Chapter 71 - 23. I Will Lead The Story (2)

What did that mean? She had become his lover, but Aloken seduced her like a hyena.

That brat is really brat, but for Fanora to like a man he had never seen before… Besides, Fanora had shown that she liked him so far, but how could she move on just because another man with a higher status was proposing to her? Naverius was offended by Fanora, but he still had lingering feelings for her. If I had a few more days, her fiancé wouldn’t be Aloken…

In the distance, Fanora raised the corners of her mouth once more. Last year, she had been silent at the ball unless he spoke to her, but now everyone at the ball was eager to impress her. She had become very beautiful in the past year. That’s why Naverius’s stomach felt twisted even more.

“…”

Did Fanora know how he felt? Naverius remembered lately that she had never come looking for him. As such, his displeasure also increased. Like how his friends were gossiping about him, he felt like she had abandoned him.

“Oh my!”

It was then. Fanora, who was far away, walked happily when she found Naverius.

Happily? While Naverius was taken aback by her bright face, Fanora, the central figure of this ball, moved, and the attention of nobles naturally began to gather.

“Naverius! You are here too. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other. Is it the first time after my debutante?”

“…No, I saw you once at the tea party in the spring.”

“Ah, right!”

It was similar when she went to ask for an annulment of their engagement. Fanora acted friendly, as if she had no regrets.

“I’m glad to see you look healthy. So, who’s your partner today? Naverius dances so well that I want to see your partner.”

“I… I didn’t come with anyone.”

Naverius thought as he looked at Fanora, who talked to him with a wide smile. I must be right. After all, her feelings for me can’t disappear so easily. Maybe… that’s why she asked where my partner is. Does that mean she wants me to ask her for a dance?

He smiled inwardly as he thought Fanora was interested in him and treated him kindly. But right before he asked Fanora to dance, a petite lady standing next to Fanora caught Naverius’s gaze.

“Um, Lady Celsius, aren’t you thirsty?”

That lovely pink hair stood out clearly in his memory. That lady was Amore, who he had danced with at the ball the other day.

“I’m alright, Lady Amore. I just drank the juice, so I’m not thirsty.”

However, Amore’s behavior next to Fanora was strange. She kept trying to move with Fanora as if she were trying to avoid this place. Soon after, Fanora opened her eyes wide as if she had realized something.

“Ah! Are you aware of that too?! I mean the rumors going around between Naverius and me.”

“Yes?!”

“I mean that~! Rumors that Naverius and I had a close relationship or that I later had an affair!”

She couldn’t believe Fanora said the rumors that everyone was trying to pretend as if they didn’t know.

“L-Lady Celsius…?!”

In a way, it was embarrassing for Amore, the one who told her about it. But Amore couldn’t criticize her carelessly. This was because Fanora spoke in a very rude manner.

“What do you say about? That’s really nonsense, right? Ah, yes, Naverius. Did you hear that? It looks like someone is impersonating you and saying strange things.”

“…”

Fanora began to spit out the rumors she knew. The rumors were Fanora Celsius had a deep relationship with Naverius, and they promised each other to get married. But as soon as a great man named Aloken appeared, Fanora Celsius seduced Aloken, leaving behind her lover, Naverius. The more she talked about the rumors, the more she watched Naverius’s expression.  As Fanora Celsius succeeded in seducing Aloken, words such as she deceived Naverius or abandoned Naverius like an old shoe popped out without hesitation.

“…”

And the starting point of all these rumors was none other than the blond-haired man standing here. Naverius didn’t expect to hear the words he had uttered again in front of his face, so he didn’t know what to do and froze in place.

“…”

Why did Naverius spread the rumors about her? At first, it was for no reason. As word spread that Fanora became Aloken’s fiancée, his friends started by asking him what was going on one by one.

“…Fa-Fanora.”

As soon as Naverius heard his friends’ questions, he felt ashamed. In the meantime, he boasted that she would soon become his own woman, that even if she was a daughter of a wealthy count, it wouldn’t be a big deal if he stepped forward. How funny everything had become when they annulled their engagement even before the engagement ceremony.  

So at first, he was like, ‘I dumped her. But she liked Aloken and chose him without even knowing what kind of person he was,’ just to build up a little bit of his self-esteem.

“Those rumors… I mean, those…”

But around the time of her debutante. When he saw her gracefully dancing in the center of the hall, Naverius felt remorse rather than anger for the first time. The more he remembered that she had become another man’s fiancée, the more he couldn’t eliminate the feeling that something had gone wrong with her.

“…”

So, all he did was say a few gossip to his friends in a fit of anger without realizing it. The fake rumors, which he told only to a few of his close friends, spread in society at some point and began to grow on their own. That’s why it ended up going to Fanora’s ears.

You brought it on yourself, Fanora. Of course, even at this moment, Naverius didn’t think it was his fault. When you were sick, you said you wanted to see my face. But then you changed your partner and got engaged to Aloken.

For Naverius, he only tried to mess with her a little just as much as she hurt him. In the end, all of these were caused by Fanora, which made him look at her with resentment for making things go like this.

“Naverius.”

However, what Naverius faced was unexpectedly a gentle expression of Fanora.

“Why do you look so pale~ You must be thinking that I will blame you, right? There’s no way a kind person like you would spread such rumors. Don’t worry. These are just rumors. I’m not suspicious of you.”

For a moment, he felt that there were thorns in Fanora’s sentences, but it only lasted for a moment.

Fanora then maintained an innocent attitude and spoke smoothly. “In addition, Lady Amore! Rumors like that can be easily brushed off, so what are you worried about? Haha.”

“…!”

“Right now, he won’t even be able to answer what’s special about my body if I ask him. Only my maid knows this, but there’s a really interesting beauty mark on my back.”

Beauty mark. Certainly, as he had never had a proper skinship with Fanora, he had no idea about it.

“You don’t know about it, right? Naverius.”

Therefore, he had only one answer to Fanora’s question that followed.

“…Yes.”

He himself revealed that he and Fanora had no special relationship. As she said, it would be proved by a beauty mark on her back, so he couldn’t add more lies here.

“I was just… being polite and kind to someone who almost became my fiancée, but I guess that caused a misunderstanding in the eyes of others. To make strange rumors like that…”

It would be better for him to withdraw from this than to suffer even great embarrassment when the truth is revealed. Even at this moment, Naverius made excuses that were weighty to his position. However, when Fanora heard that, she reacted violently.

“Of course, what a disgrace! Aren’t those rumors even saying you touched an unmarried young lady?”

She pointed out some of the rumors which made her angry.

“There’s no way a gentleman like Naverius would do anything to discredit the prestige of a noble lady like that. Right, at this point, I will tell Aloken and find out who started the rumors!”

“!”

“We are good friends. I can’t stand to see my friend’s reputation being tarnished.”

She was ready to find the source of the rumors and punch them in the head. Naverius, unable to hide his bewilderment, hurriedly stopped her.

“W-wait, why do you have to do that? I don’t care about them. They’re just rumors. Just let them go, and they will disappear.”

Until now, he had been satisfied with the result of the rumors, but the situation would be different if Fanora directly sought Aloken’s help.

“You’re too nice. Fyu.”

“Haha…”

Fortunately, when he dissuaded her, Fanora seemed to give up searching for the culprit.

The rumors that had been swirling between the two would be gone as she proved the truth here. Fanroa regained her smile and continued the conversation. “Ah, by the way, we often exchanged letters in the past, but these days I haven’t heard from the Demangdwi family.”

“Letter?”

“Yes. Even though the engagement talk between our families is broken, there’s no need to party away with you like that.”

Here, Fanora emphasized again that the relationship between the two was dry, like a political engagement. Still, Naverius didn’t even notice it as he was distracted by her smile.

“From now on, I hope you can write to me normally like before.”

And the nobles who overheard the conversation agreed one by one. It seems that the rumors were made up by Naverius. First, there was only one person who could benefit from the rumors. Second, Fanora herself was confident. If she had really been a cheater who abandoned her lover and moved only with power, she wouldn’t have done that in front of Naverius.

“Really? Ahem, then I will write a letter as you said.”

“Then enjoy the ball today.”

In the end, the conversation ended with a noble greeting between the two. After that, Fanora led Amore, who was standing next to her and moved between the noble ladies.

“Ah, by the way, Lady Amore. This is about what I was talking about earlier. There’s one beauty mark on my back that really resembles an animal. Can you guess which animal it is?”

“…”

“If you get it right, I have a gift for you.”

However, from Amore’s POV, there was something to be said. So she stopped walking and lifted her tiptoe to whisper to the tall Fanora.

“How can you say so loudly that I told you the rumors out of concern?”

When Fanora heard this, she tilted her head as if she knew nothing. “What’s wrong with that?”

“That’s… Everyone would have been reluctant to bring it up to Lady Celsius. Still, because I don’t, I will become a woman who doesn’t hesitate to talk about rumors in front of the involved person…”

As Amore made a worried face, Fanora immediately answered in an expressionless but gentle manner as if she had understood her feelings. “You mean you could be treated as a light-mouthed person? Oh my, my thoughts were short.”

However, Fanora didn’t show an apologetic expression. Instead, she put a thin smile around her mouth, stuck close to Amore, and crossed their arms.

“But don’t worry. No one will ever use the word ‘light-mouthed’ to you.”

“…!”

“Because Lady Amore will be a friend of the duchess in the future. Who will do it carelessly?”

A friend of the duchess. Hearing her words, Amore was tempted and changed her bewildered expression. By the time her gaze turned to the floor, Fanora’s smile had gone.