C16
As soon as Isidor's name came up, their faces lit up.
If a while ago they chatted pleasantly, minding their manners, now they were like a pack of excited buffaloes.
Like me, obsessed with my latest bias.
"Even if I have to sell my soul, I will see Isidor's face with my own eyes and die!"
"If you're a woman, you must see him at all costs. You can't forget that beautiful face once you see it, so it even appears in your dreams."
"Does he appear in your dreams? Oh, I wouldn't want to wake up."
"I slept like a bear all winter just to greet him."
I didn't know when the women's talk, which was close to being voracious, would end.
Shining blonde hair, a sharp jaw that could cut you, shoulders as broad as the sea; fifty thousand clichés flowed.
He must be very handsome.
But why doesn't he appear in the novel?
The man called "The Golden Visconti," unfortunately, didn't appear in the novel. Readers secretly hoped he would play the role of the harlequin.
"A blond and handsome boy is essential. That's rare."
The young ladies had a heated discussion about the good looks of this and that and only calmed down when the employee brought the cakes and drinks, refreshing their flushed faces with folding fans.
After partially satisfying their hunger, the conversation continued.
"Ah, have you heard?"
"What?"
"They say the pink diamond was won by Duke Seymour."
"So, the owner of the diamond..."
The atmosphere turned bitter as if everyone had guessed who the owner of the pink diamond was.
"That would be me."
"Princess Deborah will be very pleased. She'll be full of herself."
"To be honest, just thinking about it makes me hate her."
"A pearl necklace around a pig's neck..."
They all laughed mockingly at someone's murmur, as if they agreed with her.
"How cruel."
I had never heard anything so explicit about my body. Since there were only compliments around me.
"What does it matter if her clothes and accessories are the most luxurious and expensive in the Empire? She's so wicked."
"I heard that Princess Deborah snatched Helen, who was designing Lady Seirin's dress."
"Because of Princess Deborah's misbehavior, Miss Seirin had to hurriedly adjust her dress at a different boutique. Her birthday was just around the corner."
I didn't know there was such a story behind it. But Deborah had no idea. Because Helen was already terrified and crawling in fear.
Deborah would never tolerate Seirin's situation, but I felt a little frustrated.
"She's really rude."
"Just rude? Even if she's the daughter of Duke Seymour, she's too condescending and arrogant. She lacks the dignity of a noble family."
"She's uneducated and incompetent. Isn't Princess Deborah the only one with Seymour's blood and has no idea how to handle mana at all?"
As if that misfortune were exciting, everyone burst into laughter as they covered their mouths with their fans, but I couldn't laugh.
"Even if she has a great inferiority complex, you don't have to mock her."
"In the meantime, she drags her family behind her and runs all kinds of campaigns. She's really disgusting."
"Thanks to that, I get sick just looking at the purple hair these days."
Having been listening to their harsh conversation with an uncomfortable feeling, my mood became more subtle due to the conversation that followed.
"Why did the Seymour family give Princess Deborah..."
The woman who spoke with the nuance of not being able to understand Duke Seymour, who gave me the pink diamond, hurriedly closed her mouth and took a sip of tea.
"You can't touch Duke Seymour, so you only talk about Deborah, who is relatively easy to handle. I can see the duality."
"Princess Deborah... She could be a good daughter at home, couldn't she?"
"Good?"
"That's impossible!"
The atmosphere, which had become bitter due to the woman who almost slipped her tongue, softened again as they began to gossip.
"I'm not sure. There are rumors that even Belreck doesn't want to talk about Deborah. It must be a mess at home if he doesn't even mention his only sister."
"No matter how generous Belreck is, kindness can't be shown to a younger sister who has been dishonoring the family."
"I'm sure Rosad isn't very different from Belreck."
How disgusted they were that I took possession of the pink diamond, somehow they tried to speak ill of me even by mentioning the twins at home.
That's the level of conversations all the nobles who pretend to be sophisticated have in broad daylight.
"It's annoying. Let's go back home."
Crash!
Suddenly. Just as I was about to get up, the table shook as I pushed the chair back in anger, and the coffee cup I had left on the edge fell to the floor.
The women's eyes turned to the source of the loud sound.
And, as if it were a lie, a strong wind swept the terrace, and the hood that was pulled down was suddenly pushed back.
"Oh my God."
"L-Lady Deborah..."
When my face, which was covered with the hood, was revealed, an overwhelming silence spread across the terrace.
The ladies, who had just insulted me enthusiastically, turned as pale as a corpse. There was also a lady trembling with a face that looked like she would faint at any moment.
I tried to go home, but I also felt nervous about unintentionally revealing my identity to everyone.
I froze for a moment, in the unexpected situation, and then realized that I couldn't let it pass like this.
This is a situation where I heard the daughters of lower-ranking families talking behind my back.
Being insulted and leaving in silence?
That's like being a pushover.
That can't happen.
Just before I died, I promised that if I were reborn, I wouldn't live while letting things go as they were, like an easy prey.
I was determined enough to provoke frosts during the summer.
Gritting my teeth, I looked at them with eyes as fierce as I could muster.
"Are you finished already? You've been pouring your hearts out and finally you're silent. It was very amusing."
My voice broke due to nervousness. Fortunately, my cracked voice seemed quite intimidating, and the pale faces of the ladies became even more haggard.
Staring intensely at each of their faces, I felt the need to change the level of my gaze.
Thinking of looking at them arrogantly, I sprang up and breathed.
My legs trembled from nervousness.
I wobbled, swallowing my inner scream.
Crash!
The round table in front of me was overwhelmed by my weight and toppled in the direction where the women were gathered.
At the same time, the vase on the table fell to the floor and shattered.
"Argh!"
In an instant, the surrounding area turned into a mess, and people looked at me with astonished eyes.
Everyone thinks I intentionally knocked over the table.
"I didn't mean to break the furniture..."
It's embarrassing, but what's done is done.
Instead, I thought that tipping it over would be even more intimidating, and I walked very slowly toward the pale and frozen women.
It was to gain time to think about my next line.
I've seen many things, so I stood tall in front of the young ladies and, after leaning on one leg, slowly tilted my head.
"It seems that even dogs or cows are saying this and that about me."
The expression of "even dogs or cows" blinked on their faces with a sense of humiliation.
"What's with those faces? You dared to address me, the Princess of Seymour, as a pig, but it seems you're not happy to be a dog or a cow."
You said it was a pearl necklace around a pig's neck.
"P-Princess Deborah, that is, we..."
"Why are you suddenly stammering? You were speaking smoothly as if your mouth was lubricated, did your tongue break in the meantime?"
As I interrupted her, the woman who seemed to be the eldest hurriedly stepped forward.
"I apologize. We dared to commit a great discourtesy to the princess. I'm very sorry."
"It's disappointing that you always call me a pig but lower your tail so easily, like a puppy encountering a tiger. If you can't say it to someone's face, you shouldn't have said it behind their back. I heard you very well, speaking about my aristocratic dignity while being so cowardly and humble, not knowing your place."
I surprised myself as I spoke. I'm a human who can use my mouth like this.
"I'm very sorry."
"There's no excuse for that."
The other two ladies, trembling in fear, also bowed their heads one after another.
"Keep your mouth shut. I mean, don't gossip."
So, when I was trying to put an end to it after telling them to keep their mouths shut and get a more sincere apology.
The woman who was biting her lip took a step forward as if she resented receiving one-sided criticism from me.
"But, Princess, everyone thinks that forcibly taking Lady Seirin's designer, whose birthday was approaching, is going too far."
It means that I am also to blame for ignoring the implicit promise among the aristocratic ladies.
I picked up the cold cherry juice from the table.
"No, it's your mouth that says I went too far when the person directly involved didn't say anything."
I splashed the bright red cherry juice all over her face.
"And from now on, I'm going to show you properly what going too far means."
"Oh."
The woman, covered in bright red juice, gasped in shock and, after tearfully apologizing to me, rushed out of the terrace.
The other ladies left as if they were fleeing, under the pretext of consoling her.
I won't go beyond this line. If I were really Deborah, you...
Looking at the steaming black tea, I repeatedly shook my head to erase my terrible imagination.
-------------------
"Sir. Did you make much progress?"
"Can't you see?"
Isidor responded bluntly to Miguel's question.
He was sitting on a large, tanned orc hide, drawing a magic circle.
It took considerable effort and time to create the spatial magic bag that Isidor had promised to deliver to Deborah.
Movement, expansion, and space tracking. Since it was a system where three types of magic worked simultaneously, the complexity of the magic circle was extraordinary.
Isidor even improved the magic circle himself, so it was impossible to buy it with money.
Maybe our Prince is better at handling spatial magic than Duke Seymour.
While Miguel thought that and felt proud, Cookie, who was tapping his tail nearby, bit into the orc hide with his teeth.
"Cookie! What's this?"
"Grrr... Grraar!"
"Damn it. You can't do this."
After Princess Deborah's visit, the gentle Cookie disobeyed him and behaved as he pleased, like a teenager.
Isidor, who threw a feather while holding back a curse, turned his head to Miguel.
"Why did you come suddenly?"
"I heard that Princess Deborah went to Maisond."
As soon as he mentioned "Deborah," Cookie's pointed ears perked up.
His eyes began to shine as if he longed for something.
"Did she come to meet the informant?"
"No. She overturned a table and broke a vase and a teacup."
Isidor coughed at Miguel's report.
"That's not all. She had a fight with the daughter of Count Ate on the terrace. But according to the position of the two families, there's a sense of bias."
"Hm."
"At the end of the day, she made Count Ate's daughter cry."
Miguel recalled the report from Maisond's informant who had witnessed the incident.
Since it happened on the terrace in front of a crowded alley, there seemed to be quite a bit of gossip in the social world about the altercation between Deborah Seymour and Arin Ate.
"Society especially enjoys gossip among high-ranking nobles."
In conclusion, Deborah Seymour remains an object of unmatched fear for young aristocratic ladies.
In an aristocratic society where invisible swords flow from lips, Princess Deborah wielded her sword proudly.
"But she has such strong support that she's untouchable."
The nickname "Purple Viper." Whoever came up with it was right.
Her mother, Marien Seymour, was called the Flower of Society; and it seemed like she was taking a completely different path from her mother.
"Princess Deborah, you are very clever."
Isidor, who had remained silent, suddenly murmured, rubbing his chin.
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