Chapter 165

But Mimi nagged me about it. “What kind of attitude is that towards the person you like?! Your shamelessness knows no bounds!”

But what does she want me to do about this shamelessness? I hurriedly walked out of my room to hide my embarrassment. Mimi looked at me as though I had committed a heinous crime. She followed behind me. I told her about the confession last night but told her to not tell a soul about it.

Mimi gasped. “I won’t tell anyone!”

I walked with a spring in my steps and my heart fluttered. “Has Teacher eaten yet?”

“Surprisingly, he overslept. So, he went out without eating.”

“Hmm… really?”

My heart, which was swelling and fluttering, spiraled down. So much for the eagerness and excitement, I felt disappointed now.

I shouldn’t have slept yesterday. I tried to suppress my frustration at myself. Should I at least have kissed him? I reminded myself that all was not lost. I could still have tea with him and spend the rest of the afternoon with him after he is done with work. My heart soared again.

“Oh, I hope you didn’t forget. Count Vega is visiting this afternoon.”

It seemed I was destined to be away from him today. My excited heart dropped in discontent again.

“What? This is the first time I’m hearing about it!”

“I told you a week ago. You were clearly focused on… something else. You must not have been listening to me at all.”

Was it today already? Can’t I even enjoy my successful confession with a date with my boyfriend? With a tinge of regret, I wondered whether confessing on the day of my social debut was the right thing to do. So many people kept interrupting my happiness. I let out a sigh and headed to the drawing room.

The drawing room was crowded with servants from each family standing in line. Why don’t the nobles use a convenient and easy method of delivering letters?

Taking a deep breath, I sat down on the sofa, and the attendants came forward. Each knelt down and offered me the letter with the official family seal that they had been tasked with delivering. The letters looked very fancy and rested on a cushion. A cushion huge enough for a dog to snuggle in. Such a shame that nice cushions like these were only used for letter deliveries.

Since I couldn’t enjoy my momentary happiness, I felt very cranky. I sighed and waved my hand. Angel, who had been standing on the far left, walked forward with a velvet cushion. The way he walked was different from when he was in Acrab. He had been serious when he said he would become the best attendant when he was learning from Baristan.

I could tell that Angel, who was standing by my side, was working hard, and succeeding at whatever he was doing. Just looking at Baristan’s face was enough to tell how proud he was of Angel and how well he was doing his job. I picked up the envelope on the cushion he had brought. The envelope had a familiar seal stamped on it.

This is the seal of the Duke of Manuwell whom I saw yesterday. I tilted my head to have a closer look. The Duke of Manuwell was already a family of close relations with Julius. Since I had made it clear that I supported Julius, there was no need for the duke to send me an invitation as we were on the same side. I opened the invitation letter.

「Congratulations on becoming the new Black Rose of the Empire. Would you honor me with an opportunity to enjoy some refreshment, Countess? I would be infinitely grateful. I also have an unfinished story I want to share with you.

-Duran Manuwell Dream. 」

Green hair, blue eyes, and a warm temperament. Those traits were very appealing to women. I recalled him as one of the brothers who had immediately turned his attention to Kaichen after greeting me formally. He ignored me the moment Kaichen arrived, and now he wants to meet for refreshments? How am I supposed to respond to that?

I read it again to see if there were any implied hidden meanings between the words. I was not very good at this kind of social mind games. I lost interest after a while and put the envelope with the letter on a tray next to me.

Angle soon approached me with another letter.

「I fell in love with the Countess Alshine. We hope that you will visit us so that we can relive the memories of the day of the ball.

-Leden Ebinail Dream」

I put the letter into the envelope in a daze. It was the first time I had heard this name, so I couldn’t remember his face. I greeted a lot of people at the ball. I only remembered some of them. Maybe they hadn’t introduced themselves properly.

I sighed as I looked at the servants of each family who were still kneeling and waiting. Until I read the letter and gave a reply, they must stay that way. They won’t be allowed to return without a reply, even if it meant kneeling and waiting the whole day. If I accepted their offer, the butler would give them a black rose emblem as a sign of the Alshine family. Is that really the best courtesy one can show to someone who delivered the letter?

If I don’t send a reply, they will assume that I ignored them deliberately.

The etiquette that the nobles followed were very cumbersome. If a message was ignored, it was difficult to know whether the receiver read it or not. Thinking about it, I felt that it must feel very bad and uncertain to expect an answer when someone ignores a message entirely.