After returning to the mansion, Charlotte strictly scolded herself for acting so foolish.

Since the two beastkin girls had become a lot healthier, she decided it was time to give them a little lesson on self defense and then slowly advance as they went while unconsciously letting out her frustration, resulting in the two beastkin girls witnessing another side of her that would be difficult to forget.

She needed to prepare them for what was to come in the next few years and wouldn’t always be able to stay by their side. As expected, since they had beastkin blood flowing through their veins, their strength and stamina was far superior to that of a human.

The two weeks passed by without a hitch and it was Charlotte’s birthday.

For the past few days, the mansion had become livelier and Charlotte herself barely had any free time.

Finally, night arrived. The guests came in and it was time for her debut into the noble society.

As she gazed down from above, Charlotte tightly gripped the hem of her dress.

“Lotte, you really have grown. If only Freya could see you now.”

Duke Adrian was a bit emotional at the moment. Freya was Charlotte’s birth mother, but she had passed away when she was only 5 years old, or so she found out later from the servants’ gossips. As a single parent, she didn’t know how he truly felt, but one thing was for sure, he loved her with all his heart and she felt proud to be his daughter and guilty at the same time.

Duke Adrian wiped away the tear that hung on the corner of his eye. He reached out his hand and placed a necklace around her neck.

“Although I don’t know if this is exactly what you wanted, this used to belong to your mother.”

Charlotte looked at the pendant hanging around her neck. It was a deep red gem in the shape of a tear drop and was decorated beautifully with silver. She sweetly smiled and replied “It is even better. Thank you, father.”

She didn’t remember anything about her mother, or actually, she wasn’t even the real Charlotte. But in her previous life, she only had her grandfather, and having experienced the love of a father was plenty for her.

He smiled back at her. It was time. Duke Adrian began his speech, and then it was her turn to speak. She was a bit nervous, but she had prepared herself in advanced. The speech ended without any incidents.

Afterwards, other nobles began to congratulate her one by one. But thanks to the training she received from her etiquette teacher and her natural talent for acting, nothing seemed out of place even though it was a fake smile. By the time that was finished, her mouth felt completely cramped.

Duke Adrian seemed to still be preoccupied by the numerous guests congratulating him, but when she saw that most of them were young women, she let out a stiff laugh.

“Father is still young after all.”

And single at the moment. But it doesn’t look like he’ll be remarrying any time soon, if not at all.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself.”

A joking voice came from her right. Charlotte turned to look at the owner of that voice and let out a sigh “Please do not joke with me right now, I feel exhausted, Leo.”

He laughed back at her “Oh, it looks like you aren’t keeping up the façade in front of me.”

Charlotte laughed back at him with one hand over her chest and the other holding a glass of juice “Speak to yourself. Also, I do not feel the need to.”

He chuckled, then made a polite bow as he handed her a bouquet of flowers. “Happy 10th birthday, Lady Charlotte.”

“Why, thank you very much.”

Music began to play and the people began to dance. Leo reached out his hand, she accepted and the two began to dance.

“Thank you for this dance.” Not soon after the song ended, both Leo and Charlotte were surrounded by people. On Leo’s side were both adults as boys and girls and on Charlotte’s side were both girls and boys at a young age.

(And here I thought I was already finished…)

It wasn’t until the next song played that she was freed. Whenever she saw someone approach her and if it was a boy who would ask for a dance, she would skillfully slip into the crowd and escape.

After speaking with her father, Charlotte decided to slip outside to the front garden. Iris and Lilly were working inside to hide from nobles’ eyes and she was feeling a bit lonely and bored. While strolling around aimlessly, she suddenly stopped in her tracks when she heard the voices of several young girls.

(The heck is it now?)

She stealthily walked in the direction of the voices. It was somewhere in middle of the rose garden where the fountain was. Hiding behind the bushes, Charlotte frowned when she got a clear look at their faces.

(Those are….definitely Marionette and her two underlings.)

*A/n: whoopsy~ i forgot this part.

She could recognize them immediately even in the dark thanks to their flashy appearance.

(Then the one there should be…Leila.)

Dressed in blue, blue hair and blue eyes. there was no mistake about it.

For now, she decided to listen in on their conversation and if things got out of hand, she would step in. as the host of the party, she needed to take responsibility for her guests.