The World Has Become Kinder to Her - Chapter 18

After calming down somewhat, Lotus received from Jane the dozens of invitations and letters addressed to her, along with more than ten bouquets of flowers.

In the past, Lotus had received many invitations, but that was only after she had made a name for herself as the “Queen of the Night” in high society. Before that, she hadn’t been flooded with so many invitations or letters.

*It must be because I was officially recognized as the daughter of the Marquis of Estelle at the banquet last night,* she thought.

The Marquis and Marchioness had introduced her to the other nobles, and even Hession, the future head of the family, had shown her kindness in front of everyone. It was the natural result of such an event.

*Not to mention getting entangled with the likes of Frederick, Kenneth, Theodore, and Rikheus, all well-known in high society…* 

At this point, it would be stranger if nobles weren’t trying to approach her. She had unintentionally left a strong impression at her debutante.

“Throw away the flowers, or you can divide them among yourselves,” Lotus instructed the maids, leaving them to dispose of the bouquets. She only took the invitations and letters. 

Scanning the envelopes, she recognized the names of many prominent families and nobles. After briefly checking the senders, she set most of the letters aside. There were a few unfamiliar names mixed in, but most were from people she knew, and none of them were worth getting involved with.

Only two letters remained.

One was from Theodore William of the William Marquis family, and the other from Rikheus Hycen of the Hycen Duchy.

“This is just…”

It was a tiresome connection.

Having been so entangled with them in the past, she had hoped to keep her distance in this life, knowing them only by name and nothing more. But for some reason, fate was pulling her back into their orbit again in this life.

Lotus hesitated for a long time but couldn’t bring herself to set aside the two letters. Reluctantly, she opened Theodore’s first, as it seemed the less burdensome of the two.

—

*To Lady Estelle,*

*This is my first written greeting. While there are many pleasantries required for such a letter, I hope you will forgive me for omitting them, given that we met in person at the banquet yesterday.*

*I enjoyed the time we spent together and was honored by your choice, though I am concerned to hear that you fell ill shortly after. I feel remorse for not paying more attention to your condition.*

—

The words in Theodore’s letter were graceful and composed.

Having spent much time with him in the past, Lotus could easily imagine his voice gently whispering these words into her mind.

—

*Though I wish to visit and apologize in person and check on your condition, I fear that would be even more intrusive. Thus, I send this letter expressing my concern. I hope you will understand my intentions.*

*I pray for your swift recovery. Should you find yourself bored during your time of rest, may I recommend a few interesting books?*

*The *Heroic Chronicles of the Continent of Armenia*, *The Emergence of Gods*, and *The Power of Faith* are titles I suggest. If any of these pique your interest but are difficult to find, please let me know. I can send someone to lend them to you.*

*Theodore William.*

—

Theodore’s letter was refined and polite, yet something about it made Lotus feel uneasy.

First, the neatly pressed lotus petals inside the envelope. Second, an odd sense she couldn’t quite put her finger on as she read his words.

*Theodore isn’t the kind of man to frivolously add dried flowers to a letter. What does it mean?*

The Theodore she knew was someone who calculated every word, every gesture, every action. If Frederick had sent a letter with flower petals, she could dismiss it as him doing it on a whim. But with Theodore, every detail carried weight and meaning.

*And the contents of the letter itself…*

Lotus muttered to herself, feeling as though she needed a comparison, as she opened Rikheus’s letter.

*…This feels strange.*

Her past interactions with Rikheus had been limited to a single moment—sharing the first dance at her debutante. After that, they hadn’t spoken or exchanged letters. She had developed feelings for him based on that fleeting, gentle moment, without truly knowing him, building an image of him in her mind based on her own desires and hopes.

He had been kind to someone of her lowly birth, showing her a soft smile. She had assumed he was generous and warm-hearted, and had projected those qualities onto him, wanting to believe he was the person she imagined. That was why, when he said something that others would have dismissed as trivial, she had been deeply hurt, her fragile hopes collapsing and driving her to attempt suicide.

On the fine stationery, his neat handwriting read:

—

*To Lady Estelle,*

*It seems the autumn has grown colder after the rites of thanks to Ceres, the goddess of the earth. Soon, the winds will carry even more of the goddess’s chill.*

*Perhaps it’s because this is the first letter I’m writing to you, but I find myself strangely nervous. I’ve picked up and put down my pen many times. If there are any small mistakes in this letter, I hope you will kindly overlook them.*

*At the banquet last night, your beauty stood out above all others.*

—

Lotus quickly skimmed through the rest of his compliments about her appearance, her lips trembling slightly with embarrassment as she hurriedly moved her eyes further down the page.

—

*Although I did not have the honor of dancing with you, I was watching you closely. I was alarmed when you suddenly collapsed. I sincerely hope it was nothing serious and that by now you have fully recovered.*

*If it’s not too forward of me, may I request a visit to the Marquis’s estate to see you, even briefly? I won’t be at ease until I see for myself that you are well. Please let me know when a convenient time would be, and I will make arrangements to visit then. I eagerly await your positive response.*

*Until then, I have sent some roses to brighten your room. If they bring you even a single smile, I would consider it an honor.*

*Rikheus Hycen.*

—

Among the bouquets she had just told the maids to dispose of, one must have been from Rikheus. Lotus briefly considered asking what they had done with it, but then sat back down, realizing there was no point.

*What good would that do?*

Had she not already let go of her feelings for Rikheus?

Yet here she was, feeling a stir of emotion from a simple letter and bouquet. 

If she had received such things from him in the past, she would have been overjoyed. Now, it only filled her with a sense of shame. How pathetic she felt, swayed so easily by trivial gestures. 

*Isn’t this why people in the past called me “a woman obsessed with men”?*

Rikheus Hycen was not the man she had envisioned in her heart. He wasn’t a man with a boundless, ocean-like heart who could accept and embrace everything. He was kind, yes, but ultimately, he was just like everyone else, with the same conventional thoughts and beliefs.

In the past, Lotus had met and been involved with many men, regardless of the reasons. Even if that wasn’t the case in this lifetime, having memories of her previous life meant that she had no intention of approaching Rikheus or getting entangled with him again. That was best for both of them.

Once she calmed her confused emotions, the differences between Rikheus’s letter and Theodore’s became clear.

Theodore’s letter had been perfectly tailored to her, despite being his “first” letter to her. It was polite yet skipped unnecessary pleasantries, maintaining an elegant tone that seemed fitting for her.

*It feels just like the letters he used to send me in the past…*

Could this really be just a coincidence?

Lotus felt an unsettling unease rising in her chest. And what about the books he had subtly recommended? What hidden meaning did they hold?

She would need to look into the books and carefully consider how to respond to both Theodore and Rikheus. With a heavy heart, Lotus carefully set aside both letters.

Having briefly skimmed through the invitations and letters, Lotus busied herself. The Marquis and Marchioness had completed preparations for a new room, and she needed to move once again.

The new bedroom, located on the southern side where sunlight streamed in, was more than twice the size of her previous one and came with a private bathroom, making it incredibly convenient. Considering how quickly it had been prepared, the vanity, bed, and linens were as luxurious as the Marchioness’s own. 

The room was filled with delicate lace and adorned with extravagant floral decorations. Despite the grandeur, Lotus’s expression remained indifferent, while Jane seemed far more excited.

“My lady, the room is so big and beautiful,” Jane exclaimed.

“It is,” Lotus replied, her indifferent voice echoing in the room. Others wouldn’t understand, but in the past, Lotus had grown weary of lavish jewelry, dresses, and opulent surroundings.

The men she had to meet in order to achieve her goals all possessed a certain level of power, and the luxury they surrounded themselves with had no bounds.

*Frederick, in particular, seemed to lack any sense of financial restraint.*

As the eldest son of the Duke of Abran and the future Tower Lord, he had never experienced any scarcity, and his indulgence in luxury was on an entirely different scale.

––*Lottie, Lottie! Remember when you said the glass sculptures at the royal palace were beautiful? Well, I’ve brought some for you.*

––*All of these?*

––*Yup, yup. The royal palace of Doiren Kingdom put in a request with me, so in exchange for fulfilling it, I took about half of their glass sculptures.*

Doiren Kingdom was renowned for its glass artistry. Simply because Frederick wanted to see Lotus’s astonished expression, he had agreed to the royal palace’s request and committed the outrageous act of taking half of their glass collection.

––*Are you satisfied now that you’ve seen my shocked face? What are you going to do with all of this?*

––*Not sure, I’ll have to think about it. Maybe I’ll just smash them since I’ve already gotten what I wanted.*

––*Ugh, stop wasting money. If you’re not going to keep them, donate them to a museum under the names of Doiren Kingdom and the Magic Tower.*

Thanks to Lotus’s patience and her offer of a sensible alternative, the glass sculptures were spared. But that wasn’t the end of it.

––*Here, this is for you. A gift.*

––*An emerald… no, it doesn’t seem like one?*

––*Yup, I knew you’d recognize it. It’s a top-grade mana stone. I received it when I became the Tower Lord, and this one can store a pretty powerful spell. Since you’re as fragile as a kitten, I inscribed a shield spell into it for you.*

The brooch, adorned with a mana stone the size of a sugar candy, was the kind of ornament even the empress would struggle to acquire, with its value being beyond measure.

Top-grade mana stones were so rare that there were fewer than fifty across the entire continent. Moreover, processing such stones required the skill of a wizard ranked among the top ten in the Magic Tower.

Frederick had gifted this precious item to her purely out of curiosity to see how she would react. His expression, watching her expectantly, had been infuriating.

Lotus had begrudgingly accepted the brooch and immediately placed it in a box for safekeeping, with instructions that, upon her death, it be returned to him. 

However, she couldn’t help but wonder if Frederick had ever gotten it back in the end.