I Can't Take It Anymore!
“Who wouldn’t, hoho. More importantly, I wonder how much favor the newly adopted Lady Morgana will receive. Since His Highness personally granted her the title of Lady, we might expect a peerage by the year after next, don’t you think?”
“That’s probably true.”
The empire’s sole Drakan rider was a topic people loved to gossip about, both privately and openly.
Dot felt her blood boil. She wanted nothing more than to shove the women chattering right beside her straight to the floor.
How dare they! Talking about such irritating things when the empire’s only daughter is standing right here. Do they have no sense at all?
If anyone so much as mentions that I came from the same monastery as that wench, I’ll tell Mother and make sure they regret it!
“I hear her magic skills are quite impressive as well.”
“Indeed. They say no one her age can match her in water magic.”
“Could she perhaps come from a mage bloodline?”
‘Yes… this is it.’
Dot smiled from the bottom of her heart.
Mages were a peculiar lot. They huddled together in the Magic Tower, and while the imperial palace paid them lip service, people—noble and commoner alike—feared and avoided them. Even if that girl paraded around with the ridiculous title of Lady, there would always be a clear limit to how far she could rise in high society.
How satisfying.
Dot chuckled inwardly.
“We can’t know for certain, but Lady Morgana is still young with a bright future ahead. We’ll have to watch and see.”
“Haha, my youngest son is three years younger than her. I do hope they grow closer once he’s older. He’s still such a child, even though he’s a boy.”
“Oh, you. That wouldn’t be so bad. Your older sons are all married already, after all. Well, we can think about it when the time comes.”
What? Who dares say such a thing?
Dot turned her head slightly, pretending to switch glasses, and checked who had spoken.
It was Count Quasar, laughing heartily as he sought his wife’s agreement. What irritated her even more was that the countess didn’t seem particularly opposed to the idea.
While a third son was usually insignificant, the Quasar family’s situation was slightly different. The second son was from the late first wife, but the third son was born to the current countess, meaning he could legally inherit her property.
‘Damn it! Lose interest already. I told you not to even look at someone like that!’
Prince Astain was already out of the question, and now even a count’s third son? Just hearing it made her stomach churn, and pretending not to notice was pure agony.
Fortunately, the group seemed to have exhausted the topic and began shifting to other matters—complaints about the newly imported tea not living up to expectations, or how the whaling business wasn’t going well, all laced with boasts.
Ah… ah, this is so boring I’m going to lose my mind.
The Crown Prince was nowhere to be seen.
Why did he leave me here alone instead of coming to rescue me?
No matter how long she waited, Crown Prince Silas never came to ask the daughter for a second dance.
When she glanced up, she only caught him dancing with another young lady—who was that? The daughter of Count Esolt?
I can generously overlook this much. But since he’s already danced with someone else, he should come to me now.
She waited and waited, caught between anger and irritation.
‘They say the end of waiting is happiness.’
Yet the Crown Prince never approached again to lead the daughter to the center of the hall. He simply carried on with his own duties.
Dot could have forced her way in front of the Crown Prince using her status as a daughter, but she didn’t want to.
Wherever one went in the imperial palace, there were at least hundreds of eyes and ears watching.
When she eventually married the Crown Prince, wouldn’t people gossip forever that the woman had desperately clung to him?
Of course he should come to me first.
Only then would all the hardships I’ve endured to survive be worth it.
‘Why… the atmosphere was so good, so why is it ending like this? It’s all because that head maid suggested that childish pink rose pin this morning! Putting something like that in my precious hair must have brought bad luck. I hate pink, I really do!’
Emotionally exhausted, Dot blamed others while nurturing her malice.
Just then, a voice shattered what little composure she had left.
“…Lady Manuela de Latsel has arrived!”
What did they say? Who? A daughter? In this world, in the Akan Empire, there can be no other daughter besides me!
Dot, already teetering on the edge of madness, wanted to scream, but the surrounding murmurs made her stand up in confusion.
“No…”
The Klein Duchess, who had been conversing a short distance away, also looked startled upon hearing the announcement.
“Lady Latsel?”
“She was on the guest list?”
“Ahem… ahem. Well, it’s not as if she couldn’t attend.”
One person even shot a quick glance toward Empress Ranya seated at the upper end of the hall.
The long-closed doors opened, and Lady Latsel appeared in her elegant form.
Tiana Marietta Klein was always called the Klein daughter rather than by her given name, Tiana. It was both a matter of etiquette and a way to emphasize the ducal bloodline.
However, when the same etiquette was applied to Manuela de Latsel and she was called Lady Latsel, it served as a fresh reminder.
Everyone was forced to recall once more that Lady Latsel was a foreign princess.
No one else should be acting up like this except me!
Dot, who had only heard of her before, now saw her for the first time and felt hatred boiling within.
‘Why! After Cassel, who never showed his face, now this wretched daughter appears before me? Ah, I should have killed Morgana quickly when I had the chance—she’s even wearing an outrageous dress and strutting around!’
There was no such thing as fairness in this world.
No matter what happened in between, everything had become thoroughly twisted.
‘Disgusting, irritating things are swimming like filthy fish in the path of my brilliant future. I’m going mad!’
This debutante ball in spring was held only for me. I am the star of this debutante ball, yet they’re all ruining it!
Before long, the newly appeared Lady Latsel became the center of everyone’s conversation.
The Klein Duchess, standing not far from her daughter, remained unexpectedly calm.
“So Lady Latsel has come.”
“Indeed. It was unexpected.”
“Well, she’s been in seclusion for over three years. It was about time she showed herself.”
Dot followed Lady Latsel with bloodshot eyes.
The lady did not approach the Crown Prince, who was clearly present in the hall. The young man who had escorted her was also nowhere to be seen, nor were any knights. At least she had some final shred of conscience?
Still, people were secretly paying close attention to both Lady Latsel and the Crown Prince.
The most flustered among them were, just as Pay had predicted, the people of the Orleans ducal house!
“Ah… no, why…”
“How presumptuous.”
“Is this real? Lady Latsel came? My word, this is absurd!”
Their voices were low enough to be heard only by those nearby, yet filled with clear hostility.
Raphael Orleans, who had been lingering at the back, watched the scene with a blank expression.
He pursed his lips slightly as if about to whistle, then felt a sharp, intense pain. He couldn’t whistle openly, but he had tried anyway…!
Thud!
“Ugh.”
It was Cassel.
Cassel, who had struck Raphael’s calf faster than anyone, offered a stern warning as if nothing had happened.
“Compose yourself, Raphael. This is the imperial palace.”
“Ugh… So you finally acknowledge me as a friend instead of just a knight and call me by name?”
Raphael’s words were still teasing, but his eyes were sharp and alert—a clear sign that his intentions differed from the conspiracy his family was plotting.
‘Thank goodness.’
Cassel felt a slight relief and warned quietly.
“I’d like to believe you’re different.”
“Sir Cassel, I also think our relationship is quite different from that of other knights…”
“A person has two calves, you know?”
“Tch.”
When Cassel flatly rejected his hopeful remark, Raphael grumbled.
The kick hadn’t been that hard, but taking hits to both legs would make even a knight limp. Though he usually smiled brightly, he didn’t want to look ridiculous in front of others.
While grumbling, his eyes quickly scanned the others—except for Lady Latsel.
The expressions of his father and mother, the duke and duchess, along with the vassals and knights close to the ducal couple, were far from pleased.
Meanwhile, someone else was secretly observing the Orleans family’s reactions from another side.
“……”
So far, it’s going well. Pay, who had been watching the flow of events since entering with Prince Astain, wore a small smile.
The Crown Prince treated the Klein daughter with such exceptional care that the Klein ducal house couldn’t say anything.
This was the first part of the plan.
After that, Pay safely entered the Acadnia Hall with Prince Astain.
No one showed particular resistance when she made her debut as Lady Morgana. The people in the hall accepted it without issue.
After dancing the first dance with Astain, she greeted familiar faces like Cassel and Raphael, and briefly met others for the second time.
They generally showed favor and friendliness toward Pay, who was a direct subordinate of the Crown Prince.
And the final piece… Lady Latsel’s appearance had also gone smoothly.
All that remained was to observe the Orleans ducal house’s reaction.
Good. I’ve finished all the official matters, so now it’s time for my own business?
Her gaze finally shifted to someone standing at a distance—the one person she hadn’t made eye contact with even once since arriving at the Acadnia Hall.
“I’m going to cool my head for a bit.”
The Klein daughter, seething with rage, trembled as she spun toward the terrace.
The duchess, whose heart was more devoted to her daughter than anyone else’s, knew exactly why she was angry. Instead of scolding her for being rash, she lent her one of the lady’s maids she had brought and added,
“Don’t go to the terrace. Rest comfortably in the Green Hall through the garden. I had it cleared out for the entire day, so you may even take a short nap.”
“…Yes.”
Dot’s reply was almost a groan.
“You are more beautiful than anyone else in this hall. I love you, my precious daughter.”
The duchess offered sincere encouragement, but it barely reached Dot’s ears as she teetered on the brink of exploding.
The daughter gave a perfunctory nod like a superior and headed for the Green Hall without looking back. Her shoulders shook violently, as if she were fleeing.
She hated everything. What is this? Why must I have people’s rightful attention stolen by that thing?!
“Hah…!”
After leaving the duchess’s lady’s maid at the door and entering the Green Hall alone, Dot grew even more agitated instead of calming down.
How could this happen? How dare they! The return of the Klein daughter, who should have been the sole center of attention starting tomorrow and set the entire capital abuzz, has been ruined like this!
“Does this even make sense?”
Even Dot, who usually held herself together, couldn’t contain her frustration and muttered aloud to herself.