Chapter 23.2

The docile Lord Lucifer smiled a little, haha, and tried to write his name under it, but apart from that, I was annoyed and couldn’t move on without saying a word.

“Lord Lucifer applied first.”

“The first dance is, of course, mine.”

“I didn’t hear that?”

“It was so obvious even if I didn’t say anything. Now stop talking back, Betty.”

This Duke thinks that when he says it with a sweet smile like that, it’s not coercion.

Where the hell did this human being go wrong?

A pacifist as good as a capybara, Lucifer quickly wrote down his name next to the second dance and said, “See you at the venue, Miss Betty.” and hurried away.

I had to express my anger by taking advantage of the Duke’s conversation with someone by secretly saying, ‘Yes~Yes~I understand~’.

“…….”

“…… kuhmm, hmm.”

Then, I made eye contact with Duke Gladio, who had been sitting expressionless the whole time.

Right away, I lowered my head and watched the seafood pasta in front of me, but why was it that I could see Duke Gladio’s blue eyes narrowing and having an earthquake from the other side?

“Why are you so picky? Does it not taste good?”

“No, it is really good.”

Even in the original story, he was taciturn, so he wouldn’t go around arguing everywhere, right?

I’m still nervous as I covered my face with one hand and pretended to be deep in thought.

Even in the middle of it, the Duke was impatient to nag me.

“Eat this too. Eat it with green salad and chew slowly.”

“Yes. Eat a lot too, Duke. it is delicious.”

Don’t tell me to eat this or that, even though I’m not on a diet or I don’t eat much.

However, the Duke, who had no way of knowing the meaning of my words, replied indifferently.

“You, eat a lot.”

“Thank you.”

***

I managed to get out with a full stomach.

As soon as I entered the garden where the common nobles were, I saw children my age running to one side. I felt the need to build friendships for the sake of my school life that was just around the corner, so I followed them diligently and arrived at a corner of the greenhouse.

As expected, the nobles my age were playing around with clumsy manners.

“You’re really brave, Miss Roxy, to eat all your carrots.”

“It is overrated. Alex also ate all but a couple of pieces.”

“It’s an overstatement.”

Needless to say, I have the lowest status, so I shouldn’t join the conversation until someone speaks first.

I was just hanging around and overhearing the children’s cute conversations, when someone put a crown on my head. Confused, I turned my head and saw a young lady as tall as me, startled.

“Oh, sorry. I thought it was someone I knew.”

I quickly took off the crown that was on my head and held it out to the young lady.

“No. The crown is really pretty.”

The young lady accepted the daisy flower crown that I had offered her and asked with hesitation.

“Thank you. What is your name, by any chance?”

“My name is Betty, who is sponsored by Duke Janus.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Betty. Well, I am Elizabeth of Valentina.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Elizabeth.”

It wasn’t difficult to make friends with the children.

Elizabeth introduced me to her brother, Alex, who introduced me to his childhood friend, Alexandra, who also introduced me to her older sister, Roselia.

And Roselia, who was making a bouquet of roses in a corner of the garden where children could freely run around, introduced me to her close friend.

“Oh, Miss Betty! How have you been?”

“Yes! Lady!”

It was none other than Yelena.

“Miss Betty, since we met in an equal social setting, you should address me as Miss Yelena.”

Judging by the kind face as she corrected my title, she seemed to still like me even after my visit to County Mceuena, ended in disarray.

I got shy and answered politely.

“Yes, thank you for the advice, Miss Yelena.”

“Before the Flower Fairy Ball, it is customary for close friends to decorate each other with flowers. Can you sit here, Miss Betty? I want you to accept my decoration.”

“Yes.”

So we all sat around the gazebo and made ornaments out of the flowers.

If I wanted to use a flower with thorns like a rose, I had to ask the older Roselia and Yelena to cut and trim it. I was able to make flower rings and flower bracelets by copying them after looking over my shoulder. But it was difficult to make something like a crown, so I had to learn from my friends for a while.

In the meantime, I naturally got to know new friends.

Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Marquisate Valentina and her brother Alex were introverted and shy children.

Unlike them, Alexandra was a child of her own will. If the older sisters try to push flowers that she doesn’t like even a little bit, she’ll be firm.

“Thank you very much, but I don’t think those flowers fit the concept of my outfit today.”

… I knew she would refuse.

I peeked in carefully selected purple and yellow pansies. Because it seemed really pretty to put this one by one between her finely braided hair.

“Excuse me, Miss Alexandra, how about putting these flowers in your braids?”

Alexandra meticulously inspected the flowers I had picked and asked back.

“I really like the purple pansy, Miss Betty. But will these yellow pansies suit me? I think it’s weird that it looks similar to my hair color.”

Alexandra had no pretentiousness in what she said. She wasn’t being sarcastic, but it seemed like she was really asking because she wasn’t sure if it would really suit her hair.

I told her the result of my hard thinking.

“I chose it while thinking about Miss Alexandra’s dress. I think it would go very well with purple and gold embroidery.”

“Hmm…….”

Alexandra nodded her head, thinking it made sense.