IDHGA 23

Chapter 23

While I had Mei investigate Cleor’s contact and news from the North in every possible direction, the social circle continued to spin without pause.

Invitations poured in endlessly, and the social season showed no signs of ending.

It was a difficult time for both me and Asiad.

I was busy establishing my place in high society, and Asiad was occupied with investigating the five great noble families and observing the Crown Prince.

So today, I headed to the Marchioness of Ertel’s party, while Asiad went to the Imperial Palace.

With enemies on all sides, it wouldn’t be easy, but…

“If you’re that worried, why didn’t you just go with him?”

In the carriage on the way to the Marchioness of Ertel’s party, my aunt spoke in a teasing voice as she looked at me gazing out the window.

“What do you mean, Aunt?”

When I turned my gaze, my aunt gave me a playful smile.

It almost seemed like she was trying to tease me.

I smiled faintly and shook my head.

“Worried? Not at all. We’re each just doing what we have to do.”

“Is that so? You kept staring out the window, so I wondered. The Duke seems perpetually worried, you know.”

Asiad, yes.

Even though he’d been working at the palace all day, the moment he heard I was going to a party, he set everything aside and returned to the mansion.

Then he saw me off as I was about to leave with my aunt in the carriage.

*”If you feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable, please come straight back.”*

He sent warm glances my way, looking like he truly didn’t want to let me go, and held my hand tightly.

So much so that my aunt and Jenna, who were watching, subtly averted their eyes.

“He really seemed sincere, you know. Aren’t you going to accept it?”

“Accept what? What do you mean?”

“His heart, of course. You may see it as a contract for your own convenience, but the Duke is acting like he’d die without you right now.”

A playful smile lingered at the corner of my aunt’s mouth.

“Don’t scold me for asking again what I asked before. I’m saying this because it’s even more clear now that the Duke has feelings for you.”

“The Duke has feelings for me? He’s merely looking after my convenience.”

The sweet glances that came my way every day, the short but heartfelt letters, the sincerity of making time for me even when busy, and truly, his tireless devotion.

Sometimes, when he playfully whispered that it was about time I gave in, looking at me with those sweet eyes, I’d have the illusion that maybe this time, we could be happy.

But even so, I couldn’t return the same feelings to him.

“There’s nothing to accept or reject, Aunt. For both me and the Duke, it’s merely a relationship of convenience.”

“Well, I suppose. What you young people do is different from what we used to do.”

At my firm words, my aunt leaned back in her seat and looked at me.

“But, Ellie. At least when it comes to matters of the heart, some things haven’t changed, then or now.”

“Things that haven’t changed?”

“People, then and now, are creatures who need clear give-and-take.”

And to endure a stretch of time with nothing in return—people are terribly weak creatures.

“Those who are used to receiving are always surrounded by new people, and those who are used to giving are always surrounded by familiar faces. Giving alone is exhausting, but receiving alone is always enjoyable.”

Those who only give tire out quickly, but those who are used to giving have people around them who know that’s who they are, and they won’t leave them be.

My aunt continued calmly, gently waving her fan.

“The Duke seems to be giving to you now, seeking his own reward. But don’t think that will last forever, or that he’ll stay this way.”

A heart that goes too long without reward is bound to change at some point.

At my aunt’s softly added words, I felt a sudden surge of emotion.

Asiad doesn’t change.

Even in my previous life, though he looked exhausted, his love for me never changed.

The reason he met such a miserable end was ultimately because he loved me.

So I shook my head firmly.

“There are hearts that don’t change.”

“I’m not saying there aren’t. I’m saying that ‘change’ applies not just to feelings, but to people themselves. Perceiving that a heart remains the same is also just the perspective of the receiver. It could be a relationship sustained by the desperate efforts of someone trying to hold onto a heart that has already changed.”

“…Desperate efforts?”

“Yes. They struggle to keep it from changing, no matter what. But at that point, it’s already as good as changed.”

*Struggling to remain unchanged*…

At my aunt’s words, I thought of Asiad after I died.

The way he was in no way sane, even as a joke, and how he raised a rebellion against the Crown Prince, the next Emperor, to avenge me.

And how, even as he fell apart, he kept calling my name.

…Was that also one of his struggles to remain unchanged?

Seeing my somber expression, my aunt paused for a moment.

She quietly watched me lost in thought, then spoke again.

“So, Ellie, don’t ever think people will stay the same forever. The Duke, and perhaps even your father, could change someday.”

“……But not everyone changes, do they?”

I can acknowledge that people change.

That’s only natural, and something everyone accepts, but still, there are people who strive not to change, and others who truly seem to stay exactly the same.

My father, and the Crown Prince, never changed, no matter how much time passed.

They merely did their best to obtain what they wanted.

In a way that truly, absolutely never changed.

I couldn’t tell her everything I’d experienced in my past life, so I simply said that.

That sometimes, there truly are people who don’t change.

“Well, yes. I suppose that could be true, too.”

After that, my aunt said no more.

She simply fell silent.

The Marchioness of Ertel’s party, though just a simple tea party, was overflowing with people.

It was partly due to the invitation’s wording—*‘A Tea Party for Ladies’*—but more so because the host was none other than Melody Ertel.

Melody, once merely the daughter of an insignificant baron family, had been the undisputed flower of high society right up until her marriage, a fact no one could deny.

And even after marriage, Melody Ertel remained a central figure in the social circle.

Her natural social skills certainly played a part, but there was another reason she remained such a prominent figure.

The youngest daughter of a baron family, she caught the eye of the Marquis of Ertel, one of the Empire’s five great nobles, and became his marchioness. It would have been easy for her to put on airs, but Melody Ertel was the exact opposite.

She still took the side of the weak and never discriminated based on status.

She was adept at reading the room and acting appropriately, and she also had the generosity to give back as much as she received.

Her constant refrain was, “I’ve received so much, so I want to share it.”

‘Perhaps that’s why, that very reason, people try even harder to come to her parties…’

Looking at the crowd packed around her, I thought to myself.

Did Melody Ertel, smiling like an angel over there, truly believe she had received a lot?

I didn’t know why the thought suddenly came to me, but anyway, I approached Melody Ertel, who was chatting brightly with those around her, and silently posed the question to myself.

Did that woman, believing herself truly happy, strive so hard to find people to help?

“Oh my, Marchioness of Wellington!”

Just as I was about to sink into thought, a clear voice rang in my ear.

Her voice was so melodic that someone once said she was aptly named Melody—and indeed, a voice like a song flew toward us.

My aunt, who had been leading me toward her, reached out her hand with a delighted expression.

“It’s been a while, Marchioness of Ertel. Have you been well?”

“Of course, my lady! You look even better. You must have something pleasant going on these days?”

“Something rather amusing has come up lately.”

“Amusing?”

What is it, my lady?

How could a person be like that?

At some party in my previous life, I’d heard someone say, “Melody Ertel is the very embodiment of a nightingale.” Gripping my aunt’s hand tightly, her eyes sparkling, she truly was a radiant nightingale herself.

“Eloise, come here.”

While I was momentarily lost in other thoughts, my aunt beckoned me over with a gesture.

She took my hand as I approached and pulled me directly in front of Melody.

“This is my niece. Greet her, Eloise.”

“I’m Eloise Mason, Marchioness of Ertel.”

“Oh my, oh my, goodness!”

Just as I was greeting her with considerable formality.

While I was having the useless thought that she looked even less human up close.

Melody Ertel, making quite a fuss, clasped my hand tightly.

“I heard about you from my husband and His Highness the Crown Prince, and I couldn’t believe it, but it’s true!”

“……Pardon?”

That was when I felt that her eagerly grasping hands were somehow ominous.

The moment I glimpsed, behind those sparkling eyes fixed on me, something curled up that seemed to say that wasn’t all there was to it.

“They said this must be what it feels like when a heaven-sent angel descends, and it’s true, isn’t it? Lady Mason, I’m so, so pleased to meet you!”

The hands that held mine tightly while saying how glad she was, the gaze that looked at me but seemed to be seeing somewhere else entirely, the faintly trembling voice.

“I wasn’t feeling well, so I couldn’t go to the Debutante. So I kept pestering my husband to let me meet you, and now I finally get to see you!”

“If I’d known the Marchioness would be this delighted, I would have arranged something sooner.”

“Exactly! Oh, dear. Why did you come so late, my lady?”

Facing a presence that felt both strangely unfamiliar and familiar, I suddenly realized.

This was just like my past self, craving my father’s love.

Yes. This was, by no means, the look of someone who was loved.