It's Annoying Because My Childhood Friend Is An Archmage

"What brings you here, Lady Aronia?"

I was still sitting with my arms and legs crossed.

Needless to say, I had no intention of raising myself from this comfortable position just to speak to her. Besides, she didn't come to talk to me in the first place, she came to settle a dispute.

I was not a good enough person to show kindness to someone who had come to laugh at me.

"T-That..."

Lady Aronia looked slightly flustered as I showed no sign of lifting myself from my spot.

'What? Why aren't you getting up from your seat?'

Obviously, because I'm from a duchy, and you're from a marquess, aka someone with a lower rank than mine.

"It's cold outside, Lady Aronia. If you have something to say, say it."

At my urging, she coughed and placed her hands on her hips.

"It's nothing. I was waiting in front of you and happened to see your carriage behind mine, so I rushed here because I was glad to see you!"

'Actually, if I kept sitting in the carriage, my corset would feel too tight, so I came out to stand for a while, and then I saw the carriage of the Kaerun Duchy!'

"Ah, yes."

Having inadvertently overheard her thoughts, I kept my expression stoic and my eyes on Lady Aronia.

"Anything else?"

In translation, it means, "If you have nothing else to add, please disappear from my sight."

Then, for a brief moment, Aronia's face stiffened like candle wax in cold water. But just as quickly, she burst into a pretentious laugh, unfurling the fan she was holding.

"My expectations were higher."

"Of what?"

"Well, you showed great confidence in the ball at the tea party I hosted, so I looked forward to seeing how beautifully you would dress up for this ball."

After saying that, Lady Aronia fluttered the fan to cover the corners of her mouth. At the same time, she deliberately puffed out her chest, as if to show off her attire.

The jewelled necklace around Aronia's neck reflected the sunlight and stole my vision. It flashed so brightly that my eyes were starting to hurt.

It wasn't only her necklace, Lady Aronia's dress, trimmed with gold threads, was glittering with a great shine.

The tiny crystals tied to the hem of her dress swayed in the breeze, creating a dreamy effect of fairy tears.

The tiny crystal beads around her collarbone were also sparkling, competing with the other jewels for attention.

Not that her attire was ugly, it was certainly an Aronia dress, and her jewellery, every one of them, individually, was a luxurious and expensive item. 

It was the amount of them that was the problem.

My eyes hurt. It was hard to look at her with my bare eyes; I felt like my eyesight was going to deteriorate if I kept looking at her.

Is Lady Aronia a secret weapon of the empire? If she had gone to the battlefield in broad daylight, the enemy would have been blinded.

In that aspect, her fashion was a 10 out of 10. Her killing power was unimaginably high.

I'll have to let Hubert know that the Marquis of Garnett has such a talent hiding in his midst.

Lady Aronia frowned slightly and I could hear her thoughts.

'Hohohoho, look at that bewildered face! You never imagined I'd dress up better than you, did you?'

Yeah, whatever you say, Lady Aronia…

Consider it a win for you, if it makes you feel any better. I have nothing to say…

I didn't want to deal with her anymore. It would have been more beneficial to stay ignorant in the carriage than to listen to her ramblings.

With a sigh, I turned to Lady Aronia, not bothering to hide my exhaustion.

"If you have nothing else to say, We'll close the carriage door now, it's a bit dusty outside."

I let out another sigh inwardly, and was just about to close the carriage door myself when,

'Hoho, to end up looking like a beggar… Princess Skyla of the Kaerun Duchy is not a big deal! When Lord Lancer sees her at the ball, he'll run away in shame!'

Halt.

My hand, which had been tugging at the carriage door, came to an unnatural halt.

Oh, come on.

It was a terrible ability to be able to hear other people's thoughts.

You just know that the other person is saying things so out of line that they don't even realise it.

"...Lady Aronia."

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever been out on the streets of the imperial capital?"

From my mouth came a voice as cold as the frost that seeps through a window in the dead of winter.

"I don't mean the lakes, parks, or anything like that. Have you ever been to the non-merchant districts where beggars live?"

Lady Aronia was taken aback by the suddenness of my question, but she answered obediently.

"O-Of course not. Why would I, a marquess, go to such places? They're filthy."

"I knew it."

"What?"

"Lady Aronia doesn't know what a beggar looks like."

I sent a faint glance towards her. If I let her ignorance go uncorrected now, I have a feeling she'd be humiliated later.

Imagine, for example, Lady Aronia giggling to the other young ladies at the ball, "Don't you think Princess Skyla looks like a beggar in that outfit?"

And then some other young lady who knows about fabrics would point out to her, "Lady Aronia… the fabric of that dress is velvet, which is a luxury that most nobles can't afford."

Lady Aronia would then be reduced to the status of an ignorant young lady who doesn't know what velvet is.

Even though I didn't like her that much, I still felt a little sorry for her to think that she might be humiliated like that.

I mean, don't you feel a bit pitiful when thinking about it?

It would be like me wearing a huge necklace of pearls, which are hard to come by in the empire, and the ignorant Aronia, seeing pearls for the first time in her life, doesn't recognise them and exclaims, "Look, Princess Skyla is wearing stones!"

Regardless of whether I personally like her or not, this is an act that degrades the intellectual level of the nobility of the imperial capital. It must be stopped.

Lady Aronia is going to suffer anyway, so let me just give in to her now.

Isn't there a saying that it hurts less if you had gotten hit before?

Lady Aronia, I will hit you first.

Having made up my mind, I glared at her coldly.

"Lady Aronia, instead of staying at home sipping lemon tea, laughing, and gossiping with the other young ladies, you should try to learn more about the outside world. You know, beggars in the capital never wear clothes like this."

"W-What?"

Her face went blank, the momentum she'd been elating disappeared as quickly as the morning mist.

And I didn't even give her a chance to fight back.

"This dress I'm wearing is made of a fabric called velvet, do you know what that is?"

At my question, Lady Aronia's eyes widened as if she had been ambushed.

'V-Velvet, what is that?'

Even though Lady Aronia was being honest in her thoughts, a bluff slipped out of her mouth.

"Of course I do!"

If I wanted to, I could hit her even harder here. But alas, I was not free enough to waste my time teasing Lady Aronia.

"It's a good thing you're so well informed," I said, "for you do realise that a dress made of velvet costs about a hundred thousand francs, don't you, Lady Aronia?"

I very kindly gave her the estimated price of the dress I was now wearing.

"Nonsense! A simple dress costs 100,000 francs?'

Lady Aronia's eyes began to widen.

Yeah, she should be surprised.

I understand, though. One hundred thousand francs is a month's income for a fairly wealthy noble.

I'm sure she had no idea that this "beggar's dress" would be so expensive.

"Ah, don't lie to me! How can such a simple dress like that be more expensive than mine?"

"I mean, it is more expensive."

I retorted carelessly.

I could hear Aronia's thoughts bubbling like soup in a pot all the way here.

She was red and squirming, unable to do anything about it.

I raised my head towards her.

"I'll see you at the ball later."

But Lady Aronia didn't even bother to greet me properly and just shook her head.

She snorted loudly, as if deliberately trying to be heard, and began walking forward.

Now the trouble's out.

The carriage door can finally be shut again and I can relax back in peace.

Slumping in my seat, I gestured to Ticef, who was standing outside, to close the door.

As Ticef was closing the carriage door, for a moment, I caught a glimpse of Lady Aronia's face through the closing door.

As she walked towards her carriage, her gaze was suspiciously fixed on our coachman's seat.

What is she looking at?

I asked myself, but there was no sound of her thoughts in my ears. Well, I can't hear everyone's thoughts either.

Unable to hear Lady Aronia's inner thoughts, I thought nothing of it and closed my eyes.

But letting my guard down on Lady Aronia proved to be a big mistake.

"Huh?"

I furrowed my brows at Ticef's voice from the coachman's seat.

"It… seems like… the invitation to the imperial palace is gone…"

I could see his pale face through the small window that connected the main body of the carriage to the coachman's seat.

Ticef's words gave me a headache.

Haaaa…..

After Lady Aronia left, the line of carriages that snaked out had finally shortened, and now it was our turn to enter the palace, but I wasn't allowed inside.

"You will not be allowed to enter unless you show me an invitation to the Imperial Ball."

At the imperial gatekeeper's stern declaration, Ticef hastily searched the inside of his pockets once more.

But his outstretched hand held nothing.

No one is allowed inside the palace without an invitation.

It was a minimum security measure for royalty. If an unidentified person entered the palace, bad things could happen.

"Are you sure you've lost it?"

At my question, Ticef hung his head low, as if embarrassed to face me.

"Sorry! I'm sorry! I tucked the imperial invitation in my coat, but I couldn't find it…"

My mother had told me to be careful with the invitation, only for me to lose it like this.

"Think again. Did you really leave it in your coat?"

"You saw how carefully I tucked the invitation inside my coat before we left the mansion."

Ticef broke out in a cold sweat and avoided my gaze; he now looked as if he could cry at any moment.

Ticef was right, I did see him tuck the invitation into his coat with my own two eyes.

"Then where is the invitation?"

"I don't know, I was waiting in the queue to enter the palace and it was a bit hot, so I took off my coat… and I think the invitation that was inside my coat fell to the ground…"

Hold on.

A thought flashed through my mind at his stammering words.

"You took your coat off?"