Rellia conversed with Grace and heard in detail about the misunderstanding she had suffered.
After hearing the entire story, Rellia pressed her lips into a thin line and pondered.
'This is...'
As expected, Lady Grace was in a truly unjust situation.
According to what she heard.
Recently, all of Princess Juriana's handmaids had been replaced. This was because one of the young ladies serving as a handmaid had a major dispute with Juriana.
Since that young lady had dared to shout and criticize the princess openly in front of her, she had nearly received a severe punishment.
'Given that the extremely zealous Emperor Perseus found out, it's no wonder that much happened...'
Anyway, the young lady who caused the incident was about to be buried in social society, but Juriana pleaded with the Emperor and she avoided that fate.
However, that young lady apparently had her own circumstances.
She was originally a young lady with a fiery temper, and she said she couldn't stand it when Juriana kept interrupting or ignoring her words.
She got angry and went around giving interviews to various newspapers, but eventually stopped out of fear that her family would be exterminated by the Emperor.
In any case. After that incident, the Emperor replaced all of Juriana's handmaids.
Lady Grace was also one of the newly appointed handmaids, and she had visited that fiery-tempered young lady's house a few days ago.
She said they had known each other since childhood, so she went to visit when she heard she was ill.
However, when Princess Juriana's other handmaids learned of this fact, they threw a huge fit.
They claimed this was a betrayal against Princess Juriana.
Then suddenly, a rumor started spreading that Lady Grace was a stalker of Prince Damian.
The reason was that she had forgotten to return a handkerchief Prince Damian had lent her before.
'Really, it's so childish...'
Rellia sighed inwardly.
She recalled the faction disputes that occurred among the teenage nobles of the Superion territory when she was around fourteen or fifteen.
Of course, Rellia wasn't in a position to be involved in such things (no one played with her), so she only heard the rumors.
Anyway, it was no different from the faction fights of those fourteen and fifteen-year-old children.
In this case, Lady Grace ended up being the biggest victim.
Because when Grace was said to have betrayed Princess Juriana, even Cedric and Prince Damian stepped forward.
'Being imperial princes and playing such childish bullying games...'
Rellia found Cedric and Damian pathetic, but it wasn't her concern.
Whether the royals, raised so delicately, were childish or not.
Since she was in a situation where she had to become enemies with Cedric and Damian anyway, Rellia decided to treat Grace even more kindly.
"It must have been really difficult for you, Lady Grace. I've experienced a similar situation, so I think I understand how you feel."
"Really?"
Grace's expression gradually softened at Rellia's warm comfort. She spoke with an apologetic look.
"But I'm worried that Sir Raymond might get into trouble because of me..."
Saying that, Grace looked in the direction where Cedric and Prince Damian were.
"As long as Lady Grace is okay with it, I don't mind. I don't particularly like those two princes anyway."
"But... those two become even more sensitive when it comes to Princess Juriana. You might end up completely at odds with them."
"That's what I'm hoping for."
When Rellia said that, Grace burst into laughter.
The two shared a bit more conversation on brighter topics than before.
But perhaps because she had been standing with Grace for a while?
Rellia suddenly turned her head and felt gazes directed at her from here and there.
There were looks of favor and respect, as well as expressions filled with shock and betrayal.
In particular, Damian and Cedric were glaring at Rellia as if they wanted to kill her.
'Success.'
Rellia thought that and looked toward Rute. His grin was stretched from ear to ear.
'Pathetic guy.'
Rellia turned her head again.
But that side was a bit unexpected.
It was Princess Juriana's handmaids. They looked at Rellia as if she were 'a general who sold secrets to the enemy.'
Their faces were full of betrayal, as if the world had collapsed, and they were trembling.
Since they had a tea party together a few days ago, they seemed to think Rellia was on their side.
Juriana's expression was somewhat subtle.
Rather than betrayal, she had a slightly troubled expression.
Her face even seemed to be slightly mocking Rellia, which was unexpected.
'What is it?'
Rellia was curious about what Juriana was thinking.
Just then, the music changed and a beautiful mid-tempo melody flowed out.
Rellia felt that Lady Grace's expression had relaxed much more than before and asked.
"May I ask for your first dance, Lady Grace?"
"...Alright."
Perhaps because she had gained confidence, she grabbed Rellia's extended hand at once.
Among her friends, she might have looked short, but Rellia was relatively tall among women, and Lady Grace was about a handspan shorter than Rellia.
Because of that, Rellia in men's clothing and Grace looked like a pair of lovers.
Rellia proudly led Grace to the center of the stage.
The gazes of the people were a bit frightening, but no one seemed to suspect her gender.
'Like a playboy... like a playboy.'
Rellia chanted inwardly and began to dance with Grace.
Exclamations poured out from among the watchers.
This was because among Donatelli's recently announced new works, there was a painting called
"How can this be..."
"It's so beautiful. To think such a man really exists in this world..."
"Haah..."
The noblewomen sighed with rapture and took in the sight.
On the other hand, the male nobles had faces as if they had chewed on rotten meat. Even so, they sneered while pretending to be unbothered.
"I wonder if he can even perform a man's role, really."
"What's there to do properly? You can tell just by looking, he's probably this small."
They made nasty jokes and degraded Sir Raymond.
Just then, one male noble spoke as if something had occurred to him.
"Ah! Come to think of it, I heard that Prince Romeo was seen with a man who looked like the handsome man in 'Donatelli's' painting..."
"What do you mean?"
He blabbered the rumor he had heard.
Before anyone knew it, 'Sir Raymond' in the rumor had become involved in a certain kind of relationship with Prince Romeo.
The content was trashy - that he wasn't a distant cousin but actually Prince Romeo's male mistress.
"And yet he pretends to be such a fine man, laughing and chatting with a woman like that... tsk tsk."
"How can men do such a thing."
They all clicked their tongues in unison.