Chapter 82
Her bold actions seemed to have intimidated Marinef and her group a little.
They shrank back, taking a cautious step.
“I just came to see what was going on… It seems like one of my close friends is being slandered,” Haboni said, shrugging her shoulders.
At that, Baritas trembled with disbelief, pointing at Estelle.
“Cl-close friend? Haboni, you mean with her?”
Haboni shook her head in response.
“Oh, I’m not a close friend with that lady.”
“R-right?”
“For now, yes.”
Haboni turned her head back to look at Estelle.
“That’s just my wishful thinking. I’d like to be friends someday.”
Then she smiled brightly and winked at Estelle.
‘What…?’
Estelle was flustered. She was clearly seeing this face for the first time. Yet the other person seemed to already know her. And their gaze was full of such friendliness.
Estelle felt both embarrassed and uneasy.
“Well, anyway… the close friend I’m talking about is someone else.”
Haboni smiled once more at Estelle. She seemed completely unbothered by Estelle’s flustered reaction.
“You all know them too.”
Taking her gaze off Estelle, Haboni turned to face Marinef. Then she took a step forward and spoke, a cold smile unlike the one shown to Estelle on her lips.
“I’m talking about Aris.”
Upon hearing her words, Marinef and the other two turned pale.
“Wait, miss… Are you saying we slandered Aris?”
“Slander? No! We never did that!”
“How could we possibly dare?”
The three of them frantically denied it, shaking their heads and waving their hands desperately. Their gestures were so intense that it was almost pitiful.
“Oh? Really? Is that so?”
Haboni arched her eyebrows and tilted her head. Then, in a flat, cold voice, she said:
“You just said it yourselves. You asked if he misused his body, didn’t you?”
“T-That was to that wretch…”
“No, miss.”
Haboni straightened up and raised her index finger in front of Marinef’s face, cutting her off.
Marinef reflexively shut her mouth and stared at the finger in front of her.
Haboni clicked her tongue three times and then wagged her finger left and right three times.
“In other words, you’re saying Aris misuses his lower body, aren’t you?”
“…!”
Marinef flinched at Haboni’s words. She had only intended to belittle that insolent person, not realizing it would also insult Aris.
Biting her lip, Marinef looked anxiously at Robel and Baritas for help. But neither could do anything. Both averted their eyes and lowered their heads.
Haboni raised her finger to her lips again and tilted her head.
“Oh? Why aren’t you saying anything more?”
She stared at the three and took long strides toward them, her wide eyes unblinking.
The three felt a chill. Her expressionless face, the vacant eyes, and her stiff, stone-like walk—she looked like a cursed doll they had heard of in their childhood.
So, even though they trembled, they couldn’t move. Any sudden action felt like it would trigger something uncontrollable.
Haboni’s bold steps stopped only when she was extremely close to Marinef. The distance was so short that even a small movement could bring them almost nose-to-nose.
“……”
“……”
Haboni quietly stared into Marinef’s trembling eyes. Then, smiling slightly, she leaned back and said:
“Of course, I don’t know Aris’ private matters, but as a close friend since infancy, I can vouch for him.”
Leaning back, Haboni stepped her right foot back, spun around once, and continued, one hand theatrically over her chest, the other pointing toward Marinef:
“I’ll clarify it right here. Aris hasn’t even held a woman’s hand, let alone met one!”
People were taken aback. The exaggerated gestures, the theatrical tone—all of it. Haboni’s attitude was completely the opposite of the tense atmosphere until now.
“Ah, and of course, when I say ‘woman’ here, I’m not referring to gender. Including that would mean including that lady, the Duchess, and even me… Ugh… just saying it makes me uncomfortable.”
Yet, her voice carried humor, and the tense atmosphere broke instantly. Everyone realized her words were meant to ease the situation.
With the mood easing, people’s expressions relaxed too. They laughed at how absurd her words were.
Haboni casually glanced around, placed her hands on her hips, and looked at Marinef and her group.
Unlike the others laughing, Robel and Baritas behind Marinef couldn’t smile. What sounded like a joke to others was a warning to them. A warning not to speak recklessly.
Haboni clapped her hands sharply, looking at the three trembling figures.
“So, do you have anything more to say?”
Her cheerful voice contrasted sharply with the hostility in her blue eyes. Facing that gaze, the three desperately shook their heads.
Haboni watched them quietly, then bent slightly and whispered in a tiny voice that no one else could hear:
“If not, get lost.”
As soon as she finished, the three scurried away, terrified, like frightened mice, not even glancing back.
“Phew! That’s refreshing!”
Haboni theatrically wiped her forehead, enjoying the sight of them fleeing.
“Oh, you two are still here. Good.”
Turning around, Haboni spotted Estelle and Sial and clapped her hands. She hopped over like a little bird and stopped in front of them.
“Hello? I’m Haboni Anax. I’ve wanted to talk to you, but there was never a good opportunity until now.”
She grabbed their hands.
“I want to be friends with you. Would that be alright?”
Then she smiled broadly, her grin stretching to her cheeks.
“Welcome. I’ve been waiting for you.”
“…Hello.”
Inside Claude’s office in the Genofesia Mansion, I was greeted by Claude and thought:
‘Is it really alright for a commoner to come and go so often in a Duke’s mansion, especially in the Young Duke’s office?’
…It felt surreal. For a commoner, a mansion is like a world apart—a place beyond one’s experience. No matter how hard you live your whole life, you wouldn’t normally step foot in such a place.
Perhaps that’s why all commoners think of a mansion as something imaginary, unreal.
‘And until recently, I thought the same… Ah, even now, I do.’
Even though in my previous life I was a citizen of 21st-century South Korea, where class no longer mattered. Most people lived in apartments, and only wealthy families lived in mansions.
‘Yet here I am, coming and going to a mansion I’ve never even visited before…’
It’s funny how life works out. Being here feels awkward, as if wearing clothes that don’t fit my body.
But I had no choice but to come here frequently.
‘Everything here is connected to Estelle.’
