Chapter 54

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Chapter 54

Finally, the day for the banquet hosted by yours truly.

As time went by, I received several guest invitations and I have written an awful lot of letters. The villa turned out to be very fancy because the budget allocated to it was huge. Though it couldn’t be comparable to a banquet at the Imperial Palace, still, it was quite large for the southwestern region.

“Miss Laria, shall I put on more dark makeup?”

“No, it’s fine.”

“But, you look so gentle right now.”

“What can I do about my looks?”

“You’re already small…”

Lisa kept sighing. She was worried about the territorial situation here.

“Then, rather than making it clumsy, I’d rather be like Lady Olivia.”

“That could look a little… funny.”

“In fact, that’s what I think, too.”

One might wonder why she was so concerned about not being yet an adult, although I thought it was perfectly legitimate.

In this world also exists the ‘eighth-grade’ syndrome. So, the gang fight was the fiercest in the early to mid-teens. And, because the subtle emotions of that time continue into adulthood, even adults have been trying to create factions for their children since childhood.

In that sense, Duke Icard, who sent Evan to the Academy, was a very indifferent father.

Evan never formed a faction throughout his childhood in the capital’s society. Besides, there was no announcement that he, who had brought me in as his daughter-in-law, would host a tea party or anything like that either.

So, that pretty much meant… stay quiet and die slowly.

“I’ve heard that Count Yuvinart’s Young Lady… Well, if you get along well with Young Lady Vietti Yuvinart, you won’t get much damage in this area.”

‘In other words, if you don’t get along with her, you’ll get stomped hard. In a way, this is just a useless childish brawl of children. Who would be serious about such a little thing…’

However, apparently, it was I who was that ‘who.’

‘We’ll see.’

It was childish and insignificant, so I had to win for sure.

While Lisa put her soul into dolling me up, Evan came in with a knock.

“Hmm.”

Evan frowned as soon as he came in and saw me. He opened his mouth slowly.

“I…I don’t think it’s good enough.”

“Really…? What is it?”

“The dress doesn’t fit on your face.”

Is Evan a man who has delicate standards of beauty? At his words, I tilted my head as I gazed at my reflection in the mirror.

’…I think it’s pretty good, though?’

Lisa, who picked out the dress, also asked back with a nervous look.

“Why, Young Master? Does the design look too old?”

“No, the color is a little hazy.”

He replied with his arms folded. Evan was already dressed in perfect attire and even wearing a red cravat.

“Is there a dress that’s as bright as when you went to a horse racing event?”

“Oh… Is that so? I see. Young Lady is the host of the banquet, so it should be a little more colorful.”

At that, Lisa put a few dresses in front of her and started pondering again. There were a total of six extremely flamboyant dresses made in the Capital for this banquet. I thought any dress would do, but Duke Icard said to prepare as many colors as possible, depending on the weather of the day.

“Shall we boldly try the bright yellow?”

“Mmh, yellow makes her face look pale.”

“Not exactly, though… How about this green dress?”

“It doesn’t go terribly well with Laria’s hair color.”

Lisa’s expression began to become more subtle, perhaps because she didn’t know Evan would express his active opinion, like Serena.

“Is that so? What about this orange color?”

“I think it’d be better if it was a little darker.”

“Then… purple?”

“No, in a warmer color than that…”

“Mmh…”

Eventually, Lisa muttered, lifting up the last remaining dress, “She usually wears a lot of red dresses, so I wanted to try a new challenge today…”

“I think that would be a great fit.”

At that, Evan swiftly answered with a pleased smile.

“Then, make yourself comfortable.”

It seemed that he must have known that we have been uncomfortable with his existence so far, so he went out with a fresh gesture as if he had achieved something.

“Evan seems to be quite obsessed with red.”

I spoke as I changed into a new dress.

“I guess he’s a little narcissistic.”

It was usually normal for children to like the color of their eyes.

Replying to me, Lisa shrugged.

“I couldn’t know… Lady Matilda had red hair, and maybe that’s what Young Master heard.”

“Oh, really? I guess that must be why.”

I added casually.

“Evan didn’t really say what he liked. It’s kind of weird of him to beat around the bush like that.”

“Please understand, Miss Laria. Young Master doesn’t want anything from anyone. No, it’s more like he thinks he shouldn’t hope for anything.”

In the end, such a tendency was also a trace of trauma.

‘I feel sorry for him.’

Anyway, after wearing all kinds of accessories, I became a lovely girl. My complexion had improved these days, thus I hadn’t shown any signs of pain.

As I waited with Evan in the splendid banquet hall, guests began to arrive one by one. Personally, the goal of today’s banquet was twofold– First, creating a starting point for social domination. And second, find out what the Vestian Dark Information Guild wants from me by contacting Sven.

“Hello, Your Highness. Welcome to the Southwestern Region.” Almost everyone greeted me gently with courtesy.

“Let’s interact often and get along.”

Meanwhile, there was a group of people who greeted each other briefly and laughed together.

‘That’s her.’ Children of my age flocked around Count Yuvinart’s Young Lady, Vietti, and her closest friend, Viscount’s Young Master, Bern. As they would give me a glimpse and laugh suddenly, it felt rather bad.

‘This is the end, you guys. Smile to your heart’s content for now.’

Meanwhile, Evan stood by me with a calm look on his face.

Obviously, my first dance partner was Evan. Since we were a married couple, there was no procedure in asking for a dance. It was just natural as this place was the Icard’s villa.

“Wow, Evan!” Still, it was surprisingly good to be dancing with Evan along with the music.

“Look, the petals are falling off.”

In this season, petals are fluttering out at the big window.

“It’s so pretty.”

Nice music, an old-fashioned but cute husband, falling flowers, and a beautiful spring night.

“Yes.”

Evan didn’t even look at the window, as his gaze was fixated on me. He nodded slowly with a light smile painted on his face.

“It’s really pretty.”

After the first dance with Evan, I was catching my breath.

“Good evening, Miss Laria.”

I bit my lower lip slightly, pretending not to be surprised.

“Thank you for inviting me.”

He had wavy blonde, vivid green eyes, and a soft aura.

“I’m Seymour Gold Letucia.”

Even though we’ve never met before, he didn’t call me Young Madam, but called me by my name instead.

“I haven’t been in the Southwest for a long time either.”

The male lead was the male lead, after all. Although he was a young man who was a commoner and lived only as a baron, Seymour looked somehow elegant.

“I hope we can stay close together in the future.”

“Oh… yes, nice to meet you.”

“May I ask Miss Laria for the second dance?”

Seymour slowly reached out his hand.

‘What? Why is he being so straightforward? What does he mean, the second dance? No, I can’t avoid you if you come this strong.’

However, fortunately, I had a way of avoiding him.

“…Cough.”

I forgot because I haven’t coughed these days, but I was a patient after all.

“Laria?”

Evan, who had a bad memory of me bleeding, held me by the shoulder and reacted frighteningly.

“Cough, cough. I’m sorry, Baron Letucia.”

I gasped, grabbing Evan by his arm, and staggered for a moment.

“I’m actually not feeling well. I’m a little out of breath after one dance.”

“Laria, let’s go get some rest.”

Though he acted indifferent after coming to the banquet, Evan, now, could not hide his restless expression. At that, I smiled brightly as I stood up again in fear of rumors circulating.

“It’s not much of a symptom, but I think I need to rest for now. I’m sorry, Baron.”

“It’s nothing.”

Seymour glanced at Evan, who was still slightly shorter than him, and smiled before continuing his words.

“Banquet nights are long.”

I simply blinked with a smile on my face.

‘As expected, haughty punk. Even though he was a commoner, his position was secured by his male lead’s buffs…’

If by any chance he would have noticed that I was following Seymour’s footsteps, it could have been me who should be treated as a competent stalker.

‘Is he blaming me or sharpening his sword, knowing that I had taken what was his?’

Of course, despite it would be just an assumption pressed by a peerage noble, it would be a loss to me if such a scandal went around. He was a human being whom I should never get entangled with, anyway.

But, at that moment…

“I’m sorry, but–”

Half-buried in Evan’s arms, he stared at Seymour with a cold look on his face.

“Since I’m already here, it’s hard for Laria to accept your suggestion to forget about her little husband, who is far away from her.”

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