Chapter 19
My name is Clary.
I'm the young lady of House Cornet, and tomorrow I'll be making my debut.
I wonder if the nobles of the capital are very different from those in the North.
Will I be able to meet a handsome young nobleman like the ones in novels?
Filled with such expectations, I headed to the ballroom where the debutante ball would be held.
“Wow.”
As expected, this is the capital. Its people are very different from those in the North.
Their complexions are so lively, and everything about them seems brighter overall.
I felt a little intimidated, but I was still having fun!
“Excuse me. May I ask your name?”
“Ah, I'm Clary of House Cornet.”
Of course, there weren't any handsome young noblemen quite like the ones I had expected… But novels were novels, after all.
I had to distinguish fiction from reality….
“The young lady of House Fortune from the North, Lady Alice, is entering!”
“Huh?”
House Fortune from the North?
Was there such a place?
I didn't know every house in the North, but I had never heard that name before.
It was bound to be some rural house tucked away in a remote corner of the North.
‘Judging by the fact that no one is entering with her, she probably doesn't have any friends.’
All right, then. In the spirit of Northern solidarity,
I thought I should help her if she seemed unsure what to do on her own.
“Gasp.”
I stopped breathing when I saw the woman enter the ballroom.
No, it wasn't just me. Everyone there must have forgotten to breathe as well.
She wore a modest black dress that covered most of her body.
It was the sort of dress one would expect to see at a funeral rather than a ball, but I didn't feel that way about it now.
Rather, because the dress was so plain, her hair like the night sky and her eyes like the sun stood out even more.
“She looks just like a princess….”
The words slipped out of my mouth before I knew it.
But I couldn't help it.
She truly looked like a princess from one of the famous fairy tales of the North.
….”
“Prince Erand?”
“…Huh.”
“Prince Schrotte?”
Sighs from young noblemen and the voices of young ladies calling for their partners could be heard throughout the ballroom.
They must have been just as unable to take their eyes off Lady Fortune as the young nobleman before me.
But I could understand them perfectly.
Even I, a woman, found it difficult to take my eyes off her face. How could the men possibly have fared any better?
Before long, like moths drawn to a flame,
men without partners began approaching Lady Fortune one after another.
“Greetings, my lady.”
“I'm Hughes of House Lion….”
“I don't believe I've seen you in the North. What sort of place is Fortune Territory…?”
As the young noblemen continued speaking to her, Lady Fortune began to look flustered.
‘I have to help her!’
Huh? You’re asking whether I’m jealous?
Of course not. My father taught me that jealousy is of no help in life.
Besides, you can only be jealous when there's some chance of competing.
Not when she's on that level.
“I'm sorry. I think I'll have to dance later.”
“Oh, I see. That's all right.”
When I apologized, he readily accepted it and immediately walked toward Lady Fortune.
…This was a little vexing.
Even so, my desire to help her didn't disappear.
I wanted to help her because I wanted to become friends with her myself.
Just as I headed toward the crowd to rescue Lady Fortune,
“How noisy.”
“Huh?”
A handsome man with a broad, powerful build and blond hair tied back swept past me.
‘Could that gentleman be…?’
The Duke of Arnyo, known as the Ghost of the South?!
I had heard that, while visiting the capital, he had taken charge of security for this ball, but I hadn't expected it to be true!
He dispersed the people gathered around Lady Fortune and held out a hand to her as she stood frozen.
“Are you all right?”
“Ah… yes.”
I was startled once more when I heard Lady Fortune's voice.
I hadn't expected her voice to be so beautiful as well.
Once again, I thought how unfair the gods were.
Just when I thought the commotion was over,
“Huh?!”
the Duke of Arnyo asked her to dance.
The very duke who was said to care only about the pirates and magical beasts of the southern seas and to treat women as though they were stones!
“I see….”
So the rumor had spread because he hadn't found a woman who satisfied him until now.
It seemed I wouldn't need to step in after all.
From now on, the duke would protect her.
“Ah… I'm afraid that won't be possible.”
‘…What?’
Had she just rejected the duke's offer?
An opportunity that others could only dream of obtaining?
The Duke of Arnyo made the offer several times, but Lady Fortune rejected him every time.
‘Could she have come with someone else?’
If she had a fiancé, I could understand her behaving that way.
So I mingled with the others while continuing to observe Lady Fortune.
Even after that, she spent a long time fending off every man who approached her and remained alone in a corner of the ballroom.
Had she rejected them simply because she disliked men taking an interest in her?
‘I… suppose. That can happen.’
Even as a third party, I could tell that the young noblemen who approached her were full of lust.
But…
‘Why doesn't she approach any of the other young ladies, either?’
Lady Fortune remained alone.
As though she had come only because attending the debutante ball was unavoidable.
….”
Before I knew it, I had grown stubborn.
I decided that if she didn't make an effort to mingle with the others first, I wouldn't approach her either.
‘It would be enough if you merely tried to speak to someone else. If you did, I would approach you first even if they rejected you.’
So please, just try to take the first step.
I hoped she was simply too shy to speak to people easily, but then—
“Thank you for enjoying the ball today. I hope you will become excellent nobles of Deonerass.”
Lady Fortune didn't speak to anyone until the ball ended.
“…Ha.”
Yes, perhaps she thought someone like her didn't need to approach anyone at all.
Well, with looks like hers, someone must always have approached her even when she sat still.
An unpleasant feeling gradually welled up inside me until it filled my heart.
It wasn't until long after I'd returned to my territory that the feeling finally faded.
“Yes, I was being too narrow-minded.”
I had never tried approaching anyone first, so how could I expect her to?
Perhaps I could be the first person to teach her how to approach others.
To be the first for a beauty like her…
What a wonderful feeling that would be.
“Heehee.”
Feeling better, I sat down at my desk and wrote her a letter.
An invitation asking her to attend the tea party I was planning to hold.
I sent the letter, and one day passed, then two, then three….
Lady Fortune never sent a reply, even by the day of the tea party.
“I see. So that's how it is.”
You're simply that kind of person.
At last, I understood.
She wasn't afraid or intimidated by other people. She had never intended to get involved with anyone in the first place.
“Then I'll give up, too.”
I didn't have the hobby of continually pouring water into a jar with a hole in it.
And so I completely lost interest in House Fortune.
I occasionally heard that they had fallen into debt or that the head and lady of the house had passed away, but none of it had anything to do with me.
Four years later.
“A wedding invitation?”
A letter arrived from Deonerass Drosselmeyer, the Marquess of the northern border.
It was one of the few opportunities I had to make an impression on the marquess, so naturally, I attended the wedding.
I arrived several days before the ceremony and looked over the guests while chatting with the young ladies I already knew, but Lady Fortune was nowhere to be seen this time, either.
‘Well, I didn't expect her to come.’
Even so, I found it a little comforting.
Her indifference wasn't directed at me alone.
But when the day of the wedding arrived,
‘Huh?’
I had no choice but to doubt my own eyes.
A face I hadn't been able to forget even after all these years appeared in the distance.
“Lady Clary?”
“Th-that lady.”
“…Gasp?! Lady Fortune?!”
Even after four years, the fact that her name came to mind immediately showed that the others, like me, hadn't been able to forget her face either.
“Wow, who is that?”
“This is insane.”
Unlike at the debutante ball, no one announced her arrival, yet the gazes of countless people focused on her.
At this rate, the star of the wedding would end up being Lady Fortune rather than the bride.
That was something I couldn't allow as a guest at the wedding.
Yes, this was only natural.
It definitely wasn't because I wanted to speak to her.
“Oh my, who do we have here?”
“?”
When I spoke to her, her eyes, even more beautiful than before, turned toward me.
‘Urk….’
This was driving me crazy. Why was my heart pounding so hard when I had merely spoken to her?
“You never came even once when I invited you to my tea parties, did you?”
To hide these feelings, I deliberately spoke harshly to her.
“I'm sorry…?”
“Ha!”
Perhaps she sensed my displeasure, because Lady Fortune immediately lowered her head.
Seeing that only made me more irritated.
Because… she genuinely seemed not to know me.
‘I… I sent her so many letters!’
I began grinding my teeth, and just as my voice started to rise,
Step. Step.
‘…Huh?’
I was startled when I saw someone approaching from the distance.
I never thought I would experience the same emotion I had felt when I first saw Lady Fortune long ago.
“My lord.”
There, beside Lady Fortune, stood a truly prince-like handsome man whose upper face was covered by a silver mask.
‘Crazy, crazy, crazy.’
With Lady Fortune and this handsome man standing together, they seemed to radiate light.
Thump, thump, thump.
It was absurd.
Even though I had been so thoroughly insulted by Lady Fortune,
I found myself wanting to keep watching the two of them from now on…