WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 283: Brett Lloyd's Wish (2)
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The ball began.
It had been a while since House Clancy had hosted a party, so many people attended.
Bright-faced young men and women enjoyed the music and wine, the dancing and atmosphere. Middle-aged attendees watched them with fond expressions.
One person was on most people's lips: Brett Lloyd, Count Lloyd's eldest son.
"How long has it been since Brett Lloyd attended a ball?"
"I think I saw him about a year ago... Still, he does not come often."
"Right. If he had been interested in this sort of thing, he would never have reached Master at such a young age..."
"Still, it seems he did everything he needed to."
One middle-aged noble spoke with a laugh. Another noble followed that gaze, saw who they meant, and replied with a smile.
"Well, no matter how busy you are, you have to make time for romance. That is how it should be when you are young."
"Exactly."
They were not the only ones who reacted positively. Most others felt similarly.
Few people would look badly on a young man who worked hard enough to uphold his kingdom's prestige wanting a bit of romance.
Of course, there were some exceptions.
More precisely, their disapproving looks were not directed at Brett Lloyd, but at his companion.
"Who is that?"
Elsa Collins, a beautiful lady who had recently made a name for herself in high society, narrowed her eyes.
She had been pleased when she first saw Brett Lloyd.
She had been disappointed by the lack of anyone worthwhile, so the arrival of the kingdom's greatest swordsmanship genius had felt like rain after a drought.
But that feeling lasted only a moment. The instant she saw an unfamiliar woman beside the young lord of House Lloyd, Elsa Collins's mood plummeted.
'Red hair, tall... Who is she? Was there a woman like that in the kingdom?'
It did not seem so. Elsa had committed every person worth keeping an eye on to memory, not only in Gerbera Kingdom but in neighboring countries as well.
Yet no matter how much she thought about it, she could not identify the woman.
Could she be from somewhere other than the central continent?
That seemed likely.
She had heard that Brett had traveled the continent for quite some time to train in swordsmanship. Perhaps he had formed a relationship along the way.
Having thought that far, Elsa Collins took a sip of wine.
Jealousy, envy, irritation, and anger mixed with the alcohol and intensified.
She watched Brett Lloyd and the mysterious woman for thirty minutes.
Then Elsa's irritated expression changed once more.
Things she could not understand, things rarely seen at other balls, kept happening.
'What is that?'
She could understand clumsy dancing. In truth, Judith was not even terribly bad at it.
Her interpretation of the music was a mess, but the movements themselves were precise, as if a knight were performing a group drill.
But she yawned without even covering her mouth.
She chatted with food still in her mouth.
It was difficult to understand why she repeatedly displayed so many other uncultured habits.
Even someone attending a ball for the first time should not behave like that.
It was as though...
'They just picked some commoner off the street and brought her here.'
That thought had just crossed Elsa's mind when a bodyguard quietly approached to make a report.
The moment Elsa Collins noticed the uninvited guest, she had ordered someone to learn Judith's identity. Fortunately, it appeared not to have been difficult.
A minute passed.
Once she finally learned who Judith was, Elsa scoffed.
"Ha, she really is a commoner?"
"Um, my lady. She is a commoner, but an official trainee at Krono Fencing Hall..."
The bodyguard could not continue.
Under the lady's sharp glare, they immediately lowered their eyes and quietly withdrew.
Elsa did not spare them another glance. Her insides churned at the thought that she had been outdone by a commoner.
"...Hmph."
An hour passed.
Elsa Collins's gaze still had not left Brett and Judith.
Several men politely invited her to dance, but she refused them all.
Her mind was already filled with nothing but thoughts of how to humiliate that commoner woman.
Then, at last, an opportunity came.
The two separated. For some reason, the young lord of House Lloyd went elsewhere, leaving Judith alone to look around.
Then, wearing a blank expression, Judith picked up a biscuit and ate it.
'Listen to her crunching away. What an eyesore.'
Had Judith somehow read her mind?
After finishing the snack, the commoner woman looked around again and headed toward the ballroom exit.
It seemed she intended to go out for a walk.
Elsa Collins nodded and followed after her.
At that, the ladies who usually accompanied Elsa hurried after her as well.
* * *
"...What am I even doing here?"
Judith, who had been eating a biscuit, suddenly muttered to herself. Then she looked herself over.
An extravagant red dress.
Beautiful jewelry around her neck.
The faint scent of perfume lingering beneath her nose.
None of it suited her. This place and the people filling it least of all.
Watching them maintain aristocratic smiles even while drinking a glass of water, Judith felt a sense of inferiority.
She felt that she did not belong here.
'...First, let's go outside for a moment. Get some air.'
That was why Judith left the ballroom.
Then someone spoke to her.
"Are you looking for somewhere to take a walk?"
"Huh? Oh, yes. It is a little warm..."
"I see. That area is not open to the public, so you would only make a wasted trip. If you do not mind, may I show you the way? I will take you to a beautiful garden."
"Ah... Um... S-sure."
Judith stammered and nodded.
Various thoughts came to her amid a strange tension.
Was this person from House Clancy? No, that did not seem right.
Then how did she know the estate's layout? Had she visited often?
Well, she looked delicate and carried herself elegantly. She seemed accustomed to places like this.
'...What do I look like right now?'
Probably like a complete country bumpkin.
She had tried not to embarrass Brett, but...
Judith shook her head slightly.
It was pointless worrying. Nothing would change, and it somehow only made her feel worse.
She should simply turn her thoughts elsewhere.
Nodding, Judith looked at the lady walking a step ahead of her. More precisely, she looked at the lady's legs.
'They're really thin. A low kick would probably snap them in half.'
"..."
That did not seem like a thought suited to a ball.
Judith stopped thinking and decided to follow behind the lady with her mind blank.
But she could not do that.
The blonde woman gradually slowed down and approached Judith's side. Then she smiled and asked.
"It seems this is your first ball?"
"Uh... Yes."
Judith felt a little uncomfortable. To be honest, she wanted to be alone.
But she could not say that to someone smiling at her, especially someone who had kindly offered to guide her.
Perhaps she could have when she was a wild child, but she knew how to be considerate now.
As long as those dog-like bastards did not start trouble with her first, she should show people courtesy.
It was one of the valuable things she had learned at Krono Fencing Hall.
Of course, that did not mean Judith actively led the conversation.
She could not have done so in the first place.
A noble.
A lady.
A delicate woman who looked as though she had never held a sword or even gotten her hands wet.
Someone who appeared to live in an entirely different world.
There was no way Judith could comfortably converse with someone like that.
It was even more difficult because most of the conversation concerned balls and parties.
No, that was not all.
Whenever the conversation drifted toward politics, economics, culture, or art, Judith could only break out in a cold sweat.
She was at a loss. She had too little to say.
Dealing with mercenaries picking fights in a tavern would be easier than this.
Along with that thought, negative feelings began settling in her chest.
'This is not a matter between this woman and me...'
It was a matter between Brett and herself.
The worlds they lived in were much farther apart than Judith had realized.
It was something she had never noticed, something she had never even considered worrying about.
But now that she recognized it, she could not help but dwell on it.
Judith's expression stiffened as the lady said something she could not ignore.
"Oh, goodness! Where are my manners? I still haven't introduced myself. I'm sorry."
"Oh, that's all righ..."
"I'm Elsa Collins, the second daughter of Viscount Collins. You've heard of us, haven't you? The Collins family is famous for its perfumes."
"Ah..."
"Incidentally, the perfume you're wearing is one of our family's products too."
"Huh? That's..."
"Oh, you didn't know. It's all right. That can happen."
"Still..."
"More to the point, there's something I'd like to know now."
Elsa Collins, who had been walking slowly ahead, stopped and turned to look Judith straight in the eye.
"What is your name?"
It sounded like a request to exchange names.
No.
It was an indirect question about Judith's family and social rank.
For some reason, Judith understood the intention immediately. A jumble of worries filled her mind.
'What should I do?'
Was she ashamed of being a commoner?
No. She had always believed she had no reason to be.
The continent's outlook was much the same. A few hundred years ago might have been different, but these days, birth meant little as long as someone had ability.
And yet.
Strangely, her confidence deserted her. To her utter confusion, she could not bring herself to introduce herself proudly.
'No, I already know why.'
Brett Lloyd, a high-ranking noble of a powerful kingdom.
Judith, an orphan from the Slums.
Their abilities might have been similar, but the worlds they had lived in, and the bearing those lives had shaped, were undeniably different.
Feeling the vast gap between them anew, Judith hesitated with a conflicted expression.
"So you do know you should be ashamed."
"...?"
"That is right, is it not? You cannot say your family name because you do not have one, and that means you know you should be ashamed of yourself..."
"..."
"Am I wrong?"
Judith stared at the other woman blankly.
She was someone entirely different.
Elsa Collins, whose gentle atmosphere had vanished completely, now looked so vicious it was almost absurd.
And she was not alone.
"I doubt it. If she knew shame, she would not have behaved so vulgarly at a ball."
"Exactly. She was barging around so much that it was embarrassing just to watch."
"Is that so? Well, I suppose it could be."
"Commoners cannot help it."
The ladies who had gathered around had clustered beside Elsa Collins.
Judith had known there were people nearby. But she had assumed they, too, had come out for some air.
That was not the case.
These women had followed Judith here from the start, intending to ridicule and humiliate her.
"Oh, right. This is as far as my guidance goes. Do you see that, Miss Judith?"
Elsa Collins gracefully pointed to one side.
It was a door.
A passage leading outside the ducal estate.
Judith stared at it blankly as Elsa continued with a smile.
"It is quite difficult for someone who does not belong in a place to remain there. What do you think? Rather than stubbornly staying at a noble social gathering beyond your station, why not throw away that dress and everything else, then leave..."
Wouldn't that be the truest advice for you?
...Elsa Collins wanted to say, but she could not finish.
Judith abruptly turned around and began walking away.
The ladies laughed as they watched her retreating back.
They mocked Judith, saying she was lowborn yet sky-high in pride. They made up all manner of lies and tore into her.
They all fell silent when Judith stopped in front of a statue.
Craaack!
"...!"
"...!"
"...!"
The monument shaped like a tiger looked elegant and sturdy.
It could not have been otherwise. It had been cast entirely from iron, so there was no way it could be soft.
But that made no difference to Judith, who drew up her Fire Aura.
Craaack, she tore off the tail and turned around.
Step.
Step.
Step, step.
Crunch, craaack.
CRAAAACK!
Judith walked toward the ladies.
The fist gripping the iron fragment did not stop moving.
Within red Aura that rose like a heat haze, the torn-off tiger's tail glowed red-hot as it took the form of a circular ring.
No one could move.
No one could continue running their mouths.
In utter silence, Judith reached Elsa Collins without anyone stopping her and said with a smile,
"I made this bracelet as a gift for guiding me."
"..."
"I won't take no for an answer."
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