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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Garden Party (2)
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Several long tables were set up in the spacious conservatory. The invited nobles sat at their designated seats, enjoying the luxurious formal dinner.
Dishes made from rare ingredients sourced from Seoryeong delighted their palates, and the music played by the orchestra was beautiful.
High-ranking nobles from the capital joined the table where the Duke and Duchess of Bronte were seated.
Among them was Duchess Juliana Robenta, and Rachel was paying the most attention to her. Juliana was not only the Emperor's cousin but also the most influential figure in the capital's social circles.
After the formal dinner, when the women gathered among themselves and the men among themselves for tea, Juliana spoke.
“By the way, I don't see the second young lady of this house.”
“Ah, that child is ill…”
“She'll be here soon, Duchess.”
Helena cut Rachel off.
Rachel, startled, turned to look at Helena, but Helena ignored her gaze.
“Helena, what are you talking about? Ariana said she wasn't feeling well today and wouldn't be able to attend the party.”
“Did I?”
At that moment, a clear voice echoed from the conservatory door.
Everyone's gaze turned in that direction.
The nobles attending the party witnessed a strange sight they had never seen before.
A girl with shimmering light blue hair, skin as fair and delicate as pearls, a small face, beautiful features as if sculpted by a god, and an upright, polite, and elegant posture.
The girl, whose beauty was hard to tear one's eyes from, was wearing a worn, thin dress that even a noble household's maid wouldn't wear.
Nevertheless, the extraordinary grace emanating from her made her seem splendid, as if she were wearing a dress fit for royalty.
“Ari… Ariana.”
Rachel almost shrieked but managed to suppress her voice.
Ariana offered Rachel a fresh smile, like a spring breeze.
“I apologize for being late, Mother. No one informed me of the party time.”
Rachel glared, but Ariana neither bowed her head nor fled from the spot.
Victoria was equally flustered.
She had definitely sent dresses and accessories through the maids, so why had Ariana appeared in such a state?
Victoria felt a chill run down her spine at Ariana's undaunted appearance, despite being dressed in a way that was pathetic compared to the nobles present.
‘No.’
Something was wrong.
‘I have to send her back.’
She had expected Ariana to appear in a childish dress unsuited for her age.
She had anticipated a scene where the ladies and young misses would mock and ridicule Ariana, whose hair was tightly braided into two pigtails.
Then Ariana would be flustered, clinging to Victoria and trying not to leave her side, thereby highlighting how much more mature and elegant Victoria was in comparison.
However, Ariana, under everyone's gaze, not only showed no signs of fluster but even held a faint smile. Her upright posture and slightly raised chin exuded confidence and dignity.
Just then, Helena, oblivious, abruptly stood up and approached Ariana.
“Ariana, you're here?”
“Young Lady Helena.”
Everyone gasped, holding their breath in shock at Ariana addressing her older sister with an honorific, as if she were a maid.
But Helena, who had always been addressed that way, unaware of what was wrong, gently linked her arm through Ariana's.
“Come here. We were just having tea.”
Rachel glared at Helena and Ariana, but Helena didn't notice, and Ariana pretended not to.
Helena seated Ariana beside her and spoke to the ladies.
“This is my younger sister, Ariana. Isn't she pretty?”
From Helena's perspective, it was a question laced with mockery. She believed that Ariana, dressed like a maid, couldn't possibly have any redeeming beauty.
However, the ladies present thought that despite Ariana's appearance, she looked incomparably nobler than Helena.
Rachel, sensing the atmosphere, suppressed her anger and asked in a gentle voice.
“Ariana, didn't you say you weren't feeling well today? You dismissed all the maids I sent to help you dress, so why did you insist on wearing such clothes? And where did you get that dress?”
The Ariana Rachel knew should have stammered and flustered, unable to answer such questions properly. She should have bowed her head and hunched her shoulders.
But Ariana defied Rachel's expectations.
“I'm hungry because I haven't eaten properly, but I'm not ill, Mother. Thank you for your concern. And this is the only dress I have. I hesitated because it's not appropriate for the occasion, but Young Lady Helena's maids insisted I must attend the party, so I had no choice.”
Saying so, Ariana gently raised a hand and swept her hair back.
As Ariana lifted her arm, the already short sleeve rode up, revealing her forearm.
A forearm so thin that bones protruded from lack of proper food, and bruised here and there from being pinched or hit repeatedly.
As luck would have it, the people seated at this table were the most prominent ladies in the capital. They could infer the kind of treatment Ariana received in this mansion just from her answer and the forearm hidden by her sleeve.
Rachel felt the atmosphere turn chilling with just a few words from Ariana. She needed to send Ariana away, but she didn't know what to say.
If Ariana countered everything she said in this manner, any explanation she offered to the ladies later would clearly be futile.
“Sister, why are you talking like that again? Is it fun to embarrass Mother with such lies?”
Victoria, unable to watch any longer, interjected.
For a moment, the ladies' gazes softened at Victoria's calm and gentle voice. Then Ariana flinched, as if terrified.
“I-I'm sorry, Young Lady Victoria. This really isn't where I should be, I'm sorry.”
“Sister!”
This time, even Victoria was flustered and raised her voice.
Ariana bowed her head even lower.
“I'm truly sorry. Please don't be angry, Young Lady.”
Ariana, taking a defensive posture with both arms raised above her head, as if she had often been hit, looked incredibly frail and small. And again, her bruised forearm was exposed.
The ladies nearby also saw the bruises on Ariana's neck.
“Oh dear…”
Someone clicked their tongue.
Young ladies around Helena's age exchanged whispers, casting unkind glances.
This was a first for Victoria, who had always managed to steer situations exactly as she intended.
Helena liked being called 'Young Lady' by Ariana, but Victoria had never ordered her to do so.
However, it would be an impossible task to explain all the minute details in this setting.
Ariana, who had lived like a maid, had no reputation to lose anyway, but Rachel, Helena, and Victoria were different.
Having much, they also had much to lose.
“Sister, I'm not angry. It's just… something on your face…”
Victoria took out a handkerchief and offered it to Ariana.
Ariana took the handkerchief with trembling hands.
“Thank you, Young Lady.”
“Sister, stop calling me Young Lady. What's wrong? You don't usually do that.”
“Yes, I'm sorry.”
Ariana used honorifics until the very end.
Victoria barely suppressed the urge to scream and sat back down. A small hand beneath the table clenched her skirt tightly.
‘What do I do?’
She had never imagined Ariana would act this way, so it was difficult to think of a way to handle it.
Moreover, Ariana's body bore too many traces of abuse.
While Victoria merely blinked, Rachel offered an awkward laugh.
“Our Ariana got a bit hurt yesterday when she fell down the stairs… so she might be feeling a bit off today. She's not usually like this, but she's playing mischievous tricks again.”
The ladies did not seem to believe Rachel's words.
Even nobles at other tables glanced over, wondering what was happening, and some whispered as if for Rachel to hear.
“It seems her treatment is terrible because she's not of Duke Bronte's bloodline.”
“How pitiful. To beat a child until she's in such a state…”
“If it's like this, wouldn't it have been better to just give her to the Eastern Emperor?”
Duke Bronte's face turned red.
For him, who cared deeply about his reputation, the spread of rumors that his wife abused the daughter from her previous marriage was far from pleasant.
However, the moment Ariana appeared in a shabby maid's dress, covered in bruises, anything he said would clearly sound like an excuse.
Even the dull Helena realized the atmosphere was unusual and was merely biting her lips.
“Um…”
As Ariana opened her mouth, Rachel glared at her.
Ariana hunched her shoulders and said,
“I'm just so hungry… may I have some cookies?”
If any other young lady had done such a thing, it would have deserved ridicule, but the gazes directed at Ariana were filled only with pity.
Juliana, who had been quietly observing the situation until now, spoke.
“Take as many as you wish, Second Duchess.”
“Thank you.”
Ariana reached out, picked up a cookie, and put it in her mouth.
Indeed, it had been a long time since she had eaten, so the cookie tasted exceptionally sweet.
The embarrassment Rachel and Victoria felt was a very precious spice.
If they were to call the maids and ask them to explain what happened, the maids would lie for Rachel, but that would only create more gossip for the ladies.
To the ladies, the open conflict between the Bronte family's mother and daughters and sisters would be far more interesting than the truth of the situation.
‘I don't care if my reputation falls. I have no intention of marrying anyway. Even if the Eastern Emperor learns of my current state, any affection he might have had will surely vanish, but it doesn't matter. All I want is the status of the Eastern Dominion's princess. If I have something valuable, the Eastern Emperor won't be able to cast me aside.’
Contrary to her pitiable appearance, Ariana's insides were burning hot.
Juliana, who had been watching Ariana, now on her third palm-sized cookie, with sympathy, spoke.
“You must be thirsty. Have some drink with your cookies.”
“Yes, thank you.”
It was time to put what she had learned into practice.
Ariana poured hot black tea into her own cup, and Victoria belatedly realized how Ariana intended to drink it.
If Ariana had acted as usual, she would have been the only one ridiculed, but the situation was different now.
‘I have to stop her!’
But Ariana was faster.
Before Victoria could reach out, Ariana picked up her teacup, poured the tea into the saucer, and then lifted the saucer, blew on it, and slurped it down.
At that action, not only the ladies but even the male nobles watching from a distance were aghast.
