Yustia Banquet (10)
One week later.
The day of the Yustia banquet.
Iriel's mansion was in a frenzy, scrambling to prepare for the hastily arranged event with no time to breathe.
“Since members of the imperial family might attend today, we must aim for perfection!!!”
A stern-faced man in charge of the butlers shouted.
But there was no need for his nagging—everyone was already sweating bullets and rushing about.
“How's the food coming along!!!”
“Don't ask me! Go check yourself! I've got props to prepare!”
“Damn it! The wine needs checking too!”
“You there! Go handle the guards!”
“We need to run through ensemble piece number four one more time!”
“Arrrghhh……”
This was a major banquet where imperial family members might show up.
To pull off a flawless event on schedule without any slip-ups, the heads of each department were yelling and pushing each other relentlessly.
[Yustia has invited all the students from the swordsmanship class to the banquet.]
This was the rumor Iriel had spread by gathering her followers.
Iriel was the type who frequently hosted banquets anyway,
so the nobles initially shrugged it off as just another Yustia event.
But soon, their faces hardened.
Zeke Clayman's swordsmanship class.
It was already infamous for its small class size and grueling training, but even more so for its roster of extraordinary students.
Imperial family, ducal houses, earldoms, commoners.
A class with such a diverse lineup was bound to draw eyes inevitably.
On top of that, the open secret that the Gilbert countess was aligned with the First Prince made this Yustia banquet the talk of the town.
And fanning the flames of their curiosity was none other than Serena.
'What will Yohayden do about this!?'
Zeke's class included not just Yustia but also Yohayden.
This effectively meant Iriel was provocatively slapping Serena in the face.
Academy students chattered endlessly about it whenever they met,
and the nobles in the Lamieli district spread the news like carrier pigeons.
As a result, in just a few days, the Yustia Banquet had become the hottest topic around.
The Yustia family was understandably flustered.
They'd started preparations lightly, assuming it was just another gathering for Iriel's followers as usual.
But suddenly, the scale had ballooned enormously.
The invitations were already out, and every noble knew about it.
Backing out or postponing now would tarnish the ducal house's reputation—they had no choice.
In the end, they gritted their teeth and prepared a grand affair.
“What the hell is going on all of a sudden……”
One maid in the mansion said to her senior colleague, her eyes hollow with exhaustion. The other looked just as drained.
“Who knows. Orders are orders.”
“I, I haven't slept in three days already……”
“No one's sleeping here. Shut up and go help set the tables over there. That one's about to collapse.”
“Ugh……”
Such were the grueling days for the Yustia mansion's servants.
And Iriel was no exception.
“Miss, let's run through it one more time.”
“I'm done. I'm exhausted. How many times have we done this already?”
Iriel grumbled while rubbing her shoulders.
But Hades, sent on Hella's orders, showed no mercy for her whims anymore.
“It's Lady Hella's command. You opened this banquet on your own, so you must take responsibility. Fail to handle it properly, and you'll face severe punishment.”
Iriel bit her lip hard.
“Why would she start something like this! Announcing a major banquet with imperial invitations just a week ahead. Where's the precedent for that?!”
Hades scowled.
Iriel's eyebrows shot up.
“None of this would've happened if you hadn't betrayed me.”
“I never betrayed you. I've been Lady Hella's from the start.”
“But you lied to me.”
“……”
She couldn't trust anyone, it seemed.
The man who'd come as Zeke's replacement and stayed by her side for so long turned out to be her aunt's puppet.
When Iriel first returned home from the Yohayden mansion,
Hades had calmly bowed among the servants to greet her.
Feeling profound betrayal, Iriel tried to boot him out immediately.
But with his shameless shield of “I've been ordered to monitor you, Lady Iriel,” backed by her aunt, she couldn't.
Now that his true colors were out, he meddled in everything, making him insufferably annoying.
Iriel glared at Hades.
“What are you thinking, Miss? Staying overnight at Yohayden wasn't enough—you immediately invite the imperial family for a banquet?”
“Hah, I told you, I stayed at Yohayden because Zeke Clayman was there. And if I'd come straight back to Yustia then? They'd have shipped me off to a convent right away, wouldn't they? This banquet buys me time.”
“……”
“And if this banquet gets me connected to either the First or Second Prince, even they won't be able to chase me out of Lamieli recklessly.”
Iriel explained why she'd hosted the banquet and invited the imperial family.
“I told you, you didn't have to do that—you won't be expelled from the academy anyway……”
“Hades.”
Iriel cut him off in a low voice.
“I'm not a fool anymore.”
“……”
“As you say, Aunt might leave me be for now. But that also means if she ever feels like it, kicking me out would be child's play, right?”
“……”
Hades fell silent like his mouth was glued shut.
Hah.
Iriel let out a hollow laugh.
“I won't believe you anymore. You do your job. I'll do mine.”
Tap. Tap.
Iriel approached Hades and brushed off his shoulders.
“Let's call it quits, yeah? I won't stop you. Just stick to watching. Don't overstep into meddling.”
Hades stared at her with a stiff expression, lips sealed.
“We can't go back to how things were, right?”
Iriel sneered, hiding her true goal: 'that I'll be in contact with Zeke Clayman.'
'Telling Hades now wouldn't hurt, but it'd be more effective after publicly announcing that Flowerbed protects Zeke. For that, I need to negotiate directly with Aunt.'
She hadn't shown it, but
after the Zeke assassination attempt—crying in front of Serena Yohayden and meekly nodding to her plans—Iriel had ground her teeth every night in humiliation.
Now, she no longer acted on whims; she'd learned to think deeper.
'The princes would make it even better, but they won't come on such short notice. Can't be helped.'
More importantly, Serena Yohayden and Zeke would attend the banquet.
Iriel frowned and stretched her aching, throbbing arms.
Training in Zeke's class plus practicing dances left her joints screaming.
She wondered if she even needed to practice this hard.
'If the First or Second Prince doesn't show, it'll just be the usual crowd. So boring.'
And she'd be the wallflower this time.
It killed her motivation for something she already dreaded.
'Oh, but what about Zeke?'
Suddenly, she remembered Zeke was attending as a noble, not an escort.
'As a noble. And announcing him as Yohayden's benefactor. So Flowerbed will dance with him first……?'
Grind.
She hated to admit it, but it grated like Serena devouring the bread she'd saved for herself.
No helping it. Yeah, unavoidable. Part of the plan to protect Zeke.
'Then the second dance could be with me, right?'
What if Zeke danced with her in the banquet hall?
Would he get flak for dancing with a Yohayden?
No.
It might look that way to regular nobles, but from Yustia's perspective, it raised her value.
'I can emphasize that Zeke still cares about me……'
It gave her another card in negotiations with her aunt.
A Yustia curious about Zeke would hesitate to approach due to Yohayden.
If she then volunteered to gather intel on him……
Of course, beyond the scheming, the sight of her dancing with Zeke was thrilling in itself.
Swaying to music under a beautiful night sky with him.
His thick arm around her waist, head resting against his firm chest, glancing up to see
his stoic face crack into a smile……
Iriel's lips curled dreamily before she noticed Hades watching and cleared her throat.
“Hmph! I'll practice the social dance more. Can't go stepping on the First or Second Prince's feet!”
She spat curtly.
“Play the music again. Something very romantic.”