Chapter 24

On that day, Oline was being scolded by her father.

"What have you done, Oline!"

The head of the Dianu Baron family slammed his desk in the study, revealing his anger.

"I-I'm sorry...!"

Oline could only bow her head to her father.

"Because of you, the business we were handling was about to collapse, and the Dianu Baron family was almost finished!"

"Sorry, Father...!"

Seeing Oline's attitude, her father's anger subsided, and he sighed in exasperation.

"You made the young lady of the Arkra Marquess family so angry... I thought I was going to die."

After that tea party, it turned out that Eira had asked her father, the Arkra Marquess, to "completely stop all transactions with the Dianu Baron family and ruin their business!"

The Arkra Marquess, though doting on his daughter, did not follow her every request regarding business matters.

He heard the reasons from Eira and contacted the Dianu Baron family. Then, a meeting was held without Oline, and the Dianu Baron family sincerely apologized to Eira.

However, Eira's anger did not subside, and she begged the Arkra Marquess to ruin the Dianu Baron family.

At that moment, the Dianu Baron was in despair. Although the Arkra Marquess did not seem to be willing to completely ruin the Dianu Baron family, he stated that they would not consider any future transactions, and the meeting ended there.

Later, the number of transactions from the Marquess family gradually decreased, and it was likely that they would completely stop if this continued.

Losing transactions with the Arkra Marquess family alone would not necessarily ruin the Dianu Baron family, as they could still conduct business with other families. However, it would certainly be a significant blow to their operations.

"It's a good thing the Marquess is a rational person... but with the influence of the Marquess family, they could have ruined all our businesses."

If that had happened, the Dianu Baron family would have been finished.

"I'm really sorry, Father..."

Oline could only apologize, and seeing this, the Dianu Baron sighed again.

"I thought our family would be safe because you were chosen as the Holy Maiden, but it seems I was wrong. Just because you were chosen as the Holy Maiden, I let you have too much freedom."

The Dianu Baron sat in his chair and glared at Oline, who continued to bow her head.

"From now on, you are forbidden to attend tea parties or social events. Focus on your Holy Maiden training and do not leave the house until your duties as the Holy Maiden begin."

"Yes..."

"But you were also invited by His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince. We can't refuse an invitation from the royal family, so I'll allow it this time."

"Yes... Actually, I was invited today."

"I see. Well, go ahead. It seems you haven't been invited as often recently."

"..."

Indeed, invitations from Crown Prince Louis, who used to invite her every few days and even send a carriage to pick her up, had become much less frequent recently.

The reason was clear if one thought about it for a moment.

(That woman... it's all because of Asaria Jil Spencer.)

Oline called the hated woman's name in her mind.

Because of that woman, invitations from Crown Prince Louis had stopped coming.

"You may go now. You have preparations to make."

"Yes, I'm really sorry, Father."

"Make sure this never happens again."

"Yes, I'll take my leave."

Oline left the study and headed to her room, biting her lip. She was no longer allowed to attend tea parties or go out, except for invitations from Crown Prince Louis.

(Why did this happen...!)

Oline tried to find the cause, but she kept thinking it was all because of that woman.

"It's all Asaria's fault that I'm in this situation...!"

Oline believed she was a special person. Although her family was a baron and not of high status, she was chosen as the Holy Maiden and had talent.

In her mind, Asaria and Crown Prince Louis were just born into good families.

But she wanted that status, so she approached Crown Prince Louis. She was blessed with good looks and knew how to act to please men, so she quickly won the favor of Crown Prince Louis.

Crown Prince Louis seemed to be tired of Asaria, which helped Oline achieve her ideal situation. Asaria, a foolish woman, did not know how to handle herself and failed to keep Crown Prince Louis interested.

Everything was going well... or so she thought.

The first humiliation came at the National Founding Day party. When Asaria, who had been absent from social events for a while, finally appeared, she was not the same Asaria.

Oline could not retort to her one-on-one, and even when Crown Prince Louis arrived, she could not do anything to Asaria and lost.

After that, she lost more often. What Oline regretted the most was losing the knight candidate she had her eye on.

The baron family did not have the means to hire dedicated knights like Asaria and Eira. Once she became the Holy Maiden, she would be assigned a dedicated knight, but until then, she had none. So, she tried to make a strong-looking commoner from a transport company a knight.

It would be cheaper, and if he lacked the talent, she could discard him.

(He had a good face, and I wanted him to stand behind me. But I never thought the daughter of a duke, Asaria, would have her eye on him...!)

Then, the problem began. After scouting him as a knight for only about a week, Asaria made him her dedicated knight.

Even if he had talent, he shouldn't have become strong enough to be a dedicated knight so quickly. Asaria must have chosen him for his looks because she was strong herself.

Oline knew that Asaria had a weak, commoner knight as her dedicated knight.

She passed this information to Eira, the daughter of the Arkra Marquess, who had a strong desire to show off and a grudge against the higher-ranking duchess family.

Oline thought she could use Eira to bring down Asaria without directly confronting her... but it didn't work out as planned.

(What is she so strong for? It's not just one week, is it?)

Eira's dedicated knight seemed strong, and although she was arrogant and foolish, she was still a marquess's daughter and should have had three competent dedicated knights.

Those three were defeated in an instant. Oline only realized the fight was over when she saw the three skilled knights lying on the ground.

It was unimaginable that a commoner who worked in a transport company could become so strong in such a short time. After that, Eira was humiliated, and it was all blamed on Oline.

Eira seemed determined to ruin Oline and the Dianu Baron family, but it was fortunate that it did not become a bigger issue.

Now, as Oline calmed down, she remembered Lauro.

(If it weren't for that woman... I could have made that man my dedicated knight...!)

A man who could become so strong in a week would likely become even stronger. He might even gain the same or greater power as the head of a duchess family, who could easily defeat hundreds of monsters alone.

Oline had been robbed of such a powerful knight right before her eyes, which was so frustrating that she bit her lip until it bled.

In the future, as the Holy Maiden, she would have to choose a holy knight from among various knights... but would there be anyone stronger than Lauro?

(Sigh... I need to focus. I'm meeting Crown Prince Louis after a long time today.)

While her few servants helped her change, her mind kept dwelling on the humiliating events and Asaria's smile, which made her restless.

---

[Announcement]

Some of you may have noticed from the title...

This work has been decided for publication and comic adaptation!!

Thank you so much to all the readers!

I'm very excited to see Asaria, the villainess, come to life in illustrations and animations!

I will continue to write, so please look forward to it!