Since It's My First Time Being a Lady, I'll Cause Some Trouble - Chapter 3

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A Maiden’s Blunder for the First Time 003
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Time slipped away, and at last the day of Count Rosetti’s banquet arrived.
I still had plenty of gaps to fill before I could pass as a true young noblewoman, but I’d learned enough to deceive people for a few hours.
“Don’t cause a scene.”
“They say people don’t remember things well if a stranger pretends to know them. Besides, Ulpina doesn’t know anyone outside her relatives anyway.”
The count and countess whispered low enough that only I could hear.
I gave a small nod and approached them and Count Rosetti, the banquet’s host.
“It’s been a while, Grandfather. I hope you’ve been well?”
“Oh, Sophie. How have you been? Baron Netzer looks well too. Every time I see Ulpina, she grows into more of a fine young lady.”
“Thank you. You look splendid as well.”
I offered a greeting as I’d been taught, wearing a faint smile.
“Though…”
A chill ran down my spine. In my experience, nothing good ever followed words that started with “though.”
“Something’s different about you.”
His weighty words sent our eyes darting about. Cold sweat trickled down my back.
‘He told me not to cause a scene!’
‘I just gave the greeting I was taught—what scene did I cause?!’
We bickered silently with glances, each blaming the other, but the man who’d sparked the panic merely smiled warmly.
“You’ve grown more reserved than last year. You’ve become quite the proper lady.”
At his words, we abandoned our silent quarrel and quietly let out our breath.
“Of course. Ulpina is an adult now, after all.”
At the count’s jest, we all laughed, relief flooding through us.
Old fox. Make a comment like that one more time and I won’t let you off easy.
* * *
“Ulpina’s changed. How should I put it… she seems much more composed.”
“Has she?”
The Baron and Baroness Netzer found their feelings conflicted.
A maidservant had switched places with their daughter, and yet even for just that single greeting—”I hope you’ve been well?”—their acquaintances had detected a shift with almost supernatural accuracy.
And the response was clearly positive.
The baron glanced sidelong toward where Ulpina stood. Dressed in her silver gown, she was conversing freely with a young relative without a hint of hesitation.
The real Ulpina would have made a few pleasantries before slipping away like a shadow.
Watching his daughter display such social grace—even if possessed by someone else—filled him with both pride and an odd melancholy.
‘I was afraid she’d cause an even bigger scene than usual. Looks like I worried for nothing.’
But that thought lasted only a moment.
A shocking announcement pierced his ear.
“Lady Ulpina has challenged Marquis Penri to a duel!”
* * *
Having finished the courtesy round of greetings—which doubled as discreet intelligence gathering—with the count’s family, I slipped away tactfully.
Even ignorant as I was of high society, I knew better than to have a grown woman clinging to her parents’ sides like a child.
Yet I had no other option. I didn’t know a single soul here.
I was afraid that if I joined in conversations haphazardly, someone might cry out: “This sly thing—a common maidservant daring to pose as a nobleman’s daughter!” and expose me.
Of course, it would be stranger still if someone suspected that the young lady’s personality had changed because another person’s soul had entered her body.
‘Best not to take risks. Keep as low a profile as possible.’
With that resolve, I picked up a glass and drifted to one side of the Banquet Hall, pretending to enjoy the atmosphere.
But listening to the orchestra’s music while biding time didn’t last long.
‘Something’s bothering me.’
Plates that had been nearly cleared sat unfilled. I couldn’t ignore them.
Half-empty glasses sat carelessly at the edge of the buffet table. They nagged at me.
Guests who’d eaten canapés without fresh napkins being offered quickly—so quickly—rubbed their fingers on the tablecloth to wipe off the food residue, and it made me want to scream!
‘Even nobles do this. But no matter how busy they are, this is too much. These things should be cleared and replaced right away. And they’re not even a poor family—they ought to hire more servants if they can’t manage.’
I found myself growing melancholy.
Here I was, enjoying fine wines and wearing an expensive gown I’d never have worn as a maidservant in my whole life, living in comfort—and yet the only thoughts occupying my mind were those of a servant.
‘There’s truth to the saying that only those who’ve tasted meat understand its flavor.’
That was when it happened.
“Ulpina?”
A high voice came from behind me.
I turned to see a haughty-looking man and a sharp-featured woman on his arm.
“My goodness, what a coincidence! I can see everyone from here.”
“…Rosemay.”
I knew her face well enough. She was the daughter of Miranda Gordon, the Countess’s cousin.
Her disposition was far from pleasant, and she made a habit of finding fault with me, the young lady’s chambermaid, just to belittle me.
“I’m surprised you’re still lingering in the Banquet Hall. You usually pay your respects to the host and vanish like the wind.”
Rosemay spoke with sharp wit, her smile dripping with unmistakable mockery.
“I’ve been preoccupied lately.”
I recalled the Count’s warning not to cause trouble and answered in a measured tone.
But she seemed dissatisfied with my composed response.
‘Look at her face contort. Who knew skin could wrinkle like that?’
What a waste of a face.
Conscious of the eyes upon her, her harsh expression quickly melted into a smile.
“You’ve heard that I’m engaged to the Marquis, haven’t you?”
Rosemay announced this proudly, her voice pitched for everyone nearby to hear, while she stroked her fiancé’s forearm. Each time her hand moved, the large jewel set in her engagement ring sparkled brilliantly.
‘So the man beside her must be this Marquis or whatever. Penri… something or other.’
Not Pantie, at any rate.
“Marquis Penri, this is my sixth cousin, Ulpina Netzer.”
She simpered as she introduced me to her fiancé.
Marquis Penri raked his eyes over me with the unpleasant, blatant gaze of a butcher appraising a cut of meat hanging in his shop.
“Ah, so you’re the young lady of Count Netzer.”
“…Pleased to meet you, Marquis. I am Ulpina Netzer.”
Not pleased in the slightest, and my mood had turned decidedly foul, but I offered a proper curtsy as the Countess had taught me.
‘I can hardly reproach a marquis simply because my feelings are wounded.’
Yet despite my efforts, the nobleman before me showed no sign of restraint.
He kept his gaze fixed on me while he leaned close to Rosemay’s ear and whispered.
His eyes had narrowed to sinister slits; there was no mistaking that he was saying nothing kind.
“Oh, that’s too much, really.”
She gave his arm a light tap and giggled.
“Have I said anything untrue?”
“Hehe, even so.”
Just as I was about to leave these uncouth lovers to their snickering, the Marquis raised his voice as if to ensure I would hear.
“It’s true, isn’t it? Count Netzer serving as Count Batori’s lackey.”
Count Netzer was the Palace Steward to Count Batori. Though the Count was not among the highest nobility, neither was he a position anyone could treat with contempt.
‘And Count Batori is Count Netzer’s mother-in-law.’
In other words, these two had simultaneously maligned not only the Count but also the man who had appointed him to his post.
I recalled the Countess grumbling that the Gordon family treated their connection to Marquis Penri as though it were the most extraordinary accomplishment, boasting about it everywhere.
‘A marquis is a marquis, I suppose.’
True, Marquis Penri was certainly a magnificent personage to commoners. But from a nobleman’s perspective, he occupied an ambiguous position.
Marquis Penri held a lifetime peerage granted for his tenure; he could not pass the title to his heirs, and while he owned personal lands, he possessed no territory from which to collect taxes.
Moreover, under imperial law, a lifetime noble could not participate in politics.
Then did he have enormous wealth?
No, that either. I’d heard his coffers were filled solely from the pension the state provided him.
‘He has no standing to pick a quarrel, so what is he doing this for?’
I offer my respects to your utter lack of foundation.
‘Well, I can roughly guess why they harbor such baseless arrogance.’
But that was neither here nor there.
“Apologize.”
When I spoke in a crisp tone, Rosemay bristled and interjected.
“My goodness, you. Why are you taking offense at a little jest from the Marquis?”
“A jest?”
“Yes, it was a jest. Lady Ulpina would do well to mind her temperament.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Crack!
The Silver Silk Gloves contacted the Marquis’s face and fell to the floor.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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