CHAPTER 31: CONFLICT IN THE IMPERIAL PALACE

The entire following month passed quite smoothly. The main event was the heroine and her adoptive father moving into their new home. The estate was located on the outskirts of the capital and looked quite unremarkable. I was glad that Duke Dickens listened to me and refused unnecessary "pomposity."

When the day of farewell came, I saw them off with tears in my eyes.

"Ah!" I wailed mournfully. "I’ve become so used to you living in my house. What a pity we have to part..."

At that moment, I wiped my eyes with a handkerchief, although in reality, I had been looking forward to this day more than anything else. For some people, but not for me, having the main character in my house was a real stress. After all, if something happened to the girl like last time, all the blame would fall on my shoulders.

"Don’t worry, auntie! I’ll try to visit you as often as possible!"

Angela tried to cheer me up with these words, but I immediately shook my head.

"Well, don’t... Besides, you must have a lot to do now."

Enoch, no longer dressed in rags as he was when we first met, shook my hand again.

"Lady Weinstein, I will never forget what you have done for our family!"

I smiled.

"Don’t mention it. I’m just glad I was able to give someone a better life."

I tried to get them out of there as quickly as possible. Finally, the father and daughter got into the carriage, and the heroine waved to me from the window for a long time.

"Goodbye, auntie!" the girl shouted to me as the carriage pulled away.

"Goodbye, dear!" I shouted back.

All this time, Edison stood nearby and watched the scene with doubt. When the carriage finally disappeared from view, I was about to return home. But the old man suddenly suggested:

"If this family is so dear to you, we could settle them closer... It’s not necessary to travel hundreds of kilometers for a single meeting."

I turned to him in surprise.

"Are you crazy? This is the perfect distance!"

"What?" The butler was even more shocked than I was.

"The farther, the better," I remarked eloquently.

The old man sighed wearily.

"Madam, sometimes I really don’t understand you..."

"You don’t have to understand me. Just do as I say."

I celebrated Enoch and Angela’s departure as if it were my own birthday. I just hoped that the two of them would never decide to return. It would be good if they lived a quiet life for all these eight years and didn’t cause me any problems.

In the best-case scenario, that’s exactly how it would turn out. After all, even though Enoch had become a member of high society, in reality, he was still far from it.

Enoch’s status as a minor baron was too insignificant. He had no connections in the upper echelons. As a result, he was denied access to most social events. No one would pay attention to him among hundreds of other minor aristocrats.

At least they would be able to live in comfort and prosperity. Enoch would no longer have to spend the rest of his life doing exhausting work in the forest. I thought it was a fair price to pay for taking his life in the future...

However, that would not happen anytime soon. For now, I decided to enjoy the moment.

Preparations for the imperial banquet were in full swing. I still did not know what Serpens had in mind, and that only added to my excitement. When the question of what to do with Ruby arose, I decided to take her with me.

From the outside, it might seem unfair — leaving the girl alone at home while her aunt went out to "have fun." Although that word sounded a bit questionable... In the end, I was sure that Serpens would definitely not do anything deadly dangerous. Especially knowing in advance that I would be there.

Besides, Rubiella had been begging me for quite a while.

"Auntie, please! I want to go with you too!"

"Hmm..."

Actually, William Dickens had originally agreed to take only me. Not a word about Rubiella. But... She’s just a little girl. How could one child cause any trouble?

"I promise I’ll be good!" the girl promised again.

"All right..." In the end, I gave in to her pressure. Yes, a ten-year-old child really did defeat me.

Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that I’m taking her with me. After all, Ruby has to learn how to socialize in high society somehow, right? Moreover, she would become a duchess in the future.

Having made this decision, Ruby and I were able to prepare for the banquet in just a week. I was too lazy to order a dress specially, so I just chose a ready-made outfit from Grace’s wardrobe. Clothes were probably the only thing she had in abundance.

So, on the day of the event, we left the house a couple of hours before it started. I wore an elegant red floor-length dress, and I picked out a burgundy lace dress for Ruby. I thought it was quite cute that we were dressed almost identically.

Leaving the estate to Edison and Nura, we got into a carriage and set off. Duke Dickens must have been waiting for us there. After all, considering that we were from different families, it would have been rather inappropriate to arrive in the same carriage...

Although... Even if bad rumors spread, what difference would it make to me? In the current situation, I very much doubted that I had anything to lose.

The journey to the imperial palace took several hours. When we arrived, most of the guests had already entered or were crowding at the entrance. The servants let everyone in according to their invitations.

William Dickens was waiting at the main entrance near his carriage. Roger was standing next to him. When they noticed us, I waved my hand.

As we walked, more and more people noticed us, and the noise around us grew louder. The nobles couldn’t believe that I had actually arrived.

"Look at that!" the noble ladies whispered discontentedly. "How dare that slut show up here?!"

"Who invited her?" others protested. "Did she get the wrong place?"

"I heard that Lady Cosette’s husband was cheating on her with her..."

I walked past and completely ignored all the gossip. After all, in a couple of months, my mind had already abstracted itself. I was ready to respond, even if all these words were said to my face.

The only thing that bothered me...

Ruby was walking beside me, holding my hand. I felt ashamed that the girl had heard all these statements. It was another reason why I didn’t really want to take her with me... I could only hope that, being so young, Ruby didn’t yet understand the meaning of these expressions.

In the end, a group of noble ladies blocked our path.

"Hey, you!" exclaimed a middle-aged woman angrily. "This is a banquet in honor of His Majesty’s birthday. How dare you sully it with your presence?"

I involuntarily squeezed Ruby’s small hand in mine.

"I don’t think we’re on familiar terms," I remarked coldly.

The aristocrat, whose face I vaguely recognized, smirked.

"Why should I treat a slut like you with respect?" she said contemptuously. "All you know how to do is sleep with other people’s husbands..."

She really said all this in front of a ten-year-old child. I couldn’t take it anymore and slapped her hard across the face. Although, I must admit, I didn’t really hold back.

"You...!"

A piece of trash like me had publicly slapped a noble lady in front of everyone. She stared at me with confused eyes.

"How dare you, you filthy piece of shit...!"

The woman swung her arm to hit me back, and I thought I would cause a scene at this banquet even before Serpens did. But her hand stopped a few inches from my face.

We were both surprised. The latter became even more angry.

"Who dared...?!"

At that moment, her fervor subsided somewhat. The aristocrat’s gaze met Roger Dickens’. The heir to the most noble family in the empire was holding her hand tightly.

"Y-young lord...?"

The woman’s face was covered in cold sweat. She was already speechless.

"Think about what you are doing," the young man reprimanded her in an icy tone. "Is this the imperial palace for you, or a street of beggars where anyone can get away with anything?"

At that moment, Roger looked very much like his father. The latter watched us with interest and, apparently, was already preparing to intervene. But his son beat him to it.

"M-my lord, I don’t understand..." the lady stammered. "I just wanted to get rid of this trash..."

Her excuses only made her love interest squeeze her wrist even tighter. The woman screamed in pain.

"For your information, Lady Weinstein is currently my teacher, so I am definitely not going to tolerate such behavior."

"......."

"Call Lady Weinstein that again, and you can forget about being part of high society."

He said this insinuatingly.