Julia spent some time chatting with Nemi, but the time had come and Julia had to return to the party, so she said goodbye to her new friend. She did ask if Nemi would like to go with her, but she refused, saying that she was forbidden from going to the party and that she still had some work to do in the garden, so she actually left the shed before Julia.

Maybe if I cling to Loriam and ask her while calling her mom and doing the puppy eyes, she would hire her? Julia thought about how to get Nemi out of her situation and stay in contact with her.

"Why are you here? You’re an eyesore. Go climb in some hole or something."

Julia’s thoughts were interrupted by the voice she heard from behind some bushes. The voice was immediately followed by mocking laughter.

Curious Julia peeked through the bushes and was shocked by what she saw. Behind the bushes was a group of three noble girls. They were standing around a girl with red hair... Wait, isn’t that Nemi?

Julia was shocked to see her new friend being bullied by them and wanted to help her, but before she could think it through, she leaned too much onto the bush and fell through it.

"Wha-?! Where did this beggar come from?"

One of the girls said when she saw Julia lying on the ground with her face on the ground, The girl’s surprised voice caused the others to look at Julia as well.

"Julia!"

When Nemi noticed Julia on the ground, she called out to her first-ever friend with worry in her voice. This caused the other girls to snicker.

"Oh my, did this failure find a friend?"

"Say, where did you two meet? In a garbage can?"

"Stop it, sis. Don’t you think that this beggar is pitiful?"

Julia looked at the girls as she wiped the mud from her face. She saw Nemi looking at her worried. She also saw the youngest looking of the girls dressed in pink dresses looking at her with a fake pity on her face.

"Yea, you’re right. She definitely felt bad for that thing."

A seemingly eldest of the girls dressed in a dark purple dress didn’t wait long, and just as her younger sister did, she too used Julia’s sudden appearance to insult Nemi.

"You hear? Even the beggar felt sorry for you. You're so pathetic."

The middle one was dressed in a dark red dress that looked much shorter than the other girls. She jumped on an insult train of her sisters without looking in Julia’s direction and began to poke Nemi with a stick.

"…stop it."

Julia couldn’t bear to watch how Nemi was just silently taking it. and asked them to stop. The girls just pretended that they didn’t hear her and continued to laugh at Nemi. Julia could feel blood dripping from her clenched fist, but she didn’t care.

"Stop it!"

Julia shouted, surprising the girls. Before they had time to react, Julia jumped to her feet and pushed the girl in the dark red dress. The girl was caught off guard and lost her balance. As a result, she fell on her butt straight into the mud.

"You bitch! Those were brand new!"

Julia ignored the girl’s angry outburst and refocused herself on Nemi.

"Nemi, are you okay?"

"Why are you..."

"Helping you?"

Nemi nodded reluctantly. She never expected that someone would ever stand up for her. let alone, someone, she knew only for a half-hour. Julia smiled at Nemi while caressing her cheek.

"We are friends, aren’t we? Of course, I will help you when you are in trouble."

We are friends. They were simple words, but they brought immense joy to Nemi.

"Hey beggar, we were nice enough to let you be in the Marquis’s garden and you thank us by destroying my sister’s new dress? Unbelievable."

The girl with the dark purple dress approached Julia and forcibly made her look at her. While her youngest sister was doing her best to console the girl whose clothes had just gotten ruined.

"You not even going to apologize, do you peasants don’t have any morals to speak of?"

Julia kept silently looking at her with contempt. This is why I hate nobles. They behave like they are better than everyone else just because they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

"Yea, you should be apologizing now. Actually no, I got these dresses specifically for our cousin’s birthday. Even her majesty is here, you know!"

Red dress girl yelled at Julia, infuriated by her silence. Julia only glanced at her approach. The youngest of the girls was trying to calm her sister but was failing.

"So, I will not forgive you just for an apology…"

I have no intention of apologizing to you, and Loriam wouldn't care enough to notice. After living with Loriam in the palace for a month and after listening to Liora’s retelling of the beginning of the war, Julia was now sure that Loriam would not give a single fuck about anything unrelated to Julia.

"But if you beg me on all four and lick my shoes like a dog, then I will consider forgiving you."

"Rie, isn’t that too much?"

The red-dress girl showed Julia her shoe, expecting Julia to actually start licking it. The other two only looked, waiting for Julia’s reaction. Nemi was the only one to voice an objection.

"You shut up, you trash! Or do you want to do it in her place? She is in this situation because of you, after all."

Nemi looked at Julia nervously before slowly approaching the red dress girl who is apparently called Rie. Rie snickered when Nemi got on her knees and got ready to lick her shoe. Rie began grinning, but that didn’t last long.

"Get the fuck away from her!"

Julia suddenly grabbed Rie’s leg just a few centimeters from Nemi’s face. Before Rie or anyone else could properly react, Julia once again pushed Rie away, causing her to lose balance and fall onto the ground.

"Julia that was…"

"Listen here, Rei or whatever, I don’t care what you say or do to me. The opinion of spoiled noble brats like you is meaningless anyway. However..."

Nemi was shocked by Julia’s actions and wanted to object. After all, Julia had just pushed the daughter of a marquis into the mud for a second time. Julia, however, ignored Nemi and looked hatefully at Rie, who was still sitting on the ground.

"I will not ignore someone hurting my friend."

The other two girls took an involuntary step back. They felt that Julia was dangerous. It was as if Julia was enveloped in a dark, oppressive aura. All the girls felt chills run down their spines.

"You bitch!"

However, Rie didn’t seem to share this feeling like the other girls, and with her hand balled into a fist, she ran up to Julia. But before her fist could hit Julia in the face as Rie had hoped, Julia caught it with minimal effort. and slapped her, causing her to take a step back, which infuriated the girl further.

"How dare you, you stupid peasant!"

Rie managed to keep her balance this time, but her anger towards Julia was only increasing. In her eyes, it was a great sin for Julia to touch her. The fact that she was the one who wanted to punch her wasn’t important to her.

"Rie, calm down."

"Sis, she isn’t worth it."

The other girls were trying to hold Rie back, the previous oppressing feeling still hadn’t fully left them. Besides, they still had the party to attend, and it wouldn’t be good if they were late in the presence of the queen.

"Nemi, they didn’t hurt you, did they?"

Julia ignored the infuriated Rie and checked up on Nemi. This, however, makes Rie angrier.

"Julia, look out!"

Before Julia managed to react to Nemi’s warning, Rie managed to break out of her sister’s grip and slammed Julia on the head with a stick.

"Do you think you can make fun of me?! Do you not understand who I am!?"

Rie started to beat Julia with the stick until it snapped in two. That didn’t stop Rie from continuing to beat her.

"I am Rie Amir, the second daughter of Marquis Amir! Do you think you can just walk in here and humiliate me? "

"Rie stop!"

"Sis, you will get in trouble with father again!"

The other girls were doing their best to get Rie off of Julia, thinking Nemi was the only one trying to help Julia. The others were only trying to not let their sister get into trouble. It seems like something like this is common for her.

"What in the name of heaven is happening here?"

Everyone froze in place when they heard a woman’s voice not so far from them. Though more than the voice stopped the sudden decrease in the air temperature as well as the oppressive aura surrounding the owner of the voice.

"Lori- Mom?"

When Julia looked at the owner of the voice, to her shock, she found out it belonged to Loriam herself. Who was standing nearby looking at them with cold eyes.