A New Encounter

"Then, I'll leave it to you."

After revising the design, just as Dalia was about to stop and head back, she began to move.

A woman who had been watching Dalia and Louise from a corner of the boutique stepped forward.

"You must be the Duchess of Sayer, correct?"

The woman with dark brown hair braided over one shoulder had sparkling blue eyes.

'Who is she?'

The woman, who seemed to be around her age, appeared to be a noble like Dalia, but there was no way she could recognize her.

But it wasn't polite to bluntly ask someone who seemed to know her who they were. As Dalia pondered how to respond,

"Oh, my apologies for the late introduction. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Rachel. Duke Roman is my father."

'Rachel? Wait, if it's Rachel….'

Rachel Roman.

She was part of one of the only five ducal families in the empire. But what was more important than her status as a noblewoman from a prestigious family was this:

'If it's Rachel, isn't she the one who, later on, causes the runaway heroine to meet the male lead?!'

In the original story, she first met the heroine when Rachel married Duke Chaser.

While living as the duchess there, she encountered the heroine, who was hiding in the territory, and pitied her for living alone without a husband, offering her a great deal of help.

She even took the heroine in as a nanny for her daughter.

Thanks to that, the heroine ended up staying at the duke's residence, where she happened to meet the male lead during his visit. That was how the original story unfolded.

'And now I'm meeting that Rachel?'

And it's during the time when Rachel was still the Lady of Duke Roman, before she became Duchess Chaser.

It was bewildering, and at the same time, unnerving that the story kept deviating from the original plot.

Of course, Rachel was a character friendly to the heroine and even provided significant help later, so she wasn't a villain. With that in mind, Dalia greeted her calmly.

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Roman. Did you also come to order a dress?"

"Yes. The Emperor's birthday is coming up soon, after all. By the way, I overheard your conversation with Madam Louise earlier. Honestly, I've been thinking the same—that dresses these days feel a bit stifling."

Rachel replied with a playful wink. Come to think of it, her attire was a bit different—simpler than the elaborate outfits commonly seen at social gatherings.

Just as Dalia thought Rachel's outfit was among the best of the simpler styles she had seen, Rachel made a suggestion.

"It's rather surprising that the Duchess of Sayer shares the same thoughts as I do. So, would you care to join me for a cup of tea?"

"...."

"There's a new teahouse that just opened by the river. It's become a trend in society to have tea while watching the sunset by the riverside."

"I see…."

Ugh, how troublesome.

It had already been four hours since she left home.

For someone like me, who found being outside for more than two hours exhausting, this was pure torment.

'What should I do?'

Originally, I had planned to go straight to the doctor.

But when I saw Rachel's sparkling eyes, I just couldn't bring myself to refuse.

'Well, it doesn't really matter if we get closer now or later.'

This, too, could be helpful for a comfortable future. With that thought, I smiled slightly.

"Alright. Let's go together."

Rachel wasn't exaggerating when she said that having tea at the new riverside café was the latest trend.

With its chic interior, stunning views, and the sweet aroma tickling my nose, it had everything a woman could love.

"How is it? Isn't the atmosphere amazing?"

"You're right. It's really beautiful."

"The sunset you can see from here is breathtaking. You should definitely come back with the Duke someday."

Oh, no, not that.

"Yes, I think it would be nice to come with the Duke. But more importantly, about the seating…"

Hiding her true feelings, Dalia responded appropriately to Rachel's words while scanning the area for an empty seat.

"Oh my, Duchess of Sayer?"

A surprised voice called out to Dalia.

'Oh, who is it this time?'

Before Dalia could even hide her annoyed expression, Rachel, standing beside her, reacted first.

"Marchioness Borsen?"

"Oh my, Lady Roman is here as well?"

It was only then that Marchioness Borsen seemed to notice Rachel beside Dalia, as she fluttered her fan.

'If it's Marchioness Borsen….'

She was one of the minor villains in the original story who appeared a few times to torment the heroine.

She was the woman who envied the baron's mistreated daughter for marrying Duke Sayer and rising above her own status.

'That's why she kept picking fights with the heroine over every little thing.'

Later, she gleefully reveled in learning that the male lead supposedly had a mistress.

She later ended up provoking the heroine, who had returned as the duchess, only to have the male lead discover her past harassment of the heroine. This led to her family's business being ruined, marking her lonely exit from the story.

In any case, that was a future event. For now, the most important thing was that this woman was hostile toward her.

And, as expected.

Marchioness Borsen quickly approached and began to pick a fight with her.

"I heard our Duchess of Sayer has been going out more frequently these days. To think I'd see you at a place like this! You've changed quite a lot since I was last in the capital, haven't you?"

It was a snide comment about Dalia's recent active participation in social gatherings.

Although the status gap between a marchioness and a duchess was clear, the marchioness acted so brazenly because she knew Dalia wouldn't object.

"And to see you with Lady Roman, no less. They say like attracts like, don't they? It's a relief to see that you two get along so well."

It was a jab at how both of them were considered outsiders in society.

Since being invited to the Landrophil Marquisate's garden party, people's views of Dalia had softened somewhat, but there were still those who looked down on her.

However, Dalia couldn't care less about it.

Unaware of Dalia's indifference, the marchioness, thinking she had successfully belittled her, became even more arrogant.

"Since fate has brought us together like this, why don't we have tea together?"

"No, we…"

"Oh my, there's a spot open on the terrace!"

Rachel tried to refuse the marchioness's suggestion to join them, but it was futile. The marchioness brazenly headed to the terrace, motioning for the two of them to follow.

This, too, was a display of her disregard for Duchess Dalia and Lady Rachel.

Sigh.

'I feel like I'm getting dragged into yet another annoying situation.'

Glancing at Rachel, her expression didn't look good either—she seemed just as uncomfortable with this situation.

"Come now, have a seat."

Ignoring how uncomfortable the two of them felt, the marchioness sat in the best seat at the table and gestured for them to join her.

'Look at this?'

Even when sitting, it was customary to follow the order of rank. Seeing this woman, who was of lower status than a duchess like me, shamelessly take the best seat was utterly ridiculous.

'I haven't been in this body for long, but with 17 years of experience reading romance-fantasy novels, I can tell just how rude this Marchioness is being.'

But picking a fight over this seemed like too much trouble. I decided it'd be easier to play along and leave as soon as possible. However—

"Huh?"

Dalia suddenly flinched when she noticed a bug clinging to her arm.

With many legs and about the size of her thumb, it seemed like it had fallen from one of the large trees near the café.

'I need to get rid of this before anyone sees.'

She flicked it off with her finger, worried that the Marchioness might spot it and start another argument.

Oh no.

The bug ended up landing on the Marchioness's head.

Momentarily frozen in shock, Dalia turned her head after a brief moment of deliberation.

'L-let's pretend I didn't see that.'

She did feel sorry for the bug struggling in the woman's hair, but what could she do?

No matter how unafraid of bugs she might be, she wasn't about to dig through someone else's hair to catch it.

So, Dalia awkwardly sat across from Marchioness Borsen.

At that moment, a maid placed the tea they had ordered on the table, as if on cue.

Marchioness Borsen picked up the teacup in front of her and savored the aroma.

"The tea here has such a fragrant aroma. They use tea leaves produced in our Borsen estate, you know. I even brought some to the Duchess's tea party last time. Do you remember? Oh, right. I suppose you couldn't have tasted it since you were too busy crying, weren't you?"

Her mocking laughter, clearly aimed at the old Dalia, echoed across the table.

But Dalia wasn't paying attention. Her focus was entirely on the bug atop the Marchioness's head.

The bug, which had been securely perched on her crown moments ago, was now precariously dangling, ready to fall.

And finally.

"Whenever I think of you crying that day, my heart still aches. It's worrisome, really. Even if you're from a humble family, as the Duchess now, you ought to maintain your dignity in front of others…"

Plop.

As the Marchioness lifted her teacup to drink, the bug dangling from her hair fell right into the cup with a splash.