Chapter 58

I immediately turned around and saw a person with long, flowing hair stumbling and reaching out to me. Startled, I sidestepped the hand and took a step back.

“What is this…!”

“Ugh! I, I just need a moment…”

But the person reaching for me instantly covered their mouth with both hands, as if suffering from a terrible hangover, and sank to the floor.

“…What?”

For a moment, I was too stunned to grasp the situation and just stared down at the person. On closer inspection, the person huddled on the floor was a young lady who looked quite young. She was retching repeatedly, unable to control herself as if she felt sick.

“A-Are you alright?”

I rushed over to check on her. With the dry heaving and her pale complexion, she seemed to be in distress.

The young lady clung to me as if I were a lifeline.

“D-Duchess… I’m so sorry, but… if you could just help me to the powder room over there, ugh…!”

I looked where she was pointing and saw a door a little way from the ballroom. I didn’t know if it was actually the powder room, as I hadn’t checked. The sight of her retching and collapsing on the floor was pitiable, yet I felt an uneasy suspicion.

‘Am I just being overly sensitive?’

Still, there’s no harm in being cautious.

“If you’re feeling this unwell, it might be better to call someone to help you leave, young lady. I’ll go call a servant right away.”

As I turned to head back to the ballroom to call a servant, the young lady grabbed the hem of my dress before I could take a step. Covering her mouth, she pleaded.

“No…! I think I’ll be fine with just a little rest…!”

Her pleading voice suggested she had an untold reason, which only deepened my strange feeling. However, it was hard to shake off her clutching hand. Leaving someone who clearly recognized me as the Duchess in this state might also lead to complications later.

‘Haa…’ 

I finally sighed and took her arm. Being a young lady, she was much shorter and lighter than I was, so supporting her was not difficult. In fact, thanks to regaining my stamina while preparing for the duel with Roana, I could have easily carried an average adult woman, but I didn’t go that far.

I walked slowly, trying to shake off the uneasy feeling.

‘If I’m willing to expose my skill, I can protect myself, so I guess it’ll be fine.’

Contrary to my suspicion, the room we entered was indeed a powder room, suggesting she hadn’t intended to lead me somewhere strange.

“Lie down here.”

I first helped the young lady recline halfway onto a sofa. I put tea leaves in the prepared teapot and poured warm water, which was kept hot by a magical artifact. The fragrant aroma of tea quickly filled the air.

In the meantime, the young lady seemed to have recovered a little and raised her head, bowing slightly to me.

“Thank you, Duchess…”

“It’s nothing. I prepared camomile tea in case it’s indigestion, but are you in pain anywhere else? When did you start feeling sick? If it’s serious, I think it would be better to call a doctor.”

“Oh, no. It’s not that, actually…”

When I checked her complexion and asked in detail, the young lady scratched her cheek, looking sheepish.

“I… I secretly drank some alcohol…”

“Pardon?”

“I’m still underage, so I shouldn’t be drinking, but I was just too curious… But it tasted better than I thought, so I must have had too much. On an empty stomach, too… Hehe.”

I swallowed the sigh that was about to escape. I almost embarrassed the young lady who was smiling awkwardly. I felt relieved that it was such a trivial matter after all, yet also a little defeated. I had worried myself with all sorts of scenarios in that short time.

‘Well, people that age sometimes do that.’

I poured the lukewarm tea into a cup and offered it to her.

Just then, I heard a sound outside. Checking the time, it seemed I had been away from the ballroom for longer than I thought. I slowly rose to my feet. I hadn’t intended to be away for long, and this minor ailment could probably be left to the people who would come next.

“Then please rest. I should return no—”

CRASH!

Suddenly, the young lady poured the tea she had received all over her face and threw the teacup onto the floor. Sharply broken glass scattered across the powder room floor.

‘What is this?’

While I was stunned, the young lady tossed all the items on the table, too. Magical artifacts were thrown down, and the remaining tea spilled beneath the table, instantly turning the room into a chaotic mess.

Then,

SMACK! SMACK!

“AHHH! I’m sorry! AAAH!”

She started hitting her own cheeks and screaming. Then, she huddled in front of me, covering her head with her arms.

It was as if I had hit her…

‘Ah.’

It was a trap.

The moment I realized this, people who heard her scream flung open the powder room door and rushed in.

“Good heavens! What is going on here?”

The timing was naturally theatrical, as if it had been perfectly rehearsed. I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

‘It’s Helena and her followers.’

Helena’s followers raised a clamor, as if determined not to give me a chance to speak, and summoned even more people who had been enjoying the ball.

“What on earth happened?”

“Surely not. Did the Duchess hit that young lady?”

“Oh, my! I heard she was like that even in the Academy days…”

“I heard that too! That she bullied other young ladies… It seems becoming a Duchess hasn’t changed her.”

“What? Is that true?”

They were bringing up my old reputation and creating a stir before I could even explain the situation. The crowd began to accept their words as fact. I wasn’t particularly indignant. The old reputation they mentioned was indeed something I had built up myself while being next to Helena.

They were excellent agitators. They cleverly concealed the recent reversal of rumors, pulled out the old ones, and made people think, ‘It might be true.’

However, their mistake was that their opponent was me.

‘Do they think I wasted my time under Helena?’

I began to mentally organize the facts and evidence to resolve the commotion. I wasn’t the protagonist of a romance-fantasy novel who gets saved by the male lead when a crisis strikes; I was merely an extra.

‘So, like an extra, I have to solve this myself.’

It was then that Nine, with Gray, pushed through the crowd and approached me.

“Duchess!”

I was so surprised by Nine’s unexpectedly quick appearance that I couldn’t hide the look of shock on my face.

“Duke.”

He rushed over with a worried expression and carefully checked on me. Normally, his expression would make my heart flutter, but I didn’t have time for that now.

‘I wanted to sort this out before Nine arrived.’

Because, of course…

“Duke!”

The young lady who had been curled up and crying saw Nine, crawled across the floor, grabbed the hem of his trousers, and pleaded.

“P-Please save me. Sob. I truly have no ulterior motives for you! *Sob*!”

‘I had a feeling this would happen.’

The predictable development didn’t even draw a sigh from me.

‘So, this was the scheme. Helena.’

I looked at Helena, who was standing to one side, smiling like a doll. While the scheme was familiar to me, to others, it would look exactly as Helena intended: a Duchess driven by jealousy, assaulting a poor, innocent girl.

With my notoriously bad past reputation, it seemed no one here would believe me. Moreover, this young lady was an excellent actress.

“She said I was trying to seduce you, but I never did that… You know that, don’t you, Duke? You and I haven’t exchanged a single word… So, when I said no, the Duchess got angry, threw tea on me, and slapped my cheek, saying I was insolent…”

The young lady’s acting, with her cheek visibly red and swollen, was incredibly realistic. Lying practically prostrate on the chaotic, tea-soaked floor, she looked utterly pathetic. Her tearful, genuinely wronged pleas, combined with the instigation of Helena’s followers, rapidly turned public opinion against me.

It was time to open my mouth and offer an explanation, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak, instead scrutinizing Nine’s face.

Naturally, Nine wouldn’t believe me. His trust in me was probably at rock bottom because of the previous incident. It didn’t matter if he didn’t help me. However, it would be troublesome if his favorability toward me dropped even further here.

‘It will affect my explanation of the love potion incident later.’

Our relationship had just recovered, and I felt we could end things amicably; I didn’t want to ruin that plan.

I looked at Nine, reconsidering how to explain. I couldn’t think of any way to make him believe me.

“Duke, please tell the Duchess! I truly never harbored such feelings for you—”

But Nine shook off the young lady’s hand.

Turning his body, Nine looked at me with an unwavering gaze and asked, “Are you alright?”

I stared up at him blankly.

His eyes held neither contempt nor suspicion.