AMLA 54

Chapter 54

Talin’s face, flushed red with anger, suddenly froze.

It was as if she had just realized what she had blurted out in the heat of the moment.

“Just now, you said you saw Lady Karen putting something into the drink. Doesn’t that mean you also witnessed it yourself, Lady Talin?”

“N-no, I… I didn’t….”

Up until a moment ago, Talin had been consumed with fury, her eyes practically rolling back. But now, she seemed to realize all the eyes of the people around her were fixed squarely on her.

And when she saw the calm, relaxed smile on my face, she seemed to realize something had gone very wrong.

“Surely, you weren’t conspiring together with Lady Karen, were you?”

I raised the corner of my lips slightly as I said it.

Even the maid standing beside me looked shocked, staring at Talin.

“No! It’s not like that. I really had no idea Karen was planning something so frightening!”

In truth, the whole affair had been planned and carried out by Karen alone.

When Karen came up with the scheme and procured the drug, Talin had only made offhand remarks about how amusing it would be if it succeeded.

“Is that so? Well then, I’m relieved.”

I smiled lightly.

But everyone who overheard the conversation was already looking at Talin as though she had been involved in Karen’s incident.

Just looking at Nezwin, sighing behind a pillar with a face full of exasperation, I could already tell exactly how this would play out.

“…….”

“Lady Talin, I understand that you’re upset about Lady Karen being expelled from the capital. But if you try to blame me for it, you’ll only make yourself look complicit in that crime. You should be careful—others might misunderstand.”

I deliberately put emphasis on the word crime. Talin lowered her head, biting her lips tightly.

‘It must be humiliating.’

Had my social reputation still been as low as before, people might have believed Talin’s words over mine.

But now that my standing had risen, the situation was different. People were already beginning to suspect that Talin might have actually colluded with Karen.

In the game, Talin had relentlessly bullied Felice with cruelty. Now, she was standing before me trembling with rage.

The sight gave me a faint sense of satisfaction.

It seemed she had nothing more to say to me.

From afar, Nezwin was watching me with an unreadable expression, but he didn’t seem likely to pick a fight right now.

“Well then, I’ll be going.”

I lifted the lace attached to my dress to cover my injury, then turned without hesitation and walked toward the grand banquet hall.

‘Let’s just attend the banquet and then hide quietly, like a mouse.’

Before the male leads arrived, I intended to slip into some secluded corner as quickly as possible.

“Lady Felice of the House of Luceronia enters!”

The herald’s voice announcing my entrance rang across the grand hall.

‘They shouldn’t all be here yet, right?’

After all, male protagonists always made a late entrance—that was the rule.

Carefully, escorted by my attendant, I descended the stairs.

The scale of the hall was as grand as the mansion itself.

Massive statues lined the edges, and though some signs of age showed, the interior was exquisitely decorated. It was proof of just how lavish the parties in the Duke of Snakeo’s mansion had once been.

I looked around the hall cautiously as I descended the stairs.

“Lady Felice!”

The moment I stepped off the last stair, someone rushed toward me with a bright smile.

“Young Master Bayron…?”

Startled, I looked at Troy, who had suddenly appeared before me.

He greeted me cheerfully, smiling like a boyish puppy.

‘Why is he here so early…?’

In the game, male leads usually made dramatic late entrances.

Yet here was Troy, bounding up to me like a dog wagging its tail after waiting for its master. I couldn’t hide my bewildered expression.

“You came early too, Lady Felice. I wanted to arrive as soon as possible today, so I did. Maybe this means we’re fated?”

He shrugged bashfully as he spoke his ridiculous nonsense, and I almost nodded reflexively.

“Meeting at a noble banquet hardly qualifies as fate, Young Master….”

‘What kind of nonsense is that?’

While I was still trying to find a polite way to phrase my rejection—

“Dear, don’t Roy and Lady Luceronia look wonderful together?”

“Yes, it’s like looking at our younger selves.”

The Marquess and Marchioness of Bayron approached, gazing warmly at Troy and me.

“An honor to see you, Marquess, Marchioness.”

I lifted the hem of my dress and curtsied properly, but the Marchioness waved dismissively.

“Oh, there’s no need for such formality between us. And calling me ‘Marchioness’ feels so stiff. Why don’t you just call us Grandma and Grandpa instead, hmm?”

At her words, the Marquess nodded in agreement.

‘Grandma and Grandpa…?’

That was something you only called your real family.

“No, no, I couldn’t possibly. I’ll continue addressing you according to proper etiquette.”

I drew a clear line. At that, the Marquess and Marchioness’s smiles dimmed, their lips curving downward in disappointment.

I offered them an awkward smile in return.

‘And to think this kind-looking old man is supposedly the head of the empire’s greatest merchant guild.’

With such a benevolent expression, he looked like the type who would give me a house if I asked. Hard to believe he was the master of the top trading company.

“Felice is right. If she called you Grandma and Grandpa now, others would only criticize her. Later… she can call you that.”

Troy’s words, along with his meaningful glance, carried the implication that someday the relationship would change.

I felt my energy drain at once.

‘Later, my foot.’

Knowing full well what Troy’s affection level of 100 would lead to, I didn’t even want to imagine a future with him.

“You’re right, Roy. It may be too much for her now. Forgive us, Lady Felice.”

I wanted to firmly reject any talk of “the future” right there, but the Marchioness held my hand with such an apologetic expression that, as a Confucian girl raised to respect elders, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.

“But, Lady Felice…”

As Troy looked at his grandmother and me facing each other, he suddenly spoke up again, sounding hesitant but determined.

When I turned to him, he pursed his lips slightly before continuing.

“Why didn’t you keep your promise?”

“Promise?”

‘Don’t tell me….’

As I thought over what he could mean, a memory surfaced—back then, just to shake him off, I had lied and said yes to something.

‘Is he really bringing that up here?’

I glanced quickly at the Marquess and Marchioness.

Both were watching with great curiosity.

“You promised to go to the theater with me… but you never set a date, and your letters gave only strange excuses….”

Troy trailed off, making his voice sound pitiful on purpose.