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"But Lord Kenneth didn’t come with you? Is Lenard acting as the chaperone today?"
"Yes. Brother Ken is busy preparing for his new department, so he decided to rest today. Since Brother Ren got an invitation too, he agreed to be my chaperone. Of course, Mother will help out here and there as well."
"This is hell…"
Unlike Letticia, who smiled slightly, Lenard looked completely miserable. Ezkhiel glanced between the two with a troubled expression before deciding to comfort his friend.
"Cheer up, Lenard. If it gets too rough, I’ll come grab you so we can drink at the table or something."
"Our family is banned from drinking in the imperial palace…"
Letticia tilted her head in confusion at her brother’s expression that screamed he could use a drink.
"Why do you sound like you're dying? Do you hate attending balls that much?"
"You and I are the same, just different genders. In social circles, we’re both treated like prey, little sister. And I get attacked by the mothers too."
"Ah, yes... there are quite a few ladies who come up to him and introduce their daughters. I saw at least three come by after each dance."
"Oh, right. I forgot how popular you are, Brother."
Unlike Letticia, who received endless dance requests without lifting a finger, many debutantes would approach a man they liked with their chaperones and try to pressure him into dancing, masked as polite greetings. Especially men like Lenard, who were extremely popular in high society, they were the ultimate prizes.
Letticia was aware of this, but due to their sibling bond, she usually forgot just how popular her brother was. Besides, Lenard rarely even attended balls to begin with.
"So out of all the people you’ve danced with, not one caught your eye?"
"Honestly, it’s really overwhelming. I can feel from their eyes that every one of them is determined to marry me somehow. It’s just one dance, but some talk as if we’ve got something going on. One woman even went around bragging that just because we danced the waltz, I must be in love with her."
"Wow, that’s awful. So what did you do?"
"At the next ball she attended, I danced the waltz with other ladies instead of her. Then she acted like I was some kind of marriage scammer… Ugh, I don’t even want to remember that incident."
Lenard leaned back in his seat with a look of disgust. Ezkhiel, his face full of sympathy, nodded and shared what he had witnessed.
"She really was over the top. Right in front of everyone, she asked Lenard if she could expect a specially curated gift from Sharon Jewelry during the visiting season."
"Talking about gifts after just one dance, what a joke. She’s not a guest, she’s a thief trying to get free stuff!"
"Sadly, that kind of thief isn’t rare… That kind of line is a classic from both the girls who flirt with me and their mothers."
Letticia looked at Lenard with the same sympathy that Ezkhiel had shown. She’d known her brother had his struggles, but dealing with rude guests and shameless freeloaders? That was just pitiful.
"Brother, if it gets too much, come hide out with me. It’s a bit creepy, but I’ll dance everything with you except the waltz."
"Sure, since I can’t drink at the imperial palace anyway, might as well hold hands with my sister and spin around in circles."
"If you hate that, go dance with Mother instead."
"That’s even worse."
Lenard responded with genuine horror.
It wasn’t a family-hosted ball, it was an imperial event. A grown son dancing with his mother would just lead to gossip that he’s a mama’s boy. The reverse? People would just assume the daughter barely managed to avoid becoming a wallflower.
Ezkhiel, who had been listening, gave a dry chuckle and said to Lenard.
"There are a lot of foreign ambassadors today, so people will be talking to you a lot. If you keep them engaged in conversation, maybe the noble ladies won’t be able to approach."
"God, I hope so. If I have to hear one more person tell me their daughter is good at watercolor and that I should come see her work over the summer, I’ll seriously lose it."
"Speaking of summer... Ez, you’ll be a bit freer during that season, right?"
Letticia asked in a playful tone, and Ezkhiel responded with a smile.
"Yes. Parliament goes on recess during the summer."
"Then can I visit your house again? This time I want to try putting jam on cookies."
"Of course! I’ll pick out the tea leaves this time."
Lenard watched them, eyes dulled with resignation, as they talked sweetly and looked ready to hold hands and cuddle if he weren’t around. He regretted not riding with his parents instead.
"Do I have to watch this all through the autumn season too? I should’ve just dragged Ken along…"
By now, his cousin, freed from this late-night ball and all the lovey-dovey nonsense, was probably in the soundproof music room, happily playing piano into the night. Lenard envied him deeply.
Clicking his tongue, Lenard pulled out a book and opened it. Reading in a moving carriage wasn’t the best idea, but it was still better than watching that.
The second imperial banquet hall they entered gave off a very different atmosphere from the debutante ball.
Back then, the decorations had been vibrant, full of flowers and ribbons, and the music had leaned toward what younger people liked, fitting for an event centered around debutantes. But this time, with foreign diplomats in attendance, the focus was on highlighting the imperial family's traditional culture.
Laurel branches, symbol of the royal family, were arranged throughout the hall. Classical pieces composed by renowned musicians of past eras filled the air, and the tables overflowed with traditional dishes from the Empire. The moment the Sharon family and Ezkhiel stepped into the hall, all eyes turned to them.
"Count, it’s been a while. We’ve really missed seeing you at the social club lately."
"Countess, may I ask about that dessert you introduced at the last tea party?"
"Young Lord Sharon! What a pleasure to see you here. My daughter met you before at-"
While Patrick, Camilla, and Lenard handled the waves of greetings and conversations with practiced ease, Letticia also greeted people while linking arms with Ezkhiel.
Without Kenneth beside her this time to whisper reminders or help with introductions, Letticia had crammed to memorize the names and titles of all the nobles. Thankfully, her efforts paid off, she remembered them well. Plus, many of them were acquaintances of Ezkhiel, so pretending to know them wasn’t too hard.
Then, one lady looked around discreetly before leaning in to whisper to Camilla.
"Countess, by any chance, did you hear about what happened at Canotia Jewelry today?"
"Canotia? No, I’ve been too busy preparing for the ball to hear anything."
Given the opening, the lady’s face lit up with excitement, though she lowered her voice as if sharing top-secret gossip.
"Well, it turns out that Sir Brevis, the owner, was caught having a secret rendezvous with Countess Raves. The Count himself stormed in, grabbed Sir Brevis by the collar, and threw him out! And the Countess? She got dragged out by her hair!"
"Oh my, is that really true?"
"Yes. It'll probably be in the newspapers by tomorrow."
When Camilla asked in surprise, the woman and a few others nodded. The rest of the ladies were equally shocked by the scandalous revelation.
While affairs weren’t unheard of in high society, it was rare for such incidents to become public humiliations, if only for the sake of preserving one’s honor.
"I heard from someone who was actually there. Apparently, every time the Countess visited Canotia, she and the owner would secretly meet. And the Count, completely unaware, indulged her every wish, showering her with luxuries simply because he wanted to please his new young wife. So of course, he was furious when he found out."
"That’s unbelievable. To have an affair with a customer, how could anyone do something so immoral…"
Patrick frowned, visibly appalled. The woman who brought it up nodded firmly, clearly agreeing.
"My husband got so angry when he heard, he told me not to even think about going to Canotia. Not that I planned to anyway."
"Exactly. Buying jewelry from a shop caught up in such a scandal will only damage a lady’s reputation."
As the noblewomen around her unanimously declared they would boycott Canotia, Letticia turned to observe Patrick’s expression.
His face seemed strained, like he was trying to hide his dismay over his business partner’s disgrace. But after eighteen years as his daughter, Letticia could tell, he had orchestrated this.
'Exposing an affair between a noble and a store owner in broad daylight? That’s one hell of a revenge.'
Canotia’s earlier attempt to sabotage the Sharon family’s ball by bribing a guest’s chaperone into causing a scene had never been made public.
But since Sharon Jewelry had been attacked, a counterattack was inevitable. Letticia had expected a response, but not this. To leak a full-blown scandal between the store owner and a noble’s wife?
Not only had Canotia's flagship jewel-studded gown failed to generate the buzz they’d hoped for, buried before it could shine, but the woman who bought it, Seraphina, had overshadowed the piece by flaunting it alongside a new gemstone chain.
Canotia’s momentum had already dipped early in the season, and now, with this scandal added on, its fall from grace was inevitable.
No husband would allow his wife to patronize a jewelry store where the owner had an affair with a noble’s wife and then got dragged out by the husband in front of everyone.
🍓; Patronize, in this context, it means to be a customer of or regularly visit a business establishment, not to speak condescendingly, which is another meaning of the word.
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1 Comments
I had missed this novel so much. Thanks for continuing to translate it!
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