The Price Is Your Everything

"This is still a lie! My initials are here!"

"A can be my initials too!"

That was a valid point. The children watching the scene murmured in agreement. Both Alekto and Angrad's names start with the letter A.

Neris smiled coldly to herself. That's why she had chosen Alekto.

If it were M, L, or I, Angrad would have quickly apologized and said she had mistaken it for a similar-looking ribbon. But if there was any chance to deny it, Angrad would deny it to the end. Once a stigma is attached, it would never go away.

Just like what had happened to Neris.

But Angrad's actions, trying to deny it, only suggested that she was guilty. Alekto's face turned bright red with anger.

"The embroidery is done by my servant. If you want, we can have a contest with our servants, Masca and Lina. We'll ask them to embroider the same pattern, and if we lose, we'll tell our fathers! Your father is a nobody!"

The conflict between the Israni count and the Nain baron was hardly worth calling a fight. The Israni count was not particularly powerful among the counts, but he had enough influence to hold his title.

Angrad collapsed to the floor, crying. The children watching her threw cold glances her way. Diane tilted her head.

"Why would she take someone else's ribbon?"

"I don't know, but usually, people don't think someone else's ribbon is theirs just because they lost their own. Maybe she thought she wouldn't get caught."

Diane nodded in agreement with Neris's explanation.

"Liz is right. So, how did Alekto know that the ribbon Angrad was wearing was hers?"

"How?"

Neris shrugged innocently, but she knew the whole story.

It had happened two days ago. Alekto's servant, who had lost her mistress's ribbon in the dormitory's laundry room, searched the area thoroughly.

Coincidentally, a very similar ribbon was found nearby. It was a ribbon with a lavender scent and a stain.

Not all students used the dormitory's laundry room. Since laundry was hard work, most people who had few or no servants sent their laundry to a nearby laundry shop. Neris had recently visited the laundry shop, pretending to drop off her laundry.

And she had spoken to the laundry worker.

"I'm sorry, but I think I lost a ribbon after coming in here. It's my only luxury item, and I'm worried it might have gotten mixed up with someone else's."

The laundry worker believed Neris's words, looking at her clothes, and showed her a few ribbons that had recently arrived at the shop. Among them was Angrad's ribbon, which still had a stain that hadn't been fully removed.

Neris took advantage of the laundry worker's distraction to steal the target ribbon and then left the laundry shop, saying, "I don't think it's here. I might have dropped it somewhere else."

She then waited for Alekto's servant to do the laundry. Finally, in the dormitory's laundry room, while Alekto's servant was away, Neris snuck in and stole Alekto's ribbon, immediately replacing it with Angrad's ribbon.

At the laundry shop, they were surprised to find that a ribbon was missing and searched the laundry room, only to "accidentally" discover the cream-colored ribbon next to the laundry tub the evening before, when Neris had come to pick up her laundry.

The ribbon was clean and had been washed, and the laundry worker quickly sent it to Angrad.

It just so happened that it was right before the party. Angrad's maid, who was busy decorating the banquet hall and cooking, didn't have the time to notice the subtle embroidery on the ribbon.

Even if she had seen it, she would have thought that it was just a mistake at the laundry shop and that they could exchange it later after the party.

If Angrad hadn't worn the cream-colored dress today, the plan might have failed, but Neris didn't worry about that.

Because today, Angrad had spent a lot of money. She had used up all the money her family had given her to host a party that would impress the other kids, and she had to wear the jewelry her father had bought her from the capital.

However, she wouldn't have expected the party to end like this. Neris watched Angrad, who was crying on the floor, without missing a single movement.

If Diane's servant hadn't spilled the lavender drink at the previous party, Neris would have had to find another way to dirty Angrad's ribbon. It was a fortunate coincidence.

Putting a spider in the punch alone might not have been enough.

"Liz, you didn't drink the peach punch earlier, did you? Too bad."

Diane suddenly covered her mouth, and Neris nodded calmly, receiving her sympathetic gaze.

"No choice."

"You're too kind."

Diane clicked her tongue, and Angrad shouted at Alekto in a trembling voice.

"I, I... I didn't steal it! The laundry shop gave it to me! I thought it was mine...!"

"You're lying! Then why did you throw away your own ribbon? Why is my ribbon at the laundry shop? I have Lina do my laundry, so it's different from yours! You must have stolen mine because yours got ruined! You're afraid of getting scolded by your father, so you stole mine!"

The children found this explanation reasonable.

The banquet hall was soon filled with murmurs, and no one was laughing or having fun anymore. Finally, when Angrad left the hall in tears, the children quickly followed her out.

Neris smiled to herself. Alekto was a clever child. She didn't know that her cleverness would be used to help her one day.

They say that nothing is useless in this world.

***

At the lower-ranking nobles' gathering held at the beginning of next month, Angrad was absent. There were only two hosts.

The children who had seen Angrad's miserable state, with her head hung low and unable to talk to anyone for a while, didn't question her absence.

"Even if it's a small thing, stealing is punishable by two weeks of detention after school, and you have to meet with Mrs. Hoffman. If you don't reflect on your actions then, your parents will be contacted."

A 14-year-old party attendee whispered to a freshman attendee. The freshman couldn't hide their smug expression.

"She was always a bit weird."

"Yeah, but sometimes there are kids like that, so you have to be careful too. Don't leave your valuables lying around like you do at home. If you claim that your servant did it alone, it's hard to get additional punishment. Got it?"

Angrad's maid, Masca, eventually took the blame for the ribbon incident and was expelled from school.

It was obvious what kind of treatment Masca, who was born and raised in the Nain baron's territory, would receive when she returned home to her lord and lady, but to Angrad, it seemed like the best course of action.

But how many people would believe that?

Neris smiled wryly to herself at the atmosphere around her.

"Weird." She had heard that word more than anyone else in this room. A child who is "weird" in a social sense isn't born that way.

"They're made that way. The more they're excluded by their peers, the more they become that way."

Neris, who had been cheerful and bright as a child, became darker as she was bullied at the Academy. But being dark wasn't the main issue.

When she entered social circles and met people, they would show obvious discomfort when talking to her, regardless of whether they were on Megara's side or not.

There's nothing that can't be learned from peer relationships in childhood, whether it's "normal" topics, "normal" responses, or "normal" emotional expressions. Neris had struggled the most with those things.

The phrase "a bit weird" used by children ultimately means that someone behaves differently from their peers. And a child who is evaluated as being different from their peers is further excluded by them.

Just like Neris had been, and just like Angrad would be in the future.

Children can spot the weak.

"Hey, Neris."

Hardy, one of the hosts of this party, asked Neris with sparkling eyes.

"You take classes with the upperclassmen, right? So, are you invited to their parties too?"

Neris shook her head in response.

"It's not like that. The upperclassmen already have their own group of friends."

"That's a shame. I think you'd do well at their parties too."

"Thanks for saying that. But I've only experienced formal parties since coming to the Academy. All the parties here are amazing and interesting. Being invited to this gathering today is a valuable experience for me, Hardy."

Hardy looked proud, and the other children at the same table did too.

Since it was a lower-ranking nobles' party, the parents of the children present were at most viscounts, and there were many children of knights. However, there were few children from as difficult a background as Neris. Children of knights usually didn't attend school if they didn't have the money.

The students were dominated by a sense of superiority and the generosity that came with it. Another child spoke up, showing off their maturity.

"Neris has beautiful purple eyes, doesn't she? She's definitely a descendant of a great family. With her good bloodline and intelligence, she'll be invited to many dignified gatherings in the future."

That was true, but now it was just a painful memory of betrayal. Neris hid her bitter smile behind a humble expression.

"You've never invited me to any of those parties, though."

"Has everyone received their invitations? See you on Friday!"

Everyone in the class, except Neris, received invitations to the class gathering, which was held about twice a month. Even after graduation, the gatherings continued among the children who had entered the Academy together, but Neris never received an invitation to those either.

When they were all still in their first year, Neris had received an invitation from Angrad for the first time. Something had felt off, but Neris was so thrilled to have received an invitation like the other kids that she accepted it.

And when she put on the best clothes she had and went to the location written on the invitation...

There was no one there. No matter how many times she checked, it was the same. It turned out that the location was actually a classroom for 7th graders.

The locations on the other children's invitations were different. Wondering if she had gotten the location wrong, Neris wandered around until a kind upperclassman told her that the 1st-year party was being held at Megara's dormitory.

Neris, who couldn't shake off her disappointment, went to the front of Megara's dormitory and saw her classmates laughing and having fun together.

Great clothes, great food. Neris knew that none of those things had been prepared for her.

As she turned to leave, feeling sorry for herself, she heard Angrad and her friends laughing and talking.

"Did she really go?"

"She must have. She's so stupid."

"Ah, it's really funny. I wish I had seen it."

"When you got the invitation, did you see her face? Who would want her to come? Angrad is really funny!"

"If she comes, I don't like it either. Honestly, her mom was weird when I saw her as a kid. Poor Lord Willmot..."

Neris wanted to believe it was just someone else's story. But as soon as she heard the name "Lord Willmot", she realized the truth.

Angrad, who was trying to fit in with her friends, didn't care about any truth. What was important was bringing up Neris as a trivial topic. She was shouting to the other kids in school, who were of higher status or wealthier than her, "I'm just like you! Compared to her!"

Neris was no longer interested in such trivial gatherings. But that didn't mean she was okay.

Therefore, she no longer needed to feel guilty about Angrad.