A Painting of the Villainess as a Young Lady

“…And why should you come?”

“I also know the festival well enough. I haven’t participated in the capital’s festivals all that much, but I at least know more about festivals than this guy!”

That was true. Watching commoners’ festivals was one of his frequent activities.

“I don’t see a reason to bring you along.”

“It’s unfair to go just the two of you! I’ll tell Brother!”

“……”

“……”

Did he really think threatening to tell Roen would work?

Even if he ran off to tell Roen about this, it wouldn’t affect Violet.

However, it was easy to foresee him stubbornly insisting on going for various reasons.

Both Violet and Aldin knew this well.

As the two sighed in unison, Cairn raised an eyebrow.

“He’s so oblivious…”

“What? Why? Why am I oblivious?”

“…Haa.”

It was the first time Cairn had ever been told he was oblivious, and he looked at Violet in confusion.

Violet avoided his gaze. Cairn’s questioning look then turned to Aldin, but Aldin also turned his head away.

* * *

Thus, Violet’s schedule was settled clumsily.

Despite giving several hints, Violet couldn’t shake off Cairn. He seemed excited about watching the festival together.

Roen, on the other hand, couldn’t join them due to his obligations. He looked at his two younger siblings with envy.

Violet secretly looked for ways to get Cairn back to the academy quickly. However, it seemed there was no way to send him back before the Founding Festival started.

As she was fretting over this, a new problem emerged.

The day to pray at the temple with the crown prince had arrived.

If she had accepted either the partner request or the temple prayer alone, it wouldn’t have been so bothersome.

She contemplated whether she could excuse herself due to illness.

However, escaping now would look very bad.

Thus, Violet reluctantly chose plain clothes.

Should she still back out?

Even after dressing up, she still wanted to bail. Violet decided to focus on something else as the meeting time approached.

“Could you bring me today’s newspaper?”

“Which newspaper would you like, Milady?”

“Any one of them will do. Just something good to read while I’m bored.”

“Yes!”

Mary excitedly brought any newspaper she could find. Violet casually opened it.

And as soon as she saw the contents, she couldn’t help but bark out a laugh.

Once again, Violet herself took up the biggest section of the newspaper. It was obvious that Mary had brought it because of this article.

Violet found Mary endearing and continued to read the contents.

[ Unveiling the Flower of High Society, Lady Everett ]

To summarize the article under the large headline, it detailed how Violet S. Everett, reigning as the flower of high society, had become the leader of all trends. It meticulously outlined her clothes, makeup methods, and behavior one by one.

From beauty tips to dress styles to emulate her, the article also analyzed why her fashion was so popular and beautiful.

Violet glanced at Mary.

It was filled with content that Mary, who was deeply into studying beauty, would really enjoy.

Mary tilted her head with an innocent expression. Violet smiled, patted her head, and continued reading the newspaper.

The paper, more of a gossip rag than an information sheet, contained a lot of other content as well.

Most of it was about high society, and the accuracy was suspiciously high, as if there was a spy among them.

As Violet followed the small print, she suddenly clicked her tongue.

“Tsk.”

“Milady?”

“It’s nothing.”

Despite Mary’s curiosity, Violet simply brushed it off with a smile.

Unlike her smiling face, her feelings became quite complicated upon discovering a particular article.

[ Lady of the Radiant Spring Flowers Captures the Man of the Sun?! ]

Aileen, who already harbored feelings of inferiority towards Violet.

It was expected that she would cause a fuss just because Violet appeared on the front page of a newspaper about high society instead of herself.

Violet could almost see the girl’s reaction and sighed, feeling both exasperated at Aileen’s predictable reaction and astonished at her carelessness in feeding such information to the press.

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