Love Feud (2)

The expression of the Noble Lady, who had been sitting across from Ethan and chatting happily, quickly stiffened. It didn’t take long for her to notice the drink poured over the top of her head.

“Kya, kyaaaak?!”

The unnamed Noble Lady, who belatedly felt the sticky liquid running down her face, covered her head with her hands and stood up, but a pungent alcoholic scent was already wafting from the top of her head.

“Li, Lily…?”

And Ethan, equally flustered by my actions, his eyes trembling.

My actions, which differed from the original plan of me simply chasing away the Noble Lady who was ignorantly throwing herself at him and then having a verbal spat with Ethan, had him equally flustered.

‘It’s a bit different from the original plan, but I guess I’ll just go with this.’

At the point where I had already overturned the drink glass in my hand onto the Noble Lady’s head, ‘gently’ chasing her away became impossible. The only saving grace was that I poured white wine instead of red wine, so her clothes weren’t stained.

Thinking that if I poured the remaining red wine glass as well, I wouldn’t be able to handle the aftermath, I just drank the contents of the other glass.

‘It looks strangely orange for a red wine… but it’s probably all the same.’

As I stood there with an empty glass in each hand, the unnamed Noble Lady, who had alcohol poured over her head, glared at me… Ugh, it’s annoying, so I’ll just call her the White Wine Noble Lady from now on.

Anyway, the White Wine Noble Lady, reeking of white wine from the top of her head, glared at me and snapped in a sharp voice.

“W-what are you doing?!”

“What.”

“……’What,’ you say?”

“Oh, you understood well.”

Just a moment ago, I had only seen the White Wine Noble Lady’s profile, but facing her head-on, the pig tripe she had pushed towards Ethan earlier stood out even more on her face.

You bitch. Even if I set the stage for her to seduce him, she should know her limits. What the hell is she doing trying to slobber all over someone else’s property?

No, Ethan isn’t *my* property, but still.

‘Why is my head so hot…? Is it because of the alcohol…?’

Even so, Lily’s body shouldn’t be as weak to alcohol as Agnes or Natalie. No matter how strong wine is, it’s all pretty much the same, and what kind of wine would be strong enough to get someone drunk after just one glass?

But were there really strong alcoholic wines? I didn’t see the name of the alcohol when I just grabbed it, but I think it said something with a brand name.

Anyway, thinking there was no way I was drunk from wine, I casually wiped my mouth and met the gaze of the White Wine Noble Lady in front of me. After all, to start a full-blown love feud with Ethan, I had to get rid of this lady first.

“Th-this, what rudeness is this?! H-how can you pour a drink on someone’s head and be so brazen…!”

“Oh, sorry. My hand slipped by mistake.”

“M-mistake?! You call that a mistake?!”

“Of course, it’s a mistake. Just like it was a mistake for you to shove your pig-asshole-like lips at Ed, this is also a mistake. Isn’t it?”

“Pig’s ass… H-have you said all you want to say?!”

Why is the repertoire for noblewomen’s arguments always the same, no matter where you go? I almost let out a yawn at the predictable, stale expressions.

Still, my original plan to spread rumors about the discord between Ethan and me was going well in every way. The gazes converging on me amidst this commotion were so strong I could feel them from all directions without even needing to turn my head.

I feel bad for the White Wine Bitch who unintentionally became a sacrifice, but since she was the one who first pulled that trashy stunt on Ethan, it was ultimately her karma.

“Shut your trap. The smell of pig shit is reeking.”

“Don’t slander me! W-what’s with your foul mouth from earlier anyway?! How can you call people ‘shit’… ‘f-feces’ or ‘m-mouth’! Aren’t you ashamed as a Noble Lady who doesn’t even uphold basic etiquette?!”

“Then, is it considered polite to babble about whose breasts are firmer or whatever to a man who clearly belongs to someone else?”

“…Ha! So that’s what it was. You didn’t even know what kind of place this exchange meeting was from the start and were just dragged here! Well, with such a dirty personality, it’s no wonder your fiancé showed his face at an exchange meeting like this.”

I actually knew. That this exchange meeting was overtly created for a one-night stand for these somewhat lacking noble men and women, and that a somewhat vulgar approach was more attractive for seducing someone.

Saying something like ‘If I take off my dress, it’s surprisingly amazing’ directly in front of a man they liked, or a noble young master telling a Noble Lady, ‘My specialty is horseback riding, and I can ride a horse for six hours a day,’ was considered a somewhat softened way to appeal to their charm. Some overly aggressive ones, like that woman just now, would even throw themselves physically at someone.

In that sense, what that White Wine Bitch did to Ethan wasn’t exactly an unacceptable act at the exchange meeting, but my anger wasn’t really for that reason in the first place.

I was planning to let her seduce Ethan for the sake of the plan, but that mouth of hers, just.

To Ethan, goddammit. She just had to shove that thing at him.

…For some reason, my head just won’t clear. Maybe it’s because I got too immersed and excited.

“I can understand why Blackwood Prince would get tired of a woman like you. What good is being pretty and having big breasts when the etiquette and personality a Noble Lady should possess are a mess?

I heard the Rosewood Family is merely a Baronet family, and it’s laughable for a mere Baronet’s Noble Lady to act as the fiancée of the Blackwood Ducal Family….”

-Clang!

“Kyaaaaaak?!”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t hear you. Would you babble that again? Just as you said, I’m from a family with no roots and wasn’t taught proper etiquette, so I can’t control my emotions very well, you see?”

Startled by the broken glass right beneath her feet, the White Wine Noble Lady took a slight step back, and I still had one more empty glass in my hand.

“So why try to touch another person’s man’s lips? If you had just backed off, I wouldn’t have gone this far. Why did you have to shove that filthy mouth, goddammit, onto mine?”

“Ha, wh-who do you think would be scared by something like this?! And I can’t understand why Blackwood Prince’s lips are yours, of all things!

It seems you’ve managed to hide your violent nature well until now, but now there are so many people here to prove your ill-mannered personality! Perhaps Blackwood Prince will take this opportunity to break off his engagement with you….”

“You ask why Ed’s lips are mine? Should I show you why?”

-Thump!

“Hmph?!”

In response to the drunk bitch’s demand to know whose lips Ethan’s were, I pulled Ethan’s body, which was beside me, towards myself, and openly pressed my lips against his right in front of the drunk bitch.

-Chwup, chwup.

“Ugh, ha, haaah…”

Fearing she might claim it was just a peck if our lips only touched, I openly engaged in a deep kiss, intertwining our tongues.

Swallowing Ethan’s lips with my own, licking Ethan’s lips with the tip of my tongue, an explicit kiss, openly exchanging the saliva and breath gathered in our mouths.

Fortunately, Ethan also understood my intention and wrapped his arms around me, actively embracing my lips, and the Noble Lady’s expression, which I glimpsed out of the corner of my eye, stiffened in real-time.

After demonstrating for about a minute, the chattering drunk bitch’s mouth fell silent, and Ethan’s and my lips were slick with sticky saliva.

“Lily, it smells a bit strong. Could what you just drank not have been wine, but bran-.”

“There, you saw it, right? Whose lips Ed’s are now.”

“…….”

“If you understood, get lost right now. If you ever shove that pig-asshole-like mouth at Ed again, I’ll make you eat pig shit.”

The Noble Lady, whose expression had frozen in bewilderment, quickly regained her composure, and hurried away from Ethan and me as if fleeing.

“F-fine! If I exchange even one more word with a violent woman like you, my own etiquette will be questioned! Y-you two can just do whatever you want, whether you ‘soak’ or ‘suck’ each other for the rest of your lives!!”

“W-what….”

‘Soak or suck’ each other for the rest of our lives…? She definitely just said that, right?

Was she not that bad of a person after all? Maybe I was a bit too harsh on someone who didn’t know the situation. Still, for a non-virgin, she seems like a good kid.

After the unnamed Noble Lady disappeared with some incomprehensible well wishes, I immediately felt all sorts of gazes converging on Ethan and me from all around.

‘…Ah, right, the plan.’

It was a bit… no, a lot different from the original plan, but I had somehow succeeded in drawing reactions from the surroundings and focusing attention. My impulsive actions caused more commotion than intended, but as long as the outcome was good, it was all fine.

Now, from this state, after Ethan and I act out a love feud, if I just become temporarily isolated, all preparations will be complete….

“…….”

“Lily?”

“…….”

“Your face is red, are you perhaps drunk-.”

-Whoosh!

“D-don’t come any closer!”

Damn it. What’s wrong with me all of a sudden?

My head already felt like it wasn’t working properly since I downed that glass of wine earlier, so having Ethan’s face suddenly appear in front of me was extremely disorienting.

‘It’s probably even more so because it’s right after we just kissed…’

Even though it was to prove the relationship between Ethan and me to the White Wine Noble Lady, perhaps such an open kiss was a bit too much.

No, to be honest, I didn’t really care how it looked to other people. I was just embarrassed to face Ethan’s face in many ways.

But I couldn’t help it, could I? She was the one who brazenly shoved her lips at Ethan first, and there was no way I could just keep enduring it.

If I had made a mistake, I might have suddenly lost Ethan’s lips to a woman whose name I didn’t even know and who might not even have existed in the game….

“……Ah.”

Right, that’s it. Now that I think about it, I had something to say to Ethan.

My flushed face quickly cooled as if I had been exposed to cold air, and my now calm mind analyzed the near-accident that had just occurred.

“Ed.”

“Yes, Lily.”

“Just a moment, I have something to ask you.”

“…What is it?”

“Earlier, when that lady shoved her lips at Ed while I wasn’t there…”

“……Mm.”

“……At that time, why didn’t you avoid it and just stand still?”

I wasn’t really asking because I was genuinely curious.

I just thought that starting with this topic, rather than the pre-planned conversation subject, would be more effective in plausibly fostering discord between Ethan and me.

“Lily? What are you suddenly talking about-.”

“…Answer me seriously, Ed.”

It was simply just that kind of question.