Dressing up was a challenging task for a lady. Corsets were painfully tight, and makeup brushes were rather ticklish. But once Estelle had finished with that ordeal and looked in the mirror, she saw a much lovelier version of herself than usual.
Her maid, Leah, had good taste in fashion. She’d neatly braided Estelle’s chestnut hair and adorned it with a pink ornament made out of the same cloth as her dress. The string of pearls around Estelle’s neck, as well as her pearl earrings, were mementos from her mother, and were made to give off a proper and elegant look. Estelle didn’t think she could compete with a truly stunning beauty, but dressing up made her more confident nonetheless.
She was also fond of the features she had inherited from her late mother. Many northerners had purplish eyes for genetic reasons, but Estelle and her brother, Sirius, had inherited their mother’s distinctive purplish-red eyes.
“Now you had best make haste downstairs. Lord Sirius is awaiting you.”
At Leah’s prompting, Estelle left her second-floor room.
On her way to the parlor, Estelle ran into her brother, who was already dressed formally and looked like he had been kept waiting for a while. He was to be Estelle’s escort at the upcoming soiree.
Her parents had already passed on. What had taken them from her was the scarlet fever epidemic that had ravaged Flozeth the summer of six years prior. She’d been attending a girls’ school in Albion back then, and when she’d come home for her summer break, she had caught the disease and found herself at death’s door.
Her only family member who hadn’t gotten infected was Sirius. He had been too busy with his assignments at the University of Albion and had managed to avoid the danger by staying in the capital by himself.
While the aforementioned scarlet fever had Awakened Estelle to her power, it had bereaved her of her parents without a shred of mercy. Afterward, Sirius left the university without graduating and inherited the title of earl at the young age of nineteen.
It must be stated now that Estelle had kept her power secret from her brother.
Though Sirius had the support of his uncle—his father’s younger brother—the sudden onset of an earl’s rigorous duties had quickly worn him out, and it had hardly been an appropriate time for Estelle to reveal her secret. But that wasn’t all there was to it: she was scared of him finding out she could see people’s emotions.
High society was rife with people who hid their sordid emotions behind pleasant smiles, and Estelle’s school had been no exception. Estelle’s eyes laid it all bare. When she had seen through the motives of her classmate, whom she had considered her best friend, it had hurt Estelle deeply. If she told her brother about her power and he distanced himself from her because of it, she felt it would bring her so much pain that she would want to end her life. He was her only remaining family in the whole world, after all.
Estelle’s fears had also been exacerbated by a romance novel that had been popular at the time. Its protagonist, a high-class lady, was loathed by her family for being able to read minds. She was locked up in the attic and abused. In the end, her childhood friend—who knew about her ability but didn’t resent her for it—saved her and they got married. It was a classic love story, but the fact that it depicted a mind-reader being the object of such intense hate hit too close to home for Estelle.
Additionally, were she to make public her new status as an Awoken, she ran the risk of being married off to someone other than Lyle. A noble child’s value was dictated not just by their family’s rank but—more importantly—by their mana and endowment with powers. Estelle had an average amount of mana for an earl’s daughter, but becoming an Awoken had greatly raised her value.
Because of the rarity of Awakening and the types of powers that could be inherited, royals and high-ranking peers coveted Awoken for their own lineages. And Estelle loved Lyle and didn’t want any great houses to interfere. Though in the end, Diana had come between them and taken him away from Estelle anyway—which had nothing to do with anyone’s powers.
Estelle recalled Lyle’s well-formed features, then lightly shook her head to chase the thought away.
Revealing herself as an Awoken was bound to make the search for a new fiancé easy. And while Estelle wasn’t looking to push her brother aside, it would allow her to become head of the family as a countess.
However, she couldn’t help feeling reluctant about revealing her ability to perceive mana and emotions. After some deliberation on the subject, she concluded it was best to keep her power hidden as before.
“There you are at last, Estelle,” said Sirius, looking bored.
“A women’s toilet takes time,” retorted Estelle with her nose in the air.
“Not bad, not bad,” Sirius replied after a moment. “Good luck. I know you’re not exactly fond of socializing.”
“You say that as though you were any good with evening parties yourself, brother. And I believe you’ll need that luck as much as I.”
Her comeback made Sirius fall silent. Just as Estelle had to find a husband, he had to find a wife for himself. He still hadn’t set his sights on anyone, swamped with work as he had been after inheriting the title.
As siblings, they naturally looked similar in face and figure. Sirius wasn’t as much of a looker as Lyle, but his features were shapely. And while his earldom was located in the northern countryside, he was still an earl. He wasn’t exactly a man few would want to marry, and yet...
The thought passed through Estelle’s head: I wonder if the first prince or Marquess Rogell will be there.
Perhaps there were more suitable young bachelors around. For whatever reason, Estelle’s brother seemed to be having trouble finding himself a wife.
I would choose him over a prince, thought Estelle.
He had an insensitive and ill-mannered side, but Estelle loved her brother nonetheless. And she preferred living a calm and quiet life in the Flozeth earldom to potentially marrying into some troublesome family, complete with the vortex of expectations she assumed went along with the royal life.
Estelle’s brother offered his arm to escort her, and she laid her hand on it and gently held on to him.