“I hope you find a good man this time.”
With those words, I turned away.
And left the party hall just like that.
Marsha, left behind me, could not say a word for a long while,
and only stared blankly at my back as I walked away.
&
I thought I would be happy.
After all, I was marrying the most beautiful woman in the kingdom.
Countless people gossiped, saying it was an incomprehensible marriage.
I often heard people say there had to be some purpose behind it.
I couldn’t explain the reason myself,
and she never did give me an answer either.
Even so, I thought it didn’t matter.
Because she truly was a beautiful person.
But who would have thought?
Aside from appearing together on certain designated days,
I never imagined we would live in the same mansion without sharing so much as a single meal—without even seeing each other’s faces, for the most part.
I couldn’t even leave the mansion as I pleased.
And like that, decades passed.
I thought that if I endured, someday I would be acknowledged.
For the first year, I truly held on with nothing but that thought.
Then that became ten years,
and after that, I simply came to accept it.
I believed I had been chosen.
But it wasn’t a choice.
It was simply nothing at all.
I had merely been used.
No.
Perhaps I had known from the very beginning.
It just took me far too long to admit it.
Yesterday, as soon as I returned from the Geld family’s party, I had fallen asleep.
And now.
It wasn’t a dream.
Even after opening my eyes, I was still in the same place.
“Phew.”
Even though I had clearly slept well, my head throbbed.
At that moment, a cool breeze blew in from the window.
When I turned my head, the curtains were swaying in the wind.
I slowly raised myself and approached the window, looking out beyond it.
The sight of the capital, filled with vitality.
As I watched it, the throbbing pain seemed to subside a little.
Right.
I endured for decades like that and accepted it in the end,
so why wouldn’t I be able to accept this situation?
The reason I had been able to live on while enduring for so long.
I felt like I finally understood it a little.
I was the sort of person who accepted situations better than I thought.
Or had I simply given up?
Well, either way.
“Miles!”
When I called out, Miles, who had been in the next room, immediately opened the door and entered.
“Did you call for me?”
“Let’s go out.”
“There are no parties scheduled for today, sir.”
“No. We’ve come all the way to the capital, so we should at least look around.”
After washing up briefly and changing clothes, I immediately went outside with Miles.
The capital was certainly full of life.
Wow, it really is different.
I had come to the capital a few times before.
But back then, I had always only followed Eileen back and forth between party venues. I’d never had the chance to wander the streets like this.
Was that why?
It wasn’t bad.
Seeing the things I had wanted to see for myself,
and buying the street food I had wanted to try, my mood had lifted quite a bit before I knew it.
Then, all of a sudden, a luxurious café in the distance caught my eye.
Coffee.
A drink that represented the vanity of nobles.
But what was funny was that the nobles themselves treated it like the drink of their souls.
To the point that people even called it a blood transfusion.
“Ugh, why would anyone drink this?”
“If you keep drinking it, eventually you won’t be able to live without it.”
“Haha! Young Master, if someone heard you, they’d think you’d drunk a great deal of it before.”
Miles laughed as if he found it absurd.
“This is your first time coming up to the capital, isn’t it, Young Master?”
In truth, unless one paid a separate coffee tax, coffee was a luxury beverage that could only really be properly enjoyed in the capital.
It was hard to come by unless one was a fairly prominent noble.
So it was only natural that Miles would respond like that.
I laughed moderately as well and passed it off as a joke.
Since this café was located on Noblesse Street, where only nobles came and went,
the surrounding scenery was quite worth seeing too.
Beautifully tended flowers.
Well-maintained fountains.
And even statues erected here and there.
It was the perfect view to sit with a cup of coffee in hand.
“It’s not bad, coming to a place like this at this time.”
Sip.
I was leisurely enjoying the breeze and watching the passersby when it happened.
When someone sat down at the outdoor table beside mine, I naturally turned my head.
And the other person also turned their gaze this way, our eyes meeting.
“...”
The moment I confirmed that face, my eyes shook greatly.
Eileen Belmardian.
It was her.
Why?
She was not the sort of person to sit leisurely in a place like this.
She should be busy enough with parties alone.
So for a moment, I had no choice but to stare at her blankly.
Receiving my gaze, Eileen suddenly only smiled.
Then, as if nothing had happened, she turned her head away again.
Only then did I come to my senses.
If there was one fortunate thing, it was that she was probably used to this kind of reaction.
Most men must have made exactly this expression when seeing her for the first time.
Miles, who had been drinking his coffee, also glanced toward Eileen and muttered in admiration.
“Oh. That’s Lady Eileen. I’d only heard rumors, but her beauty truly is incredible. And I know the knight standing beside her too. She’s famous.”
I knew that as well.
She was one of Elstragad’s Hundred Strongest, after all.
But to me right now, that wasn’t important.
The very fact that Eileen was here was something I still couldn’t quite understand.
“Hmm. I wonder which coffee is good.”
Perhaps because her table was close to mine,
her soft murmur reached me.
The nobles nearby, especially the men, looked ready to answer in her stead at any moment.
But at that moment, Eileen spoke first.
“Excuse me. What coffee are you drinking?”
Without thinking, I stopped the hand holding my cup.
And my mind caught up a few beats late.
Huh?
Was she talking to me?
“Excuse me?”
When Eileen called out once more, only then did I lift my gaze.
Though I was flustered, I looked down at the coffee in my hand for a moment, then looked back at her.
“It’s coffee from Mondri.”
“It smells nice.”
“But if this is your first time drinking coffee, this one might be a bit bitter.”
At my words, Eileen’s eyes widened just a little.
Then she soon smiled.
“Oh my. I drink coffee quite well.”
“You look like you’d put in about five spoonfuls of sugar.”
“My goodness?”
Just then, a waiter approached,
and Eileen placed her order as if nothing were amiss.
“One coffee from Mondri, very strong, please.”
Then she looked at me and, for a very brief moment, gave a subtle shrug.
Her expression was playful and brazen.
At that tiny reaction, a laugh slipped out of me before I realized it.
Eileen Belmardian.
She truly was a frightening person.
It was clearly an ill-fated connection.
That was why I had tried not to get involved with her in any way, and tried not to form any ties.
Yet with that one tiny action, I had laughed like this again.
Right.
Eileen had always been that kind of person.
Someone who shook people without even realizing it herself.
A little while later, when the coffee came out, Eileen first lifted the cup close and slowly savored its aroma.
Then she carefully took a sip.
Soon, she looked my way and shrugged.
I gave a faint laugh at that reaction.
“It’s bitter, isn’t it?”
“It’s not bitter?”
“It’s written all over your face.”
I spoke calmly.
“I’ll pretend not to notice, so hurry and put in some sugar.”
At my words, Eileen’s eyes widened a little for an instant, then she let out a laugh.
And then, pretending it was nothing, she quietly reached toward the sugar.
Seeing that made me laugh for no reason.
As it happened, I had finished my coffee as well.
I rose from my seat and gave Eileen a light greeting.
“Then enjoy your coffee.”
Eileen looked at me with a smile still on her lips, and I left the café just like that.
***
Eileen Belmardian.
She had known for a long time that she was different from others.
At some point, most people had begun to seem far too simple.
How to handle them, how to lead them—she had come to understand it naturally, even at a young age.
And in that process, she also realized what she was especially good at.
Acting.
After that, she almost never revealed her true emotions properly.
“He’s an interesting person.”
Eileen set down her coffee cup and murmured softly.
The emotion she was feeling now was quite unfamiliar.
A kind of conversation she had experienced for the first time.
No one spoke to her in that manner.
Especially men.
Most either froze, tried to curry favor, or clumsily attempted to make a good impression.
But he was different.
“Please look into that man.”
“Yes.”
The next day.
As Eileen looked over the information on Rayon Signal placed before her, she narrowed her brows slightly.
“There’s far too little to him.”
The Signal family was a count’s house, but its substance was miserable.
There was nothing in particular that seemed likely to be of benefit.
The eldest son, Rayon Signal, was no different.
He had no conspicuous abilities,
nor was his appearance especially outstanding.
He was ordinary.
There were far too few elements that might interest her.
And so Eileen erased that name from her mind.
There were many interesting people.
And among them, only those with value could hold her attention for long.
When she rose from her seat, the knight at her side asked,
“Shall we head to the party hall?”
“Make preparations.”
The knight hesitated briefly, then spoke again.
“But Lady Eileen. Why did you not attend the party yesterday?”
Eileen fell into thought for a moment,
then smiled faintly.
“I don’t know.”
She spoke calmly.
“I simply felt like doing that.”
***
Today, I attended a party that started late.
Perhaps because it was a party hosted by a fairly renowned marquis family, there were quite a lot of people.
As always, I arrived early, took a seat in a corner, and observed the people.
Connections.
For nobles, they were exceedingly important.
Nobles did not simply eat and play.
For nobles without power, a party hall was, if anything, a place of considerable stress.
In truth, there were many nobles who returned from a single party utterly exhausted and collapsed.
In the past, there had even been people who collapsed while enjoying themselves at parties, or even died.
Outwardly, it was passed off as illness,
but in reality, most of it was due to excessive tension and stress.
That was how much parties were not simply enjoyable occasions for nobles.
Because they were that important.
That was why I, too, was here again today.
Even if I achieved nothing in particular,
showing my face was far better than not coming at all.
Standing in a corner, I put small portions of food onto my plate and ate while scanning the people.
Then I noticed nobles of a similar age gathered together.
As expected, perhaps because they were all still young,
they were awkwardly lingering only around the edges of the party hall.
They were at an age and in a position where they still could not approach prominent nobles first.
So it was only natural that they gathered among themselves.
Even so, good connections sometimes formed in places like that.
As I went to put a little more food on my plate, I saw a young lady standing right beside me.
A green dress.
Without hesitation, I opened my mouth.
“That’s delicious.”
“Pardon?”
She turned to look at me with a startled face.
“The unfortunate thing is, according to a cookbook I happened to see, that tastes better grilled than steamed.”
“Ah... What book was it?”
“It’s called The World of Mysterious Cuisine.”
I smiled lightly and continued.
“It isn’t simply a book that records recipes. It also explains how each dish is connected to that country’s history and the culture of the continent.”
“Really?”
Her eyes widened a little.
“The World... of Mysterious Cuisine... That sounds interesting.”
Angelina Pimale.
That was her name.