CH 3

After barely tearing Lancer away from me, I started moving to attend the tea party.

"Would you like to change your clothes?"

Phoebe, my maid who returned from kicking out Lancer, calmly asked me.

"It's not dirty, so why would you ask if I'd like to change it or not?"

I looked at the clothes I was wearing.

A plain white shirt and a black skirt with gold threads on it as decoration.

Of course, I have fancier clothes than this. However, I insisted on wearing more comfortable clothes like this since I spent most of my time working.

"The people who are gathering at this tea party are Lady Aronia, Lady Dolce, and Lady Beatrice."

"This is a gathering of young aristocrats who are leading the high society right now. If you go with simple clothes, you might look shallow."

Phoebe expressionlessly said.

But I knew full well that she was just bluffing.

Since she was.

'Sigh… My lady is so pretty that her beauty could shatter this world… I wish my lady would wear that blue sapphire dress my lady bought the other day… I would carry that memory in my mind as a family heirloom for the rest of my life if my lady did so…'

She was my follower to the core.

"Phoebe."

With a bright smile, I called for my dear maid's name.

"I am a member of the Kaerun Duchy. you'd be crazy to think less of me after hearing my name, right?"

In other words, no one in this empire dares to cringe without knowing my place after hearing my name.

'... The problem is that there are a small number of people who recognize me.'

Maybe it's because I've been stuck inside my house for years.

Lately, whenever I go out, commoners don't recognise me and some are often rude to me.

As Phoebe said, if I wore something like this, I'm afraid I'll be mistaken for a commoner…

'But I'm going out for a while, so does it matter?’

Thinking so, I suppressed the feeling of anxiety creeping up.

"...I see, I didn't think about it enough."

Phoebe bowed her head slightly and apologized briefly.

At the same time, her thoughts rang in my ears.

‘Oh, that’s my lady! Her ambition! Her confidence! I think I'm going to fall in love! I must go home now and add that in <Lady Skyla Quotes>!’

…Phoebe, what the hell have you been writing?

Upon hearing Phoebe’s thoughts, I could only smile stiffly.

But Phoebe, who doesn't know that I could read her mind, remains expressionless.

As I walked to the main gate with Phoebe, my carriage had already been prepared.

I only use this carriage to go to social gatherings and whatnot, except for official events.

It's an ordinary carriage for commoners.

There were no silk curtains, no ducal crests, and no decorations to suggest that this was a noble's carriage.

If you're wondering why a precious noble and member of the Kaerun Duchy is traveling in a carriage that looks like this, the answer is simple.

‘It's annoying.’

The aristocratic society was small and narrow.

So I didn't want the whole of society to know which house I was going to and who I was meeting.

“My lady!”

Ticef, my exclusive coachman, bowed politely to greet me.

“Are you going to the Garnett Marquis, my lady?”

“That's right. I need to be there by two o'clock.”

"Alright, ill make sure my lady’s on time for your appointment!"

Ticef answered kindly and quickly climbed onto his seat.

With a clatter, the wheels of the carriage began to roll.

“Phew…”

Sitting up with my jaw clenched, I closed my eyes and let out a shallow sigh.

My eyes were bleary as if a handful of sand had been scattered over my eyelids.

The sensible Phoebe lowered the curtains of the carriage windows to block out the light.

“Are you not feeling well?”

“It's nothing. I'm just tired of dealing with Lancer.”

“Shall we ask the knights to impose a ban on him?”

“That's alright, someone could get hurt if that happens.”

“The knights of Kaerun Duchy are very strong, so I'm sure they'll protect you.”

“No, it's not that.”

I opened my eyes slightly and squinted at Phoebe.

“What if the knights get hurt instead of Lancer?”

“Ah… I understand.”

Only then did Phoebe slowly nod.

I meant it.

As you may have already noticed, God gifted Lancer powerful magic power, but unfortunately not common sense.

Furthermore, Lancer tended to be an unnecessarily aggressive childhood friend.

Thanks to him, I was toast every day.

There were times when I seriously thought about cutting Lancer off.

But I soon give up on those thoughts.

I was the only one who was close to Lancer in this country except for his family.

What would happen if I threw Lancer away?

I can't imagine what that immature guy would do.

Magic power is influenced by emotions.

And if a once-in-a-thousand-years archmage like Lancer loses control of his emotions and goes wild, this empire could be doomed.

Lancer's father, the Duke of Soli himself, whos well aware of this came to me and asked.

‘Skyla, please. Please don't ever abandon my son.’

The Duke of Soli bowed his head and asked me personally, I couldn't refuse it.

Besides, above all, I didn't want to see Lancer’s magic run amok and get him caught up in something dangerous.

That's why I didn't keep Lancer away from coming to me all this time.

Of course, me acting cold is no different from when I was young or now.

‘You're the same age as me, yet you still act like a child.’

The moment when I think about that with my eyes closed.

“Argh! Argh!”

“neigh!”

The screams of Ticef and the horse pierced my eardrums.

The carriage screeched to a halt with a very sharp fricative.

The impact of the rattling wheels was transmitted to me.

“Argh!”

Having momentarily disorientated, I fell hard to the side.

"Ah! my lady!"

For the first time in a while, I could hear the panic in Phoebe’s voice.

"My lady, are you all right?!"

Ticef called out after he hastily calmed down his excited horse and opened the carriage door.

“Uh, I'm fine. What's going on?”

I asked, pulling myself to my feet with the help of Phoebe.

“That's…”

Ticef hurriedly opened his mouth, but he got interrupted.

There was a loud shout behind his back.

“Hey! How the hell are you driving a carriage!”

What was that?

Frowning, I opened the small window leading to the coachman’s seat and examined the situation.

There was a large carriage in front of my carriage.

Decorative tents and silk flags were hung up, it was apparent that it was an aristocrat’s carriage.

However, the family seal attached to the carriage was a seal that I have never seen before.

which aristocrat’s carriage is that?

‘No, let's put that aside.’

I looked at the positions of my carriage and the other carriage beside mine.

The other carriage stopped right next to my carriage, which was on the right of the main road.

It was standing slightly hunched over, probably trying to force its way in front of my carriage.

Realising that, my blood pressure rose.

No, shouldn't my carriage go first since mine was in front of theirs? Or they could've rang the bell to give us a signal!

It was obviously the other carriage’s fault.

I got out of the carriage to protest against the other coachman.

“It's your fault but why are you yelling at my coachman?”

“Who even are you?”

The other coachman, who was angry, turned to me nervously.

For a moment, I could hear his thoughts.

‘Who is this girl? How dare she butt in when men are talking.’

At the same time, I could feel his eyeballs rolling to scan me. He seemed to try to recognise who I was.

I shook off the unpleasant gaze and questioned the other coachman.

"My carriage was at the right. If you have common sense, shouldn't you let my carriage go first?"

"Hey!"

The coachman shouted when he heard me.

"Let's hear it! Let's hear it! You can't even drive a carriage so what do you know about it?"

At that moment, Phoebe and Ticef, who were standing behind me, screamed in unison.

"Hey, now you're talking too much!”

"How dare you disrespect my lady!"

"You two."

I quietly spoke to Phoebe and Ticef before both of them could lunge at the other coachman.

"Stay still.”

"But, my lady...…!”

"Stay still."

I looked at Phoebe and Ticef and smiled politely.

"Stay still."

"...yes."

Only then did those two bows quietly at my command.

I could hear the other coachman’s thoughts loud and clear after that.

‘My lady? Pfft, you must be some rich merchant’s daughter, right? You look quite the part…’

‘What? He's writing a third-rate novel inside his mind.’

I frowned slightly.

I didn't expect to bump into someone like this.

Because I dressed simpler, I got mistaken as a commoner again.

I glared at the other coachman.

But the other coachman just cross his arms and pointed his chin at me.

“What? You got something to say? If you wanna say it, come here and discuss it with Viscount Artisina.”

The Viscount Artisina?

What a bunch of unheard-of mongrels. You don't even recognise me when you work for them?

I was at loss for words for a moment and stared at the coachman in front of me.

But he seemed to think I was embarrassed and speechless.

He glanced at me again and spat on the ground.

“Poor me… it's been a bad afternoon and now I'm arguing with a useless wench. Hey, get your carriage out of here.”

The coachman said everything he wanted to say and seemed a little relieved.

But the relief only lasted for three seconds.

Because three seconds later, I opened my mouth.