“Did she actually send it?” I sighed. A few days later, I really received an invitation to Livya’s tea party.

I attended the tea party with a nervous mind that I might get harassed, but fortunately, it didn’t happen. At the party, there were only girls who were close to Livya. And there was no that kind of young girl who was brave enough to give me a slap. Livya also greeted me herself.

“I hope you enjoy the party comfortably, Lady Fiona.” Livya smiled beautifully.

In the original plot, Livya was not just a woman who gave a pure favor. So I thought for a moment about what Livya was thinking and drank tea calmly.

Livya was leading the crowd’s conversation.

“I heard Lady Fiona made a bet with Duke Ernest.”

The young ladies opened their eyes widely, perked their ears, interested in those words.

“Are you Lady Fiona?”

“What kind of bet?”

Geez, was the rumor already circulating? Too fast though. But I smiled brightly.

“It’s not a bet. It’s just a small promise.”

“What’s that?” one of the ladies asked curiously.

“If I win this hunting competition, Duke Ernest has promised to officially acknowledge that I am the heir to the Heilon.”

In honesty, it was funny that Duke Ernest was meddling in Heilon family’s affairs. However, if I did not convince those guys in advance, the sabotage would be even more troublesome. It was better to just negotiate like thar. And it seemed like Duke Ernest took the pleasure of this bet, seeing how fast the rumors spread. It seemed he decided to spread it to the noble social circles. He was so sure I was going to fail. But again, like I’ve said, these things were easier to deal with, much better. I’ve absolutely welcome this. With the rumors spread like this, he would not able to bet on me like last time at the official meeting in the future.

“Winning? Isn’t it dangerous?”

“A monster, it’s scary.”

Well, the noble ladies had a distant life from the battle itself. So their reaction was not unreasonable.

“Yes, I’m actually very nervous. I hope the ladies would support me.”

“Absolutely!”

“It’s cool to be recognized as the heir of the family.”

Yeah, I haven’t revealed yet that I was a mage. Rather than a secret, it was because I didn’t know how to say it. In addition, I didn’t want to bring up a story that was off-topic while surrounded by chattering ladies.

A girl titled her head. “Oh, Lady Fiona. I have a question.”

“What’s is it?”

“This is just a rumor that i heard. They said, there’s a very scary mage living in heilon.”

Pardon?

“Oh, i heard that too!”

“He’s a strong but very cruel, and when he gets angry there would be snow storms and lightning?”

I calmly blinked my eyes. I laughed inwardly. I was the only mage capable of making lightning strikes in Heilon. Could it be my rumor?

“I heard that he laughed while slaughtering the monsters and turned the land into a sea of blood.”

Ack! I’ve never done that before!

Apparently, since the capital was far from Heilon, it seemed that various rumors have been mixed and passed on in a corrupted state.

Meanwhile, the ladies looked at me with their eyes twinkling.

“Is the rumor for real?”

It was very burdensome when those innocent eyes were focused on me. In this situation, if I were to answer ‘haha, that’s me!’, I obviously would not be able to get close to these pure ladies for the rest of my life. I can’t terrify my peers already. I have to adapt to the social world for my future.

So I laughed casually.

“I actually don’t know about that. But isn’t it just a rumor?”

I really didn’t lie here.

“Is that so?”

Livya suddenly intervened. “Capital is far from Heilon, there can be enough groundless rumors spread around.”

That’s right, that’s a baseless rumor. I’m such an innocent Fiona.

While I was grumbling inside, Livya turned her gaze to me.

“But the rumors I heard are different.”

What were the rumors again this time? I was slowly getting scared.

“There is a very strong mage in Heilon, they said he never failed to defend Heilon’s walls.”

Fortunately, this time, it didn’t seem like such a bloody rumor.

Livya continued speaking as if she was singing. “A mage who protects Heilon, which has only winter throughout the year.”

As I breathed a sigh of relief secretly, my eyes met Livya’s red-brown eyes.

“That’s why everyone in Heilon always praise this mage.”

Livya smiled and spoke in a drowsy tone. “That person is the guardian of winter.”

To be honest, my heart was a bit throbbing when I saw her smiling while saying such a cool thing even though she was a woman.

***