Our Hestia Has Changed – 1

That night, Hestia felt something was wrong.

‘In the end, we never spent time alone together!’

Hadn’t her time alone with Mikhail disappeared, caught up in helping choose Lily’s gift? Thinking about it, these incidents seemed to be happening suspiciously often lately. Without deliberately making plans for just the two of them on weekends, there always seemed to be someone else tagging along. Usually Cordelia, or Cordelia, or occasionally Lily.

Moreover, today was one of those rare opportunities to meet alone. They did arrange to meet tomorrow instead, so it was just shifting the date, but that fact didn’t register in Hestia’s mind. Then she realized – if it weren’t for Lily, they could have met both today AND tomorrow!

Eventually, her anger spilled over onto Mikhail. He claimed to like her, promised never to abandon her, yet he kept showing interest in other women and didn’t push them away, which is why these situations kept happening.

She needed a solution. Some special method to make Mikhail look only at her.

Hestia thought of someone. Yes. She would meet with her before tomorrow’s appointment. Wouldn’t she provide some solution?

“So that’s why you came looking for me?”

Seria barely managed to open her sleepy eyes. Normally, this would be the time she’d be rolling around in bed, but after hearing Hestia’s words, Seria had jumped up immediately.

She and Hestia had become quite close by now. Close enough to consult about such difficult concerns. They even spoke informally to each other. Seria had begged Hestia to drop the formal speech, but she couldn’t break Hestia’s resolve, who still used formal speech even with Cordelia whom she’d known for over 10 years.

Anyway, Seria thought that if someone as kind and considerate as Hestia was looking for her on a weekend morning, it must be extremely important. That’s why she came out despite the sudden summons at this hour. However, the story that came from Hestia’s mouth was a bit different from what Seria had expected.

“Seria, you have plenty of dating experience, right? Please help me.”

Dating experience? Seria said nothing and twirled her finger through her hair. Rich in male experience? She needed to say something sensible. How much experience could a noble young lady, who had just entered the Academy, especially the daughter of an insignificant baronial family, possibly have? She pondered what answer she should give.

The wealthy Hestia didn’t know. In a poor baronial family, daughters were simply items for securing quick cash through arranged marriages, nothing more, nothing less. What owner would sit idly by while their asset damaged itself? Naturally, Seria too had absolutely no dating experience to speak of.

When she was very young, she had once fallen for the captain of the local militia who was 15 years her senior. Don’t young girls often admire older men? But that crush died instantly when, at the age of 10, she saw his yellowed teeth and the lice dancing in his hair.

The reason he was a militia captain rather than an impressive knight captain was because her territory couldn’t afford even a single knight, let alone knights plural. Knights were veritable money-devouring monsters. Keeping multiple such monsters would be economic suicide. Having even one knight was already a struggle.

The reason she had pretended to be so flirtatious was because it was her first and last chance for rebellion. Back in her territory, there weren’t any suitable men, and even if there had been, her parents wouldn’t have allowed it. After graduating from the Academy, she would immediately be sold off in an arranged marriage as a remarriage partner to some older man.

So now—when she could somewhat escape her parents’ eyes, when there were plenty of decent men around, and when there was no marriage pressure yet—this was her last chance. That’s how Seria’s rebellion began.

She learned to wear flashy accessories and altered her uniform. She learned to apply makeup. Fortunately or unfortunately, Seria had no qualms about acting like a flirtatious woman. If she had, she wouldn’t have thought of enjoying a pre-marriage rebellion in the first place.

But there was one issue she had overlooked.

‘Why is no one approaching me!’

More precisely, there were no decent men among those who did approach. It was only natural. Decent men typically wouldn’t approach a woman who was openly promiscuous, colloquially speaking, one who appeared “loose.” The men who did approach her were all, without exception, immoral individuals who wanted to have a good time and then discard her.

Seria wanted to freely date decent men, not recklessly tarnish her body. In conclusion, her strategy had failed from the start. She had pretended to be an experienced woman thinking it would make dating easier, but few men actually wanted to date a woman with extensive experience. Instead, she only attracted women like the current Hestia, who misunderstood and came seeking advice.

‘I should tell her! That I’m just acting based on things I’ve seen, and I don’t actually know anything!’

Seria looked at Hestia’s sparkling eyes. Those clear, pure eyes looking up at her with admiration.

“I suppose I do have experience. What’s troubling you?”

In the end, Seria gave in to Hestia. Instead of apologizing for her lie, what came out of her mouth was another lie asking Hestia to share her concerns. She couldn’t bring herself to betray Hestia’s expectations.

‘It’s not like there’s a right answer to this anyway. It’s fine. I’m sure I can handle whatever problem she has.’

“Well, the thing is…”

Hestia spilled everything she had thought about last night. There seemed to be a problem in her relationship with Mikhail lately. They kept ending up spending time with other people instead of just the two of them, and he was being nice to women other than her.

Seria, listening quietly, nodded her head. Of course, she was thinking something entirely different inside.

‘Was she always like this?’

It wasn’t like Seria didn’t know Mikhail; she saw his face every time they had club activities. And whenever Seria saw Mikhail, she would frown. It wasn’t that she disliked him. If asked whether she liked or disliked him, she would lean more toward liking. It was just that watching Mikhail express affection for Hestia made her eyes sore.

In Seria’s view, decent men like Mikhail were rare. No, nonexistent. He was handsome, and didn’t have any particularly rough edges. Contrary to rumors, his personality was also fine. People said he was cold and blunt like a doll, but from what she could tell, he could speak normally and knew how to smile.

Above all, didn’t he only have eyes for Hestia? To Seria, who had grown up watching parents without mutual affection or love, Mikhail, who showered such tremendous affection on his fiancée, might as well have been a fictional being. Unicorn, dragon, and Mikhail. In Seria’s mind, the three were equally rare creatures.

‘Is this some new form of bragging?’

But Hestia’s expression didn’t waver. She truly held Seria’s hands tightly with a look that begged for help.

“Please help me make Mikhail look only at me.”

Seria sighed. This is serious.

“Fine, I’ll give it a try.”

Hestia went to the meeting place, carrying Seria’s advice close to her heart. She was burning with confidence.

“Oh, she’s not here yet?”

Mikhail arrived at the meeting place, the fountain in front of the school. Hestia, of course, had arrived first. She was just hiding.

Seria’s first piece of advice: Make him yearn for you. In a relationship, the person who gets anxious first inevitably becomes the subordinate. Hestia suppressed her desire to rush out, greet him brightly, and give him a hug. She failed to realize that by seeking such advice in the first place, she was already the anxious one, already the subordinate.

What if he just leaves? What if he starts to dislike me? Should I just go out now? After what felt like an eternity but was only 5 minutes, Hestia, who had been pacing nervously, ran over to Mikhail. Originally, Seria’s advice was to go slowly, a little later than the appointed time, acting as if being late wasn’t a big deal, but Hestia couldn’t bring herself to do that.

“Have you been waiting long?”

“No, I just got here too.”

It wasn’t like she was late for the appointment; it was exactly the scheduled time. Mikhail didn’t think much of it. He smiled and greeted her.

But his reaction made Hestia’s heart ache. He smiled and greeted her brightly even though she was late. Am I supposed to keep doing this from now on? It’s too hard!

“Let’s go.”

As they walked down the street, Mikhail naturally complimented Hestia’s style.

“Hestia, you tied your hair up. Who did it for you?”

“I did it myself. How is it?”

To be precise, Hestia had help from Seria, but it wasn’t exactly a lie. Seria’s second advice: Create a different image from usual. Following her advice, she tied her hair back like last time, wore a different perfume borrowed from Seria, and borrowed a few accessories. Surprisingly, Seria’s jewelry box contained many modest designs.

“It’s pretty. Sniff sniff You’re wearing different perfume too. Now that I look closely, your necklace is different from usual. It all suits you well.”

“Th-thank you.”

This isn’t right. Hestia felt happy at Mikhail’s compliments but simultaneously felt her plan falling apart. Originally, Seria’s plan was to use it as leverage to take control if he didn’t notice the changes…

Surprisingly, Mikhail got everything right, down to the smallest detail. The necklace was one thing, but Hestia was flustered that he even noticed her changed makeup style, which she hadn’t expected.

What was next? Don’t listen to everything Mikhail says, play hard to get and make him desperate?

“What should we do? How about shopping?”

“Sounds good!”

Ah, that’s not what I meant to say. Hestia regretted her instinctive positive response. But shopping with Mikhail! How could she turn that down? Come to think of it, this would be the first time they went shopping alone together. Hestia’s heart raced at the thought of wearing clothes that Mikhail would choose for her.

“Is it too early to buy summer clothes now?”

“It’s good to buy them in advance, right?”

Mikhail casually took Hestia’s hand. This time, Hestia tried to follow Seria’s advice and pull her hand away, but she hesitated.

‘What if this makes Mikhail dislike me?’

Hestia, who had slightly loosened her grip, squeezed his hand tightly again. That can’t happen. She could endure everything else, but she couldn’t bear the thought of Mikhail abandoning her. She couldn’t experience that emptiness again.

“Hestia, what’s wrong?”

Perhaps because she had squeezed his hand, Mikhail asked. Hestia hid her true feelings and forced a smile, shaking her head.

“I’m just happy.”

Mikhail smiled foolishly at Hestia’s answer. Who’s the one who can’t lie? Here I am, living with my feelings thoroughly hidden. Hestia thought self-deprecatingly.

She deliberately ignored the fact that, apart from being slightly late for their appointment, nothing about her was different from usual.