“Not a chance. Unlike ‘someone,’ I know my place better than anyone.”
I purposefully emphasized the words *unlike someone*, and Caroline seemed to realize that the ‘someone’ was a dig at her.
She let go of my hand—which she had taken without permission—and stood up.
“It seems I was mistaken. No matter how upset I was, I shouldn’t have come to you for advice.”
*Huh? That was advice?*
“I’ll be going now.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Since she said she was leaving, I naturally stood up to see her off.
As Caroline walked toward the door, she suddenly seemed to remember something, turned around, and asked, “By the way, have you chosen a partner?”
If I mentioned here that Pere had promised to make Theor my partner, it would look like I was ignoring the offer Caroline had made to me earlier, so I simply shook my head.
At that, Caroline nodded with a smile that carried an unreadable meaning.
I discovered the exact meaning of that smile that evening.
Through a communication orb from Theor.
[Lady Triaze asked me to be her partner for the Hunting Festival.]
“Caroline herself?”
[Yes, she visited the Grand Duke’s estate without notice.]
My, she’s certainly diligent.
I furrowed my brows, flustered to the point of a hollow laugh.
Theor watched me, asking if his words had upset me, and I shook my head, telling him no.
“Why would I be upset? So, did you accept?”
At my question, Theor’s mood seemed to dampen.
He looked at me for a moment without answering, then asked back in a pleasant, low-toned voice.
[Do you wish for me to have accepted?]
I shook my head with a somewhat troubled expression.
“No, actually, I was planning to ask you myself.”
At my words, Theor’s eyes widened slightly.
[You were going to ask me to be your partner?]
“Yes, of course. Since His Highness the Crown Prince and Pere have become partners, it would be beneficial in many ways for you, the Crown Prince’s close friend, to be mine.”
[Then why did you not say so earlier?]
“Well, my status is humble, so I couldn’t contact you directly… so Pere had promised to take responsibility and ask you on my behalf….”
[I have declined Lady Triaze’s offer.]
Theor spoke, cutting me off.
As I stared at him with wide, surprised eyes, Theor smiled pleasantly and said to me:
[In truth, Ellinea, I contacted you because I wanted to ask you to be my partner.]
He’s been smiling quite often ever since he started.
Feeling a tickle in my heart at Theor’s tender smile, I gave an awkward laugh and told him, “Thank you. For asking me directly.”
[Think nothing of it. From the moment I received that handkerchief from you, my choice was already made.]
I mentioned that it was quite a surprise that Caroline had suddenly come to ask for his partnership.
I was very surprised myself.
To think she would reach out to the second male lead since the main one didn’t work out—it’s not like she already knows they are destined for her.
A thought crossed my mind that perhaps they are drawn to one another like fate, and I began to think about how fierce a war I would have to fight for Pere’s sake to win Lloyd over after reaching adulthood.
Since I have to make the male lead of the original work into the villainess’s man instead of the heroine’s, pushing Theor, the second male lead, toward Caroline would be the best method.
*Twinge.*
For a moment, I felt as if something had poked my heart.
Hmm…?
As I pondered the strange, inexplicable pain, Theor said to me,
[Then we should decide on our custom-made hunting outfits as well.]
“Ah.”
[Since we already planned to meet this weekend, we can visit a boutique together then.]
“Yes, well.”
[Is there a specific boutique you prefer?]
“No, for me…”
[Then I shall find a few places and make reservations.]
“A few places? Is that really necessary….”
I told him not to waste his energy and to just pick one.
To that, Theor replied that since it was his first time commissioning a custom outfit with a female partner, he wanted to be thorough.
[Is it not your first time as well, Ellinea? Since it is a first for us both, let us pick one we both like.]
Was Theor always such a delicate person?
In the original work, Caroline hadn’t liked Theor’s dull and cold nature, which was why Lloyd became the main male lead.
Of course, his light-attribute magic helped make him the main lead, but it was essentially his and the second male lead’s different personalities toward Caroline that divided them.
So, it is simply fascinating that Theor, who was frustratingly dull and oblivious in the original story, is being this attentive over a single hunting festival outfit.
“All right.”
Anyway, since he had chosen me as his partner for the hunting festival, it felt only right to go along with his lead, so I nodded and agreed.
Theor smiled brightly once more at my nod.
He is being so free with his smiles in front of me—someone who declared she would meet him once a week just to see him smile—that I am simply bewildered.
Feeling my face growing warm, I didn’t meet his eyes, said a quick goodbye, and cut the connection to the communication orb.
My heart began to thump wildly again.
* * *
The attire for the Hunting Festival was similar to riding habits, but with a more flamboyant feel and colorful patterns.
The men and women who came as partners usually used colors and patterns as points to signify that they were a pair.
As the Hunting Festival was a major event for the Empire, partners-to-be strove to wear hunting outfits that complemented one another.
Pere said she had decided to make a custom hunting outfit mixing the golden color that symbolizes Lloyd with the red that symbolizes herself, against a snow-white base.
We decided to design the outfits with a combination of black and red that would accentuate Theor’s black hair and red eyes, and my own black hair and black eyes.
“Ellie, you look so cute.”
The princess dress with the red flower accents that Endiewon designed suited my cute face shape exceptionally well.
The dress, with its breezy, lively feel—lacking a waist seam and featuring vertical cut lines—made me feel happy just by wearing it.
But more than my dress…
“You’re the one who looks beautiful, sister. You look just like the Goddess of Blood.”
The mermaid dress, which captured the haughty and noble image of Pere perfectly, showed the curves of her body clearly and flared out from the knees down, highlighting her slender and sensual figure.
Even though it was a pale pink dress topped with the same red flower accents, the vibe was completely different depending on the person wearing it and the shape of the dress.
I was once again in awe of Endiewon’s design skills.
“Goddess of Blood?”
Perhaps she didn’t quite like my perfect analogy, as one of Pere’s eyebrows twitched.
Honestly, there was no other sentence that could represent her current appearance as well as the Goddess of Blood, so I couldn’t retract it.
So, I just said it honestly to Pere.
“There’s no other analogy that fits as well as that one… I’m sorry, sister. Honestly, you know you aren’t the kind-hearted, angelic type. But it’s an undeniable fact that you look like a goddess, so I compared you to a goddess who suits the color red….”
“You’re really good at dancing around the fact that you think I’m wicked, aren’t you?”
“Oh my, wicked? Of course, I completely agree with your assessment of yourself as wicked, but I hope you realize that I didn’t mean to insult you directly by saying that.”
At my nonsensical, empty words, Pere made an expression of disbelief and gave a small laugh, asking what I was talking about.
I felt happy at Pere’s smile and laughed, saying, “Anyway, among all the people with villainess-like images, you are the most beautiful villainess.”
“Is that a compliment, or an insult?”
“It’s a compliment, obviously.”
“Well, it doesn’t sound too bad to hear, at least.”
My sister Pere, in whose veins the blood of a villainess flowed, smiled without a hint of offense at my words, which could have been taken the wrong way by anyone else.
I linked my arm through Pere’s and headed toward the duke’s carriage to make our way to the tea party.
Determined to burn myself out to ensure that countless young ladies would fall for my villainess sister, who was like a goddess of blood, I boarded the carriage with Pere.