CHAPTER 67…………………………
Evangeline’s voice was very loud, and her pronunciation was crisp and clear.
It seemed she was worried that someone in the hall might not hear her.
Thanks to that, a slight commotion spread among the nobles gathered in the hall.
“Did you hear just now?”
“Indeed, the maid beside the Crown Princess and Lady Ruth’s dress do look quite similar…”
“Could it really be that she copied her?”
Noticing her words were having some effect, Evangeline sat right down on the floor and burst into loud tears.
“To dress not even a lady-in-waiting but a lowly servant in the same outfit as me! You’re trying to drag me down to a maid’s level, aren’t you? It’s so cruel!”
At that, the noblewoman who had earlier referred to Annie as a mere maid flinched.
Evangeline had blatantly denied that statement.
At that moment, I tilted my head with an air of innocence.
“A maid? This is Annika Loren, who was recently granted the title of junior baron. She is my personal lady-in-waiting.”
Evangeline’s eyes went round.
I had already predicted that Evangeline would attack Annie for wearing a dress similar to hers.
As both a precaution and an excuse, I had granted Annie a title.
Strictly speaking, it had been bestowed in Arpad’s name, but still.
For a non-landed title, the Crown Prince had every right to grant it.
‘In truth, I had tried to bestow one on Sir Beltane as well, but he refused. Annie too would have refused if not for this incident.’
Truly, they were loyal and precious people.
Thus, Annie was no longer a maid but a lady-in-waiting.
Evangeline scowled and shouted.
“In the end, it’s still the same—you did it just to humiliate me!”
Her face twisted with rage, as though she’d already forgotten how she had been sobbing a moment ago.
“As I already said, I never did such a thing, Lady Ruth.”
“If not, then why is that maid’s dress exactly the same as mine?!”
“I wouldn’t know.”
I gave a slight laugh and added,
“Though it seems it wasn’t all that humiliating for you after all. Seeing as you’ve already stopped crying, I’m relieved.”
“!!!”
While shouting at me in anger, Evangeline had indeed forgotten her pitiful tears.
She bit her lip.
Her eyes sharpened, glaring at me as though she would kill me.
I merely scoffed.
Then, as though realizing tears suited her better, Evangeline abandoned her glare and returned to forced sobbing.
But the atmosphere of Artanus Hall was unlike that of the central social circle.
Someone began to speak up, unshaken even in the face of Evangeline’s tears.
“Isn’t it common enough for dresses to look alike by coincidence?”
“Yes. I’ve seen it happen before myself. The two young ladies at the time laughed it off, finding it amusing.”
In other words, they hadn’t thrown a petty tantrum like Evangeline was now.
“Besides, it seems Lady Ruth doesn’t know the Crown Princess’s lady-in-waiting well enough if she mistook her for a maid.”
Most of those filling Artanus Hall were western nobles.
They were favorable toward Grand Duchess Aksion, toward Arpad, and by extension, toward me.
It was only natural that Evangeline’s claims and protests would find little sympathy here.
Perhaps expecting this, Evangeline dragged in Viscountess Filleren, tears streaming.
“Ahh! Lady Filleren, please testify! Just as you confessed to me earlier!”
“E–Evangeline!”
The viscountess’s complexion turned deathly pale.
To act as witness against me in front of Arpad, the western grandees, and myself—it was no wonder.
Her accusation was obvious.
‘She’ll have Viscountess Filleren claim that I copied her dress.’
In other words, she would try to pin her own scheme onto me.
It was so transparent it was almost dull.
‘Predictable to the point of boredom.’
Of course, I had prepared for this long ago.
Though hesitant, Filleren gave her testimony for Evangeline.
“Everyone knows I often visited the Crown Prince’s palace and grew close to Her Highness. She… ordered me to find out the design of Lady Evangeline’s dress.”
After all, if I had remained in the Empress’s palace beside Evangeline, there was no way I wouldn’t have known.
‘But since I arrived here in a different dress and filled Artanus Hall with western nobles, she must already realize I only used her.’
That was the difference between Evangeline and Filleren.
Evangeline burned with anger at being played. Filleren trembled with fear.
Yet her dependence on and fear of Evangeline outweighed her dread of me.
Her absurd testimony grew more embellished.
“She told me she envied and despised Lady Evangeline, and that she would do anything to disgrace her. She threatened me to obtain the design, saying she would not spare me otherwise.”
At once, Evangeline’s attendants cried out in outrage.
“How could you! That’s too cruel!”
“Even if you envied Lady Evangeline, the flower of society!”
“She must have thought she could rise by pulling Evangeline down!”
But a western noble nearby scoffed and asked,
“Would Her Highness the Crown Princess really need to concern herself so with Lady Ruth?”
To which one of Evangeline’s companions snapped back, voice brimming with venom,
“Of course! Perhaps you westerners don’t know, but Lady Evangeline is the flower of the capital’s society—admired by all!”
“And she is the one and only daughter of Her Majesty the Empress! His Imperial Majesty dotes on her as though she were truly of the imperial blood…”
At that moment—
A displeased voice cut in.
“When did House Ruth become part of the imperial family?”
An elderly lady stepped forward, and the western nobles quickly bowed their heads with deep respect.
Naturally, it was Grand Duchess Aksion.
“Your Grace.”
“We pay our respects.”
In the face of those claiming Evangeline was practically royalty, an actual member of the imperial family had appeared.
“Tell me, child. When exactly did House Ruth ascend to the ranks of the imperial line?”
“T–that is…”
The young lady had only repeated the same flowery phrases she and her peers often used when praising Evangeline.
Since Evangeline’s mother was the Empress, since she resided in the Empress’s palace, and since the Emperor doted on her like a daughter—they said she was as good as imperial.
But her audience was wrong.
Before her stood the true imperial, a woman even Empress Isabel could not overcome.
No teenage noblewoman could withstand such a presence.
As the girl stammered, the Grand Duchess clicked her tongue and spoke low—but loud enough for all to hear.
“So, in my absence, the discipline of society has completely collapsed. I suppose it is no wonder, when those above set such a poor example.”
In a single stroke, Empress Isabel—Evangeline’s mother—was denounced as unfit.
Evangeline fumed at the insult, but she did not dare confront the awe-inspiring matriarch.
Instead, she turned her anger on her own attendant.
“Lady Isilia, be silent and stand back.”
“E–Evangeline!”
The girl, still in her late teens, withered beneath both the Grand Duchess’s sharp gaze and Evangeline’s rebuke.
The Grand Duchess gave a mirthless laugh.
“So the capital’s society no longer teaches proper manners, it seems. At a gathering, the foremost courtesy is to pay respect to the highest person present. Yet you rush first to slander others…”
A click of her tongue echoed.
Evangeline raised tear-filled eyes to the Grand Duchess and pleaded.
“I failed in etiquette only because I suffered such a shocking and grievous offense, Your Grace. Please have mercy.”
“One considers circumstances only after the minimum of courtesy has been observed. It seems neither you nor your companions were properly taught.”
The Grand Duchess gave a small laugh, adding for all to hear:
“Well, in truth, a young lady’s failings must be laid at her parents’ feet…”
Her target was unmistakable.
The mood in the hall was clearly not bending to Evangeline’s wishes.
I smiled easily as I walked closer to her.
Deliberately leaving Arpad behind.
At once, the western nobles who had been eyeing Evangeline and her party coldly stepped aside in unison, showing me respect and deference.
Fury and tears sparked in Evangeline’s eyes.
‘Pick one—either cry or glare.’
But unlike her expectations, I paid her no heed.
Turning instead, I addressed the Grand Duchess.
“It means a great deal that you traveled so far to be here for me, Your Grace. I thank you once again.”
And then something happened that stunned not only Evangeline’s party, but even the western nobles.
Grand Duchess Aksion bowed to me.
“On the contrary, it is I who must thank Your Highness the Crown Princess, for not forgetting this old woman and calling me here.”
She even brushed a kiss upon the back of my hand.
This was the same woman who, ten years ago, had nearly torn the palace apart to avoid bowing to Empress Isabel.
And now, she had shown me the highest of courtesies.
It meant only one thing.
‘Not the Empress, but I am the true First Lady of the Empire.’
And for me personally, it meant this:
‘Evangeline isn’t even worthy of being called my rival.’
A point I had made clear in front of her eyes.
And judging by her face, Evangeline had understood it instantly.
The face that had been blotched with tears and rage froze in sheer shock.
