The prince took Estelle to the retiring room. Since their attendants came with them, they naturally ended up moving as a large group.
Arcrayne led her to an open couch, then sat next to her.
There were a decent number of people in the room. Estelle felt them looking at her with all kinds of emotions.
She really was bad with high society. It was depressing to see such a mix of emotions when she didn’t even want to.
Also, there were canapés and drinks in the room, but outside of banquets, Arcrayne didn’t eat anything lest it be poisoned. Estelle felt conflicted seeing him like that.
When Estelle took a long breath, Arcrayne looked intently at her.
“Are you feeling well?” he asked.
“I think I shall be able to dance again after a brief rest.” She smiled, happy for the prince’s consideration.
But then...
“It’s her—the one who slew that dragon...”
“For all her heroic reputation, she certainly looks meek.”
Estelle overheard a quiet conversation.
“They say that in the north, even women learn to shoot.”
“That’s certainly unimaginable in these parts.”
“How brave of her. Why, she’s like a man.”
“I heard she got a wound on her left hand...”
“Doesn’t she also have a scar on her arm? And she’s so young too...”
Estelle casually looked in the direction of the voices. There, she found two women who seemed to be in their forties, chatting joyfully with their mana dark. They spoke just loudly enough that Estelle could hear them. While they didn’t use malicious words, it was clear from the looks on their faces and the tone of their voices that they were looking down on her.
Married noblewomen excelled at choosing their words. They never said anything outright contemptuous.
They probably didn’t openly speak ill of Estelle because Arcrayne was by her side. His position might have been threatened by the second prince’s faction, but he was still the first prince of this country. A direct attack on Estelle—his fiancée—incurred the risk of a counterattack.
Seeing Arcrayne’s mana begin to darken, Estelle looked over and saw that the prince had a blank look on his face.
“I am all right, so please do not make such a face,” she said, smiling at him.
“They’re from the second prince’s faction. One of them was at the hunting contest. You saved her, and look at the way she talks now,” Arcrayne spat.
Estelle shook her head. “Their goal is to wear us out mentally. The best thing we can do is pretend we do not hear it,” she said quietly, making sure to maintain her smile.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, you know that?”
“How rude.”
“Sorry, I meant that as a compliment. You’ve become strong.”
Estelle giggled, then resolved herself and laid her head on Arcrayne’s shoulder.
“Estelle...?”
“Rather than react to such gossip, would you humor me for a moment?”
“Humor you? How so?”
“Let us pretend we are so immersed in each other that we do not even hear them. I do believe indifference is the most effective strategy against people of that sort.”
“You may be right.”
Arcrayne relaxed his expression, and Estelle felt the comforting weight of his arm around her shoulder. Entrusting herself to the prince, she could smell his familiar scent.
Estelle felt his lips brush her forehead. It was a little embarrassing to be so demonstratively intimate in public.
Asking the prince to put on an act as a way of dealing with the gossip had been little more than an excuse.
I just want him to be sweet with me and to look at me with tender eyes, thought Estelle, resenting her own wretchedness.
“I don’t mind. I have allies.” She might have told herself those things, but it wasn’t as though their malice didn’t hurt her.
Still, it felt like leaning into the prince’s embrace healed her frayed heart.