“If there’s an opportunity to meet again, I would like to resolve Rosalind’s misunderstanding.”

“It still doesn’t make sense how we can’t utter a single word after she begins talking. Does the princess education include voice and controlled breathing exercises? I would die if I keep talking incessantly like that.”

“Ahaha~! Riol sure is a savage!”

“’Riol’? nee, Ange, aren’t you referring to him too intimately? You guys aren’t even that close… right?”

In a different place, more precisely, Angelica’s villa in the capital, in the drawing room.

Sharina’s hand, which was holding a teacup, shook.

“Ms. Kirklight is your best friend, right? Hence, I thought, she doesn’t need to be so formal with me…”

“B-but still…”

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry for talking bad about you before. I misunderstood. From now on, please take care of Shari!”

It happened because of yesterday’s evening event. After talking with Riol in front of the boy’s dormitory, Sharina returned and basically explained everything to Angelica. That was when Angelica suggested that she would like to meet Riol.

“Thanks for helping Shari until now. Shari basically talks about you all the time—as such, I wanted to meet you.”

When Sharina told Riol of her best friend’s idea, he was fine with it.

Since they both couldn’t enter each other’s dormitory, they agreed that the meeting place should be in Angelica’s house, after school.

“By the way, returning to the topic, wouldn’t Lady Rosalind be a great ally? Tell her to rush the marriage talk. …ugh, I can’t help but be disillusioned with both Lady Rosalind and His Highness, though…”

Until yesterday, Angelica still referred to him as ‘Riol Glen’, and yet—

“That’s it! If she literally won’t let you speak, why don’t send her a letter! ‘Sharina Clydea bares no feelings for His Highnesss!’”

“…but, considering the situation, the letter’s content would basically be; ‘—help, your beloved fiancé loves me, and I consider it really troublesome, please do something.’ Yep, that’s definitely a harassment letter, alright.”

“There’s that, too…”

Riol still referred to Angelica as ‘Ms. Kirklight’. Well, Ange did tell him to drop the ‘Lady’.

“Then, explain it to her in great detail! Just like what you did to me! Then she’ll surely wake up! —no, wait, if she wakes up, then it’ll spell trouble for you!”

“Too bad, she’s as delusional as the prince. Also, taking into consideration her bad impression of Sharina, it’s unlikely such bold statements would be taken seriously.”

Sharina was happy that Angelica woke up to the truth. Sharina was also happy that her bad impression of Riol was resolved—yet still…

“…I never thought His Highness would do anything like this…”

“Yesterday, we’ve got off easily due to using Ariarose’s warning. However, he might come back with something else…”

“Well, but still, even if he is a prince, he can’t cancel his own engagement…”

Oh my god.

If Riol and Angelica become too good of close friends—

‘—forgive me, Shari, it seems that I’ve fallen for him, too.’ She might be confronted with such a statement. If it were to come to that, what was she supposed to do?

What if their rivalry grew to an extent that it ended with blood bath?

Two people confronting each other in the darkness of night, two who were once were good friends…

…the flaming redhead of her best friend, which was dyed even more vividly with crimson—

—her hand, stretched out in futileness, only grasped complete darkness—

“—I know that you’re currently thinking about something outrageous.”

Riol’s words brought her back to reality.

“You know, I’ve said it many times before, but Shari, you needn’t worry, okay?”

Angelica told Sharina, whom was clenching her cup of tea, with face full of amazement. Naturally, her hair wasn’t dyed with blood.

“…the reason I wanted to meet her is because she’s your best friend. It’s encouraging that she’s on our side. I can roughly guess what you’re currently imagining, but yeah, you needn’t worry about that.”

“…Riol!”

Sharina’s face beamed at Riol’s tone of reassurance.

—strictly speaking, it did sound more like amazement rather than the former though…

“So, is there anyone else that we can rely on to stop His Highness? When I listened to the story, it seems that His Highness’ attendant opposes his advances towards Shari…”

Through Angelica’s suggestion, they reached their decision—

“—him, huh? If I’m not mistaken, he’s part of the Ariarose Family.”

“He’s Rosalind’s brother-in-law. Since Rosalind is about to be married off to the royal family, Ariarose Family adopted him to become the successor to the house.”

Out of grasp with reality for a while, Sharina didn’t understand why they were suddenly talking about Leonardo’s attendant.

“However, that attendant looks down on me. Moreover, I did caught him muttering, ‘at this rate, His Highness will surely win that girl’s heart through his flirting!’ once.”

It was already too late to join in. As such, Sharina spent her time gazing at Riol’s profile in earnest. His profile, hidden beneath his hair, was both mysterious and cool.

“Uwaaah, that certainly sounds annoying. During the dance party, Shari was kidnapped to the terrace, right?”

As she thought—

—Riol’s face as he is thinking is just super cool. There is simply no words for it. If it becomes a painting and is sold at an auction, a hundreds gold wouldn’t be enough to redeem it!

“—Lady Angelica…”

As Sharina kept worrying about the expensive imaginary price, the Kirklight family maid entered the room.

“What’s wrong, Jane?”

“There’s a guest, you see… he wears the coat of arms of the Ariarose Family, and introduces himself as First Prince Leonardo’s attendant…”

“Huh—!?”

—speak of the devil…

“It seems that he has something to tell to Lady Clydea. He heard that you’re here, and especially came this far just for that.”

“Eeeeh!? What’s that!?”

Angelica’s eyes went round as saucers from the absurdity of the request. Earl and Countess Kirklight weren’t there because they couldn’t leave their residence unattended for too long. So, even if she was a student, the house belonged to Angelica.

The house owner was the one whom was supposed to invite guests. Only then could they welcome themselves inside. ‘Guests’ that arrive without proper invitation shall be ignored. There was no obligation for the house owner to meet with guests just because they ‘have something to say’ or other supposedly urgent business…

“…as I thought, should I just refuse him? It doesn’t matter even if he’s from the Ariarose Family…”

“Un…”

Angelica put her hand on her chin as she pondered.

“But, how unusual… he even came here alone…”

“It might also involve His Highness Leonardo. If I refuse him right now—what if Shari gets kidnapped on the way home?”

“I’m sorry, but will you pardon his rudeness? Let him in, and we shall talk with him. He wouldn’t be able to do anything preposterous in this house, since he’s still but a guest.”

After that, Angelica instructed her maid, Jane.

“Fine, then. Shari is good with this, too, right?”

“Eh? Eeh, uhm, yes.”

Sharina, who was still worrying about the 100 gold, answered without knowing the proper context.

For the time being, she arrived at a conclusion that she wouldn’t only sell her jewelry and dresses to achieve that 100 gold coins—but also her hair.

After all, noble society had an overabundance of generic blondes—enough for some to be thrown away, but not strawberry blondes. Since such hair was fairly rare, hers would surely fetch a relatively high price.

Even more so when men’s hair wasn’t long enough to be made into a wig, and no everyday noble lady would sell her hair—which was said to be a woman’s life. So, the demand for clean and long hair was always high.

“—and now, I can see that you are thinking about something utterly outrageous.”

As Sharina kept playing with the locks of her hair, which flowed down her back, Riol uttered such with narrowed eyes.

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***T/N: lmao, I wish I was as chill as Sharina in life. Being cornered by the most influential family and also the royal family but you are airhead af.

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