Chapter 14
“Marchioness Lausen, do you have a moment?”
“…If it’s just a moment, I suppose that’s fine.”
It seemed there was a meeting of the Sunlight Society afterward, as Marchioness Lausen kept glancing outside the temple doors.
She looked like she was wary of others watching.
Even after they moved to the clearing behind the temple, she checked once more to make sure no one was around before finally turning to face Helene.
“There’s a Sunlight Society meeting today, isn’t there?”
“Well…”
Though she was a noble, Marchioness Lausen was by nature gentle and soft-hearted—terrible at lying.
Seeing her troubled and apologetic expression, Helene could once again feel that she had been rejected by the Sunlight Society.
Helene felt sorry for Marchioness Lausen, but she needed to know the reason, so she pressed her a little more.
“Am I no longer going to be invited to the Sunlight Society?”
“I’m sorry, Countess Emeldia. I hope you’ll understand. Everyone really did want you to come… but she was against it…”
“…She?”
Helene’s thoughts became tangled.
Apparently, everyone supported her joining the Sunlight Society—except for one person.
And there was only one person with that much influence.
Even if everyone else opposed it, if she had strongly supported it, Helene would have been able to join.
Marchioness Lausen didn’t say her name, referring to her only as “that person”—likely out of fear. But Helene was determined to find out why.
“What exactly does the Grand Duchess dislike about me?”
“…Please don’t take it too harshly. I personally don’t think that at all.”
After a long hesitation, Marchioness Lausen whispered in Helene’s ear.
“She said… the Countess of Emeldia doesn’t seem like a sincere person…”
Even after Lausen was done speaking, Helene stood there in silence.
‘How did she know? I played the part perfectly…’
No, it was her mistake from the start.
Trying to deceive the Grand Duchess—a woman who had mastered the politics and schemes of high society—was foolish.
Earning the Grand Duchess’s favor with a clumsy performance had worked once, but it should have stopped there.
Instead of growing closer, she’d left the impression of being insincere.
Helene blamed her own arrogance.
“…I… I should get going.”
Seeing the frozen Helene, Marchioness Lausen, clearly flustered, quickly excused herself and left.
“Stepmother?”
On the way home, Liriana called out to Helene, who had been dazed and silent.
“…Huh?”
“What did you talk about with Marchioness Lausen?”
Liriana had been wanting to ask the whole way home.
After her conversation with Lausen, her stepmother had looked gloomy the entire time.
Liriana had thought things were going well—her stepmother had repented before the Sun God and even made a like-minded friend.
Now, seeing Helene’s downcast face, she began to worry that something bad had happened.
“It was nothing. Just a personal matter—not something I can talk about.”
“I see… It seems like you’ve made a lot of friends lately, Stepmother.”
Liriana likely meant it to cheer her up, but to Helene, it sounded more like, “Is your plan to marry me off to the Grand Duke going well?”—as if her guilt were exposing itself.
‘To be kicked out of the Sunlight Society like this…’
Helene let out a sigh that stopped halfway up her throat.
What foolishness to think she could deceive the Grand Duchess.
She had been blinded and lost her caution.
Even with her past life’s memories, her rotten luck hadn’t changed.
She should never have dreamed of gambling.
But if there was one thing Han Yena was confident in—it was investing.
If not for the small investments she made from time to time, she never would have been able to graduate from school.
And the basic principle of investment was diversification.
“By the way, Liriana, do you still have some time?”
“Oh, yes. I still have time.”
Liriana felt something odd.
The truth was, she had a very important appointment after this.
She hadn’t mentioned anything yet… could her stepmother somehow know?
Just thinking about that person made Liriana’s cheeks flush red.
“P-please stop pacing.”
The Grand Duke’s chief aide finally burst out in frustration at Zighardt, who had been walking back and forth in front of the office door.
He had served him for over ten years, but this was only the second time he’d seen him this anxious.
The first time had been recently—when they received a reply to the letter sent to Lady Angelina asking her to come to the capital, Lepia.
And the second was now—as he waited for Lady Liriana.
Only then did Zighardt realize how nervous he had become.
He glanced at the clock—it was only five minutes until the appointed time.
Suddenly, he recalled something from not long ago.
One early morning in Lepia, Zighardt was out enjoying a walk in the park.
He breathed in the morning air, taking in the quiet, natural surroundings.
Since coming to Lepia, this had become a daily routine.
The sun had yet to rise, and the sky was still a faint blue when a red silhouette appeared.
Zighardt wasn’t particularly good at remembering faces, but he recognized her immediately.
Her striking appearance stood out—and she was also the new Countess of Emeldia, and Liriana’s stepmother.
They had already exchanged greetings once before, and given his status, Zighardt took the initiative to greet her.
“Well, what a coincidence. Countess of Emeldia.”
According to what his aides had told him later, this woman named Helene had once had a terrible reputation, but after repenting before the Sun God, she had become an entirely different person.
In many ways, she was a fascinating character—even to the introverted Zighardt.
“Oh my, Your Grace. I never expected to meet you here…”
Helene was clearly startled to encounter someone she knew during her early morning walk and clutched her chest in surprise.
Indeed, it would be odd to expect to run into someone during a sunrise stroll.
After a polite greeting, Helene began making small talk.
“Lake Herbient is even more beautiful than the lakes in Lepia, isn’t it?”
Zighardt was surprised.
This daily habit of walking through the lake park at dawn had started during his time studying abroad in Herbient.
Watching the sunrise from Herbient Lake was like witnessing the most beautiful painting in the world.
It was a well-kept secret—known only to locals.
“You’ve been to Herbient?”
“Only briefly. Life there was very pleasant. Even the young lady managing it alone was doing wonderfully.”
Helene even knew about Lady Angelina of Herbient.
Zighardt, unusually, became absorbed in the conversation.
“You must mean Lady Angelina. She’s actually coming to stay at the palace in Lepia in about a month.”
“I see… but won’t it be lonely? Without any friends her age…”
Helene trailed off, a concerned expression on her face.
“Oh, my apologies… It’s just a mother’s instinct. Even with Liriana, she’s always treated as an older sister by other children, but never really has friends her own age… she always seemed so lonely.”
Zighardt recalled Angelina’s lonely expression before he and the Crown Prince had arrived.
Just like Helene said, although many girls her age were in the temple, there didn’t seem to be a single close friend among them.
“Oh my, look—the sun is rising!”
As Helene admired the sunrise, Zighardt found that he could neither see nor hear anything else.
Angelina, who lost her parents early, had always been alone.
Though she had the Grand Duke and the Crown Prince, it wasn’t the same as having a friend her own age.
Neither of them were particularly attentive, and Angelina often scolded them.
There were plenty of maids in the royal palace, but could any of them be a real friend to her? He wasn’t sure.
A friend…
Zighardt thought of the person who remained his dearest friend in memory—Liriana.
She had been the one to comfort him during the loneliest and saddest time in his life.
If it were Liriana, he was certain—absolutely certain—she would become a good friend to Angelina.
Awww.. is it your first date