Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: The Blooming Salon
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*
"Welcome, Miss Monad!"
Juliet arrived at the salon a little past lunchtime.
The venue was a luxurious annex of the imperial palace, extravagant even for a gathering of young ladies.
The moment Juliet appeared, everyone in the salon lit up, rising from their seats or grabbing the person next to them to whisper urgently.
“I didn’t think she’d actually show.”
“Good lord, the sheer audacity.”
Something along those lines.
“Miss Monad! We’ve all heard the news.”
“It must have been so hard on you. Are you feeling better now?”
Juliet regarded the strangers swarming toward her with cold eyes.
She offered them nothing but perfunctory smiles, ignoring their questions.
Disregarding their offended expressions, she strode straight to the table at the far end of the salon.
She flashed a bright smile and greeted the hostess seated squarely in the center.
“Thank you for the invitation, Your Highness the Crown Princess-to-be.”
“Ah...!”
Out of all the invitations she’d received, Juliet had chosen the one from the prospective Crown Princess, Fatima.
Evidently caught off guard by the greeting, the party’s organizer flustered and averted her gaze.
“Oh, right. You’re not the Crown Princess yet, are you?”
Juliet said, tilting her head.
“...... Well, you will be next month anyway.”
A young lady seated near Fatima shot back curtly.
“Yes, that’s precisely why I came.”
Juliet replied slowly, her eyes never leaving Fatima.
“How could I miss His Highness’s first Blooming Salon?”
The Blooming Salon had recently surged in popularity among the younger crowd due to its unique rules.
The rules were surprisingly simple.
The host could send out three invitations.
Recipients could then pass on three invitations each.
The process repeated, steadily expanding the salon’s scale. Of course, social circles being what they were, some people received multiple invitations.
‘Wonder how many people sent me one.’
Juliet herself had received several invitations to today’s salon that way.
The rule limiting invites to just three revealed the host’s connections based on who showed up.
That was likely why Fatima had secured permission to use the palace annex for a massive gathering.
‘She’ll be the Crown Princess by spring next year, so she needed to build her network.’
Fatima probably wanted to hear that her first official salon had been a roaring success...
‘But it’s a bit low, isn’t it?’
Juliet thought to herself as she took the center seat that others urged upon her.
Long ago, Juliet and Fatima had been friends.
Would her old friend really gather people by making her misfortune the talk of the town?
Fatima still kept her head down, avoiding Juliet’s gaze.
Judging by the turnout, though, the salon seemed successful enough by Fatima’s intentions.
“So... how have you been holding up, Miss Monad?”
Juliet looked up to meet countless stares directed her way.
“We’ve all heard the stories.”
“They say the Duke gave you your walking papers?”
Evidently, that was the rumor making the rounds.
No surprise there—skipping the New Year’s ball the next day would have set tongues wagging.
“I saw this coming ages ago. I warned you, didn’t I, Miss Monad?”
A man she didn’t know puffed up arrogantly.
“I told you to abandon those delusions of becoming the Duchess.”
A nasty snicker drifted from somewhere.
“But is that rumor true?”
“The one where you got down on your knees in your nightgown and begged the Duke not to cast you out?”
Seizing the moment, people around them chimed in with their own barbs.
All that pretentious refinement, yet they could stoop this low.
“...... Did I do that?”
Juliet smiled icily.
Truth be told, she had come to the salon for a different reason altogether.
‘It’s about time.’
Juliet glanced toward the entrance.
That was when it happened.
“Lady Ilena Lindberg has arrived!”
“......?”
Who? Who did they say?
The salon guests all doubted their ears.
Lady Ilena Lindberg was one of the most renowned dowagers in high society.
A relative of the Empress, she was infamous for her strict, conservative ways—one of the grande dames of the ton.
Put simply, she was far above gracing a playground for young girls like this.
“I-Is that really Lady Ilena...?”
Those who’d leaped up in a scramble confirmed the stately noblewoman entering alone and gasped in shock.
“Who on earth invited her?”
“I did!”
Juliet rose and went to greet the guest.
“I’m so glad you came, Madam.”
“......Hmph. Long time no see, Juliet.”
The noblewoman, her gray hair swept elegantly back, looked Juliet up and down before speaking somewhat curtly.
“Hmph, at least you dressed nicely.”
“Thank you. Your cape looks stunning too, Madam.”
Juliet beamed.
The demure dress with its high neckline and pearl accents seemed to hit the mark for the dowager’s tastes, just as planned.
Having raised three sons, she’d always cooed over the modestly dressed young Juliet, “What a proper girl you are,” and slipped her a peppermint candy.
Someone glanced warily at the dowager and whispered to Juliet.
“No way... Miss Monad! You invited the Lady to a Blooming Salon?”
“Yes. Why not?”
“B-But ladies are just guests...”
“Exactly. Any issue? It’s a Blooming Salon.”
Juliet tilted her head innocently.
“They enclosed blank invitations for me too. Isn’t that the rule?”
Well, true...
But Lady Ilena...
No one escaped her scrutiny unscathed—whether it was their attire or some family skeleton.
The guests’ faces grew uneasy.
Truth be told, they’d assumed the Blooming Salon’s open nature would draw a crowd just to watch Juliet Monad suffer public humiliation. They hadn’t dreamed she’d invite anyone herself.
Even so, whom she invited hardly mattered.
Word of her breakup with the Duke had spread like wildfire through society. And it was widely known that the exacting Lady Ilena disapproved of Juliet running off north with an unmarried duke.
“Ahem, Miss Monad. So about that rumor...”
Someone tried steering back to Lennox.
“Viscountess Ravonne has arrived!”
The guests scrambled up again at the arrival of yet another society heavyweight.
Juliet hurried over with a smile to greet her.
‘First Lady Ilena, and now her too?’
Viscountess Ravonne was a noblewoman with fiery red hair cascading like a mane.
Renowned for her business acumen, she’d divorced her incompetent husband years ago and gone from strength to strength ever since.
By the time Marchioness Farnese arrived third, no one was surprised anymore.
“......A-Anyway, it’s certain Miss Monad was cast aside, right?”
“Who got cast aside?”
Lady Ilena inserted herself into the overheard whisper.
“Oh, the recent rumor that Miss Monad Monad was jilted and begged in front of the manor in her nightclothes...”
“What kind of monster does that!”
Lady Ilena erupted in fury after listening silently.
Juliet, who’d been staring fixedly into her teacup without a flicker, blinked right on cue.
A glint.
A tear rolled down her snowy cheek.
“Oh dear.”
“How pitiful...”
The noblewomen overflowed with sympathy.
“You think this is funny, young man?”
“Pardon?”
“Men, honestly!
Not a shred of empathy!”
Juliet had put her three invitations to maximum use.
Lady Ilena Lindberg, Viscountess Ravonne, and Marchioness Farnese were all longtime friends of the late Count and Countess Monad.
The count and countess had been refined people with a solid reputation in society.
Juliet had known these prominent noblewomen—who rarely mingled in society—from childhood.
Of course, conservative elders didn’t look kindly on an unmarried Juliet running off with some man.
But today, what Juliet needed wasn’t their affection.
It was their shared outrage.
Old friends lost to tragedy. Their sole daughter suffering misfortune. They united in fury on her behalf.
“Men and their husbands...!”
“That old fool!”
“The shameless nerve!”
And all three had endured philandering husbands or divorced them outright.
Forgotten Juliet