If there was romance with Mikhail, it would be because the second male lead Mikhail has feelings for Sophia, not the other way around.

From the beginning, her taste was toward the reliable Northern Duke rather than the friendly prince, so that was even more so.

However, the ladies who did not know Sophia’s heart poured out stories that had been happening at the ball for quite some time.

Bored, Sophia watched Elizabeth running through the garden while chasing birds.

It was far more rewarding for her to watch the cat than to listen to them.

Then one of the ladies looked at her and laughed.

“Oh, look at us. We’re only talking about things Miss Sophia doesn’t know.”

“Oh my gosh, this is a famous anecdote, don’t you know?”

“If you’ve ever attended a ball, you’d know this much..”

The ladies smiled as their eyes curved like a crescent moon.

She wasn’t paying attention all this time, so Sohpia didn’t know what they said, but if it was about a ball, it was probably something she didn’t know.

‘They know that I didn’t even make my debut.’

They were just saying that they are from a different world than her, and she was nothing to them because she hasn’t even entered the social world.

‘It’s been a long time.’

Sophia took a sip of her black tea.

She was just going to go quietly, but it wouldn’t be fun if she just went.

“I think everyone has a bad memory.”

Putting down the teacup, Sophia finally lifted her lips and spoke in a dry tone.

“A while ago, when Her Majesty the Empress introduced me, she even told you to take good care of me since I have no social experience. In the meantime, have you already forgotten everything?”

As Sophia made eye contact with the ladies one by one, their expressions hardened.

The cold air flowed over the tea table.

Sophia leisurely stirred the teacup with a teaspoon among them.

“Or, do you all only listen to the words of the Empress with your ears?”

As Sophia pointed softly, the faces of the ladies burned as hot as iron on fire.

“That’s rude, Sophia.”

“If you don’t like it, say it’s rude.”

Sophia muttered as if to hear everything.

When Sophia drank black tea again indifferently, the oldest lady there couldn’t resist and opened her mouth. Read only at pm tl.

“Dear Sophia Frauss. Since you don’t seem to know much about the social world, I give you a piece of advice. This is not a place where the youngest can do whatever she wants.”

“I didn’t say what I wanted to say”

“Now, what do you mean?”

“I was just following the noble narration of the people here. I don’t have any socializing experience, so watching and learning are different.”

Sophia had an innocent expression as she spoke.

Praising and sarcastic.

Knowing that she has no social experience, pretending not to know and ignore.

All of those were the ‘pretentious way of speaking socially’ that they showed.

Bragging while pretending not to be, pretend to not to know but knows everything, and insulting while pretending to praise.

A poem-like conversation built up with a high degree of irony and metaphor.

A high-level art process that requires a proper understanding of the meaning implied.

Therefore, although Sophia was well aware of the ‘social slang,’ she ‘pretended not to know’ as if she was a complete stranger to the social world.

Wasn’t that the virtue of this world?

Pretending to be pure with an impure heart.

Recognizing her true intentions, the ladies exhaled absurdly.

“Then you are saying that now that you know everything?”

“The lady knew everything and said that. Even though you know that I have no experience in social circles, you talked about social circles and subtly ignored me..”

Sophia casually brushed her hair behind her ear.

They were speechless and their mouths muttered.

“Look at that. She pretends to be good before Her Majesty, and then she reveals who she is when Her Majesty is not there? I thought it would be like that. Pretending to be naive..!”

“No, I don’t have to be nice to people who hate me for no reason.”

“Ha, you think we hate the lady for no reason?”

“Then why?”

Sophia asked as if she had no idea.

But really, what did she do?

She just sat there from Mikhail coming to pick her up and following her.

“That’s the problem. You have no idea what’s going on here, do you? You have no sense.”

“Don’t change the subject and tell me why.”

“The lady coveted something that didn’t fit the subject.”

Ah, subject.

Sophia sighed deeply.

Even though she was possessed in a novel, it wasn’t even a test, and everyone emphasized the ‘subject’ too much.

“Do you think you are suitable as the fiance of the Archduke? A month after the engagement, rumors like that started to spread.”

Barbara’s contemptuous gaze was felt over her fan.

‘Why did the story jump out like that again?’

When the engagement story suddenly came up, Sophia frowned.

“Everyone knows that the lady is inferior to His Excellency.”

Her ladies twisted the corners of their mouths and smirked.

Sophia let out a sigh as if it was absurd.

But it wasn’t that she didn’t understand why they were so sensitive about it.

The reason why the empress’s ladies, especially the unmarried ones, became the empress’s personal maids was clear. This was because they could be introduced to a good marriage partner by the Empress.

‘And the best marriage partner the Empress can recommend is Mikhail and Killian..’

Two men who will shoulder the future of the empire that cannot be surpassed without the permission of the Empress.

They are clinging to the empress to become the future daughter-in-law of the imperial family.

But Sophia Frauss, whom they had never heard of, snatched one of the spots.

A subject that hasn’t even entered the social world because she hasn’t even made her debut!

To them, Sophia was like a thief who suddenly appeared at the auction house where the young girls were fighting fiercely over a jewelry being auctioned that was then stolen.

‘I am guilty of treason.. No.’

“The imperial family arranged this engagement, so if you have any dissatisfaction, you should file it to the imperial family. Just in time, Her Majesty the Empress over there is also coming back.”

Sophia rose from her seat and pointed her eyes at the Empress approaching from afar.

“Tell me. The royal family engaged a woman who didn’t fit in with the Archduke. The royal judgment was wrong.”

As Sophia spoke louder, the ladies looked at the Empress with bewildered expressions.

They were restless for fear that her voice might reach the Empress’s ears.

Soon, the Empress returned to the table and sat down, and she looked around them with tender eyes.

“Did everyone have fun talking?”

The Empress, who did not know what had happened in the meantime, asked affectionately.

Sophia answered with a broad smile.

“Your Majesty, I don’t know how many people here have complaints.”

At Sophia’s words, the ladies’ faces turned white.

“Miss Sophia!”

In haste, one of them called her, but she couldn’t shut her mouth.

“Complaint?”

Empress Beatrix looks around with puzzled eyes.

As Sophia grinned at them, the hands of the ladies holding their fans trembled.

Sophia leaned close to the Empress and opened her mouth.

“Tea time is more enjoyable when Her Majesty comes, and we thought we were going to lose our voices while waiting.”

The Empress then nodded her head with a happy expression on her face.

She did not seem to have seen the moment of relief and anger passing over the faces of the ladies.

“I should have invited you earlier, but Killian was so busy. In the end, we had to see each other like this.”

The Empress said she was now able to talk to Sophia, and smiled.

Normally, she and Killian would have been invited to have a formal meeting with the Empress earlier, but due to recent incidents, Killian was out for business and it was not possible.

“I’ve had a lot of questions, Sophia. You’re going to be my daughter-in-law, but I don’t know anything.”

“Daughter-in-law?”

“Yes. Killian is like a son to me, so you will be my daughter-in-law.”

At the same time, the eyes of the ladies flew out like needles and pierced me.

‘I’m grateful to be the Empress’s daughter-in-law.. But right now, I am on the verge of dying from being stabbed in the eye.’

The Empress smiled softly whether she knew it or not.

At that time.

“Meow!”

A short, intense scream of the cat was accompanied by a ‘plop’ sound.

Everyone was astonished and turned their heads at the same time, and Elizabeth was drowning in the pond.

‘The cat..!’

Sophia stood up from her seat, startled.

“Elizabeth!”

As if surprised, the Empress jumped up and ran to the shore of the pond.

It seems that the cat climbed up a willow tree to catch a bird and fell right in the middle of the pond.

“Oh my gosh! How much Elizabeth hates the water..!”

The Empress saw the drowning Elizabeth and stomped her feet.

Elizabeth, terrified, swam through the pond to a nearby man-made island.

Then,?splash, someone jumped into the pond.

“Miss Sophia!”

Sophia, taking off her shoes and socks, wrapped the hem of her dress, and went into the pond.

Everyone looked at Sophia with their eyes widened.

Sophia, splashing through the water, made her way towards Elizabeth.