An Unstoppable Confession

As expected, rumors travel fast.

Lily hid her expression by bringing a glass of champagne to her lips.

Forced by Donovan’s persistent urging, she had visited the Imperial Library on her second day in the capital, and by the third day, she was greeted by a mountain of invitations.

On her fourth day, Lily suppressed her urge to ignore them all and attended a banquet selected from the pile.

With Agniele.

“So. Will you please explain why on earth you are here?”

“Lady Tigris is a close friend of my mother. When my mother went away to recuperate, Lady Tigris stayed by her side.”

“Ah—of all people?”

Lady Tigris was a famous matchmaker.

In other words, she was a master at finding pairs.

With a network and information power that rivaled any modern marriage information company, she held a small banquet today as part of her matchmaking activities.

Lily wondered why Agniele would attend when he surely knew this, but she realized he had no choice if it involved his mother’s connections.

Above all, a banquet filled with unmarried nobles and their guardians was a decent place to announce one’s return, even if the scale was small.

“And why are you here? Do you not have a man you are seeing seriously?”

“Of course I do. But there was no better place than this to announce my return. I hate attending multiple gatherings.”

Lily was pestered by people wherever she went anyway, so she simply chose to be miserable once.

Agniele was not one to enjoy social activities either, so he immediately understood what she meant.

He nodded in acknowledgment.

“Are you enjoying the banquet?”

Lily, who had been sticking close to the wall and rejecting those trying to approach with simple gestures, sighed inwardly at the voice from beside her.

“Who could not enjoy such a beautiful banquet? It has been a long time, Lady Tigris.”

No matter what, one could not ignore the host.

Lily handed her glass to a passing servant and turned to face the lady.

She skillfully curved her eyes into a smile, lightly took the hand the lady offered, and kissed the back of it.

“I am relieved to hear such praise. Young Master Lasias, it has been a while for you too.”

“It has been a long time, My Lady.”

Unlike Lily, Agniele finished his greeting with a brief, stiff bow.

Despite that blunt and somewhat rude behavior, the lady laughed while covering her mouth with a fan.

“The Young Master is just as he always was.”

Perhaps because Agniele had always been consistent, she did not seem offended.

She simply shifted her gaze to check the color of the earrings hanging from Lily and Agniele’s earlobes.

On their ears were earrings worn to signify they were Alphas.

The deep purple gems of the earrings sparkled, reflecting the light illuminating the banquet hall.

How rude.

Even if one manifested as an Alpha or Omega, there were cases where they became Betas or their traits reversed over time, so such verification was not unusual.

Nevertheless, it was unpleasant.

It felt even more so because her eyes looked like someone inspecting goods at a wholesale market.

Lily complained inwardly at the blatant stare but took a step forward to draw Lady Tigris’s attention.

“I should have greeted you first, but I was late. I hope I have not offended you?”

“Goodness, no. Rather, I feel sorry for taking up the pleasant time of young people.”

Perhaps because she was attending the banquet half-against her will, everything sounded like sarcasm.

Lily, suddenly exhausted, wanted to end the conversation, but she endured with the single thought that she could not mistreat the host.

“Haha, I understand why you might misunderstand. However, this friend and I are simply academy classmates.”

Lily pointedly tapped Agniele’s forearm.

Agniele, who stayed still despite being able to avoid it, reacted only by slightly knitting his brows.

“Oh dear, is that so? Since the two of you were acting as wallflowers, I wondered if you had no interest in others.”

Lady Tigris had not forgotten the rumors that swept through high society.

Specifically, the talk that Lasias and Florence might get engaged.

Of course, it seemed to be a mere rumor since there was no news of progress afterward.

Furthermore, the two standing before her did not look like an engaged couple.

The lady dropped her suspicion and fluttered her fan, subtly nudging Agniele and Lily.

In truth, rather than believing Lily’s excuse, she was simply playing along because if the two were connected, two delicious pieces of prey would disappear at once.

In the end, it meant she would play along with any excuse, so they should not forget the essence of the banquet.

Just as Lily, who immediately grasped why Lady Tigris had come all the way to this secluded corner, was about to respond appropriately, the silent Agniele caused a disaster.

“Yes. I have no interest.”

“……Pardon?”

“Hey, hey—.”

Lily could bet that Lady Tigris had never heard such a firm answer in her life.

Especially since she had taken up matchmaking to solidify her position in high society, Lily was certain she had never encountered this.

Lady Tigris’s eyes shook violently.

She was so flustered that she could not even scowl at the sight of Lily suppressing the urge to grab Agniele by the collar and instead hitting him in the side to stop him.

Agniele spoke firmly toward the lady, who was blankly blinking her eyes.

“I know why you held this banquet and why you sent me an invitation. I attended today out of respect for your relationship with my mother, but it would be best to make things clear to avoid any mistakes in the future.”

No, it is not good! Not that, you b*stard! Please stop!

Lily’s social dignity strongly suppressed her desire to scream those words.

She tried to stop Agniele through action instead of words.

Lily moved her arm to strike his side forcefully.

However, Agniele avoided it like flowing water, and the attempt ended in failure.

It was difficult to try again as they were starting to draw attention.

Lily, suppressing her rage by quietly grinding her teeth, put on a somewhat awkward smile that differed from before.

“I am sorry, My Lady. This, well, this friend of mine might have had too much wine—.”

“I have not touched a drop of alcohol.”

‘Please just shut up!’

Even as she tried to patch up the hole in the pocket, the awl kept poking out.

Lily wanted to scream.

Her head was spinning.

“Then, Young Master. For what reason did you return to the capital?”

Lady Tigris, who finally regained her senses after watching Lily’s efforts go down the drain, asked in a trembling voice.

She thought Agniele had returned from the academy to find a match ahead of the marriage ban that would follow the Crown Prince’s appointment ceremony.

Rumors of a union between Lasias and Florence did not just appear out of nowhere.

It meant the Lasias family was paying attention to Agniele’s engagement.

There is no smoke without fire, so there must have been some discussion.

Besides, was Agniele not at the prime age for marriage?

This was not Lady Tigris’s opinion alone.

Most people accepted that Agniele came to the capital without notice to attend the appointment ceremony as the heir of the Duke of Lasias and to look for a marriage partner.

Despite being the heir to a dukedom, the fact that Agniele never had a fiancé made the speculation highly credible.

In fact, was this banquet not the first gathering he agreed to attend after resting enough from his journey?

Their guesses seemed to gain weight.

That is to say, they did until a moment ago.

“There is the reason of attending His Highness the Crown Prince’s appointment ceremony.”

“—As I thought, right?”

Yes, this part was correct.

Lady Tigris breathed a sigh of relief inwardly, glad that her prediction was not completely off the mark.

“But there is a more important reason.”

“……Are you saying there is a reason more important than the appointment ceremony?”

“Don’t—!”

“The person in my heart suffers from Utia disease. I simply returned and paused my studies to find a cure for that illness.”

It is over. It is over, it is a total disaster.

Lily squeezed her eyes shut as if escaping from the miserable reality.

Of course, doing so did not erase what had happened.

As proof, she could hear the whispering of those who had been pretending not to listen to Agniele’s words.

Hearing the voices spread further and further like a wave, Lily felt lightheaded for a moment.

How on earth was she supposed to tell Ensi this?

No, would it be better to just keep her mouth shut and pretend she did not know?

However, since there was a higher chance of getting in more trouble that way, Lily discarded the option of hiding the truth from Ensi as soon as she thought of it.

The only saving grace was that Agniele did not mention Ensi’s name.

Even though the number of nobles suffering from Utia disease could be counted on one hand, and Ensi was the only one around Agniele’s age, so it was basically a transparent secret!

Still, at least he did not mention the name directly.

He did not even say if the person was a noble or a commoner.

Naturally, everyone would assume the person was a noble, so eyes of suspicion would fall on Ensi within a day.

And as a result, the rumors that were burning at the academy would reach the capital in less than a week.

But for now, she had bought some time!

Lily tried her best to think positively.

Of course, she failed the moment she blinked her eyes once.

‘But why did this b*stard have to cause a scene at the banquet hall where I am?’

She did not know what wrong she had committed to be given such an ordeal.

If Ensi found out, he would scold her, asking why she did not stop him.

She wanted to bite her nails in anxiety but endured, reminding herself she was in a banquet hall.

Instead, she clenched her fists so hard that nail marks were left in her palms.

Lily raised her head to scan the surroundings, intending to report the reaction to Ensi, when she spotted a woman hurrying out of the banquet hall.

She was a woman with hair the color of a clear sky.

Lily tilted her head at the familiar color, and then, realizing the reason for the deja vu, her face turned pale.

“Crazy, that is right…….”

Dahlia, Ensi’s only sister… did not have a fiancé either.