I decided to set aside the wish voucher I’d struggled to win from Lloyd and focus instead on building a positive reputation for Pere noona before the upcoming Hunt Festival.
Right now, Lloyd only saw Caroline as a girl with the light attribute, but it was inevitable that he would be charmed by her at some point.
That was why I had to push hard while our noona still held even a semblance of a foothold in his heart.
As a first step, we decided to attend a handkerchief-making session for the upcoming Hunt Festival.
The custom of noble ladies gifting hand-embroidered handkerchiefs to the noblemen of their choice on the day of the Hunt Festival was the perfect opportunity to confess one’s feelings to someone they’d been keeping an eye on.
Naturally, I attended the session with Pere noona, and I decided to draw the embroidery design for her myself.
My needlework was absolutely atrocious, but I was quite good at drawing. I was confident I could create a design that harmoniously combined the white bird of the wind, symbolizing the Crown Prince, and the sun, symbolizing the Imperial family.
However, the actual embroidery proved to be difficult, as expected.
I had pricked my fingers so many times that they were practically tattered.
“Ellie, your small hands are all shredded! This is something I should be doing!”
When Pere noona saw that my fingers were a mess from trying to create a design for her, she looked stern and made me stop.
In the end, I drew a sketch on the handkerchief with chalk that could be easily erased and handed it to her.
“Then, would this be alright? It’s too difficult to make the design with thread.”
“This is more than enough. But my, you’re really good at drawing, aren’t you?”
At Pere noona’s praise, the noble ladies nearby flocked over to see the drawing in her hand.
One could say this was a decent strategy in its own right.
Since it was a design that clearly symbolized the Crown Prince, the other noble ladies who saw that sketch wouldn’t dare think of cutting in front of Pere noona to give a handkerchief to Lloyd.
Well, of course, some might still try, but no one would openly set out to make a handkerchief for the Crown Prince after seeing that.
Or so I had thought…
“Ellie, who are you planning to give your handkerchief to?”
There was someone.
On the handkerchief of Caroline, who was speaking to me, a large wind bird—symbolizing Lloyd, who possessed the wind attribute—was already outlined in silver thread.
“Well, you… are you planning to give yours to His Highness?”
I lowered my voice as much as possible, fearful that Pere noona, who was surrounded by other noble ladies nearby, might hear.
But Caroline, oblivious, smiled at me and spoke in a fairly loud voice.
“Yes. There are many things I’m grateful to His Highness for, so I wanted to take this opportunity to express my thanks.”
“Is there really a need to express that gratitude with a handkerchief?”
She knew better than anyone what giving this handkerchief signified, so the fact that she was intent on giving it to Lloyd made her motives very transparent.
Of course, it wasn’t an unexpected turn of events, as Caroline had also given a handkerchief to Lloyd in the original novel.
It was just that since I was now standing on Pere noona’s side and rooting for her and Lloyd, I found Caroline, an outsider, a bit bothersome.
Actually, since every novel follows the flow of the original heroine, I started to think, upon reflection, that it was good to have at least one person like me who cared about our noona.
Caroline spoke to me as if she felt hurt by my reaction.
“Ellie, you don’t seem like the person I used to know lately. Is there something you’re angry at me about?”
It was an expression and tone that, fitting for a heroine, would tug at the heartstrings, but for some reason, I felt uncomfortable with her.
So, without realizing it, I took a step back from Caroline and asked her in return.
“Hm? Did you happen to do something that would make me angry?”
Then, I forced my eyes to crinkle into a smile at Caroline, who looked stern and insisted she had never done such a thing.
*Kid, if you didn’t do anything, then you didn’t. No need to get all stiff about it.*
I asked, “But why are you talking as if it’s a given that I’m angry?”
“I… because I’m planning to give the handkerchief to His Highness.”
“Hm?”
“You seem to be getting close to the Young Lady these days, so I thought you might be displeased with me giving a handkerchief to the Crown Prince whom the Young Lady likes.”
That meant this girl knew very well that her actions would infuriate Pere noona.
The fact that she was still making a handkerchief for Lloyd even while knowing that meant she felt it was fine to offend Pere noona.
If that wasn’t it, she might be hoping for a scene, knowing that given Pere noona’s personality, she wouldn’t just sit back and watch.
Oh, this, this.
I already knew the original heroine wasn’t as kind or virtuous as she seemed, but was she just as wicked as our noona?
At least Pere noona doesn’t pretend and openly reveals that her personality is trash, which makes her somewhat cute. But this girl—is she sinister? Or perhaps, just transparent?
I looked at Caroline, whom I could no longer view favorably, for a moment, then let out a short sigh and said:
“Right. Since the topic has come up, are you gifting the handkerchief to His Highness knowing that the Young Lady likes him?”
“The Young Lady’s heart is her own, but surely His Highness doesn’t feel the same way as she does.”
“How would you know? Did His Highness tell you he wanted to receive a handkerchief from you?”
“……”
Caroline seemed to have nothing to say to my words; she kept her lips tightly sealed for a moment before looking at me and saying:
“You seem to have changed.”
“Me? Where, how, and how much have I changed? And what is the biggest reason you think I’ve changed? Is it because, unlike before, I’m not fully defending you?”
“……”
“Caroline, listen carefully. Bestowing kindness upon everyone to win their hearts is, I think, the most decent way for a baron’s daughter like you to navigate social life. I admire that about you greatly. However, it is not good to use the hearts you’ve gained like that for your own ends.”
Caroline’s face hardened at my words.
Surely, she herself didn’t think that the “fox-like” schemes she was pulling were wrong.
No, she probably didn’t even know what she was doing was “fox-like.”
As the heroine of the original, she had grown up receiving the heroine’s buff; even without putting in any effort, countless people would have taken her side and liked her.
So she must have lived taking all of this for granted, and naturally, she was flustered because I, of all people, had suddenly changed my attitude.
Moreover, was I not a human she had wrapped in her own kindness and tolerance?
I had been looked down upon because my family name had been bought with money from a commoner’s status, and since Caroline was the only one who embraced me, my standing as a noble had grown little by little. So, I had no intention of criticizing her for thinking that way.
However, since I—whom she had treated so well—had attached myself overnight to the Young Lady who harassed her, she must have felt hurt and angry in her own way.
“I… am not like that.”
Caroline spoke with an expression I had never seen on her before.
She looked somewhat angry, and it also looked like she was holding back a sense of grievance.
In any case, it seemed she was upset that I, whom she had thought was quite close to her, had turned my back on her in an instant.
“I have never tried to use anyone’s heart, and also…”
“Are you crying?”
“Oh my, Lady Caroline! Are you crying?!”
No sooner had I finished speaking than a noble lady with brown hair and cute freckles shouted out—evidently, she had been watching us from somewhere.
At that, the other ladies turned their gazes toward us.
Even though Caroline only had tears welling up, she hurriedly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, smearing the moisture onto her eyelids, and shook her head.
Yes, this is exactly the point. This type of thing.
Even though I hadn’t intended it, this was the kind of situation that made it look like I was the reason Caroline was crying.
She might have hurriedly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand so as not to be caught in her vulnerable state, fearing it would trouble me, but in the end, people would think I had upset Caroline and made her cry.
“Lady Ellinea, what is the meaning of this?”
Someone who didn’t even care to understand this situation accurately…
Just like those young ladies who were suddenly sharpening their claws at me.
“Lady Abigail, it’s nothing.”
“Don’t shield her, Lady Caroline. Didn’t Lady Ellinea just make you cry?”
“After all the times Lady Caroline has looked after her, how ungrateful can she be…”
“Lady Ellinea, regardless of being a commoner with no pedigree, you shouldn’t act like that toward Lady Caroline, who has taken such warm care of you.”
They all seized the moment to start tearing into me.
“I have never done anything to make Lady Caroline cry. And besides, Lady Caroline isn’t even crying.”
“Liar. Do you take us for fools? Look, Lady Caroline’s eyelashes are soaking wet…”
“That is because she welled up with sadness that my attitude has changed compared to before, and she rubbed them…”
“If you made her sad enough to well up, that means you made her cry.”
“Actually, I was curious about this myself—why has your attitude changed?”
Because of the young ladies who pounced on me again at my words, I let out a deep, audible sigh and said:
“Do all of you only socialize with a single friend?”
At my words, the noisy surroundings went silent all at once, as if a bucket of cold water had been thrown over them.