Chapter 29………………………………….
But Ariana only pretended to be innocent when it came to the story of Marquis Ponz.
After that, the young noblewomen began to test Ariana with questions, trying to gauge her knowledge, and repeatedly gawked at her effortless answers.
‘Within what I’ve learned, I can answer appropriately. Mrs. Walker’s overwhelming knowledge seems to have already become famous among the ladies.’
Ariana truly studied day and night.
She scored perfectly on every test Mrs. Walker gave her, and some of the young noblewomen probably knew about that too.
‘…Boring. Where on earth is our illustrious main male lead that, despite all this, I haven’t even caught a glimpse of him?’
At some point, Ariana stopped paying much attention to the tea-time with the young ladies.
Responding to all the petty concerns of the girls would have been tiring enough, but the large “sweet potato” of Laollet already occupied most of Ariana’s mind.
The cold of the outdoor tea-time in the dead of winter was even more grating on her nerves.
“Today, to match the grandeur of Lady Ariana’s tea-time debut, all desserts were prepared by a former royal chief chef.”
“Good heavens, Lady Chloe, you’ve gone to quite the effort. No wonder the carrot cake tastes so delightful!”
At Chloe’s words, the other young noblewomen eagerly chimed in, praising and echoing her sentiments.
Ariana quietly matched the mood, moving her fork a few times, but didn’t find the taste particularly satisfying.
It was edible, but… the desserts she had every day in the Duke’s palace were dozens of times better.
Her attention was focused entirely on Perez, whom she might accidentally run into.
But the main male lead wasn’t appearing that easily.
‘As expected, I don’t see Perez. Feels like a waste of time.’
As the tea-time began to wind down, Ariana felt a twinge of regret.
Perhaps it would have been better to spend this time studying.
As expected, the status of being the Berkshire noblewoman carried considerable influence.
Even without saying much, several young noblewomen were already looking at her favorably.
Of course, Chloe subtly wanted to look down on Ariana, so the others were careful not to openly show their favor.
Still, occasional admiring glances reached Ariana.
Each time, Chloe frowned in discomfort.
‘Since it’s come to this, I might as well learn what my reputation is like among unrefined nobles.’
“May I step away for a moment?”
“Of course, Your Ladyship.”
Chloe’s face brightened.
Ariana deliberately left her seat.
The noblewomen didn’t explicitly mention going to the restroom, so the girls guessed and allowed her to leave.
The tea-time was outdoors.
Pretending to go to the restroom, Ariana hid behind a tree.
She was curious what kind of gossip her peers would spread about her.
Even though they were young girls, all of them were nobles.
Once they returned to the estate, they would surely report their encounters with Ariana to the adults.
In the Berkshire palace, good stories about Ariana circulated even when she wasn’t present.
But since the palace was Ariana’s domain, perhaps that was only natural.
She had also learned from newspapers how she was depicted, and she knew well.
Ariana wanted to hear the unfiltered evaluations of the nobles themselves.
“Even though Lady Ariana of Berkshire has a notorious reputation, she feels pretty ordinary when you actually meet her. They say she was discovered in the slums, after all.”
‘Hmm, here we go.’
Ariana leaned comfortably against the tree.
If there had been any young noblewomen capable of using mana, they would have immediately sensed her hiding behind the tree and been cautious with their words.
‘Or perhaps they’d intentionally flatter me to win my favor and steer the conversation positively.’
Among the young ladies present, none could use mana.
Ariana relaxed and began listening to the gossip.
“Lady Ariana asking 0 gold for upkeep from His Grace is well-known. People in Berkshire say they don’t know whether she’s clever or just foolish…”
“But what has she been doing all this time, never leaving the palace? Lady Chloe, when did you send the tea-time invitation?”
“It’s been so long, I barely remember.”
“It’s already been nine months since the title conferment ceremony… and this is her first official outing? What has she been doing besides studying?”
“I heard she’s just been growing tulips all this time.”
“Tulips?”
The young ladies burst into laughter.
“Exactly 730 tulips, apparently. She seems a bit obsessive. You know how proud the Berkshire staff are, right? I heard that someone among the staff would check the flowerbeds daily to count each tulip, fearing one might be stolen.”
“Good heavens… I understand. Starving in the slums… the only thing she owned would have been a tattered dress. That obsession with possessions makes sense now.”
“Apparently, she had no choice but to ask for 0 gold for upkeep. My source says that as soon as she entered the Duke’s palace, she touched the fountain coins and incurred His Grace’s displeasure.”
“My goodness… Even if she was uneducated, touching coins in the fountain? Isn’t that common sense for a three-year-old?”
“His Grace was so furious that he refused to give her an allowance, which is why her upkeep fee was zero gold.”
“Really… she didn’t even recognize the value of the famous Marquis Ponz. No wonder.”
Ariana wasn’t surprised.
After all, words passed through mouths tend to be exaggerated until they become absurd rumors.
‘Seems I was right—no one at this tea-time is on my side.’
Her gaze briefly landed on the quietest young lady.
Alphion, the daughter of the Marquis of Alphion and de facto owner of the Persis newspaper, sipped her tea alone, calm and composed.
Despite being close with Chloe, she remained detached, not joining in the gossip.
‘Typical of the family Christina chose. She isn’t joining in the gossip. Christina seems to prefer cautious and discreet people.’
Of course, Ariana didn’t like passive bystanders either.
Perhaps due to trauma from past school bullying, she didn’t resent them directly but didn’t like them either.
“I’ve heard you don’t get along well with Duke Adrian or the two young princes. I think I understand why. They’re all skilled with swords, but you look too delicate to even hold one… and the rumors seem true.”
“You mean the rumor that Lady Ariana is disliked by the people of Berkshire?”
Even calm Ariana paused at this.
It wasn’t entirely false—since the title conferment ceremony, she hadn’t met her father or brothers even once.
“Sure, and the Duchess of Moltke committed suicide only a few weeks after you went missing. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for you, Duchess wouldn’t have died, right? It’s understandable to resent you. If I were in the prince’s position, I’d probably hate you too.”
“…….”
Ariana slowly lowered her head.
At that moment, she never imagined someone would suddenly pick her up from behind.
“……?!”
It was completely unexpected.
“Long time no see, little one.”
It had been nine months since she last saw her father.
Adrian.
