CH 38

Chapter 38 – The uncouth family gathers

With Lord Nazel's hand in mine, I continued to make the rounds to greet the partygoers.

The scandal-loving aristocrats were incessantly approaching Lord Nazel.

That's mean ......!　It's so obvious that they are trying to extract a new story out of him.

But Lord Nazel, who is smiling and avoiding them with a smile on his face, has an air of being a special person, which is great.

But for some reason, the men have been praising me a lot since a few minutes ago.

I guess they are trying to make a compliment to Lord Nazel, who is surprisingly close to the second prince. I don't feel good about being used as a talking point.

As I was repeatedly exchanging greetings with the aristocrats in disgust, a familiar figure approached me with a soundless swoosh.

He is a boy with the same hair and eye color as me, short in stature, and wearing tight-fitting white tights under a stiff, heavy jacket.

He is moving, magically lifting his body off the ground, and glides up to just in front of me, looking at me with jealous eyes. I brace myself slightly.

"I thought a shameless woman was the center of attention, but it was you, sister."

"...... Paul, I see you're here too."

The man who spoke to me sarcastically was my younger brother, Paul Evantail.

He is the eldest son of the Evantail family and is now twelve years old. He is old enough to have found a fiancée by now.

Paul, who is steeped in the strict ideology of his family, despises me as a bad sister for constantly rebelling against the family's policies. That is why he always has harsh words for me.

Incidentally, my younger brother knows what I look like without makeup, so he must have recognized me as his sister even in my current outfit.

"Not satisfied with embarrassing herself at the princess's party and being disowned, she went out and dressed in a skimpy and flirtatious outfit. What's with your frivolous, messy makeup and cheap dress? After all those warnings from your mother!"

I think it would be more embarrassing to be floating in the air wearing white tights that stick snugly to my skin.

My brother's loud voice drew the attention of the others.

"Far from being a lady! You are a disgrace to our family!"

Paul had a smug look on his face. He looked pleased with himself for having said what he did.

All the aristocrats around him were stunned.

"Paul. I've been disowned, so I don't have anything to do with the Marquise of Evantail anymore."

I tell my brother the truth.

Disgraced or not, I have no intention of going back to my original form of a potato lady.

Then my father and mother arrived behind my brother. The entire Evantail family is present.

Because we stand out so much, the nobles around us continue to pay attention to us.

My father's opinion was that it was better for women to be stupid, and I was brought up without any political knowledge...... but since I started spending time with Lord Nazel, I have had the opportunity to hear a lot of information. I have some idea of the situation that the Evantail family is in now.

My family is in the second prince's camp, which is why they had previously advised me to get engaged to the second prince.

Well, it's not so important now.

My brother steps back, floating, and my parents, heavily dressed, step forward in front of me.

My mother was in my great-grandmother's dress, and my father was just like my brother, wearing skin-tight white tights.

"Agnes, you little girl. You are humiliating yourself in this place again!"

My father points at me, his face red with anger. It's good that he didn't hit me out of the blue.

Then my mother shouted in a high-pitched voice.

"My goodness, Agnes! What a vile dress! And shame on you for wearing makeup that shows your true face! You're so disgraceful, attracting all that attention from the gentlemen!"

I think the attention is because of Lord Nazel, and they won't be convinced if I tell them here that they have more problems with makeup that doesn't show their true faces....... Both my parents and my brother are steeped in the Evantail family's ideology.

Instead of changing the rules to fit the times, they just stop thinking and follow them out of pure laziness.

As a result, they are regarded as an out-of-place and out-of-date family, and are treated as freaks by those around them.

―― The Evantail family is strange after all.

There is a world that I have come to know only because I have been outside like this.

I was still not in a normal state of mind back then, when I was known as the "Potato Lady".

I used to be unable to disobey my parents' orders, and although I complained and rebelled, I ended up going out dressed as instructed.

...... I could have done more than that.

"I won't make that mistake again."

I am who I am, and I am not a convenient tool for the Evantail family. Especially if I've been kicked out of my home.

"Marquis and Marchioness Evantail. I am disowned and have nothing to do with your family. Please leave me alone."

However, they are not the kind of parents and brother who would back down here.

Even though they had disowned him, he seemed to be extraordinarily angry that his former relative, his daughter, had rebelled against him.

"Don't talk nonsense! All you have to do is shut up and follow our words!"

"That's right. That's why you couldn't even find your own fiancée."

No, no, no, no, because I was following the rules of the Evantail family, I was spending my days running in circles to find a potential fiancée on the daily, you know?

Besides, isn't it a bit too convenient for me to "obey" after I was disowned by them?

"Dear Father and Mother. I thank you for bringing me up to this age. But please don't get involved with me anymore. I know that your dignity will be lowered if you stay with me."

I quickly replied with a few words, hoping that he would go away......

It only resulted in my father's face turning even redder.

"You!　You're a woman, spouting your clever nonsense, and you're getting needlessly witty with me!"

I don't know what to do, I can't have a conversation with my ex-family at all.

I mean, you are the ones who kicked me out of the house.

"Cheeky little girl. I'll discipline you so you'll never speak to me like that again!"

Once again, the blood must have been rushing to his head.

My father raised his arms in the air, not caring that there were many other people in the room.

―― I'm going to get hit!!

Remembering the constant violence I was subjected to, I curled up and closed my eyes tightly.

But no matter how long it took, the blow never came.

"...... hmm?　Huh?"

When I opened my eyes to check, I found something unexpected had happened.

I see a slender back in front of me. Could it be ......?

"......!?　Lord Nazel!?"

Lord Nazel, standing as if protecting me, was catching my father's fist with one hand.

Is Lord Nazel that strong to prevent that slap so easily?

He was pushed to the ground at the princess's engagement party, so I thought he wasn't very good at dealing with violent things.