Chapter 1
The Beginning of the Story
Elia Roan.
A young noblewoman of House Roan, only months away from celebrating her nineteenth birthday and officially reaching adulthood.
She had long since graduated from the Academy—a place she had found unbearably dull—and unlike everyone else, she had absolutely no intention of waving around her diploma while hunting for a prestigious position in the Imperial Palace. That ambition had been tossed to the wind ages ago.
“Yaaawn…“
Her daily routine consisted of exactly three things:
Lazing around.
Lazing around.
And lazing around some more.
Her older brother, Count Roan, had already departed for the Imperial Palace before dawn, as he did every day. Downstairs, the servants bustled about after breakfast, busy with their morning duties.
Meanwhile, in the cozy bedroom on the fourth floor, Elia had only just opened her eyes.
She didn’t bother sitting up.
Instead, she simply yawned again.
“My lady, you’ve finally had enough sleep, haven’t you?”
As always, the one person looking after the perpetually idle young lady was Daisy, the maid who had practically raised Elia since childhood.
Carrying a basin of fresh water, Daisy approached the bed and gently helped her mistress begin another unusually late morning.
“My lady… are you really not going to tell me what happened yesterday at the Duke’s estate?”
The moment Elia finished washing her face, Daisy handed her a towel and immediately began prying for details.
Elia sighed dramatically.
“Why do you insist on asking me the same thing every single time?”
“Because!” Daisy protested. “It was the first time in ages you went to see your fiancé! We all worked so hard to dress you up.”
“So you want to hear what everyone else thought? Isn’t it enough that I liked it?”
“I like hearing an outsider’s opinion too. We should accept criticism with humility and compliments with grace, so we can do even better next time.”
“…Honestly. I can never win an argument with you.”
Truthfully, yesterday wasn’t a memory Elia cared to revisit.
Only because her brother, Eugene, had unexpectedly come home early and stubbornly dragged her to the Duke’s residence.
As a result, every plan she had made for the day had been ruined.
Not that her schedule had been particularly ambitious.
She had merely intended to curl up with one of the books she’d been saving and spend the entire day reading while lounging about.
To Daisy, however, that unwanted outing had seemed like a ray of sunshine breaking through a dreary routine—a gentle spring rain falling upon a withered garden.
“My lady, how many times do I have to hear the same answer before I finally give up?” Daisy asked hopefully.
“There wasn’t anything to tell,” Elia replied. “I wore that ridiculously elaborate dress you picked out… and those shoes…”
“‘Sergian’s Southern-style shoes,'” Daisy supplied immediately.
“Right. Those Sergian shoes.”
“I went to the Duke’s estate. Naturally, there wasn’t any grand welcome waiting for me. I sat there sipping tea while pretending to listen to Eugene chatter away about things no one cared about.”
Elia grimaced.
Even now, it felt as though the bitter taste of the Duke’s tea still lingered on her tongue.
“And do you know what they served for dinner?”
“…Don’t tell me.”
“Oh, yes. Duck.”
She threw up her hands dramatically.
“Another duck.”
“I swear their chef has a personal grudge against ducks. Or maybe he’s trying to make me hate them.”
“…I see…”
“Oh! There was one thing that was different.”
Seeing Daisy’s eyes sparkle with anticipation, Elia deliberately paused.
“For dessert they served some strange black tea they’d just imported from the East.”
“They claimed it was good for digestion.”
“I drank it.”
“Then I got into my carriage and came home.”
“The end.”
Daisy stared.
“…Really?”
“That was all?”
“What were you expecting?” Elia laughed. “Did you think the Duke would gaze at me and say I looked beautiful? Or ask about my dress?”
“But you were beautiful, my lady.”
The servants had poured every ounce of effort into preparing her despite the sudden notice.
She had looked better than she had in years.
“Your platinum-blonde hair shimmered as though you’d treated it with perfume oil—even though you hadn’t.”
“I didn’t?”
“I hadn’t even noticed.”
“And that dress! Last year it was too large for you, but yesterday it fit perfectly.”
“It suited you so well.”
Daisy enthusiastically continued listing compliment after compliment.
It was hardly unusual.
She praised Elia like this almost every day.
“Fine,” Elia conceded with a shrug. “Thanks to you, I probably did look rather nice yesterday.”
“But it wouldn’t matter to the Duke.”
“Even if the youngest daughter of House Poitiers—the beauty everyone’s obsessed with lately—threw herself at him, I doubt he’d even blink.”
“My lady is prettier!”
“No, really!”
“Daisy…”
“You’ve never even seen Lady Poitiers.”
As depressing as it was for a noble lady to admit aloud, Elia saw no point pretending otherwise.
Edmund Raspe.
Head of House Raspe.
The man who would likely become Emperor of the Empire in another generation or two.
Admired by everyone.
Envied by all.
And despite being Elia’s fiancé…
He had never once shown the slightest interest in her.
Not that I care either, she thought.
She had never cared about him, not even as a child.
The two of them were practically strangers.
Less than strangers, even.
Of course, if she ever voiced that opinion in front of Eugene, he’d practically explode.
Though, to be fair…
She already had.
“Less than strangers?“
“Do you have any idea what would have happened to House Roan if Duke Raspe hadn’t looked after us?“
“You and I would have ended up on the streets!“
Her brother’s lectures never ended quickly.
They always evolved into lengthy speeches praising Duke Raspe’s countless virtues.
Eventually, Elia would snap.
“If you admire Edmund that much… why don’t you marry him instead?“
Needless to say…
Those conversations never ended peacefully.
