The Lucia Ducal House boasted tremendous influence, befitting the maternal family of the Empress.
The sense of freshness emanating from the pure white exterior walls and the densely planted spring flowers in the garden, along with the elegant statues in the fountain, were breathtaking.
The Lucia Ducal Mansion was most beautiful in spring and summer.
"Is Duke Eseled attending today for sure?"
Duke Eric Lucia entered his daughter, Sara's room and asked his wife, Windia, who was gracefully sipping tea inside.
"He will definitely be there, so don't worry, dear."
"The political atmosphere has been unsettling lately. It would be a headache if they decide to stand us up after agreeing to come."
The Emperor's wife was usually the Empress and the Imperial Consort.
However, since the Imperial Consort Estelle disappeared along with her family, all the Emperor's favor had shifted to Diana.
Moreover, since the Empress had given birth to a son, the power of her natal family, the Lucias, knew no bounds, soaring to great heights.
This was until two years ago, when a woman of unknown origin named Sophia audaciously entered the palace as the Imperial Consort.
"It's outrageous! A mere daughter of a baronet's family has brazenly nestled herself in the royal family! And she only has one daughter, a princess with a terrible temper!"
Duke Lucia muttered nervously, yet deep inside he was incredibly anxious.
Since the Emperor had brought Empress Sophia to the palace, Diana had been deeply upset for a while, halting all external activities as if protesting.
The rift that had developed between Ulrich and Diana at that time remained unhealed to this day.
"This is not the time to act emotionally. Who stands to gain the most when we waste our energy on such things? It's Agnes!"
Duke Lucia shuddered at the mere thought of the cunning Nikan.
At that moment, Windia soothingly consoled her husband.
"Today is the day our Sara officially hosts her first reading club. What does it mean for Eseled to attend such an event? It means Lucia is the most prestigious among the three Ducal families."
In Eseled, all invitations from Agnes were refused.
But had they ever hosted such a gathering themselves? No, they hadn't.
Lady Windia assumed it was because they lacked the decent connections with influential nobles to extend such a grand invitation.
"You know very well how popular the invitation to our Sara's reading club was, don't you?"
It was then that Duke Lucia finally let go of his anxiety and laughed heartily.
"Everyone flocked like a pack of wildcats before their prey."
What about the time he sent an invitation to Eseled, half in hope, and received a reply agreeing to attend? How did the capital's nobility react?
'They were utterly flipped upside down!'
Sara's reading club had become even more prestigious than the imperial banquet.
Duke Lucia was in a very good mood remembering that fact.
Even the small fries who dared to criticize the might of the Lucia Ducal family would now realize that they were in a completely different league.
"After all, we are the family that produced an empress!"
Moreover, the magical train had brought tremendous wealth to the family.
He even started to entertain the lofty thought that this level of wealth might not be too far off from catching up with Agnes.
'Those unknown empress and princesses, the moment Prince Ares ascends to the throne, they'll be reduced to mere blood splatters.'
In fact, this task was likely to be handled by Diana's hand even without Duke Lucia needing to intervene.
"There's still a chance to eliminate them before Ares comes of age," he mused, much like how Estelle, the Empress, and her natal family, the Eiles Duke's household, did.
He occasionally found his younger sister, Diana, terrifyingly frightening.
Once the Duke Lucia found peace of mind, he feigned composure and said to his wife, "I should probably start welcoming the guests now, my dear."
"Yes, I'll head to the library with Sara in a bit."
They smiled at each other like serpents and affectionately kissed each other's cheeks.
The wife's gaze soon turned to her daughter, Sara, who was being beautifully dressed by several maids.
"My, my, our daughter is the prettiest again today. I wonder how I ever managed to give birth to such a lovely girl."
At that, Sara smiled sweetly like a well-mannered lady.
"It's all thanks to the Hart Boutique dress you gifted me, Mother."
"Oh, you. No matter how wonderful that dress is, could it ever match your beauty?"
Sara was wearing a hard-to-find Hart Boutique seasonal dress for today's reading gathering.
Perhaps she would be the only one wearing a Hart Boutique's seasonal dress at today's meeting?
Vivian was bound to show up in an Ancier dress.
Though hushed among the social circles, rumors were already rife that the Hart Boutique was no longer doing business with the Agnes Duchy.
"Pfft."
Sara couldn't help but let out a pleased laugh.
'Stupid Vivian.'
She sometimes felt embarrassed by the fact that a girl, known as a fellow duchess along with her, could be so empty-headed.
But Vivian's stupidity made Sara stand out even more, a fact she found satisfying.
People often compared the two duchesses.
Every time, the comparisons inevitably ended in Sara's overwhelming victory, but it still bothered her.
They would say Sara was an exceptionally dignified girl, but always added this:
"After all, the most esteemed woman in the empire will be Duchess Agnes."
The most esteemed woman. The emperor's wife.
A position Sara, being of Ares' bloodline, could never dream of.
The greatest position Sara could aspire to was becoming Wood's wife.
Sara bit her lips in dissatisfaction before regaining her composure.
"Wood is totally smitten with me and so foolish, he's easy to manipulate. Besides, the Agnes Duchy is the wealthiest in the empire."
As the lady of that place, she could buy every single Hart Season dress without making a dent in her finances.
"The problem is that boutique refuses to deal with Agnes."
Sara looked at her reflection in the mirror.
"I should be fine, though."
Confident that she was the one who could wear those dresses most beautifully and splendidly, there was no way the owner of Hart Boutique could refuse to sell to her, unless he was out of his mind.
"Maybe they just don't want to sell to Vivian?"
Then, even as Empress, Vivian might continue to be unable to wear Hart Season dresses. How pitiful.
"How upset she must be seeing my dress today? Heh."
There was a clear difference between choosing not to wear Hart Season dresses because they weren't to one's taste and not being able to wear them because one couldn't get them.
"Who doesn't know that Ancier is cunningly copying all the designs of past seasons from Hart Boutique?"
So, Vivian was never a concern from the start. The issue was Navia, whom she was going to meet for the first time today.
Sara had asked Vivian what Navia was like, curious about her.
"Navia unni? Well, what was she like?"
The expression Vivian wore when she mentioned Navia was quite peculiar.
'Perhaps a sense of triumph?'
As if confirming that guess, Vivian said this.
"Navia unni looked so good in a mouse-colored dress! And the hairpin with a single pearl seemed like it was made just for her."
'I'm not sure about the exact appearance, but it didn't seem that way when I saw the portrait.'
Sara once acquired a childhood portrait of Camilla during the time when the love story of the Eseled Duke's family was all the rage in the capital.
She had heard that portrait and Navia were strikingly similar.
'Portraits are usually exaggerated and beautified. So, Vivian’s words might not be wrong after all.'
Sara gently brushed her own hair, which cascaded like a wave of gold.
Navia's plain silver hair was certain to go unnoticed, overshadowed by the bright and sweet blonde that was her own.
It was always a pleasure to prove her own exceptional beauty.
Sara, flawless as always, got up from her seat after confirming her beauty today as well.
"Let's go to the library, Mother."
The library of the Lucia Ducal Manor boasted the largest scale among all noble families.
Today's reading session was scheduled to take place there.
Sara entered the library with the Duchess, walking gracefully and stylishly.
There, she greeted the arriving guests, each embodying the dignified elegance of high nobility.
"Thank you for coming to my reading session."
"How can Miss Sara be so composed and elegant today as well?"
"You flatter me."
Sara acted as if she was completely unaware of the girls who glanced at her with feelings of defeat or envy, and the boys whose ears turned red with shyness.
Yet, she couldn't completely suppress her rising sense of fulfillment.
That's when Nikan and Vivian appeared.
Vivian was, as expected, dressed in an Ansier dress.
"Sara Lucia greets Duke Agnes."
"It's been a while, Sara."
Sara's gaze soon turned to Vivian.
"It's been a while, Vivian."
Vivian, with her adorable pink hair braided into pigtails, looked cute and perky, in contrast to Sara, who appeared calm and mature.
"I missed you, Sister Sara!"
Vivian always had that beaming, loved look about her.
"Please come in and wait for a bit. There are still guests who haven't arrived yet."
As Mrs. Windia spoke to Nikan, he shrugged his shoulders.
"Let's go together. Duke Lucia will surely bring them, won’t he? It doesn’t sit well with me to see you standing here like this, ma'am."
Nikan knew that the guests who hadn't arrived yet were Lark and Navia.
'I need to knock them down a peg from the get-go.'
It was polite for the hostess to personally greet the guests.
However, among the nobility, such etiquette was also used as a means to measure each other's strength.
Lady Windia understood why Nikan was making such a proposal. It wasn't a bad suggestion.
"Hehe, that's true."
After all, it was hard to see it as ignoring etiquette since Duke Lucia was personally bringing guests from outside.
However, if they created an ambiguous situation that couldn't be seen as 'treating them well', it could demonstrate the disparity between the three ducal families.
When they all gathered and exchanged greetings, the news everyone had been eagerly waiting for arrived.
"The carriage of the Eseled Ducal House has arrived."
Everyone, puffed up with curiosity, looked towards the door.
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