Chapter 75
As if she had been watching her since entering the tent. When their eyes met, Min-ha hardened her expression without realizing it, and Vivian smiled slightly. No matter how much she looked at it, she had a smile that could never be seen as a favor.
Then, Vivian turned her head arrogantly and looked at the other ladies before opening her mouth.
“It seems that everyone’s here. It is an honor to see you all again, I’m Vivian Loengram.”
“No, Young Lady Vivian. Thank you for the invitation.”
“That’s right. It must be a rather boring time until the men would come back after hunting, though I was happy to have a tea party with you all here.”
“Oh. Thank you, Grand Duchess Blaine. Madam Dorison, Madam Padget. Today’s outdoor tea party was held at the suggestion of the Grand Duchess.”
“Oh, my. I see. Thank you, Grand Duchess.”
“You’re welcome. It’s Young Lady Vivian who accepted my proposal and prepared a place and tea like this.”
“Well, I’ve got to thank you both!”
“That’s right. Hoho.”
‘…What? Was the person who orchestrated the tea party the Grand Duchess?’
Min-ha glanced at the Grand Duchess, who shook her head arrogantly as she received the courteous greetings from the ladies. At that time, Grand Duchess Blaine, who was having a meaningless conversation with them, suddenly turned her head and spoke to her.
“By the way, the Duchess of Persen doesn’t look very happy. Perhaps, do you not enjoy the seat?”
“Is that possible? I was enjoying it in my own way.”
“…In your own way, what do you mean?”
“I took care of my little brother and saw the beautiful flowers on the table. Oh, and I also thought that the teacup and saucer were very lovely.”
Quite blatantly, when asked, ‘What was she doing before she came?’ Min-ha replied indirectly. After all, she did not have any reason to be honest to them, and she did not want to make a mistake by saying unnecessary things.
However, upon hearing her answer, Grand Duchess Blaine and the people around them turned white for a moment. The Grand Duchess smiled awkwardly and turned to Vivian, who was sitting next to her.
“…Come to think of it, I haven’t even had tea yet. Young Lady Vivian, is the tea cold enough to drink?”
“Of course. I made it ready to be enjoyed at any time. Butler, make sure to pour the tea for the madams, ladies, and young ladies.”
“All right.”
In response to Grand Duchess Blaine’s question, Vivian immediately ordered the butler to serve the tea.
At her call, the servant in Loengram’s mansion came to the side of the table and placed the teapot in the center of the table with one arm, and first started pouring tea into Grand Duchess Blaine’s cup. When her cup was about half full, she made an elegant gesture to warn them not to pour more tea.
At that, the butler bowed deeply and immediately approached Min-ha and started pouring tea.
Min-ha bowed politely to the Grand Duchess before lowering her head slightly to greet the butler, who was pouring her tea. She watched as the beautiful pattern on the bottom of the teacup disappeared into the dark brown tea.
At that moment, Vivian, who was watching the scene, shouted to the butler.
“Ah, butler! Make sure to pour plenty of tea for the Duchess of Persen. It must have been because she was very thirsty while waiting for the Grand Duchess and me.”
“Yes. I see, Young Lady.”
The butler bowed his eyes to his master, Vivian, then tilted the teapot further and quickly poured tea into Min-ha’s cup.
‘…What kind of trickery is this?’
Looking at the teacup that was filling up quickly, Min-ha raised her hand to stop his action. Vivian’s words a while ago were kind words at first glance, though when you inferred from her tone and expression, it was clear that she was quarreling with her.
She forcibly raised the corners of her lips and asked Vivian.
“I appreciate your consideration, but you don’t have to pour it for me so much. Young Lady Vivian.”
“Oh, did I? I’m sorry. The Duchess mentioned the pattern on the bottom of the teacup a while ago, so I thought you were saying that you were very thirsty because of the delayed tea serving.”
“Is that so?”
“I apologize if I misunderstood the will of the Duchess.”
As Vivian intentionally exaggeratedly apologized, her heart was flustered. It was incredible. No wonder everyone seemed to be turning white when she praised the teacup since she did not know that was the meaning of the word.
Min-ha soon scoffed slightly.
‘…But, I didn’t expect her to react like this.’
Even though she said that to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding, it seemed that she gave an excuse to catch a fault, contrary to her intentions.
Although she did not know why they invited her to this place again, one thing was clear. No matter what she said, those people have the attitude of ‘misunderstanding it in a bad way,’ and the willingness to accept it.
Min-ha, who was relatively sensitive to good intentions and insensitive to evil, could see that they had been quite blatant since yesterday.
‘Then, let’s see what happens after I sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding.’
Smiling brightly on purpose, Min-ha lifted the teacup and brought it to her lips. Then, after putting it down again, she folded the corners of her eyes and said to Vivian.
“I was simply praising the teacup because it was so beautiful, though I feel bad because you misunderstood it that way.”
“Oh, did you?”
“Yes. So, I hope to clear up any misunderstandings. Perhaps, it’s because I’ve been away from the social world for a very long time, so I’m not used to speaking in a roundabout way like everyone else.”
“Hoho, That’s right. After all, because of what happened, the Duchess of Persen was quite far away from the social world. I understand.”
“I’m glad you understood, Young Lady Vivian.”
“However, if you want to continue interacting in the social world in the future, it’s a habit that must be fixed. If you make a mistake, you can easily be criticized for being a noble but acting like lowly people.”
“I see.”
“Yes. Young Lady Vivian is right about that. Duchess of Persen… if you keep acting like that, it wouldn’t be good to hear that your reputation is collapsing, right?”
While she was wearing a pretty smile on her face, Min-ha’s inner intention was to listen to Vivian’s words, which were full of thorns. However, her expression hardened at the words of Grand Duchess Blaine that followed. It was because she could not help but laugh at the insulting comments about Seth’s origins.
Min-ha stared coldly at Grand Duchess Blaine, who had a painted smile on her doll-like face, and Vivian, who had a somewhat stiff expression. As she thought about it last night, did they not always downplay Seth and Noah in this way…?
When she thought about it, Min-ha felt unbearable anger boil over. If she really felt like this, it seemed like she would be able to calmly say the harsh words she had never spit at a person in her previous life.
“….?”
However, at that moment, Noah, who was beside her, reached out his tiny hand and gently pulled her sleeve. Min-ha turned her body and glanced at the child as though attracted by the weak strength.
Noah shook his head as if he was used to these words, tapped her hand with his little hand, and pointed to her back. When she followed his gesture and turned her head slightly back, she could see Percival, with a blunt expression on his face, holding his half-drawn sword firmly tightly enough to show his veins.
At that moment, she felt her pulse loosen.
‘…I see.’
This was not the first time something like this had happened, so it would only be comical if she dealt with it emotionally.
Subtle mockery and the atmosphere that accompanies it. In addition, an interested gaze waiting for the other person to respond emotionally…
Only then did Min-ha wear a firm expression on her face. She could read the eyes of those around her waiting to see how she would react.
It was as if those who knew what happened yesterday were asking, ‘How do you plan to respond if you could not just leave like yesterday?’, while those who did not know yesterday’s incident seemed to question, ‘How could the arrogant Duchess of Persen endure this insult?’
‘Either way, I’d be wrong.’
Unlike yesterday, she planned to respond the same way as she did yesterday. At the thought, Min-ha smiled more brightly than before.
“Is that so? Still, I think it’s better than making the other person misunderstand by saying it in a difficult way.”
“But, that doesn’t fit the way of aristocrats. Isn’t that elegant?”
“I don’t know. While I think that honest words are rather crude, it’s easily accepted by others and is more noble than words that confuse others by hiding them in elegant packages. Even so, people who haven’t learned to speak and write properly tend to want to hide their foolishness by saying unnecessary and difficult things, right?”
“…I beg your pardon?”
At her words, Grand Duchess Blaine and Vivian frowned at once. In addition, the atmosphere subsided even more.
‘What’s wrong with them? I’ve only said one thing.’
Seeing the distorted faces of the ladies, Min-ha apologized as she deliberately trembled with fuss.
“Oh, excuse me. I didn’t mean to specifically refer to anyone, but I apologize if my words offended you. As you two said, I must have been away from the social world for too long. Since you’re kind people, will you forgive me?”
“…Of, of course. Duchess.”
“…It seems that you’ve made a slip of the tongue, so let’s move on this time. Though in the future, I think you’ll need to be more refined in your tone if you want to mingle with the socialites, Duchess of Persen.”
The Grand Duchess and Vivian accepted Min-ha’s apology with a smile. Nonetheless, it was obvious from their faces that they were forced to accept it.
‘Well, of course not.’
Because she, too, only apologized with words.
Looking at the ladies who forced them to smile, Min-ha deliberately took a more low posture and opened her mouth again.
“I’m so sorry to both of you. I’ll be careful from now on.”
“I sincerely hope you do, Duchess Persen.”
“Yes. I’ll be extra careful in the future! However, I hope that the two of you’ll think more about each other in the future as well.”
“…What should the Grand Duchess and I be careful about, Duchess?”
“I know you didn’t mean it with any intention, but I’m saying that I want you to refrain from saying things that can hurt my husband and brother-in-law by secretly mentioning their identity at the end of every word… After all, the two of you aren’t so flawless about your identities as well, are you?”
[ T/N: Damn Min-ha’s going innnn~! ↜( •ω•)ψ ]
“…What, what?”
“Oh, my gosh. I made a slip of the tongue again! I’m sorry, I must have kept my distance from the social world too much! I sincerely apologize. So, please forget what I said a while ago.”
“….”
“What am I going to do? Sir Percival, what should I do when you have committed such a great offense? Should I give them some jewelry as a token of my apology?”
“Cough… Yes. That’d be suitable.”
“Oh, I see! Then, I will send the gift of apology to the two of you later by Sir Percival. I’m really, really sorry… Will you accept my apology?”
As if she had made a big mistake, Min-ha covered her mouth with both hands and trembled with a fuss. Deliberately turning her head to gaze at Percival, who was standing behind her as though she had been embarrassed and did not know what to do, she then asked him.
Percival, whose ears were slightly reddened, raised the corners of his mouth slightly before he quickly responded to Min-ha’s words.
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