The Oshron Prince was extremely flustered by Sarah’s tears.

His father, former commander of the Poinax Knights representing the southern region of the Royal Palace’s Knight Order, had once said,

“Tears must never fall from the eyes of a delicate lady.”

The Oshron Prince followed those words like a strict decree.

Of course, his monstrous younger sister was an exception.

His sister, whose Gaho was , would snap the legs of boys much taller than him like pencil leads.

Sarah Fog was delicate.

Making a delicate lady cry was despicable.

Sarah Fog was crying because of Erilot Astra.

So does that make Erilot Astra despicable...?

‘But she’s a delicate girl too, isn’t she?’

No.

Erilot Astra was the master of a dragon.

She was strong.

‘And she asked for a favor, too.’

The strong must heed the requests of the weak.

The strong (Erilot Astra) who ignored the request of the weak (Sarah Fog) was a bad person.

The Oshron Prince shouted,

“Do not cry, young lady! How can you show tears because of such a ruthless one!”

Sarah Fog pressed both fists to her chin and sniffled.

“Oh my... Oshron Prince, you are so kind.”

Tears filled Sarah’s large eyes again, and the other boys quickly agreed.

“Yes, please don’t cry. The ones who exclude you are the bad ones.”

“Lady Erilot didn’t seem like that, but maybe she’s not such a good person.”

As the princes sided with her, Sarah smiled slyly.

“Actually... I thought Hwangdo was a cold and scary place... but thanks to the princes, my thoughts have changed...”

“Is, is that so!”

“Yes... Thank you so much.”

Sarah blinked and showed a shy expression.

The princes acted awkward but didn’t look displeased.

At sunset.

Since my older brothers were in my room, I came to find a place where no one was.

Since Sarah Fog had dragged the princes from the greenhouse to the banquet hall, the greenhouse was empty.

The other young ladies seemed to have locked themselves in their rooms in protest.

I hid in a corner of the greenhouse and connected the communication stone.

[Yes, miss. This is Conrad.]

“There’s an orphanage opening ceremony in Eclipto Territory in two days, right?”

[Yes.]

“Have you checked the list of children moving there?”

I had already confirmed the lists from other orphanages.

Dahlia was not on any of them, so surely... yes, Dahlia would appear at the orphanage opening this time.

[Most seem to be moving from orphanages within Eclipto Territory. It had been overcrowded.]

“Not the kids from the Eclipto orphanages.”

[There seem to be some coming from the Schubang Marquisate. Not many, though...]

“Got the list?”

[Not yet, but I expect to hear something by tomorrow morning.]

“Contact me as soon as you find out.”

[Yes.]

After ending communication with Conrad, I put the communication stone carefully in my pocket.

As I moved to leave the greenhouse, someone stomped inside, their footsteps loud.

‘Ah! Did they hear my voice?’

Ah, that’s why I wanted to communicate from my room.

Darn older brothers...

I held my breath.

But the person who entered the greenhouse went straight to the terrace and sat on a bench, sobbing.

“How fickle humans are, Prince...!”

That voice was Catherine’s.

‘Judging by her words, she didn’t hear my communication...?’

I crept closer and saw Catherine holding a handkerchief to her mouth, sniffling.

“Miss Catherine?”

When I called, Catherine flinched and looked at me.

“Lady Erilot...”

“What happened?”

Catherine’s chin wrinkled deeply. She looked at me tearfully, then flung herself onto the bench and shouted,

“I hate Star Flower Castle~!”

Huh?

Star Flower Castle was the nickname Catherine’s group used for Sarah Fog.

I tilted my head and approached her.

“Why do you hate Miss Fog?”

“I went to see Rishimund. To show him an illustration.”

“Oh, that drawing of the prince who looks like Rishimund? Your brother must be in my room?”

“Yes. It seems so. Other heirs were holding Rishimund near the young lady’s room.”

“Heirs?”

“They misunderstood Sarah, so they said they’d explain...”

Catherine sobbed as she explained.

Here’s what happened:

Catherine, excited to show how much the prince in the illustration resembled Rishimund, went to find him.

But the heirs were dragging Rishimund away.

She stopped them.

“I want to show something to Rishimund.”

“We made an appointment first.”

“That doesn’t seem like an appointment. I, Rishimund... This illustration is the one I kept mentioning—”

“Honestly, even if you’re from the Trang Marquis House, isn’t this going too far?”

“What did you say?! Why bring up family here? Are you trying to insult the Trang family?”

Catherine flared up, and the heirs were flustered.

After all, Catherine was born between a princess of a kingdom and the Duke of Trang.

If she really got angry, would the heirs be able to open their mouths?

Then Sarah Fog stepped between them.

“P-please stop being rude!”

“Rude? Who’s rude, Star Flower Castle?”

“Please stop calling me by such a weird nickname...!”

“What did you say?”

“Rishimund is uncomfortable. Don’t you get it?”

“...Yes?”

“You’re not a child. Stop daydreaming over illustrations like that... I’m saying this for Miss Catherine’s sake...”

“Ridiculous! If Rishimund was uncomfortable, he would say so himself!”

“Of course it would be hard to say. She’s a young lady of the Trang Marquis House... Not everyone acts stubborn like young ladies. Right, princes?”

As she sobbed, the princes agreed.

Catherine cried bitterly.

She cried so much her handkerchief was soaked.

I took out my handkerchief and handed it to her.

“Thank you, young lady... Can you blow your nose now?”

“Yes.”

Pfft!

Catherine blew her nose refreshingly, then looked up at me with tearful eyes.

“I’ll wash the handkerchief... no, I’ll buy you a new one.”

“It’s okay. But was that all?”

“My story with Star Flower Castle, or rather Sarah Fog, ends here... but your older brothers seemed to have fought with the princes.”

“Older brothers?”

“Yes. One of the princes said, ‘Don’t believe what your sister says. Miss Fog is a good person.’”

Ah.

I see how things are going.

‘Sarah Fog must have latched onto me this time.’

Since the princes seemed to treat me as a bad person, the older brothers must have been angry.

‘They think I’m the most considerate person in the world.’

Not at all.

Just then, a group passed beneath the terrace railing.

Sarah and the heirs.

‘The heirs who came this time seem pretty simple.’

The purpose of this gathering was a charity event.

Something the kids would find annoying.

Not fun, and nothing exciting enough to spark interest.

‘Even though nobles have to attend, some might use an excuse to skip, but these kids stubbornly came anyway.’

In other words, it was an event for kind-hearted kids who wouldn’t even find this annoying.

It meant they were innocent enough for Sarah to persuade with tears.

Catherine frowned, looking at Sarah and me.

“What on earth does Sarah Fog want by doing this?”

“She’s probably already gotten what she wanted.”

“What?”

“She wanted to be the leader of the group.”

The girls already formed groups.

Usually girls enter society faster than boys.

She wanted to be the queen of the group, but since she was a noble like Catherine, it would be difficult.

As for the other group, Rumelisa’s...

‘Rumelisa is way smarter than Catherine, so Catherine never even dared.’

Above all, she probably wanted to be a princess to the boys.

‘She probably thought this way, that forming a group was fine?’

They didn’t know ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) that as they grew older, boys also follow the rules of noble society.

The rules of noble society.

That means bowing to those with power.

Of course, in time, Catherine—the most noble—would suppress the others.

‘They didn’t even think that far.’

Even in Yoo Hyemin’s world, with the internet making society wider, that was common.

Middle and high schoolers commit school violence, thinking about later consequences.

A gossips about B behind their back, and B about A.

It’s not just kids. Even adults do stupid factionalism and get harshly punished.

‘Sarah Fog is fifteen...’

An age when one thinks the world revolves around oneself.

I smiled gently and looked at Catherine.

“So, will you just stay like this?”

“No! I’ll tell the adults in society and get them to give her a scolding!”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. If adults intervene, things will get too complicated...”

And would that sly Sarah Fog just sit back and take it?

She’d use all kinds of words to tell adults she’s been excluded and treated like a servant.

That would bother Catherine’s group and even me.

“What should we do then?”

“Will you leave this matter to me?”

“Yes?”

I’m very good at this kind of thing.

I wasn’t just a figurehead assistant.

Public opinion battles were always my responsibility.

The older brothers naturally went wild.

Balzac was furious like a fire-breathing dragon, and Joshua and Rishimund’s expressions were bad too.

Joshua smiled coldly and said,

“No matter how much Sarah Fog stirs up trouble, I thought it had nothing to do with us... But if Erilot gets involved, that changes things.”

Joshua, the deadliest of snakes, seemed to have thought of about 12,314 ways to drag Sarah Fog into ruin.

Seeing Rishimund quiet, it seemed he had no intention of restraining Joshua.

“Don’t.”

Balzac said with a sullen expression.

“But...!”

“I want to solve this in a fun way.”

“...Fun?”

“Yeah.”

The proverb I liked most in the world where I lived as Yoo Hyemin was this:

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

I grinned slyly, and Joshua’s lips curled upward.

“You must be thinking something really interesting.”

“Yeah. So don’t intervene, okay?”

“I want to at least agree.”

“That’s... good!”

I smiled brightly and entered the dressing room.

‘Let’s see. What did Heidi and Betty say looked best on me?’

Flipping through the neatly organized clothes, I found it.

A completely black dress with gemstones embedded at the hem like stars in the night sky.

So it wouldn’t look too gloomy, there was a red lace accent on the sleeves.

After changing, I looked in the mirror.

Then I let down my hair, which I’d been tying up carelessly out of laziness.

After brushing it nicely, I applied rose oil to my lips.

‘Sarah Fog seems to have a fit whenever I’m called pretty.’

Strange people seem to have a stereotype that women hate other pretty women.

But most girls like pretty female friends.

Even Catherine and Rumelisa would say in awe whenever I blinked,

“Ahhh... Lady Erilot looks like a doll.”

Among men, some think pretty girls are mean or arrogant and dislike them.

So disliking someone just for being pretty, regardless of gender, was weird.

And Sarah Fog was exactly that kind of weird person.

When I came out of the dressing room, my three older brothers were lined up with wide eyes.

“You look pretty today, Eril.”

“I know!”

“You look like Father.”

“Yeah!”

“You usually don’t like dressing up, do you?”

“Yeah!”

They wanted to annoy Sarah Fog.

I smiled brightly and headed to the garden where Sarah was chatting with the heirs.

Sarah was smiling brightly, talking with the heirs.

“So I told my mother like this.”

“Oh, I see...”

“I understand...”

“Ha ha, ha...”

They were good kids, but having to be stuck with Sarah every day without much playtime must have been miserable.

Their expressions looked exactly like Balzac’s when dragged to a family gathering.

I cautiously approached the gazebo and spoke.

“Um... Miss Fog.”

At that, everyone’s eyes turned to me at once.

The boys’ eyes grew enormous.

Sarah’s face stiffened.

Having usually been careless about my appearance, even a little effort made me look quite different.

Sarah asked me with a stiff expression.

“Is there... a party without me?”

I widened my eyes, pretending to be surprised, and waved my hands.

“No!”

“Then why are you dressed up so nicely today...?”

“I learned that proper attire is important when coming to apologize.”

“Apologize?”

“Yes... Because I made you upset...”

Sarah’s expression twisted.

“I never said that.”

When Sarah’s voice turned cold, the heirs looked at her in surprise.

It was natural; it was probably the first time they’d heard her speak like that.

I bit my lip hard.

“Then... maybe I misunderstood...”

“Yes. It’s a misunderstanding.”

“I’m really glad Miss Fog’s feelings weren’t hurt... I haven’t been in Hwangdo long and don’t know much. So if I made a mistake without realizing, please let me know.”

When I began to choke up, the princes were embarrassed.

“P-please don’t cry, young lady!”

“Ah...”

“Yes, please don’t cry!”

“How kind...”

When Sarah said her usual phrase, the princes chuckled.

Of course, Sarah’s expression turned sour again.

If she didn’t manage her expression from the start, she would be in trouble.

‘This is only just the beginning.’