C76
Celine, the daughter of Viscount Volne, smiled and quickly glanced at Bianca's attire. The dress looked very luxurious. It's red! Fearing the cost of dyeing, she couldn't even afford such a dress. How wealthy she must be. For a moment, envy and a desire to show off to Bianca emerged in her eyes.
However, upon closer inspection, the jewel on the necklace was a peridot. Although it was the first time she saw such a large and transparent peridot, it was not suitable for that dress, which would require a gemstone no less than an emerald. Her family also doesn't seem to match the dress.
Still, if you go out for a walk dressed like that, you'll probably be seen as a woman from a "suitable" family. It's not a dress you can wear just out of vanity. And the escort behind her as well.
The man serving as an escort was tall and intimidating. Celine shrunk a bit, but thinking that there was no reason for her to do so, she stretched her neck.
Anyway, once she knows what her family is, all her questions will be answered. Celine's eyes lit up as she thought hard for a short while.
In a short period of time, it wouldn't be possible to gather more information than this just by looking at the clothes. Celine was proud of herself for her clever response and keen eye.
However, contrary to Celine's thoughts that she had observed Bianca in secret, her thoughts seemed clear to Bianca.
Bianca didn't overlook the fact that Celine's gaze lingered on her necklace for an unusually long time, and that her eyebrows furrowed when she saw the jewels on the necklace. Bianca instinctively realized that she had been devalued. Bianca's mood quickly deteriorated.
She has a bad personality and bad looks.
Although the peridot was a cheaper gem compared to emerald, the pearl necklace adorning the peridot was thick and smooth, without imperfections.
While evaluating the pendant's jewels, it didn't seem like Celine had discovered the significance of combining peridot with such a precious pearl necklace.
In that case, she either wasn't intelligent enough to know the meaning or didn't have enough insight to recognize the level of a pearl necklace.
Then, at least she should have a good personality.
Bianca, who was displeased with Celine, softly said with a stern expression on her face.
"This is Bianca de Arno."
She didn't even want to say her name, but her opponent was a noble. Unless she knew which family she belonged to, it was necessary to maintain minimal courtesy.
However, it was only the bare minimum. It is customary to ask the other person about their identity, but Bianca kept her mouth shut. Because she truly didn't care and it didn't seem necessary to know.
Bianca gracefully nodded her head.
"I'll leave now, so you can take your time and look around."
"You don't have to leave because of us. How about we look around together?"
Another woman, surprised by the name Arno, quickly held onto Bianca. She was a woman with ash-blond hair. The other blonde woman nodded as if in agreement.
While they were making a commotion, the redhead woman simply staggered embarrassedly. Wherever you look, she seems to be influenced by the people around her. It was a pity, but it wasn't something Bianca cared about.
It was enough for Bianca to be considerate of them just to dispel the annoyance of her interrupted long walk. Bianca, annoyed, cut off their silly comments that were holding her back.
"No. I'm not feeling well. So, I bid you farewell."
Bianca calmly cut off their words and left the garden. The commotion was repugnant. She didn't like being forced to socialize with people she didn't want to be with. Forcing herself to smile warmly and try to get close to her husband was enough.
As soon as Bianca moved her foot, Yvonne and Gaspard followed her.
Gaspard's gaze lingered on them for a moment. As if to remember who they were.
After Bianca left, the four noblewomen who remained in the garden looked at each other with bewildered expressions.
There were two cases where one showed their displeasure immediately. When you don't know the manners or when you don't want to make use of them.
The Countess of Arno is a woman from the Blanchefort family. Since it was impossible for her to be unaware of customs, it was clear that it was the latter. The women, who thought they had been insulted, began to grow angry one by one.
"Is that the famous Countess Arno?"
"The rumors aren't completely lies."
"Maybe not..."
"It's also said that 'that' countess raised her hands at Arno Castle."
The three aristocratic blonde women murmured. In particular, it was Celine who raised her voice. Bianca didn't hide her contempt, and that wounded Celine's pride. Admiration for the dress Bianca was wearing enveloped her in an inferiority complex.
"Is that all you wear with such a dress? As for wearing just a peridot necklace... If it's about peridot necklaces, I have enough to fill my hand."
The peridot necklace was too trivial to be Bianca's weakness, and in the first place, it wasn't even a weakness. The red dress and the yellowish-green jewelry surprisingly matched well. But her necklace was one of the few that could be mistaken for being slightly "better" than the one Bianca had.
Celine said with a stiff neck.
"You don't have to be so proud of yourself with a peridot necklace... Did you notice that the necklace the Countess of Arno was wearing is a peridot?"
"Is it really a peridot? I don't wear peridot. It's a shame for a woman like the Countess of Arno to use that. Unless she bought it by mistake, thinking it was an emerald."
"I bet she's not very discerning."
In her sarcastic tone, it could be felt how much Celine looked down on Bianca. But it didn't matter. All these people here were colluding and shared a bond of homogeneity by talking behind each other's backs. Their secret conversation would never reach Bianca's ears.
Celine smiled and turned to the Countess of Davoville, the only one among them who kept her mouth shut and silent.
"Now that I think about it, the necklace the Countess of Davoville is really beautiful."
"Yes, it is. Did Count Davoville buy it for her? It's a truly brilliant sapphire."
"..."
Catherine, the Countess of Davoville, noticed that Celine was trying to involve her in the conversation. But she didn't want to slander others by passing judgment.
However, as Bianca thought, she wasn't strong enough to ignore the conversation or leave her seat just because she didn't like it. If she had done so in the first place, she wouldn't have let herself be influenced by these three noblewomen she met in the capital. Catherine awkwardly laughed, not knowing how to respond.
It was a coincidence to encounter them. Just as they met Bianca today, they greeted her as she walked and shared about each other's families.
When they found out that she was a cousin of the First Princess, they sincerely asked her to take them to meet the First Princess.
Catherine wasn't good at rejecting, so she took them and went to see the First Princess. The princess greeted them politely, but she was very embarrassed by their conversation, which consisted mainly of gossip, background stories, and blatant flattery.
That is, conversations like this.
"Her hair is dark and dull, and her personality is so gloomy and rough that no matter what jewels she brings, they won't suit her. Count Arno is so good with a wife like that."
"That must be why he kept her on the estate until now. This time, it must have been inevitable because it was an important event..."
In Sevran, blonde hair is the condition to define how beautiful a person is. This is because the royal family of Sevran, generation after generation, has possessed blonde hair and blue eyes, but gradually it shifted to defining the condition of beauty. So those who were even a little blonde were proud of their hair.
This was the case with the three noble girls who were with Catherine. They insisted that their hair was blonde, even though it was the same color as tree bark compared to the bright blonde that seemed to melt honey.
And Catherine's hair was too red to insist on being blonde. Catherine's ears turned red because she felt that they had cursed her, not Bianca. Catherine gathered some courage and defended Bianca.
"But she might actually be sick. Her pale skin made her look sick."
"There's no way a sick person could walk around the garden dressed like that. Oh, maybe..."
"Do you have any ideas, Celine?"
Another woman asked Celine. Celine hesitated for a moment, then pretended not to hear.
"She might be looking for a secret lover... So maybe that's why she didn't like it when we asked her to take a walk together? Oh, of course, this is just my assumption."
Tags:
TWB (Novel)