“I heard that Count Lindell’s family is attending the year-end imperial banquet?”
“Yes, Princess.”
Anais nodded slowly after hearing information about the person she was interested in from Count Arman.
“Sergey Lindell…I guess I should try contacting him this time.”
“Prince Abel must be waiting for this opportunity as well. I heard that Count Lindell’s family also declined all of Prince Abel’s invitations.”
“….”
Abel wasn’t the only one who sent an invitation to Sergey.
Anais, who was trying to find a powerful noble who was not on Abel’s side, also tried hard to meet Sergey.
But Sergey refused all the invitations, making excuses of one kind or another.
The reason why she couldn’t put more pressure on him was because Abel was also targeting Sergey.
“Even at such a young age, isn’t that a truly exquisite way of dealing with the world? When rejecting me, he uses Abel as an excuse, and when rejecting Abel, he uses me as an excuse, but he hasn’t earned the hatred of either of us, …well, it’s a shame because we are the ones who are disappointed.”
“I am afraid that Count Lindel will return home. If his son is like that, how much worse must his father be?…”
Anais laughed bitterly.
“That’s why we absolutely must recruit the Count of Lindel. A family that has traveled the world and achieved such success will certainly be of great help to us.”
Anais took out her silver rosary beads as if it were her habit, sighed softly, and turned the beads over.
She vowed to herself that she would definitely protect the position of Crown Princess, but it was not a position she could protect on her own.
As the days passed, the Emperor’s favor went towards Abel, and with Sasha always by the Emperor’s side, Anais could not even have meals with the Emperor often.
Then, even among the nobles who were sensitive to changes in the situation, a movement toward Abel was detected.
Although the old nobles were still on Anais’ side, her impatience was slowly squeezing her neck.
‘We need to recruit the nobles who are creating new popularity in society. And no one is better suited to that task than Sergey Lindell.’
A successor who is still young but leads the family business with a maturity that belies his age.
‘Even because of his outstanding looks, didn’t he become a hot topic in the social world shortly after returning to his country?’
Despite this, he never had a single scandal, and aside from going about his business, he lived in seclusion in his mansion and completely blocked out outside attention.
‘It’s surprising that the family’s power is growing so quickly.’
In some ways, it was a family with so many hidden things that it was dangerous.
So, it was necessary to quickly distinguish between friend and foe.
“I’m going to approach Count Lindell’s son at this banquet, so please find a place where we can talk quietly. Try to find a place where it won’t be noticeable.”
“Yes. What kind of price do you plan on offering to Count Lindell’s son?”
“I guess I’ll have to talk to Sergey Lindell to find out, but I have a feeling he wants something different.”
Since the family had amassed such enormous wealth, they could have gotten their hands on just about anything. So it seemed like they would want something special in return, rather than the obvious things that others wanted.
However, since some limits had to be set in advance, Anais and her aide began to gradually devise a plan to win Sergey over.
The pressure to succeed this time was pushing her.
And Sasha and Malek, who had been waiting for a chance to meet Serge just as much as Anais, also heard the news of Sergey’s attendance at the Imperial banquet.
“Sergey Lindel, finally?”
“Yes. I heard that he hasn’t had the chance to formally attend the imperial banquet until now because he was trying to settle down in the country, but it must have been burdensome to postpone it any longer.”
“I see. After returning home, it felt like he was moving without even having time to catch my breath.”
To Sasha and Malek, Sergey was the person they wanted.
So, they tried many ways to meet him, but Sergey refused, saying, ‘I am still too ignorant of the imperial situation to reveal my political position.’
The reason he is safe after making such bold statements is, of course, because Anais is standing opposite Sasha and Malek.
“Anais will also be waiting for this opportunity.”
“I guess so.”
“We need to contact him before Anais does and cast a spell of bewitchment on him. We don’t know what price Anais will offer.”
“Well, I guess the price we pay is more attractive.”
Malek answered with a light laugh.
Anything Anais might offer would be well within the law, but Malek was able to offer a price that completely ignored the boundaries of the law.
‘Humans can never resist the temptation.’
That’s what he’d known for three thousand years.
A little higher up, honor and power; a little lower down, money, women, alcohol, or drugs.
Although the quality and quantity may vary slightly, there were few people who deviated from it.
‘What does Sergey Lindell want and how much?’
In any case, his family had accumulated enough wealth to overflow, and his looks were also outstanding. At that level, it was easy to obtain all kinds of pleasures and entertainment, including women.
‘Then what’s left is power.’
‘If you come from a wealthy family and gain power, and just do a little image cleaning, honor will quickly follow.’
Sasha and Malek hatch a plan to lure Sergey with power.
* * *
All three of the Imperial banquets a year were important, but the one held at the end of the year was a little special because it was the biggest debutante event of the year.
So, it was common for noble families to debut their daughters at the year-end imperial banquet, and Count Newt’s family were also busy preparing to debut Ellie this year.
“Ellie! I brought the dress we had fitted at the clothes shop.”
“Wow! Come in!”
Ellie, who was busy looking in the mirror, opened the door with a happy face when she heard that the dress she had fitted had arrived.
Countess Newt, who led the clothes shop staff with a face dripping with affection, kissed Ellie on the cheek and showered her with compliments.
“Our Ellie is getting prettier by the day. You’re going to be the center of attention for this debutante.”
“Really?”
“Of course! Do you know how many debutantes this mother has been to? She’s never seen a prettier girl than you.”
Ellie’s lips parted with pleasure at her mother’s confident words.
Ellie has been having a happy time recently.
She’d been fitted for a slightly more grown-up dress at a clothes shop that was much more expensive than her usual place, and she’d been given a full set of jewelry, just like her mother’s.
She had been taking care of her body, skin, and hair for half a year to prepare for this debutante event, so her whole body was smooth and she looked even prettier than before.
Just that alone made Ellie’s heart pound, as she felt like she had already become an adult.
“I don’t want to marry Ellie off early, but what if the marriage proposals pile up?”
“Hehehe, Mother is so…”
Ellie, who had been feeling embarrassed, tried on the dress that had been fitted when she heard that it was ready and imagined her perfect debutante look.
But unlike Ellie who was so happy, Lark’s mood was more uncomfortable than ever.
“That damn bitch is kicking us. Don’t worry about her anymore, Lark.”
Elaine refused for the third time that she didn’t need the debutante prepared by Newt, so Rubaine laughed and ignored her.
“You should have applied for guardianship when Elaine was little! Then this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Guardian? If so, do you know how much money that girl must have spent?”
“Did you not do it because you were worried about losing a few pennies? Is our family so poor that we can’t even raise one more girl?”
At Lark’s harsh words, Rubaine averted his gaze and coughed.
Frankly, Rubaine didn’t want to spend a single penny on Elaine.
It had been a great act of patience to keep her in the attic on the third floor and not starve her to death.
He didn’t understand the Debutante’s need to provide Elaine with dresses and jewelry, and he didn’t understand Lark’s desire to make her debut.
There were plenty of ways to sell Elaine without a debutante.
“Anyway, even if Elaine debuts, it will only tarnish our family’s reputation. It’s not like she can’t get married if she doesn’t go through the debutante.”
“Elaine, who already has many negative factors, would seem to have many flaws if she didn’t even do the debutante.”
When a noble young lady holds a debutante, it means that the daughter who has been lovingly raised by her family is presented to the world for the first time.
It meant that they cared a lot for their daughter, and that’s why most nobles looked for a daughter-in-law in the debutante.
It wasn’t that Rubaine didn’t know that.
Lark, whose thoughts reached that point, narrowed his eyes and glared at his father.
* * *
