Chapter 56: CH 56

There are several people gathered in Count Cardel.

It was not uncommon to see not only Young Ladies but also noble wives gathered together. But today, this was understandable.

It was the day to embroider handkerchiefs for the men who were going to the hunting contest!

The Young Lady, who each of them had someone in their hearts, embroidered hard to present it to them, and the married women with husbands tried to embroider them wonderfully so that their husband’s reputation was not harmed.

Only Countess Cardel, who had already completed a handkerchief the other day, was sipping the tea in a relaxed manner. Countess Cardel looked around at the people who were eagerly embroidering them.

When should she speak out, and it looked to be becoming serious. Wouldn’t a calm moment like now be ideal?

Countess Cardel slowly opened her lips.

“Come to think of it,” She continued to speak slowly. “The Duchess will come soon.”

“Yes?”

“What did you say?”

Those who were concentrating on embroidery shouted, raising their heads.

“W, who’s coming?”

“The Duchess?”

People trembled.

Ophelia will be here with them and three out of ten people here would get hit! And the other seven will get cursed at!

Why on earth did she invite her?

As far as they know, Countess Cardel is not on good terms with Ophelia—.

“People who saw today’s article may know, but I owe the Duchess quite a bit.”

Ah! Now people nodded their heads as if they understood.

“I saw it! The Duchess beat the mercenaries!”

“That’s true, but—”

One of the Lady frowned.

“They were defeated using black magic. Black magic is— a little—. Like that.”

“That’s right. You said black magic— Black magic is dangerous, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I’m scared.”

People seemed to want Countess Cardel to withdraw the invitation. However, the Countess shook her head.

“But it’s true that she saved me and my family. Whatever method she uses, it doesn’t matter.”

The Countess smiled with her hands together.

“And the Duchess has changed a lot. Everyone will be surprised when they see her in person.”

People didn’t respond to her saying this.

This means that they disagree with the Countess’ words, meaning that they will wait and see if Ophelia really changes.

*****

“Welcome, Duchess! And Young Lady Jasmine!”

Countess Cardel was willing to welcome Ophelia and Jasmine. At the same time, she did not forget to wink at Ophelia. Ophelia smiled brightly. Because Countess Cardel seemed to be completely on her side.

‘It’s going to increase one by one like this.’

Hohoho. Everything is as planned.

Ophelia followed the Countess with an exciting step. But when she entered the room, the atmosphere was a little strange.

“….”

The people talk in whispers. While whispering, they glanced at Ophelia. Everyone seems to hate me— Am I mistaken?

But it wasn’t a mistake. Seeing that only Ophelia’s place lies far away. Ophelia clicked her tongue.

She never thought that people’s prejudices would change overnight. But she thought there would be something different—.

‘What’s changed?’

They are equally afraid of her. They are equally afraid of themselves.

Are they afraid of my black magic?

Seeing people’s eyes on their fingertips, Ophelia decided that she should now hide her strength as much as possible. Because noblewomen are afraid of black magic.

‘But this is an external attitude.’

Ophelia remembered that nearly half of the many letters she had received were from noblewomen. Since it was not possible to disclose the contents of the request from the beginning, most of the contents of the letter were invitations.

Things like ‘Please come to my tea time’, ‘Please come to the banquet’, etc.

Ophelia intended to use it well.

‘If I get close to people one by one like this, my reputation will improve.’

Then the Emperor will like me more.

Of course, she’s still getting likes by him. Thinking back to the first time we met.

However, Ophelia planned to become more favored by the Emperor here and make even Callian unable to do anything about it.

To do that, first of all, “Nice to see you all.”

It was important to bring out a good reputation from the women in front of her.

“It’s nice to have a gathering like this.”

Although it was a common greeting, Ophelia said it was nice. So people opened their mouths wide.

If it was originally Ophelia, ‘Is this the market floor? Why are there so many people? Are you going to bother me?’ They’re sure she will shout like this!

Seeing the sudden change of Ophelia, people looked at each other’s eyes.

“I’m going to have to embroider myself now. Countess, thank you for your preparation.”

Oh my.

People once plucked their ears. ‘Thank you,’ says Ophelia Regen.

Isn’t the sun going to rise in the west tomorrow? They couldn’t believe it if it wasn’t true!

In fact, everything Ophelia said was a basic greeting. Everyone spoke with this kind of courtesy. However, it was important that the speaker was Ophelia.

If it was originally Ophelia, ‘You want me to embroider? Hey, are you crazy? What happened to your head?’ She would curse at them.

But they can’t believe it changed like this—!

They really couldn’t believe it.

As the Countess said, did Ophelia really change?

If so, it’s a really great thing. It was clear that there would be a big impact on the social community. Currently, the social world is dominated by the Grand Duchess and Countess Fleur. But if Ophelia really changed and people liked her, the flow could change in her direction.

Ophelia is the Duchess, and the Duke of Ryzen is a great family that no one can match.

So the people here had to choose. To stick toward Ophelia, or ignore Ophelia as they used to be.

Those who chose the former smiled and greeted Ophelia, while those who chose the latter refused to greet Ophelia.

Ophelia clearly remembered the faces of people who didn’t greet her.

‘They must be on Fleur’s side.’

She doesn’t have to envy the people attached to Fleur and drag them towards her. They’ll regret it later.

‘Things like, why didn’t I get close to her.’

Hoo hoo hoo.

With a low smile, Ophelia picked up a handkerchief and a needle.

It was then.

“By the way, the Duchess isn’t good at embroidering, isn’t it?”

Someone talked to her.

While wondering who it was, Jasmine whispered.

“That person is Olive Becker’s friend. Angela Richel. The famous daughter of Marquis Richel.”

First, she told Jasmine that she didn’t remember people’s names and faces well. That’s why Jasmine told her this.

Ophelia nodded.

“Then why is she picking a fight with me?”

“Because Madam hit Olive Becker properly before—?”

“Aha. That kind of thing.”

Ophelia from the past is very amazing. It seems that finding the person she did not hit is more difficult than finding the one she did hit.  It was a bit backward, but she had no choice but to say that she had to fix what Ophelia did at that time.

Ophelia looked at Angela Richel with a soft smile.

“I’ve never done embroidery properly, so I don’t know if I’m good or not. I think I’ll know once I try it.”

“I remember it was a mess when you did it before. You can trust my memory.”

Angela smiled and said.

The reason why she came out like this was simple. Because she hated Ophelia Ryzen so much! It was only a few months ago that her friend was beaten. It means that the anger did not subside.

However, people are arguing that Ophelia Ryzen may be a good person just because she has changed a bit.

What a cunning opinion this is!

Ophelia is a bad person. And she had to be a bad person until the end. The current Ophelia was just putting up with her temper, and it must have never changed.

So Angela was deliberately arguing with Ophelia. She thought Ophelia would be angry and hit her if she did this.

Then the public opinion will get worse again, right?

Judging so, Angela raised her chin and crossed her arms.

“Why don’t you order a maid instead of making a mess? I’m telling you because I feel sorry for the person who will receive the messy handkerchief.”

Angela continued to talk with excitement.

“If the recipient tells the Crown Prince, I’m sure he’ll throw it in the trash. Isn’t it?”