What kind of food will be set up at the banquet? There must be a lot of delicious things.
I wonder what Arthur and Maria are doing right now. They're probably having their hearts race sowhere at the bottom of a cliff.
Ha ha ha ha.
Ha ha...
‘Even when I think about sothing else, I can't forget!’
My face is burning.
Why did I look at Tristan’s face and cause this trouble?
‘Well, it was a face worth looking at!’
It was handso, I muttered to myself as I headed toward the Earl’s tent. But the maids who saw were flustered.
"Lady Doris? Are... are you alright? Your arm... your hair... your dress..."
Their confused eyes flickered between the bandage on my arm, the ssy hair, and the dirty hem of my dress.
"It’s a long story."
Really long.
"I'm fine. I'll explain to my family. Could you please help get ready to go to the banquet?"
The maids looked at with the sa defeated expression soone would have after hearing, "Check my emails and prepare the materials for Monday's eting," from their boss at 5:40 p.m. on a Friday. Still, they moved quickly without hesitation.
"Please wear the dress prepared for tomorrow's lunch."
There was another dress? Aristocrats!
Natalie’s maid quickly fixed my hair. Though it looked simpler than before due to the lack of accessories, it suited better this way—more like Doris Redfield.
After I regained a lady’s appearance, I was about to leave the tent when a sudden thought made ask the maids.
"Have you all eaten?"
"Yes?"
"I was wondering how you all eat during the banquet. You’re not going without a al, are you?"
One maid waved her hands.
"Oh, don’t worry! We’ll be eating the bread and cheese we brought from the estate."
"Aha. Well, enjoy your al then."
I said my goodbyes quickly.
I knew that if I wasn't there, the maids could relax and have their al.
But one maid’s voice stopped .
"Lady, is there anything we can help with? We were worried you went through sothing unpleasant after seeing you get hurt earlier..."
"Ah..."
"Of course, Natalie is the one you trust the most, but we might be able to quietly handle things you don't want to deal with."
The maid’s voice was clear and gentle, almost like the way a younger sibling would help.
"Thank you, but I can handle this myself."
"Sorry for asking such an inappropriate question. Please go on and take care, Lady."
The maids bowed their heads. With a bit of a flutter in my heart, I left the tent.
Wow, what the maid said just now felt like a line from a thriller movie. It almost sounded like "We'll dirty our hands for you."
Of course, she probably ant she’d help as much as possible.
‘Thank you.’
What did I even do to deserve that?
‘I’ll bring so snacks for the maids later.’
Of course, there’s soone I need to take care of first.
Before entering the banquet hall, I asked a maid carrying food to deliver so finger food to the royal infirmary.
Now, with the necessary tasks done, I can begin my next task.
I first made my presence known to my father.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine. I'll keep hunting until I catch the fox to gift my wife!"
Aren’t you going to stay in the hunting grounds forever?
Next was Natalie.
As expected, she was surrounded by n. The n seed busy bragging about their accomplishnts.
"No one was ever as close to the alpha wolf as I was. Sadly, the poor thing ran off after hearing the sound of my arrow, but tomorrow—"
"You’re joking. The one who ran away from your clumsy arrow was a poor Basenji, not the wolf. Miss Redfield, let’s talk about the fox I caught instead..."
My sister drank down her wine, enjoying their banter. She looked pleased.
When she has so free ti (though I don’t know when that’ll be), I’ll have to go and greet her again...
"Oh my, Doris!"
As soon as my sister saw , she jumped up. Then, she coolly walked away from the n, who had probably been offering her flowers and desserts, and approached .
"Sis, you could’ve kept talking to them!"
"I’m tired of it. All they say is ‘You’re beautiful,’ ‘Please accept my catch,’ and ‘I’m better than that guy.’"
"Our als are just like that, revolving around at, bread, and desserts."
"Haha, yes. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear!"
My sister playfully squeezed my cheek. Hm, it felt like being treated like a toy, but sohow, I didn’t mind it.
For just about 3 seconds.
"Doris, your outfit and hair accessories are different from when you left earlier. What happened?"
The excuse ca out imdiately.
"I tripped while going to see a friend."
"What?"
"It was my mistake. I took a shortcut that wasn’t properly cleared... I t His Highness later and asked him to have the path repaired, and the minor injury was treated in the royal infirmary, so don’t worry!"
Alright, I’ve preemptively defended myself against any possible criticisms!
Because of that, my sister, unable to find a target for her verbal jabs, looked a little uncomfortable.
She seed to think for a mont, then fired her question from an unexpected angle.
"That friend you ntioned, is it Maria?"
"Y-yes..."
"Does that friend know you’re in this state?"
"Well, no, but it’s not her fault! It happened when she wasn’t around! It’s 100% my fault!"
"How should I know? I’m just in a bad mood."
"......"
"So, your friend went alone to the infirmary, and you’re here, having a great ti with the most handso man around? Ugh, that’s annoying."
"......Excuse ? What do you an, a 'great ti'?"
My sister jerked her chin in a knowing way.
"Maria yer. I saw her heading toward the corner garden with Arthur earlier. It seed like they were sneaking around, but the young duke could stand to be a little more noticeable..."
"Yyyyes?"
"Huh? What? Why are you so surprised? What’s so strange about it?"
It’s strange! This doesn’t make sense!
On the first night of the hunting tournant, Maria is supposed to be falling down a cliff with Arthur, spending a 12-and-up kind of ti together!
As I panicked, my sister narrowed her eyes and smiled. She was in battle mode.
"What's wrong? Do you have a prior engagent with Arthur or sothing?"
"No. I’m not interested in Arthur."
"Tch."
"Maria is my friend, and I want her to get what she wants."
"So, it’s a good thing they’re spending ti together. What’s the problem?"
"Problem... no. Not really."
If this were a novel, it would be a problem.
This isn’t a romance story where the male and female leads have cute monts. The scene where they end up in a dangerous, tense situation is a key turning point in the genre! The emotional tension in that mont is like the climax!
But this is reality, not a novel, so maybe their romance will develop normally.
Still, I can’t just leave it alone. It’s unsettling.
I need to see it with my own eyes!
Before I moved, I grabbed so food from a nearby table to fill my stomach, and my sister laughed.
"The bakery food here is delicious. It seems like the organizers put a lot of effort into it. Make sure to eat plenty."
"Yes."
"Just don’t get fat."
"......I’ll co say goodbye again later."
"When the band’s playing, dance a little."
After my sister returned to her group of followers, I quickly made my way to the place she ntioned.
Why would the most exciting event slip away like this? What’s the cause?
‘Actually, the problem started earlier.’
The original story. The noble scoundrel tries to make a move on Maria, but gets grabbed by Rick and thrown off. Maria, unaware, heads to the banquet hall.
Reality. Rick didn’t show up, and I stepped in. Maria, the rest is irrelevant.
‘But even then, the ending should have been the sa…’
In the original, Maria, who couldn’t fit into the exclusive atmosphere of the banquet hall, gets tricked by a minor character and ends up lost in the ga of tag, slipping into a valley. Arthur, hearing from the servants that soone had fallen, goes down and finds Maria. They go back up together, and after hearing Maria’s confession about how scary the social world is, they have an honest conversation.
But in reality... they're probably just dating normally.
‘Where’s the issue... no.’
A clue flashed through my mind.
‘The path.’
Due to the rain these past few days, the hunting ground was a ss. If the author had just had soone slip and fall off the cliff, it would’ve been totally plausible.
But right now...
‘Tristan had the workers clear the path!’
That’s why Maria wasn’t hurt when she should have slipped during the ga of tag, right?
What really makes sigh is that the reason for all the hard work might just be because of .
Tristan said it himself.
"Paths where people walk are still being cleared. If you want to make unnecessary worries out of people reminding you to be careful on the path, that’s your choice."
Who knew a simple word of caution would cause such a butterfly effect?!
While silently screaming in my head, the maze garden ca into view. The soft light of lanterns scattered around created the perfect atmosphere for lovers to et in secret.
It would be so depressing to go in alone... just as I thought that.
‘Huh?’
In an open area slightly away from the garden.
Between the bushes, I spotted a familiar silhouette.
It was Rick Ray, sitting alone on a bench.
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