JustPeachyNovels

Chapter 2

The salon ‘Lema,’ located in the center of the capital, was a place where the scions of renowned families gathered to socialize.

Entry was restricted to those from at least a count’s family, and even then, they needed to be backed by considerable fame or wealth. It was truly the hub of the social world.

“Oh my, young lady! I haven’t seen that necklace before… My goodness, look at that shine! If you don’t mind, could you tell me where you got it?”

“I’ve acquired an excellent stallion recently. I must see to it that he sires offspring within the year.”

“I’ve heard rumors that the second prince will formally enter society soon. Do you think it’s true?”

In the lavishly decorated hall, elaborately dressed young men and women engaged in conversation.

From pointless gossip and baseless lies to critical information that everyone needed to hear, all sorts of stories floated in the air. Distinguishing truth from falsehood was a skill in itself.

“Have you heard?”

In one corner of the salon, a group of young ladies sat around a round table.

The young lady leading the conversation fluttered her sky-blue fan before snapping it shut and starting an intriguing story.

“They say Essite has a new lover.”

“Isn’t that a common occurrence?”

The young lady across from her cut her off with disinterest.

After all, Essite’s family, despite their wealth, didn’t meet Lema’s standards. Duval Essite’s notorious womanizing was well-known.

“Oh, come on, just listen!”

The young lady with the sky-blue fan shivered with excitement, determined to share her gossip.

“Guess who the new lover is…”

Jingle jingle.

At that moment, the bell above the door rang sweetly.

The sky-blue fan lady paused and looked up.

Seeing who had entered the salon, she lowered her voice and whispered to the others, “Look over there!”

Curious, the young ladies followed her gaze. And then, as if on cue, their eyes widened.

“Thank you for escorting me, sir.”

“The pleasure is mine.”

The man lightly kissing the back of the young lady’s hand was unmistakably Duval Essite. But the recipient of the kiss?

Surprisingly, it wasn’t Duval’s fiancée, Siella Labyrinth.

Instead, it was Tirielle Puritina, the illegitimate daughter of the Puritina family, whom Siella had always taken under her wing.

The young ladies, sensing the unusual atmosphere, quickly scanned their surroundings.

Siella was nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, Tirielle, reluctant to part, threw herself into Duval’s arms.

The young ladies watched in silent shock. Could it be? Was Tirielle Essite’s new lover?

‘Unbelievable.’

‘Has he lost his mind?’

‘Is he out of his senses?’

Everyone who saw this scene had the same thoughts.

No matter how valuable Tirielle’s purification abilities were, she was still an illegitimate child from the slums, widely ostracized in noble society.

Recalling how much Siella had shielded Tirielle, the young ladies were aghast.

Just then,

“I’ll start here today… So, it will… easily… end.”

A familiar voice floated in from beyond the open door, accompanied by the sound of heels clicking along the salon’s corridor.

Gasping, the young ladies instinctively held their breath.

They could vividly imagine what was about to unfold, their minds dominated by a mix of pity, absurdity, intrigue, and curiosity.

The owner of the voice soon appeared at the door.

Expecting some tragic scene, the young ladies were stunned for an entirely different reason.

‘Who is that…’

‘Who is he?’

Standing at the door was none other than Siella Labyrinth, just as everyone had anticipated.

Siella, who disliked being the center of attention and rarely appeared at the salon unless with Tirielle, had come alone today.

But that wasn’t what shocked the young ladies.

‘He’s…’

‘So handsome!’

‘Who is this man?’

The unknown blonde man escorting Siella.

Despite his stern appearance, he turned into a puppy when he smiled at her. Goodness.

The young ladies’ mouths fell open at this striking contrast. He seemed like the typical romance novel hero who is cold to everyone but kind to his lover.

“Lady Puritina, I will come back when it ends….”

Duval’s voice, which had been soothing the reluctant Tirielle, trailed off. He had just noticed Siella and the blonde man.

His expression hardened, as if something had been taken from him.

“……”

Siella, who had just noticed Tirielle and Duval, blinked impassively.

Contrary to what they expected, she didn’t seem too shocked.

The young ladies, peeking over their fans, watched Siella’s reaction to her best friend and fiancé’s affair.

But instead of Siella, it was Duval who seemed more shocked.

After a moment of being frozen, Duval finally spoke.

“You…”

“I’ll come pick you up as soon as I’m done.”

Cutting off Duval’s words, the blonde man kissed Siella’s hand.

The young ladies gasped silently.

A young man addressing the Lady of Labyrinth so informally? If he couldn’t enter Lema, he wasn’t even a high-ranking noble!

Siella, nodding silently, glanced at Tirielle and Duval before calmly entering the salon.

The blonde man, having bid his farewells, left immediately. Tirielle, blushing, watched him leave.

Duval, glaring daggers at the man, then shifted his gaze to Siella before hastily departing after bidding Tirielle goodbye.

What was happening?

How did it come to this?

The unusual situation piqued their curiosity to the extreme. The young ladies stared unabashedly at Siella as she walked by, forgetting their manners.

Some even moved closer to speak to her.

“Hello.”

Seeing them approach, Siella smiled softly.

One of the young ladies, touched by her seemingly troubled expression, cautiously asked,

“What happened?”

“Well… it just happened that way.”

Siella lowered her eyes as she softly replied, matching her usual fragile image, making it hard to probe further.

‘Tsk tsk, poor thing.’

The young ladies clicked their tongues inwardly. That scoundrel had caused trouble again, and with her best friend no less. How heart-wrenching it must be.

Though they weren’t particularly close to Siella, they sympathized as women and sincerely offered their condolences.

“Siella…”

In the midst of this, they saw Tirielle approaching and collectively frowned.

“What nerve.”

“Honestly. If she had any sense, she wouldn’t show her face.”

“If it were me, I wouldn’t even dare come here. Who made it possible for her to enter this place?”

Though they didn’t name names, the target was clear. They didn’t hide their sharp criticism.

Unable to withstand the mounting disapproval, Tirielle eventually left without uttering a word.

*** *** *** *** ***

That day marked the beginning of Siella’s drastic change. Previously known for her attachment to Duval, she now went everywhere with the handsome blonde man.

Noble young ladies closely watched Siella’s actions.

Partly because the unfamiliar blonde man was extremely handsome, but more so because of Duval and Tirielle’s bewildering behavior.

Duval, who had barely shown any interest in his fiancée, suddenly seemed conscious of her presence.

While he tried not to show it due to Tirielle’s presence, Duval clearly felt uneasy about the blonde man.

He often looked as though he wanted to punch him when no one was looking.

Meanwhile, Tirielle seemed desperate to talk to Siella but blushed whenever she saw the blonde man, much to the amusement of the onlookers.

‘What is this?’

‘Is it a love triangle? No, a love quadrangle?’

But Siella and the blonde man didn’t seem to care about Duval or Tirielle at all.

Whenever Duval tried to approach and say something, they would naturally move away.

What was going on?

While Duval and Tirielle’s actions were somewhat understandable, what was the relationship between Siella and the blonde man?

One day, a brave young lady directly asked Siella.

“What is the relationship between you two?”

Siella replied with a shy smile,

“He’s just an acquaintance from the temple.”

An acquaintance from the temple? A priest, perhaps?

The atmosphere he exuded didn’t suggest that, but people accepted it as her way of not wanting to go into detail.

“It seems Lady Siella has finally given up on Essite.”

“She made a wise decision. If you can’t fix someone, it’s better to let go.”

“Exactly. You can’t change a person.”

“More importantly, Puritina is truly shameless. If she knew gratitude, she wouldn’t act this way.”

The young ladies continued to gossip about the four.

They speculated about the identity of the handsome blonde man and giggled over the potential breakup between Labyrinth and Essite, which had been long engaged, would break up like this.

The only one truly anxious was Duval Essite.

Unable to get any response from Siella at tea parties, balls, and charity events, he went directly to the Labyrinth mansion.

But Siella refused to see him.

Her personal maid, Mei, firmly shut the door on him, saying, “The lady is unwell because of someone.”

Duval was furious but could do nothing. As he fumed, a face-to-face confrontation happened at a famous boutique, something no one had anticipated.

Episode 7 – Episode 9