Chapter 24.1

Chapter 24 – Part 1

It was not so difficult to notice that Adeline Alvinith had feelings for Theodore.

She often visited the Valentino residence to meet Theodore, and each time she was here, she would purposefully act affectionate to Theodore in front of me.

She intentionally did such things despite how immature she seemed, yet seeing this made it clear just how anxious Adeline Alvinith was.

He’s also… Well, it didn’t seem like Theodore was interested in her at all.

It’s plain to see how Theodore regarded Adeline as only a childhood friend at best, or just a mere acquaintance.

No, frankly, it almost seemed like he found her annoying.

Even an outsider to their relationship such as I noticed it, so there’s no way Adeline didn’t know this. Maybe that’s why she’s being quite persistent.

This visit alone was a testament to that.

‘I’m curious. What kind of expression will you make after finding out the truth to that rumor?’

It would be misleading to say that our relationship as husband and wife had gotten better lately, but it’s still true that Theodore started being more kind to me since he lost his memories.

But Adeline wouldn’t know about Theodore’s partial amnesia.

The only thing she’d see here was how Theodore had changed.

I quite find this to be a little fun. I knew about the sweet, lovely mask that Adeline often wore.

Someone who’d wear a mask like this was usually the kind of person who would thoroughly hide and distort their true self beneath that mask.

I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of distortion there’ll be today.

“Charlotte, bring me that opal necklace.”

“Ah, the one His Grace gifted you before, Madam?”

“Yes.”

If you’re being nasty towards me like this, then you should know that I don’t have much of a good personality either.

But since I’d been patient with Adeline all this time despite the many instances that she crossed the line before, this much should be fine.

“Here it is, Madam. Would you like me to style your hair?”

“Thank you. Yes, please do.”

I happened to be wearing a green dress, so the blue opal necklace would go well with my outfit.

Charlotte braided my hair and pinned it up, and without any other jewelry adorning me, I wore only that necklace and silver heels as my accessories.

It’s been a long time since I dressed up, but oh, how ironic it was that I’m doing this just to mock someone else. It couldn’t be helped since I rarely ever want to dress up in the first place.

I exited the room and went out the hallway with Charlotte.

As we headed towards the drawing room on the ground floor, Charlotte approached and asked in a whisper so that only I could hear.

“Um, Madam… Should I go to the knight commander’s office? I can go and tell him that you’d like to talk to him…”

I stopped walking and looked at Charlotte. After a moment, my lips opened and imparted my answer.

“…You’re really quick-witted, aren’t you, Charlotte?”

Charlotte bashfully scratched her cheek. It’s not something obvious, but she seemed to have caught on to the fact that I wanted to look at the military records. And from there, she volunteered to talk to the knight commander on my behalf since I was reluctant to do this myself.

…This was really admirable of her, and for this, I was grateful.

Facing Charlotte, I smiled slightly and said,

“Thank you very much for this. Then, can you go and deliver this message to the knight commander now? After he finishes up his work, tell him to come straight to the drawing room.”

“Yes, I’ll relay your message, Madam!”

Missus Seymour had also gone out right now, so there’s no one watching me at the moment.

Missus Seymour was persistent when it came to keeping an eye on me, perhaps wanting to catch me in the act if I ever did anything untoward to the family.

Though I’ll be acting while she’s not here, I’m sure she’d eventually hear a report about it later.

After leaving this task to Charlotte, I headed towards the drawing room.

The attendant stationed outside the door then announced my presence as I entered.

When I went inside, a floral scent hit my senses as strongly as usual. This was the fragrance of Adeline’s favorite perfume.

It was quite the nice scent, really, but it’s a polarizing scent that could be liked by one person, but disliked by another.

Refraining from pinching my nose, I smiled.

Adeline, who was sitting on the sofa, smiled broadly back at me as she got up from her seat.

“Lily! It’s been so long! It’s so good to see you again.”

“Greetings, Lady Alvinith.”

“Oh, don’t be so stiff with me, gosh. Just call me Adeline.”

Still as ever, she’s the same brazen woman.

Inwardly right now, she must be sharpening her knife, but her acting skills were truly no joke whenever she smiled like this. This was the reason why she continued to reign as the ‘queen’ of high society.

Then, Adeline’s gaze lingered for a long time on my neck.

To be precise, she stared intently at the blue opal necklace.

After a while, however, she naturally looked away. She maintained her smile as she spoke.

“I came here because I wanted to know how you’ve been doing, you know, theeese days. I heard that Missus Seymour and Theo went out though, but I can’t wait to see them again.”

‘So you’re just going to pretend not to know about the opal necklace, huh.’

“You look the same as usual these days, too. Until the other two people come back, I’ll talk to you so that you don’t feel lonely, Lady Alvinith.”

Sitting face to face with Adeline, we exchanged stories that didn’t have much substance. A maid approached and poured some tea for us.

The light red tea had a unique scent that I never smelled before.

Perplexed by this as I tasted it, I realized that it really was a new type of tea that I’m tasting for the first time.

Adeline was watching my reaction carefully. It looked like she wanted to say something.

Sure enough, as soon as her lips left the cup and she raised her head, she smiled and spoke.

“It’s tea from the eastern continent. Do you like it? I brought this as a gift today.”

“Mm, yes. The scent is lovely. Thank you for the gift.”

“No, this is nothing. Theo likes tea more than liquor, you know. That’s why I brought it here. Once he’s back, I can’t wait to hear his appreciation for it, too. I hope he likes it.”