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Shortly after the tea party at Marchioness Maguire’s house, I was invited to Count Clementine’s house. I was going to reject the invite then I changed my mind. Although I was hesitant to get close to Leonora Clementine because of the future, I eventually decided to go.

Why? Because I was curious. I suppose this is why they say curiosity kills the cat.

Upon arriving at the Clementine household, I was personally greeted by the Countess and led to the receiving room.

The Countess exuded warmth just by standing there and every action she took was filled with grace. She had an affectionate look in her eyes, and I couldn’t help but admire the beautiful purple locks that framed her face.

“Leonora is on her way here. Sorry to keep you waiting, Lady Lydia,” the Countess’ violet eyes crinkled as her lips curled into a warm smile.  

I returned the smile and replied, “That’s alright.”

The Countess nodded and gestured for the maid to serve the snacks. Meanwhile, I studied the Countess. I already knew Leonora resembled her mother greatly, but this was amazing. The girl was basically a little Countess Clementine.

“Lady Lydia!” Leonora rushed in, beaming as she did, “I’m so excited you’re here.”

I smiled at her and turned to the Countess, “Thanks for having me, Countess.”

Leonora made a face at her mother, but the Countess acted like she saw nothing.

“Oh, it’s our pleasure. Now, I’ll excuse myself and leave you two to have fun,” with those words, she left the room and her maid followed.

Leonora quickly engaged me in all sorts of stories and I only realized how long we’d been talking when I reached for a cookie and found air.

“Oh! Do you want to see the garden?” Leonora asked and I nodded. We both got up and headed for the garden, with her maid leading the way.

Now that we were outside, I asked, “What was that earlier?”

“Hm?” Leonora titled her head.

“With the Countess.”

“Oh!” she exclaimed and giggled, “Mother wouldn’t let me get the dress Lady Isabella wore at the tea party. I’m still peeved about it.”

“Ah,” I nodded in understanding.

Isabella Maguire had worn a beautiful deep purple dress with frilly laces at the bottom and the hands. It had looked quite lovely on her. However on Leonora…

I looked at the girl’s wavy purple hair and similarly purple eyes. Then I laughed.

“Don’t laugh! I know I might look like a peafowl ¹https://imgur.com/GhjNzU7, but I just thought it looked pretty.”

“It does look pretty,” I agreed, fighting down my smile to no avail.

“Right? I just wanted it so I can look at it.”

“So you’re not going to wear it? At all?”

“I...” She paused, “No…?”

I shook my head, trying to stop laughing, “I think it might be better to stop at looking.”

“Now you’re making fun of me too,” Leonora pouted, “I really wasn’t going to wear it.”

“Now why don’t I believe you?”

“Lady Lydia~”

“Alright, I’ll stop,” I smiled and changed the topic while noting something to myself.

The Clementine family was rich.

Oh, all nobles were rich. But the amount of wealth usually had a huge disparity between titles. Dukes were richer than Marquis, Marquis’ more than Counts and so on and so forth. It had to do with the amount of territory they could rule hence, the more territory, the more money.

However, Leonora claimed to want a dress just to ‘look’ at it. And Isabella’s dress was not cheap in the slightest. Of course, she could just be making huge claims to look good in front of me, but I doubted it. Mostly because of the Countess’ attire. The type of silk in that dress was not something just anyone could afford.

I wasn’t too sure where this wealth was coming from, but I could take a guess. It certainly wasn’t from the Count. The Count was a former baron who married into the Clementine family.

So it had to be from the Countess. Or more precisely, the Countess’ sister, Marchioness Brexley.

“So,” Leonora suddenly lowered her voice to a whisper, “How’s it like being engaged to the Prince?”

‘Ugh, the topic always goes there.’

“It’s good, I suppose. Prince Edmund is very nice,” and that was true. Prince Edmund was very nice. There was a reason I fell for him in the first place. However…it was only a matter of time before he began to grow cold. Compliments of the royal palace.

“Aww,” she cooed, “I haven’t been engaged yet. I can only imagine who he’ll be.”

Yea. I can only imagine too.

“I assume a very handsome lord.”

She squealed at my words and nodded furiously. When I chuckled, she looked embarrassed and went silent.

“You’re so lucky, Lady Lydia,” she mumbled. I didn’t reply. After a while, she asked, “Do you see the Prince a lot?”

I nodded, “I do.” More than I’d like to be frank.

“How does he look?”

For the first time, I stopped walking and looked at Leonora. She seemed a bit surprised but stopped too. Her eyes held nothing but curiosity, so I smiled.

“His Highness looks…” the Prince’s lovely red hair came to mind. It shimmered like rubies under the sun and it felt silky to the touch. I’d always had a fascination with beautiful hair, and it was still with me in this lifetime. I had only touched the Prince’s hair twice in my other lifetime and each time, I remember being so captivated that I forgot what was around me.

“…beautiful,” I finally said.

Leonora held her now reddening cheeks, “Did you just think of him?”

“Hm?” if his hair counts.

“You must love the Prince...” she squealed again. This time louder than before.

“Ah…Ha. Ha. Ha,” I laughed drily but she didn’t seemed to notice. Love, my ass.  I was more likely to stab him than love him.

‘Now that’s a dark thought,’ I chuckled to myself. Prince Edmund was the last thing I would ever think of loving.

Isn’t it said, ‘once bitten, twice shy’? Although I claim to be stupid, I was not that stupid. My stupidity lay in my recklessness. In my inability to see what was going around me. In my actions.

If I were to repeat my stupidity a second time, I wasn’t just stupid. I was a moron.