How Dare You Mock Her

I arrived at the meeting place at just the right moment. The butler withdrew, and I walked into the greenhouse, the click of my blue heels announcing that I had come.

"And so—oh my?"

"Lady Foregreen?"

"Good heavens, we never thought the young lady would actually come."

"It's been so long."

The moment I stepped inside, the young ladies who noticed my entrance rose from their seats and welcomed me warmly. They had sent the invitation, of course, but it was plain they had never truly believed I would appear.

Well, I haven't attended a single gathering since the first.

Their dazed surprise was understandable enough. I answered them with the artificial smile I had perfected while drifting from one place to another.

"It has been a while."

Fortunately, the corners of my mouth lifted more gracefully than I had expected.

When I took the seat of highest honor, the young lady already occupying it drew back with a displeased look. She was, most likely, the daughter of this house.

"We never thought you'd come. Did you choose today on purpose? Ohoho."

"Hmm. Who can say."

She laughed as though she had made a delightful joke. I was not fool enough, however, to miss the meaning folded inside it. In short, she was saying: You never showed your face before, so why appear the moment my family is hosting? Are you that conscious of me? She was picking a fight.

I have never been considerate enough to let the first slight pass unanswered, so I decided to hand her a polite little humiliation in the style reserved for the upper class. A shallow version of that style, only just learned, but still.

"I came without even knowing where it was being held. Only after I arrived did I realize this was the count's daughter's estate."

Which was to say: I have not the slightest interest in you. You have no presence at all. I only noticed once I got here, so kindly shut your mouth.

Fortunately, the count's daughter understood me perfectly. She drank her tea with a face gone rigid, and at the sight of her retreat I smiled brightly. After all the time I had spent facing down creditors, how could I fail to get the better of a few noble young ladies?

"Even so, this is truly unexpected. We never imagined Lady Foregreen would come either. Oh—could it perhaps be because of that?"

"That?"

I took a sip of tea and asked again, puzzled. The young lady who had opened the subject lowered her voice, a strange look on her face. The others, as if they already knew what was coming, either pretended not to listen or hid smiles at the corners of their mouths.

"I mean Her Highness the Imperial Princess—the one who went missing and has only just returned. Did you know? Before she was discovered, she was scraping by in a commoner's household, feeding the cows and pigs."

"Heavens. Then doesn't Her Highness smell of livestock?"

"That's why they say the maids bathed her for a full three hours! Heeheehee."

"Oh my, oh my. What crime did the poor maids commit? How pitiful."

"Their crime was being made to serve a vulgar mistress."

What had begun as a small voice swelled until it filled the greenhouse. Once they started agreeing with one another, the young ladies grew even more delighted, as if they were competing to see who could disgrace the princess more thoroughly. Amid it all, I watched them with a blank expression. In truth, my mood was thoroughly foul.

How dare they trash our female lead?

Do you have any idea how hard our heroine fought just to live?

While they sipped tea and nibbled cookies in elegant conversation, the heroine had been taking in sewing to survive and feeding fodder to the livestock. Mocking that desperate struggle felt like mocking me, because the character I had empathized with most was her.

"How noisy. It seems you ladies wish to torment my ears."

I set my teacup down with a sharp clack. The clash of porcelain cut loudly through their laughter.

A chill silence fell.

"W-what do you mean? How could we be tormenting Lady Foregreen's ears?"

One of the young ladies spoke in a flustered voice. From their point of view, my sudden turn might well have seemed absurd. To them, mocking someone was no different from ordinary life, and even Aine had taken it as natural. No one had ever been able to check these women who sat in the top one percent.

But I was different. For one thing, I was the only daughter of the Foregreen ducal house, whose authority pierced the heavens, and the fiancée of Grand Duke Reinhardt, praised as a hero of war. It was not widely known, but I also kept the master of an assassin guild as a lover and a beastman as a pet.

......Wow. Laying it all out like that, I found myself wondering whether Aine might not be the safest person in this entire world. Well—her most important relationship gauge was sitting at rock bottom, but still. In any case, that was how much influence I had. Which meant I could say whatever I pleased.

"Does it amuse you to speak ill of someone who isn't even here? She smells of livestock because she fed the cows and pigs? Then what is this smell? Did you come after feeding the cows and pigs yourself?"

"What? How can you say something so severe! The smell of livestock? I'll have you know that, humble as it may look, this perfume was crafted over a very long time by Madame Carla, a master perfumer!"

"Then it must be your own scent. A stench so foul that even perfume cannot hide it."

I crossed my legs with arrogant ease and lifted my chin. Aine had always been famous in this world for being beyond all reason. She did only what she wanted and crushed without mercy whatever failed to please her, so there was nothing particularly special about what I was doing now. Though, to be fair, Aine herself would never have grown angry over a matter like this.

"It irritates me. Prattling on and on when the person herself isn't present. It's exceedingly ugly. You wouldn't enjoy hearing gossip about yourselves, would you?"

"......But that woman—"

"That woman, of an imperial princess who has been formally acknowledged as royalty. It seems the count wishes to make an enemy of the imperial house. Hmm. Are you planning to seek asylum in another country?"

"......"

"I hear His Majesty's devotion to Her Highness is profound. If I were to repeat, word for word, everything being said in this room—"

Someone swallowed. I smiled sweetly.

"Watching the Young Ladies' Social Club, so proud of its long tradition, vanish over a single slip of the tongue sounds rather entertaining. What do you ladies think?"

"......"

Of course, no one was going to answer. I savored one more sip of tea that had long gone cold and rose from my seat. Remaining planted any longer seemed a little difficult.

They won't be gossiping behind her back after this, either.

I had said enough that they would restrain themselves of their own accord, and I had kindly explained just how dangerous it was to tear an imperial princess down. If they had any sense, they would take the lesson. It was a shame to leave without seeing Maria, but I would see her at the banquet anyway.

"It's time to feed the livestock I keep, so I really must be going. Do enjoy the rest of your—"

I was rising on that final note of sarcasm when I could say no more. There came a sharp sound: the door opening. At the sudden noise, the young ladies and I all turned our heads, and when I saw who had entered, my eyes went wide.

Lime-green eyes that seemed to hold the fresh green of spring. Hair of the green peculiar to the imperial house. Skin white as snow, and large, clear eyes. An air as bright and clean as the arrival of early spring.

Maria.

I knew at once, by instinct, that this fairy-like woman was Maria lun Abella Hespaia, the heroine of Fairy's Garden.

I stared at Maria in a daze. I had thought I would leave without seeing her; I had never expected to come face to face with her like this. Just as the novel described, she seized the eye, and I could not look away. At last she looked straight at me—and yet the expression on her face as she did was somehow strange.

What...?

The moment our eyes met, Maria's gaze wavered without direction, then sank into darkness. Wondering why she wore such a look, I soon realized she had heard them gossiping about her. That was why she had been unable to come in. And yet that alone did not explain it. From the very first, her eyes had been fixed on me alone.

"Your Highness...? You appeared so suddenly, without a sound."

One of the young ladies spoke in a flustered tone. Caught in the act of gossip, she could hardly conceal her panic, and the others wore much the same expressions. The air inside the greenhouse froze cold. In the midst of it, Maria stood helpless.

I looked at her quietly, then spoke in a perfectly unruffled voice.

"Oh dear, you're already here. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Your Highness."

With that, I slipped lightly away from the seat of honor. Every time I passed, the young ladies' gazes clung to me. Startled by my sudden words, Maria looked at me in confusion as well. I smiled so that only she could see it, and her eyes widened.

It's all right. I'm on your side.

I told her so with my eyes as I went to her side. Standing beside Maria, I addressed the young ladies seated around us.

"The truth is, I had a separate appointment with Her Highness. I arrived earlier than planned and only stopped by the gathering for a moment, but I lingered too long, and it seems Her Highness came for me herself. I'm sorry, Your Highness."

I turned an apologetic face toward Maria. Her lime-green eyes darted this way and that, then she gave a small shake of her head.

"No—why would an appointment be at our house—"

"Then do have a pleasant time."

At my excuse, the daughter of Count Coconi opened her mouth in disbelief, but I cut her off midway, offered a careless farewell, and left the greenhouse with Maria.

Once we were outside, Maria followed behind me without a word as we slowly crossed the garden. When we had gone some distance, I stopped and turned to face her. We could hardly keep walking in silence forever.

I considered what I ought to say first. When I had seen Asad, I had had no shortage of things to say—and had embarrassed myself spectacularly because of it—yet strangely, faced with Maria, I could not tell what I was supposed to say at all. No doubt because the circumstances of this first meeting had been far from good.

After some thought, I decided to offer the words she seemed to need most in this moment.

"Um, are you all ri—"

"Thank you."

But before I could finish, Maria bowed her head to me first. Startled, I flailed without even managing to reach for her.