chapter 10

I decided to save the wish I had hard-won from Lloyd for later. For now, I needed to focus on creating a good impression of Perre Princess before the upcoming hunting festival.

Even though Lloyd was currently meeting Caroline because of her Light Attribute, it was only a matter of time before he fell for her charm. So I had to push forward while there was still room for my sister’s place in his heart.

As a first step, we planned to attend the handkerchief-making gathering for the festival.

It was customary for young ladies to embroider handkerchiefs and present them to the young men they admired during the hunting festival. This was the perfect event to confess one’s feelings.

Of course, I attended the gathering with Perre Princess and decided to personally draw the embroidery design for her.

I was terrible at sewing, but fairly good at drawing, so I was confident I could design a pattern that harmoniously combined the wind bird representing the Crown Prince and the sun symbolizing the royal family.

Still, sewing the design proved extremely difficult.

My fingers got pricked so many times that they became sore and ragged.

“Ellie, your hands are all scratched! This is my job, not yours!”

Perre Princess scolded me when she saw my fingers in such a state and insisted I stop.

I ended up using erasable chalk to draw the base pattern on the handkerchief and handed it to Perre Princess.

“Would this be okay? It’s too difficult to actually stitch the design with thread.”

“This is enough. But… you really draw well, don’t you?”

Her praise drew a crowd of young ladies around us, all curious about the pattern in Perre Princess’ hands.

This actually worked in my favor. The design was clearly intended for the Crown Prince, so other young ladies wouldn’t dare try to give their handkerchiefs to him instead of Perre Princess. Some might, of course, but none would openly create a handkerchief specifically for him.

Or so I thought…

“Ellie, who are you planning to give your handkerchief to?”

There she was—Caroline, holding her handkerchief, which bore a large wind bird embroidered in silver thread, clearly representing Lloyd.

“Well, and you… to His Highness?” I asked, lowering my voice so Perre Princess wouldn’t hear, since she was surrounded by other young ladies.

But Caroline, oblivious, smiled at me and said loudly:

“Yes. There’s so much to thank His Highness for, so I want to express my gratitude.”

“Do you really need a handkerchief for that?”

She knew perfectly well what giving a handkerchief meant. She wanted to give it to Lloyd, deliberately showing her intentions.

Of course, in the original story, Caroline gave a handkerchief to Lloyd, so this wasn’t entirely unexpected. I just happened to be on Perre Princess’ side, cheering for her, so seeing Caroline as an unexpected obstacle was a bit annoying.

Caroline looked slightly upset and said:

“Ellie, you’re not like the person I used to know. Are you mad at me or something?”

Her expression and tone were perfectly heroine-like, heart-tugging, but strangely, I felt uncomfortable.

I instinctively stepped back slightly and asked:

“Hmm? Did I do something to make you angry?”

Caroline furrowed her brow, insisting she hadn’t, so I squinted my eyes and smiled at her.

Goodness, either it’s yes or no—no need to make that face.

I asked again:

“Then why are you assuming I’m angry?”

“Because… because you’re close with the Princess, and I thought you might not like me giving a handkerchief to His Highness, whom the Princess likes.”

So she fully understood that her actions could upset Perre Princess—but she chose to proceed anyway. Either she thought she could get away with annoying my sister, or she wanted to provoke her.

This was… interesting.

I already knew the original heroine wasn’t as kind-hearted as she seemed, but apparently, she could be just as cunning as my sister in her own way.

Perre Princess, at least, didn’t put on any pretense; she openly showed her personality, which made her rather endearing. Caroline, however… seemed secretive, calculating.

I studied her for a moment, then let out a short sigh and said:

“Alright. Let me get this straight—you know the Princess likes His Highness, and you’re still giving him a handkerchief?”

“The Princess’ feelings are hers, but His Highness’ feelings might not be the same.”

“How do you know? Did he ask for it?”

“…….”

Caroline fell silent, seemingly without a response, then looked at me and said:

“You’ve changed, haven’t you?”

“Me? Changed how, and why? Because I don’t automatically defend you like before?”

“…….”

“Listen carefully, Caroline. Being kind to everyone to win hearts may be a good way for a young lady like you to navigate society. I respect that. But using those hearts as you please is wrong.”

Caroline’s expression stiffened at my words.

She probably didn’t think she was doing anything wrong—or perhaps didn’t even realize her actions were manipulative.

Having grown up with the heroine’s privileges, she likely had countless people on her side without effort. So when I suddenly changed my behavior, she couldn’t help but be startled.

Moreover, I was someone she had personally protected and supported—the one who had lifted me from being judged for my commoner origins. So I had no right to scold her entirely.

Still, she must have been frustrated and upset that I suddenly sided with the Princess against her.

“I’m not like that.”

Caroline said this with an expression I had never seen before, somewhere between anger and suppressed frustration.

Clearly, she was upset that someone she considered close had suddenly turned away from her.

“I’ve never tried to manipulate anyone’s heart, and…”

“You’re crying?”

“Oh my, Caroline! Are you crying?!”

As soon as I asked, a freckled young lady nearby called out, as if she had been watching us.

The other young ladies also turned to look at us.

Caroline was just holding back tears, but she hurriedly wiped her eyes with her hand, smearing water on her eyelids, shaking her head.

See, this is exactly the kind of situation I didn’t intend to create: making Caroline look like she’s crying because of me.

She probably just wanted to hide her wet eyes so I wouldn’t notice, but everyone assumed I made her cry.

“Ellinea, what do you think you’re doing?”

Some young ladies immediately confronted me, not fully grasping the situation.

“Abigail, it’s nothing.”

“Don’t defend her! Ellinea made Caroline cry!”

“You’ve been cared for by Caroline all this time and yet…”

“Ellinea, even if you’re a commoner, you shouldn’t treat Caroline like this after all she’s done for you.”

And with that, they all started criticizing me.

“I never did anything to make Caroline cry. And she hasn’t cried at all!”

“Lies! Look at her eyelashes—they’re wet!”

“That’s because she was upset by my change in attitude, not because I did anything wrong!”

“She’s upset, so tears are forming, isn’t that right?”

“By the way, I am curious too—why has your attitude changed?”

The young ladies surged again, so I let out a long sigh and said:

“Do you only interact with one friend?”

My words immediately silenced the noisy crowd around us.