The atmosphere was tense. From a distance, it might have looked like a gathering of beautiful noble young ladies, but up close, the situation was anything but pleasant.
To say I wasn’t nervous would be a lie. But even so, I couldn’t bring myself to apologize any further than I already had. For Lady Rose, this was undoubtedly unpleasant, and her friends probably saw me as the villain. But in the end, I would have chosen Armin, even if I had to take the insults. My feelings for him weren’t something I should feel guilty about. Besides, Lady Rose had no special relationship with him anyway.
However, in their eyes, I must have looked like a thief who stole their betrothed away.
The longer the unpleasant encounter stretched on, the more my mood began to sour. I honestly couldn’t understand why I was being treated this way. After all, it wasn’t me who had turned Lady Rose away that day—it was Armin!
Why, then, was I being made the scapegoat? Why was I the one being attacked, while they said nothing to Armin? Their spiteful, sharp voices only made it harder for me to keep my composure.
“You really are hard to associate with,” Lady Rose sneered with a sweet smile.
I stared at her, unable to believe what I was hearing.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Honestly. Do you really think you’ll become a duchess one day?” She let out a small, mocking laugh.
I could hear her friends laughing too, as they took turns mocking me. The sound of their ridicule stung my ears.
“You’ve been hanging around Lord Grey, pretending to be his friend, but now you’re showing your true colors, aren’t you?”
“You know, it’s always the quiet ones who are the most devious, right? Heh-heh.”
Their mocking laughter filled the air as they fanned themselves with their fans. I struggled to contain my anger as I responded.
“Hey, that’s a bit too much, don’t you think?”
“Too much? After insulting me, you think a simple apology will make everything okay?” Lady Rose raised her voice, clearly frustrated. It seemed she expected me to kneel and beg for her forgiveness.
“Lady Rose, can I be honest with you?”
I pressed my temples, trying to contain the headache building in my mind. I was furious not just at their low tactics of humiliating me when they thought no one was around, but at their arrogance in assuming I would be the one apologizing and bowing to them.
I have had enough. I didn’t care if I upset them as much as they had upset me. With a smile full of sarcasm, I met her gaze and asked, “The person who wronged you wasn’t me—it was Armin Grey. Why don’t you say something to him?”
“What… what did you say?!”
Ha! She was taken aback, her face showing clear surprise.
“It’s a bit strange, don’t you think? I’ve never refused any of your requests, so why am I being treated like this?” I asked, blinking in confusion, shrugging my shoulders as if to emphasize that I truly didn’t understand.
“You asked me to pretend that your meeting with Armin was coincidental, when you had no relationship with him. Have I ever refused a request from you?”
“Then why didn’t you ask me directly? You could’ve asked me to make you and Armin lovers, and I would’ve said the same thing to him.”
I realized, for the first time, that when I get angry, I tend to speak even more coldly, and the more I speak, the angrier I get.
It turns out I had the same fighting instincts as Sasha Roha—being his twin, I guess I couldn’t completely escape the fire within me.
I smiled wickedly as I watched Lady Rose’s face turn pale. Speaking my mind, everything started to click into place. I could understand exactly why they had invited me to the Marquess’ house, why they had asked me such a request.
“From the start, you thought I could never associate with Armin. If I were a noblewoman from a family like yours, you would never have made such a request. You probably thought that because I’m the daughter of a Viscount, I’m beneath you, right?”
Everyone around me had already noticed the feelings between Armin and me. That much was obvious. Two adults, spending so much time together—if we were to claimed we were simply friends, it would have been a lie.
But even then, Lady Rose had pushed me to introduce her to Armin, knowing full well how uncomfortable I was.
“Thinking back, I’ll take back the apology I made. I don’t need to apologize, right? You’ve been glaring at me all this time, and I ended up thinking I was in the wrong.”
They probably only remembered me as the quiet, reserved girl who always kept to the background. But now, standing up for myself, I was pouring out my anger, something I had rarely done unless it was with Sasha when he was getting under my skin.
After all, I was Sasha Roha’s twin—raised alongside the sharpest mind in the country. I had spent years arguing with him, so there was no way these sheltered girls could match me.
“I’ve got things to do, so I’ll be going now. My companions will probably be looking for me soon.”
With a final blow, I turned to walk away. When conflict is unavoidable, it’s better to face it and win rather than retreat.
As I saw their faces twist in frustration, I felt a strange sense of satisfaction. It was almost refreshing.
I gave Lady Rose a slight nod as I turned around to leave.
“That arrogant little thing!”
Slap!
Before I could fully grasp what was happening, I felt a cold shock run down my head.
“What—”
I froze in place, trying to understand what was happening. Lady Rose’s shrill voice cut through the air as she cursed.
“What? How does it feel to be on the receiving end now? This is exactly what you did to me! You thought you could get away with humiliating me, huh? Just a Viscount’s daughter, you think you’re so special?!”
The sound of harsh breathing and mocking laughter filled my ears, creating a chaotic, ugly mix.
A stream of cold water poured over my head, sliding down my neck and staining the delicate dress that the Duchess and Madame Dewey had carefully crafted for me. The intricate hairstyle that Michelle had spent all day perfecting with jeweled pins and a neat half-updo was ruined.
The dripping water seemed to strip away my composure as well.
“What is this?”
My head was buzzing. When I got too angry, the world started to spin.
Lady Rose, dressed in a dark green gown, looked frozen in shock. Meanwhile, my expression likely resembled a demon from hell, rising from the depths.
“I’m asking what this is. Are you mute? You were talking just fine a moment ago, weren’t you?”
I lifted my water-soaked hair, glaring at her and her entourage.
They hadn’t expected this turn of events. I could feel their panic as they realized things were not going the way they had anticipated. Did they think I would stay silent and cry, after what they had just done?
How much did they look down on me? There was no reason for me to show them any respect when they didn’t even offer the basic respect of treating me like a person.
“Hey.”
My voice came out low and menacing. I could see the noblewomen flinch and shudder.
“I’m asking you. Don’t you dare ignore me. What is this nonsense?”
Maybe they didn’t know, but in my past life, I was nicknamed “Maltese.” I looked cute, but my temper was as fierce as a dog’s, and that nickname stuck.
Without waiting for her response, I grabbed Lady Rose’s wrist with a firm grip—the hand holding the crystal glass that had spilled the water on me.
She couldn’t fight my strength. The glass fell from her hand, and I heard the sharp sound of it shattering.
“This hand? The one that poured water on me? You thought you could just walk away after humiliating me like that?”
“Let go!”
“How dare you, the daughter of a Viscount, act so arrogantly?”
“Let go! I said let go!”
“If you think I’ll still be just a Viscount’s daughter in ten years, you’re wrong. Once Armin becomes Duke Grey, my title will change as well. Understand?”
Even though I wasn’t particularly strong, I wasn’t weak enough to let a skinny girl like her push me around. Plus, when I’m angry, I’m much stronger than usual. No matter how much she struggled, I kept my grip on her wrist.
“If you want to stay above me in status, the only person you can marry is the crown prince. Are you confident? Can you live comfortably while making an enemy of me?”
It was a bold statement, but if it meant taking her down, I’d bluff all the way.
Lady Rose’s entourage grew pale at my subtle threat. In this world, marriage was the greatest way to climb the social ladder, and the power of being the Duke’s wife was far greater than that of a marquess’ daughter.
Seeing her entourage falter only drove Lady Rose into a corner. I shoved her wrist away and sneered.
“Since I’ll be your future duchess, I’ll forgive you this once for throwing water on me. But next time? There will be no forgiveness. Understand what I mean?”
Lady Rose glared at me with tear-filled eyes, her wrist reddened from the grip.
