***
Time passed, and the day of Count Rosetti’s banquet finally arrived.
I still had a long way to go before I could be considered a proper noblewoman, but I’d learned enough to fool people for a few hours.
“Don’t cause any trouble.”
“If someone you don’t recognize acts as though they know you, just say you can’t quite remember them. After all, Ulpina doesn’t know anyone outside the family.”
The viscount and his wife whispered quietly enough that only I could hear them.
I gave a slight nod before approaching them and Count Rosetti, the host of the banquet.
“It’s been a while, Great-Uncle. How have you been?”
“Oh, Sophie. Have you been well? Viscount Nezer, you look well, too. Every time I see her, Ulpina grows into a more wonderful young lady.”
“Thank you. You look wonderful, too, Grandfather.”
I greeted him with a faint smile, just as I’d been taught.
“By the way…”
A bad feeling suddenly crept over me. In my experience, nothing good ever followed a sentence that began with by the way.
“You seem to have changed somehow.”
At his weighty remark, the eyes of the viscount and his wife shook violently. Cold sweat trickled down my back.
‘I told you not to cause trouble!’
‘All I did was greet him exactly as you taught me! How is that causing trouble?!’
We silently bickered with our eyes, each blaming the other, while the person who’d caused all this commotion smiled contentedly.
“You’re more well-behaved than you were last year. You’ve grown into a proper young lady.”
At his words, we stopped our silent quarrel and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Of course. Ulpina is an adult now, after all.”
The viscount made a lighthearted remark, and everyone laughed in relief.
You old geezer. If you say something like that one more time, I won’t let you get away with it.
***
“Lady Ulpina has changed. How should I put it…? She seems much calmer.”
“Does she?”
The Viscount and Viscountess Nezer were experiencing mixed feelings.
Their acquaintances had somehow sensed the change, even though the maid who’d switched bodies with their biological daughter had done nothing more than greet them with a simple, “How have you been?”
And what was worse, their reactions were entirely positive.
The viscount glanced sideways toward Ulpina. Wearing a silver dress, she was chatting comfortably with one of her young relatives.
The real Ulpina would normally have exchanged a few greetings before slipping away like a shadow.
Seeing his daughter display such sociability, even though someone else was inhabiting her body, made him feel both pleased and sad.
‘I was worried she’d cause even more trouble than Ulpina, but I suppose my concerns were unfounded.’
However, that thought lasted only a moment.
A shocking announcement struck his ears.
“Lady Ulpina has challenged Marquis Fenley to a duel!”
***
After finishing our rounds of greetings with the viscount and his wife—which had really been an excuse to gather information about everyone—I discreetly moved away from them.
Even someone as unfamiliar with high society as I knew that a grown woman clinging to her parents all evening wouldn’t look good.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have many other options. I didn’t know a single person there.
I was also worried that if I carelessly joined a conversation, someone might expose me, shouting, ‘You sly little thing! How dare a commoner maid pretend to be a noblewoman and deceive us!’
Of course, it was far more unreasonable to suspect that someone else’s soul had entered the young lady’s body just because her personality had changed.
‘Still, there’s no harm in being careful. I should avoid doing anything that draws attention to me.’
With that resolution in mind, I picked up a glass of wine, went to a corner of the banquet hall, and pretended to enjoy the atmosphere.
However, I only managed to pass a little time listening to the orchestra’s music before something began bothering me.
‘This is getting on my nerves.’
The plates were almost empty, yet no one was replenishing the food.
A half-empty glass had been carelessly left at the edge of the buffet table.
And the guests who’d eaten petit fours were secretly wiping the crumbs and sticky residue from their fingers onto the tablecloth because fresh napkins hadn’t been provided promptly. It irritated me to no end!
‘So even nobles behave like this. But still, no matter how busy the staff are, they should hurry up and clear things away and get everything ready. It’s not as if this family is short on money. They could at least hire more servants.’
I felt a little melancholy.
I was wearing an expensive dress I’d never have been able to afford as a maid and enjoying fine wine, living in luxury. Yet the thoughts occupying my mind were still unmistakably those of a maid.
‘I guess there’s a reason people say you can only appreciate something once you’ve experienced it yourself.’
Just then—
“Ulpina?”
A high-pitched voice called out from behind me.
When I turned around, I saw an arrogant-looking man and a prim-looking woman clinging to his arm.
“Oh my! What a surprise. Fancy seeing you here.”
“…Rosemay.”
I recognized her face well enough. She was the daughter of Mirinda Gordon, the viscountess’s cousin.
She wasn’t exactly a kind person, and she frequently picked on me, Lady Ulpina’s personal maid, finding all sorts of trivial reasons to criticize and humiliate me.
“I’m surprised you’re still here at the banquet. Usually, you just greet the host and disappear like the wind.”
Rosemay spoke sharply, a smile spreading across her face. It was unmistakably mocking.
“I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.”
Remembering the viscount’s warning not to cause trouble, I replied in an even tone.
But she didn’t seem to like my calm reaction.
‘Look at her face twisting up. I didn’t know a human face could wrinkle that much.’
Good grief. What a waste of a pretty face.
Perhaps conscious of the people watching, she quickly replaced her nasty expression with a smile.
“You’ve heard that I’m engaged to a marquis, haven’t you?”
Rosemay announced this proudly, loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear, while stroking her fiancé’s arm. A large gemstone set in her engagement ring sparkled every time she moved her hand.
‘Hmm, so the man beside her must be the marquis or whatever. Fen… something.’
Not panties, at least.
“Marquis Fenley, this is my sixth cousin, Ulpina Nezer.”
She introduced me to her fiancé in a fawning voice.
Marquis Fenley looked me up and down with an unpleasant, blatant stare, as though he were inspecting a piece of pork hanging in a butcher’s shop.
“Ah, so you’re Viscount Nezer’s daughter.”
“…It’s a pleasure to meet you, Marquis. I’m Ulpina Nezer.”
I wasn’t pleased to meet him at all, and he made me feel thoroughly uncomfortable. Nevertheless, I greeted him politely, just as the viscountess had taught me.
‘I can’t exactly talk back to a marquis just because he’s put me in a bad mood.’
But despite my efforts, the nobleman before me showed no intention of restraining himself.
Keeping his gaze fixed on me, he leaned toward Rosemay and whispered something in her ear.
Judging by the way his eyes narrowed slyly, I could tell it certainly wasn’t anything complimentary.
“Oh, that’s too much!”
She lightly slapped her fiancé’s arm and burst into giggles.
“Did I say anything untrue?”
“Hehe, still…”
Just as I was about to leave the ill-mannered couple to their snickering, the marquis raised his voice, clearly intending for me to hear.
“It’s the truth, isn’t it? Viscount Nezer is nothing more than Count Bathory’s lackey.”
Viscount Nezer served as Count Bathory’s steward. Although the viscount wasn’t one of the most powerful nobles, he certainly wasn’t someone people could casually look down on, either.
‘And Count Bathory is the viscountess’s mother.’
In other words, these people had insulted not only the count’s steward but also the count who had appointed him.
I remembered the viscountess complaining about how the Gordon family kept showing off their connection to Marquis Fenley, acting as though it were some extraordinary achievement.
‘Honestly, not all marquises are created equal.’
Of course, Marquis Fenley was a very important person in the eyes of commoners. But among the nobility, his position was somewhat ambiguous.
Marquis Fenley was a lifetime peer who had been granted his title personally by the current monarch. That meant he couldn’t pass the title down to his descendants. Although he owned private land, he didn’t possess a fief from which he could collect taxes.
Furthermore, imperial law prohibited lifetime peers from participating in politics.
Then perhaps he was extraordinarily wealthy?
Not that, either. From what I’d heard, his pockets were filled solely by the pension he received from the state.
‘He’s hardly in a position to pick a fight with us, so why is he acting like this?’
I salute your family’s lack of pedigree.
‘Well, I can roughly guess why they have such unfounded arrogance.’
But that was beside the point.
“Apologize.”
When I spoke in a stiff tone, Rosemay glared at me and butted in.
“Oh, come on! Why are you getting so worked up over a little joke from the marquis?”
“A joke?”
“Yes, it was a joke. Lady Ulpina, you really need to learn to control your temper.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Smack!
My silver silk glove struck the marquis in the face before falling to the floor.
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