Flower of Steel

ou…”

“Don’t you see that you’ve lost, or is it just that you don’t want to lose?” I added quietly with a sympathetic look as she bit her red lip.
Her face began to go pale.

One of her followers, who looked like she couldn’t let the confrontation between Elise and me alone anymore, came forward and blocked her from me.
It was Matilda von Hudleton, the daughter of the central noble, Count Hudleton.

“How dare you talk to her?” criticized Matilda.

I made a bright smile at Matilda, who jumped in the middle of our conversation and retorted, “It was Lady Schuteiner who talked to me first.
You shouldn’t meddle in our conversation.
You should leave.”

Matilda glared and replied, “Hah! A hillbilly from the countryside doesn’t know her place! You b**ch.”

My expression became stern at her swears and glared back at her, “What did you just say, Lady Hudleton?”

She didn’t care about my question and continued to bicker, “What.
Did I say something wrong? Everyone here knows that you flirt with every man around like a b**ch.”

At her words, Elise von Schuteiner’s followers and nobles who didn’t like me began joining forces with Matilda.

“She’s not wrong.
You are a lowly…”

“She’s so into flirting with men like a sad hillbilly noble.
Tsk, tsk.”

“Even though she dresses like that, she still looks like a bumpkin.
I don’t understand why those three asked her to dance at the Chancellor’s party…”

“And that Count Harrant- He’s been out of a job since being kicked out to the countryside.”

It sure was the beau monde at central.
It was a battleground of words that hound you if you showed even the slightest of weakness.
Although my family had recovered financially, it didn’t mean our power from our days at central had returned to us.
Not only that, my family’s residence wasn’t located at the center.

But even in the flood of disgusting accusations, I didn’t lose my calm.
It’s always best to fight back with words when you’re attacked by them.
To do that, one shouldn’t lose his or her cool.
I glared at them one by one and began speaking with clear pronunciation.

“Will you all take responsibility for your words?”

Silence fell at the word “responsibility.” I raised my voice and continued, “I’m asking you all if you will take responsibility for everything you said here.”

The murmurs showed they heard the words that I repeated once more, but they still had smug expressions as they were looking at me.
Matilda, who seemed to have gained power from that, bickered and replied, “Sure, I will take responsibility!”

Then I closed my eyes, opened them viciously, and glared at Matilda.
Then I replied, “What you all just said disrespects not only me, who is a mere government official but to all the noble people sitting in important seats in this country.”