have just arrived and was coming to greet Mrs. Mayer, the hostess of the party.
With flushed cheeks, Ella respectfully greeted Mrs. Mayer. But when she saw me, she noticeably flinched.
Her golden eyes filled with tears that rolled down her cheeks.
“My Lady, are you alright?” one of the ladies asked.
“…Yes. Thanks to your concern. But I just remembered something unpleasant, and now my legs feel weak. I don’t think I can walk.”
Ella glanced at me, trembling as if terrified.
Something unpleasant. Her words clearly reminded everyone of the time ‘Diana’ tried to poison her.
The lively atmosphere quickly turned cold.
The ladies looked back and forth between me and Ella, visibly uncomfortable, and fell silent.
“Could someone please call my fiancé, Kaiden, for me?” she asked.
“Of course, my Lady.”
She had been perfectly fine the last time we met, and now she was suddenly terrified?
Honestly, I was stunned.
‘… Could it be that she’s doing this because she doesn’t like how well I’m getting along with the ladies?’
The thought seemed possible, knowing Ella.
Just then, a servant arrived with Kaiden.
Kaiden looked worried as he helped support Ella, checking her condition.
“Ella, are you alright?”
“Yes. I was just startled.”
Ella leaned into him, smiling weakly.
Her expression was clearly troubled, and Kaiden’s brow furrowed deeply in concern.
“Duchess, what did you do to my fiancée this time?”
Kaiden’s cold gaze locked onto me. His look said, ‘You’re at it again, aren’t you?’ And yet, I sensed a faint trace of relief behind it.
… Was I imagining things? Why would Kaiden feel relieved at a time like this?
“I haven’t done anything today, my Lord. You should hurry and take your fiancée somewhere so she can rest. She says she’s struggling to stand.”
Kaiden’s frown deepened, but Instead of checking on the clearly distressed Ella, he asked again.
“You really didn’t do anything to her?”
“Yes. Everyone here is a witness.”
“The Duchess is telling the truth. She was simply chatting with us,” Lady Mayer supported my words, adding weight to my explanation.
Oh, nice assist.
“…I see. I misunderstood. I apologize, Duchess,” Kaiden nodded in my direction before turning back to Ella, carefully supporting her as they walked away at a slow pace, mindful of her supposed weakness.
Watching them, I couldn’t help but think, Even in this world, the male lead is still the male lead.* If *Diana* had witnessed it, her eyes would’ve probably gone wide with jealousy, but I just stared at it all emotionlessly, only feeling like an observer in the story.
Then, Kaiden suddenly turned his head.
“…!”
I flinched, startled. His gaze landed directly on me.
“…”
He stared for a moment, his nose wrinkling as if something about me displeased him.
‘Wait, does he still have lingering feelings for her or something?’
Freaked out by my own wild guess, I quickly looked away. ‘I’m never going to make eye contact with him again,’ I promised myself as if sprinkling salt for good luck.
Even though Ella had left with Kaiden, the awkwardness she brought still lingered in the air. The atmosphere, which had just started to get better, was now completely shattered.
‘We were finally having a good time…’
At that moment, Lady Mayer tapped her fan lightly under her lips and called out to me.
“Duchess, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while.”
“Go ahead, Lady,” I replied, smiling brightly, sensing an opportunity to break the frozen atmosphere.
“I wondered if the scent of the Duke’s cologne had rubbed off on you, but since the scent is still lingering, I suppose that’s not the case?”
“Oh, no. I mentioned once that I liked the smell, so Harold gave it to me as a gift,” I said. Though really, it would be more accurate to say it was *sprayed on me,* rather than something I chose to wear.
As soon as I finished speaking, gasps of surprise echoed around the group. Even Lady Mayer, who rarely showed much emotion, widened her eyes.
Why are they all so shocked?
“The Duke must really care for you, Duchess. I mean, the fact that he touches you with his bare hands is already something special, but…”
“What?”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t know? About this perfume?”
‘What about this perfume…?’ I kept my mouth shut, staring at Lady Mayer with wide, curious eyes like a meerkat, afraid of blurting out something foolish if I spoke too soon.
“That perfume? No one but the Duke himself is allowed to wear it.”
