Timid and Shy - Chapter 8

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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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8.

Sophia stood motionless, watching as Prince Robert turned and walked away from her. She gathered herself quickly, moving to a sofa tucked into the corner.
She tried to ignore the stares—eyes that bored into her far more intently than they followed Isabel and Prince Frederick dancing. She knew it, yet forced herself not to care.
A bitter taste settled in her mouth as she thought.
‘Will the news about Isabel and Prince Frederick spread first tomorrow? Or will my pathetic debut be the scandal that races through the Capital? Misfortune always travels faster, doesn’t it? Will they spin it as two brothers quarreling over a woman? But what does it matter? What connection is my shame to two princes?’
Sophia had little knowledge of the Capital’s nobility. Yet Helen had once mentioned that a cadet branch of the Garriss family operated a publishing house.
After that man began profiting from gossip magazines and romance novels, publishing houses, journals, and newspapers had sprouted up like mushrooms after rain.
If today’s events became a news story, there was a higher chance that the tale of Prince Robert and Sophia would run than that of Prince Frederick and Isabel.
A cadet branch of the Garriss family would hardly bother writing an article about Isabel Wiscom.
‘The Wiscom household must have prepared for this as well. If Prince Robert is the target and I’m the trap, the article might already be arranged to run.’
Sophia remained in her corner seat, sending off her debut while people around her whispered and stole glances. Yet her thoughts churned ahead, to what would come after the ball.
‘So that’s why it was necessary to humiliate Prince Robert and make him leave. Wiscom did this. Were they worried about the rumor that Isabel and Prince Robert were close?’
Based on what had happened tonight, the Wiscom household had chosen Prince Frederick over Prince Robert—and they’d done so by publicly rejecting Robert in front of everyone.
‘Prince Frederick must be the better choice. They didn’t hesitate.’
Strictly speaking, Prince Robert was not a bastard. He was a legitimate prince, bearing the surname Uranos. Among the illegitimate children of the previous emperor, few had received the Uranos name.
There had been only one instance where an illegitimate child was given a surname—when the previous emperor, without heirs, needed a successor.
‘But the current emperor has sons. Prince Robert isn’t the empress’s child, yet he is the emperor’s son. His claim is weak, but he’s no bastard.’
Pine herself had only heard the story that Prince Robert’s mother was the emperor’s lover who died after failing to recover from childbirth. Even that was mere rumor, not official record.
Sophia had only learned of Prince Robert’s birth after arriving in the Capital.
‘Is it one of those things everyone knows but no one speaks of aloud?’
Still, what she’d heard from Pine’s household was simple enough.
The princes had come of age for marriage, and the two great houses had begun their game of positioning.
‘Prince Frederick appeared at Isabel’s debut to prevent Prince Robert from marrying into a powerful house like Wiscom.’
The real problem was Wiscom’s choice.
‘Wiscom has decided Prince Robert will never be the crown prince. And if Isabel and Prince Frederick become engaged, all the better.’
Sophia did not leave her seat until the ball ended. Even had she wanted to rise, the whispers around her about herself and Prince Robert robbed her of the courage to cross the room.
Yet these whispers were only the beginning.
‘I have to extract some compensation at least. This could become more serious than I thought. I need to ensure I’m properly paid.’
The month she’d spent trying not to burden the Duchess now filled her with regret. Only after the guests had all departed and the Wiscom servants had retired to their quarters did Sophia finally rise.
Back in her room, she berated herself repeatedly.
‘I was too cautious. I knew better. Isabel doesn’t shy away from anyone—so she must have had another motive. A girl so unguarded wouldn’t need a companion at all. How could I have known this had anything to do with the princes’ succession or Wiscom’s allegiances? I only wanted a free debut. Just that one thing!’
Sophia had not changed her clothes. She thought the Duchess or Philip might come looking for her late. But no one came until morning broke.
As sunlight streamed into the room, Sophia let out a hollow laugh alone.
“So I’m not even worth explaining things to.”
Sophia only lay down after sunrise and didn’t wake until evening.
A maid entered to find her sitting listlessly, and spoke.
“The Duchess wishes to take tea with you, Miss Sophia.”
Sophia answered with a weak smile.
“Tell her I’m unwell and we’ll speak another time.”
The maid looked startled. Sophia lay back down and pulled the blanket over herself.
‘What good would anger do me? The Duchess wouldn’t even flinch. What could I possibly say to her?’
Since she had nothing to say, there was no need to see the Duchess today. Sophia dressed without much care and took her meal.
‘If I’m hungry, I can’t be that miserable.’
The maid who brought her dinner watched her carefully.
‘The servants know by now. I can see the pity in their eyes.’
She wasn’t troubled by having ruined her debut entirely. Rather, she worried about the aftermath—about how Prince Robert might respond.
She knew that the Duchess, Philip, and Isabel had been ignoring her. Especially Isabel, who had barely looked at her once during the entire debut.
‘She wouldn’t even meet my eyes at dinner.’
As a lady-in-waiting, it wasn’t truly unusual to be ignored by the daughter of a Border baron, though it was possible. She told herself that much.
‘What nonsense. Of course she ignored me. I know exactly why they brought me along. I sensed something was wrong from the moment she started talking about guests and made me vanish.’
A bitter laugh escaped her. Thinking of how Prince Robert might now react, she tormented herself, and troubling details from Wiscom Manor suddenly surfaced unbidden in her mind.
Sophia began to wonder whether keeping her distance from the Wiscom household had actually been a mistake. She spoke to herself mockingly.
“I should have clung to the Wiscom relatives and the household members who were starting to avoid me—been an annoyance to them. Why did I have to maintain my pride?”
Because they hadn’t wanted her, she’d decided she didn’t need them. Poor, independent, having overcome difficulties on her own—she’d taken pride in that.
That had been the pride of poor Ariel.
“None of it matters. None of it.”
Sophia felt a sudden doubt: was that really pride at all?
‘Was it truly pride, or was it insecurity all along?’
With that thought, she retreated to bed out of a sense of duty. Sophia was angry—at herself and at the Wiscom household—but she wouldn’t punish her own body for it.
She closed her eyes and let her mind wander.
‘At least the Debutante is settled. Once I go back to being Ariel, I won’t have to worry about it anymore.’
But it was a far more grievous miscalculation than she knew.

***

The following morning, Sophia rose early, completed her toilette, and took a walk through the garden—partly to pass the time before it would be proper to visit Pine, and partly because she’d been cooped up in her room for days and needed air.
The confinement had begun to wear on her.
Philip emerged from the far entrance of the garden, heading straight toward her.
Finding him in the garden at such an hour could mean only one thing—he had been waiting for her. His expression carried a faint shadow of concern.
“I’ve worried about you these past few days. You haven’t shown your face.”
Sophia’s mouth twisted into a bitter smile.
“As you know, I’ve been trying to avoid the household members. Surely you understand.”
Philip quickly dropped the worried expression, speaking lightly instead.
“Is that so? I see.”
“That’s a better look. Honestly, now that I’m no longer of use to you, there’s no need to put on a mask, is there?”
“True. So you’re planning to leave Wiscom Manor, then?”
“No. I’ll stay until the agreed date. You’ve made such excellent use of me—enduring a brief debt to you is nothing. Besides, I don’t know when I’ll be able to return to the Capital. I should make myself useful while I still can.”
With that, Sophia moved to pass him. Philip called after her.
“Sophia!”
She turned, and Philip spoke.
“I’ll try to minimize the damage you suffer.”
A hollow laugh escaped her.
“Damage? What damage are you talking about? Gossip? Pity? Mockery? Or perhaps you mean Prince Robert? Do you truly think Prince Robert would listen to a friend who deceived him? Whether he’s hurt or severs ties with you entirely hardly matters—Wiscom won’t face his vengeance anyway. And it doesn’t seem like you carry any influence with Prince Robert anymore. Don’t try to take credit for something that’s worthless.”
Sophia turned away. Philip stood frozen, watching her go.
She thought of the damage he’d mentioned. From the beginning, she was never the goal. She was merely a tool.
‘The target was Prince Robert.’
Would Prince Robert really punish her, as Philip had suggested?
‘I wish he’d come to quarrel with me instead. Ariel couldn’t bear it. Taking Ariel from Father would be too cruel.’
A sigh escaped her.
“All of this over a Debutante.”
She had defied her father and brother to join Isabel’s Debutante, meaning to ease their worries—only to heap far greater troubles upon them.
Standing in the garden, Sophia gazed up at Wiscom Manor. Viewed from this distance, the house seemed to tower even larger.
Living so far from the Capital, in the distant Borderlands, Sophia had never truly grasped the magnitude of the Wiscom household. Her father and brother had warned her repeatedly, and now she understood why she hadn’t listened.
“My mother’s sister, they said? Now I understand why Mother and Father never spoke of their maternal relatives. They weren’t just being shy—they were being selective. What’s so remarkable about a Duke’s daughter? Remarkable enough, certainly, with princes circling her. I may not be able to topple Wiscom, but I can at least bite them.”
She turned from her bitter glare at the manor. Servants moved about the garden for cleaning. Only in her heart did she swear a modest revenge. She plucked a flower and cast it to the ground.
Then, almost at once, she bent and retrieved it.
“I’ll keep it in my room instead.”
‘If only I could cure this timid, wasteful nature of mine, revenge would be swift.’
She thought it might be harder to change her own character than to exact vengeance on Wiscom.
‘Good heavens. How did a chance Debutante spiral into all this? Will Prince Robert resent me? Grow angry with me?’
Reasoned judgment would say it was not her fault at all.
‘If one judges rationally.’
But could a wounded man think rationally? Recalling the conversation she’d had with Prince Robert after the Escort, she found herself doubting whether his injury was truly so deep. Something about it didn’t quite add up.
‘If anything, he seemed more wounded after meeting with Philip.’
His subsequent departure, leaving her behind, had been extraordinarily rude. Incomparably so, even by the standards of their casual address.
‘It’s possible Philip deliberately provoked him.’
When she returned from her walk, word came that the Duchess of Wiscom wished to see her. Sophia made her way to the parlor where she had waited that first day upon arriving at the manor.

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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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