To the Love Born in the Lowest Place

“But I can only love you, Emmett.”

“…Have you met other men besides me?”

At those words, Liv rolled her eyes for a moment and answered.

“Like Count Hamelsvoort…”

“…That means no.”

“But still, I can’t help but love you, Your Grace. It might be hard to believe, but it’s true!”

Liv tried to protest clumsily, fearing that her feelings would be treated as a mere whim, but Emmett didn’t seem to listen to her opinion.

“Anyway, Miss Liv, I rejected the engagement, but I don’t dislike you.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“…My promise to help you by your side still stands.”

As Liv quietly blinked, Emmett spoke in an elegant and aristocratic manner with his eyes lowered.

“I want to teach you the etiquette of noble society at banquets in the future and dance with you. Will you allow me?”

“Of course.”

Liv’s face was filled with joy as she answered Duke Lartman’s words.

The Hamelsvoort couple must have also been satisfied after hearing this, right? But why were they trying to engage Liv and Duke Lartman?

Child, humans are evil beings who only know their own interests.

‘While loving me, a human.’

You were born in the lowest place.

The gods began to pour out words of love to Liv again, but Liv ignored their words as always.

“Ah, right. I’ll return your coat.”

“Alright, Miss Liv.”

Emmett, who had been staring at Liv, opened his mouth.

“Then can I go as your partner to the next banquet?”

“Yes, of course.”

Liv answered with a bright smile.

“I can do anything for you, Emmett.”

* * *

After that, Emmett really accompanied Liv as a partner to every banquet she attended. At the banquets, he only talked to Liv and danced with her. Emmett’s pace had somehow become close to Liv’s, and Liv’s intonation had become close to Emmett’s. The time spent together, hoping that he might come to love her, felt so beautiful, brilliant, and precious to Liv.

The Hamelsvoort couple was very satisfied with Liv’s situation. They bought Liv even more expensive clothes and accessories and had the maids dress her up lavishly.

“Sister, Duke Lartman wasn’t as scary as I thought.”

“Yeah, I told you.”

Even Hildegard acknowledged how kind his attitude was towards Liv. That day, Liv was also sticking close to Emmett, listening to his explanation of the Empire’s etiquette.

At that moment, the voices of noble young men whispering next to them could be heard.

“Why is the Emperor’s hound interested in a woman for a change?”

“Shh, he’ll hear you.”

“He doesn’t care about this level of talk anyway.”

It seemed to be about Emmett, so Liv watched Emmett’s reaction. However, Emmett didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Miss Liv, what’s wrong?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing.”

When they showed no reaction, the noble young men became even more engrossed in their conversation. At first, they criticized Emmett Lartman for being interested in a fake Saintess, but the conversation flowed in an unexpected direction.

“Haah, what’s the problem with the Duke anyway? He’s just following His Majesty’s orders.”

“I know, right? When will that tyrant step down? I don’t know exactly what kind of person the Crown Princess is, but she’ll be better than that tyrant.”

At that moment, Emmett’s expression froze coldly as if all the treasures he cherished had been shattered. He strode over to the young men and silently looked down at them with a shadowed face. Because they were shorter than him, they looked terrified as if feeling overwhelmed.

“What did you just say?”

“What? What did you hear?”

“Didn’t you just utter words insulting the imperial family?”

“What are you talking about? You must have heard wrong.”

“Yes, we never had such a conversation.”

When the noble young men collectively made excuses, Emmett’s expression gradually hardened. From their perspective, they knew about the Emperor’s hound, so it was a way to survive, but Emmett Lartman had no intention of leaving alone those who spoke impurely about the one he had pledged his sword to. If they continued to deny it, Emmett was determined to push them to the end and get a confession.

At that time, Liv intervened to help Emmett.

“I heard it too. You said ‘tyrant’.”

“What are you…”

At Liv’s words, the men’s faces turned pale. They didn’t expect the usually quiet Liv to add her words. If there were two people who heard their words, evidence would be secured, and they might even be charged with insulting the imperial family.

Seeing Emmett’s face, which was even angrier than before, the men bowed their heads deeply and began to tremble. There was no one in this high society who didn’t know about the other side of this kind and sincere-looking young man. They thought they were just teasing him a little, but they didn’t expect to touch upon the value he held most dear.

“P-Please forgive us just this once! We were rash!”

“Yes, it’s our fault for uttering bad rumors!”

Then Emmett sighed and approached them even closer. The smile had completely disappeared from his face, and an intense murderous intent emanated from him, as if it would look like blue flames if visible.

“If I hear that word one more time, I will immediately report to His Majesty and execute you on the spot. Understood?”

“Yes, yes!”

While Emmett was warning the young men, the noble ladies who usually antagonized Liv looked at her with even sharper eyes. When Liv’s gaze met theirs with a puzzled look, they abruptly turned their heads away.

Regardless of Liv’s intention, it was clearly a snitching behavior from the perspective of the bystanders. After she nearly put the noble young men in danger, the hostility of the members of high society towards Liv grew day by day.

* * *

“Miss Liv, you’re here?”

“Come and sit down quickly!”

‘What is this?’

Liv looked around with a dumbfounded face. However, the noble ladies sitting in their seats were welcoming Liv with delighted faces.

It was strange enough that Liv was attending the Schwartz family’s tea party, which she had never been invited to since being rumored as the ‘Fake Saintess,’ but it was even stranger that the ladies were welcoming her. She had come out because her daily life of lying in bed at home would be the same anyway, but was there a trap set up?

Hildegard, who arrived with Liv, also had a clueless expression.

“Hildegard, you sit down too! Miss Liv, over here.”

Miss Schwartz, who hosted the tea party, guided them to their seats, and Liv sat down as directed. And…

“Huh?”

Startled by the unpleasant and squishy feeling under her feet, Liv hurriedly lifted her foot. Liv’s eyes widened as she lifted the tablecloth to check what she had just stepped on. Because what was there was…

“A rat?”

The corpse of a crushed rat was placed under Liv’s feet.

“Hmm…”

Liv pondered for a moment as she looked at it. Why on earth was there a dead rat here? The noble ladies would make a fuss if they saw it. Should she pretend not to know, or should she say there might be rats living somewhere in this family’s mansion?

Then Liv realized they were staring at her with interested eyes. They acted as if they already knew what she had stepped on.

‘These people put it there.’

It seemed that the bullying towards Liv was now taking an even more malicious turn. It was something that ordinary noble ladies might be startled by if they saw a large rat for the first time.

However, since Liv, who saw humans and animals as the same and equal, didn’t show any surprise and just stared blankly at the rat, they seemed disappointed. Instead, they started to add their words one by one to Liv.

“Oh my, suddenly a rat’s corpse appears, what an ominous thing is this?”

“And it had to be at Miss Liv’s seat…”

“Could it be some kind of omen?”

They giggled as if wanting to portray Liv as an ominous being. In the somewhat childish play, Liv didn’t say anything in response.

At that moment, Hildegard stood up from her seat.

“Sister, let’s switch seats.”

“Huh?”

As Liv stood still, Hildegard pulled her and sat in Liv’s seat instead. The faces of the noble ladies who saw that turned pale.

“No, why is Miss Hildegard…”

“I’m not really afraid of rats.”

Hildegard spoke in a nonchalant voice. The fact that the noble ladies overlooked was that both Liv and Hildegard came from lowly origins. Hildegard wasn’t afraid of rats at all either, and she disliked such low-quality pranks.

“The others might be scared, so I’ll sit in this seat.”

“No, let’s call the servants to clean it up.”

When she even mentioned the rat and embarrassed them, Miss Schwartz had no choice but to back down with her tail between her legs.

Although Hildegard was of commoner origin, they were citizens of the Holy Hilysid Empire and devout believers of the Holy Church from birth. They had no choice but to respect and follow Saintess Hildegard.

After the tea party ended, on the way back in the carriage together, Hildegard opened her mouth.

“…Sister, this kind of bullying might increase in the future.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re close to Duke Lartman.”

“How is that a problem?”

“The others will be jealous of you.”

Hildegard spoke with a face that seemed completely disgusted by high society.

“There were more than a few who tried to form a connection with the Lartman Duchy, but Duke Lartman rejected them all. But you succeeded in staying by his side.”

“He only allowed me to be by his side…?”

At those words, Liv blushed shyly again, and Hildegard sighed as she looked at her sister who seemed to have no caution at all.

“Haah… Anyway, you have to be careful from now on.”

“Okay.”