CHAPTER 167………………………………………….
If she did it knowing full well, that would be downright irritating, but if she did it out of ignorance, it was impressive in a different way.
Even now, Leona was wearing an expression of disbelief, yet Ayla shyly confessed with her hands clasped together, like she was gazing at an idol.
“Actually, I really wanted to speak to Your Highness during the debutant event. But you disappeared right away… so I’m truly happy to meet you like this.”
…Isn’t this just unbelievably foolish?
Even someone like Ayla must have heard the rumors about Leona liking Cassius, yet she casually says something like that.
No, at this point it doesn’t matter which way.
From the debutant event to the fact that she happened to come here today, nothing about this pleased her.
This was more than enough. Already in a bad mood, Leona decided to vent a little by firmly pressing down on Ayla’s spirit.
“Did you get interested after hearing about me?”
“Yes, that’s right!”
Considering the terrible rumors that had circulated, Leona wasn’t any better than Ayla.
If anything, they were worse.
Leona had finished her judgment about Ayla.
She wasn’t oblivious—she was irritating on purpose.
So it was okay for Leona to tease her.
Leona openly sneered.
“None of the rumors about me are particularly good, you know.”
“…Pardon?”
Ayla’s voice trembled at Leona’s direct mockery.
She couldn’t hide her confusion, perhaps not expecting someone to speak so bluntly in front of the Empress.
“…Ah, right.”
Leona suddenly remembered Gabriel’s presence.
For now, Ayla was also Gabriel’s guest.
It would be unacceptable to make that guest uncomfortable in front of the Empress.
“What have I done!”
Too scared to check Gabriel’s reaction directly, Leona could only feel that Gabriel’s eyes were on her.
She was the daughter of someone she couldn’t tell whether was a friend or foe to Gabriel.
Meanwhile, Ayla, even if orphaned, was the lover of Gabriel’s son, Cassius.
Since Ayla had initiated a confrontation first, it was likely she would be sent away.
Then all the time spent courting Gabriel would be wasted, and even before that, she’d lose the one she had once relied on, her pseudo-friend.
“I didn’t come here feeling like this today…!”
She hadn’t meant to flare up.
She needed to apologize right now.
But that blasted pride wouldn’t let her apologize.
She had barely apologized in her life, so it was no wonder.
As Leona’s complexion paled with time, perhaps out of sympathy, Ayla called out.
“Please don’t say that, Your Highness! Who would dare spread such rumors?”
“…?”
Leona looked up unconsciously and saw Ayla’s face, puffing with indignation as if she herself were wronged.
Why was she angry? Leona, having just concluded that Ayla was the irritating kind, couldn’t understand it at all.
Ayla’s sudden indignation made Gabriel smile and join in.
“Miss Wolfgang is right, Your Highness. So please, don’t say that. All the rumors about the Grand Princess are only good ones.”
“That’s right! You are beautiful, intelligent, athletic—everything about you is praised! Any bad rumors are just nonsense spread by people envious of you, Your Highness.”
Thanks to one side acting the part so well, and the other perhaps naturally or innocently playing along, the situation was somehow resolved.
Rumors about beating up students or having an unrequited crush on Cassius were best left unmentioned.
“…I’m sorry. I ruined the atmosphere.”
The apology that hadn’t come out earlier now flowed naturally.
Fortunately, the tension eased quickly, and Leona joined their conversation.
The topic naturally shifted from the Academy to the debutant event, and then to Cassius.
“I’m really grateful to Miss Wolfgang. Honestly, our Cassius doesn’t have the best temperament. He was spoiled too much.”
“Th-That’s not…”
“It’s fine. I know my son’s temperament well. He’s stubborn like Mars, hierarchical, prejudiced, and insists that wrong is right. Quite troublesome.”
“…Yes, yes?”
As Gabriel criticized Cassius sharply, Ayla stammered, unable to hide her embarrassment.
Watching this, Leona pretended to sip her tea, only dipping her tongue lightly into the cup, quietly empathizing.
‘He did the same when we had tea together for the first time.’
Although not as harsh as now, Gabriel had also complained a lot about Cassius during Leona’s first tea gathering.
She couldn’t openly agree or disagree, but Gabriel’s assessment was accurate enough that Leona silently nodded.
The lament disguised as gossip continued.
Just when she wondered if it was acceptable to speak so openly about one’s own son, Gabriel clapped her hands once.
“However, these days he’s really changed. I asked, and it turns out he acts like this because Miss Wolfgang dislikes certain behaviors. So I’ve been wanting to thank her someday.”
“No, Your Majesty. Please spare him the trouble.”
Even Ayla couldn’t, even as flattery, claim that Cassius had a good personality.
But why would she pursue a relationship with someone she knew had a bad temperament?
Curious, Leona put down her teacup and asked.
“Now that you mention it, how did you two end up together?”
“You’re interested in romance, Grand Princess?”
“Not exactly, Your Majesty. It’s just that there were rumors at first. That His Highness Cassius was completely smitten with Miss Wolfgang, but she refused him several times.”
“Oh? Now I’m curious too. Why did you finally accept him?”
Ayla’s face blazed bright red under the attention on her romantic history.
“Well… at first I refused for many reasons.”
Leona pretended not to care but perked up her ears.
Ayla, clearly shy, fiddled with her hair as she spoke softly.
“Even though he was so stubborn, he tried to listen to me in the end. He tried not to do things I disliked. That’s how I felt he really liked me.”
She went along just because of that?
Isn’t it natural that the one who likes someone should compromise?
Leona, having always lived a life where others adjusted to her, both couldn’t understand Ayla and worried how someone so naive would survive in the world.
She realized her own hypocrisy and quickly dropped the thought.
But Ayla still had more to say, her hands fiddling with her hair faster, then she bowed her head deeply.
“…And he’s handsome, too.”
If Leona had been drinking tea, she was certain she would have spat it out.
Was he handsome? She couldn’t remember clearly, but Gabriel’s pleased smile gave her the answer.
“Hoho, Cassius did inherit my looks, so he’s certainly good-looking.”
Come to think of it, they did resemble each other. But unlike Gabriel, Cassius’s expressions were always unpleasant, so Leona had always thought he looked ugly.
The tea session continued with trivial chatter for a while longer before ending.
The initially awkward and tense atmosphere had mostly eased by then.
Cassius was the only one responsible for that.
Perhaps because she was perceptive, Gabriel didn’t offer them more tea and instead bid them farewell.
Leona and Ayla awkwardly boarded the same carriage.
Since they were going in the same direction, Gabriel had suggested they ride together to get closer.
Although the atmosphere had improved from the start, Ayla began to tense up as she was alone with Leona in the carriage.
She kept glancing at Leona, moving her lips as if wanting to speak.
Finally, frustrated by pretending to look out the window, Leona spoke first.
“It’s late, but congratulations. It seems both His Highness Cassius and Your Majesty, the Empress, think well of you.”
