~Chapter 10~
I was stunned.
“What?!”
My eyes wobbled as if there was an earthquake.
Was I already being rejected?!
But, wait. The atmosphere seemed fine today, didn’t it?
She had smiled several times today!
Right then, the lady declared coldly.
“I can’t make you my temporary friend in such a shabby outfit. This is a matter of my pride.”
“Ah…”
I sighed inwardly.
Of course, my attire didn’t meet the lady’s high standards.
I had always worn dull-colored dresses to make Seraphina stand out.
No matter how much I searched my wardrobe, new dresses wouldn’t magically appear.
But still…
“I… I tried my best to wear something decent when I visited you today…”
“Decent?!”
At my feeble protest, the lady’s eyes flared with fire.
“That dull gray dress is ‘decent’? Even our late grandmother wouldn’t have worn something like that!”
“……”
I couldn’t withstand her intensity and quietly shrank.
But the lady’s anger didn’t end there.
“And your hair!”
“My… my hair?”
“You just let it hang down with no care, looking like a mess!”
“… Is that a problem?”
“Of course! You were born with beautiful, thick hair! Don’t you feel that’s a waste?!”
Her blue eyes sparkled with madness.
“Seriously, is Lady Lopez the only one who gets to look pretty? That’s why people laugh at Lady Ansi! What kind of friend is that?!”
Now, the lady was stomping her feet, shooting fire from her eyes.
“Lady Lopez is obviously making you her sidekick to make herself stand out! It’s so pitiful!”
I was a bit shocked that she could see through Seraphina’s true nature so clearly.
After a while, once she had vented, the lady placed her hand on her forehead and shook her head.
“Hah, what’s the point of having a good appearance if you can’t make use of it?”
I blinked, surprised.
“Really?”
I reflexively asked, and the lady narrowed her eyes and shot me a sideways glance.
“What’s that?”
“You just said my appearance is fine…”
I trailed off, my words faltering.
The lady didn’t even try to hide her disbelief.
“What, now you’re going to self-deprecate again?”
“Ah, no. It’s not like that.”
Seraphina and Gregory had always said to me:
“What kind of ugly lady are you? How dare you wear flashy jewels and dresses? Know your place…”
Ever since realizing the truth of the original story, I knew their words were full of hypocrisy and malice, but…
The words they had ingrained in me were hard to forget.
“Do I really have to say all this for you to understand?”
The lady scolded me as she began counting off on her fingers.
“Lady Ansi has clear skin, a slender body, and balanced features. Her posture is straight and elegant—her upbringing shows.”
She squinted and scolded me further.
“You should at least recognize your own strengths. Only then can you improve them, don’t you think?”
“I… I see.”
I nodded vacantly.
Hearing someone tell me I had strengths was…
‘So this is what it feels like.’
I felt a warm, soft sensation deep in my chest, like being caressed with cotton.
But I couldn’t dwell on these feelings for too long.
“Anyway, we’ve gotten off track.”
The lady crossed her arms firmly and added,
“If you want to be my temporary friend, you’ll need to fix your clothes, your hairstyle, and your habit of self-deprecation!”
She glared at me fiercely.
“You’ll need to fix everything!”
“I’ll… I’ll listen carefully!”
I straightened my posture reflexively.
At that moment, the lady firmly opened her mouth.
“Tomorrow at 10 AM.”
“What?”
“I’ll come to pick you up at the townhouse. Be ready.”
“What?”
… I couldn’t quite keep up with the flow of this conversation.
As I kept repeating “What?” in confusion, the lady clicked her tongue in exasperation.
“What’s wrong? Friends go shopping together and eat delicious food together, right?”
I mean, I did say that, but… so suddenly?
“If you stand me up, I won’t forgive you, got it?”
She reiterated before finally releasing me.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Ah, yes… see you tomorrow.”
I got into the carriage in a daze.
The carriage began to move slowly, and the magnificent townhouse faded into the distance.
“……”
I lowered my gaze.
The sweet fragrance of the roses in my lap wafted up.
I carefully picked up the bouquet and buried my nose in it.
“…It smells nice.”
Somehow, I felt like these roses were just like the lady.
Even though they were surrounded by sharp thorns,
It was easy to forget about them because of the sweet fragrance and soft petals…
A rose that anyone would fall in love with.
Through the large window, I saw Evangeline walking back into the townhouse.
Dietrich, watching from afar, subtly spoke to his sister.
“Eva.”
“Ah, brother.”
Evangeline blinked and looked up at her older brother.
“You’re socializing with a lady your age? Did you finally make a friend?”
“It’s not a friend!”
Evangeline quickly retorted, her cheeks flushed.
“She’s just a temporary friend! You wouldn’t know that!”
“……”
A friend is a friend, isn’t it? What’s a “temporary friend”?
Dietrich looked slightly confused but decided to give his sister some credit for trying to form some kind of relationship.
“By the way, I noticed you seemed quite happy earlier?”
“Happy, what?”
“Your laughter echoed through the garden. Wasn’t that happiness?”
“I just chuckled a little. It wasn’t that loud!”
“I get it, I get it.”
Dietrich waved it off and then raised an eyebrow.
“That lady, Lady Ansi from the Ansi family, right?”
“Why?”
“I heard Lady Ansi is close with Lady Lopez. But you dislike Lady Lopez, don’t you?”
“Well, that’s true…”
Evangeline pouted and quickly turned her head.
“Well, she doesn’t seem as closed off as I thought.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. She talked about her hobbies today, and… it was kind of fun.”
Dietrich was again surprised.
Evangeline, who usually had such a sharp tongue, had called the interaction “fun”?
“Lady Ansi, she listens well. It was easy to talk to her.”
Evangeline continued,
“But Lady Ansi said she didn’t have any hobbies.”
“No hobbies?”
“Yeah, can you believe that? I thought people like her would have something interesting going on.”
She added teasingly,
“So I thought maybe we could try doing something together.”
“I guess she’s a friend after all.”
“She’s not a friend! She’s a temporary friend!”
Evangeline shot her brother a sharp glare at his indifferent response.
