Chapter 08
“Ah… my earring…”
Julia, who had finally realized Jerome’s intention, quietly stopped squirming.
Jerome carefully removed the earring with both hands and properly reattached it in its place.
Since speaking was difficult for him, showing through action was faster than words.
“Thank you…”
Julia muttered quietly, looking dazed.
Jerome smiled and lightly tapped her cheek once, indicating that he understood.
“All done? Let’s go now…!”
Snapping back to her senses, Julia pulled down Jerome’s hand, which had lightly touched her cheek, and quickened her pace.
Jerome obediently let himself be dragged along, turning his head to look at the closed door of room 207.
“…”
He had already noticed that someone was inside.
There was much he wanted to say and ask, but she seemed very flustered right now, so it seemed better to find another time to ask her.
After all, asking so many things at once wouldn’t be easy either.
He felt Julia, who was hurrying ahead, turn back to look at him with a puzzled expression.
“Jerome…?”
Jerome met her gaze and flashed his usual innocent smile.
Only then did Julia’s worried expression change to one of relief.
‘If it puts your mind at ease…’
Jerome thought.
He could show her this face countless times without asking a single question.
After the whirlwind graduation party, Julia was busier than ever for a month.
As soon as the final semester ended, a large volume of letters flew into the academy dormitory mailbox, as if they had been waiting.
“Wow… Our Countess Gretel, what’s the big hurry? She sent ten letters in just one week.”
“My father is asking when I’m returning to the estate. What about you, Evan?”
“Mine is just a letter asking how I’m doing.”
“Do you really think that’s just a letter asking how you’re doing? I can clearly see he’s worried you might get into some trouble.”
“Is that so? By the way, Julia, where are all those letters you got from?”
Everyone received a lot of letters, but not as many as Julia.
Julia spread the envelopes out in both hands and muttered in a low voice.
“This one is from the Luivel Imperial Bank, this one is from Shiftga’s management company, and that one is from Miss Ellen’s jewelry company…”
The papers in Julia’s hands were scout offer letters sent directly to her from famous companies within the empire.
Companies that ranked high in the <Tritan Kingdom’s Most Desirable Companies to Work For Survey by Those in Their Twenties> were lining up to send her letters.
Some scheduled interviews without hesitation, and some even sent provisional contracts first, afraid that a competing company might snatch Julia away.
“Yes… This is it, this is it!”
Julia smiled happily as she carried the envelopes into her room.
All that remained was to carefully read each offer letter and choose which company to start her first job at.
The smile didn’t leave her lips.
Finally, everything was turning in order, like perfectly meshed gears.
That’s right.
Soon, the flower path she had wanted – the path to success, a dragon rising from a small stream – was about to unfold before her.
After being cooped up in her room for days, writing replies to each job offer letter, a sudden hunger pangs hit her.
Growl…
Right now, she wanted to shove anything sweet into her mouth.
Julia looked back at Lily, who was comfortably lying down, taking over Julia’s bed, and leisurely reading a book.
“Lily, are you hungry by any chance?”
“Why the sudden question? You’re asking because you’re hungry, right?”
“Hehe, yeah…”
“Okay! I was feeling a bit peckish myself. Stop looking at those for now and let’s go downtown!”
Lily sprang to her feet.
Julia grabbed her wallet lying on the desk and left the room with Lily.
They immediately headed towards Grandpa Willis’s dessert shop.
Grandpa Willis’s famous desserts, rumored to be the most delicious in Mondinium, were popular not only for their taste but also for their beautiful appearance.
“Oooh, that looks delicious…”
“Julia, look at the sheen on those macarons…”
Julia and Lily drooled over the macarons, éclairs, and chiffon cakes visible inside the glass display case of Grandpa Willis’s shop.
They were desserts that always looked incredibly tasty.
Julia picked up a tray and tongs placed right next the counter and started placing the desserts she wanted onto the tray, one by one.
There was an endless array of tempting desserts.
‘I want to try every type of macaron, and I want to shove everything from a chocolate éclair to a matcha éclair into my mouth! Why do they all look so delicious today?’
“Julia, are you really going to eat all of that?”
Startled by Lily’s puzzled voice from beside her, Julia looked down at her tray.
In her frantic rush to pick up every dessert she craved, she had somehow built a massive mountain of desserts on the tray.
“Huh? When did I pick up this many?”
The sudden surge in appetite felt unfamiliar.
But she thought it must be because she had been worrying too much lately, depleting the sugar levels in her brain.
“…I was planning to eat them over time!”
“Are you a squirrel? You know these all have expiration dates, right?”
Lily took the tongs from Julia’s hand and began carefully putting the piled-up desserts back, one by one.
Julia felt a sudden surge of annoyance at Lily’s actions.
Huh? Wait. Annoyance? Did I just get annoyed over something this trivial…?
Julia was very surprised at herself for feeling a negative emotion, even momentarily.
A sudden gluttony had pushed its way into her heart and was controlling her mood.
“…”
Julia silently watched the diminishing mountain of desserts with sad eyes.
“Sigh, when did you pile up so many?”
“Lily…”
“Yeah?”
“Leave that éclair…”
Meeting Julia’s sad gaze, Lily put the éclair she had picked up back down.
“Fine… Eat a lot, go ahead…”
She thought, for someone who usually had virtually no food cravings, she must really want to eat them.
They took the now-sparser tray and found a good spot by the window.
Julia sat down on the shop’s plush chair and pondered her earlier mood.
Why had she acted like that?
Even she was taken aback by the uncontrollably intense craving for food.
It felt like too much greed to simply be explained away as needing sugar because she had worked hard that day.
“Hey Julia, if you’re really that hungry, should we just go to a restaurant instead?”
“Huh?”
Julia, who had been lost in thought, looked up.
Lily pointed at the plate and spoke.
“These are just snacks, right? If you’re really hungry, let’s go to that new restaurant next door instead! We can eat these when we get back to the room.”
“If it’s the new place… the one across from Aunt Dorothy’s bicycle shop? The one that sells lamb steak?”
“Yeah! You said you wanted to try it, remember?”
“Oh wow! Should we? I love lamb…!”
At Lily’s suggestion, Julia imagined a delicious-looking lamb steak.
A warm, juicy chunk of steak… Cutting it into small pieces and popping it into her mouth…!
But at that moment, the smell of lamb invaded her imagination, creating a terrible feeling.
Suddenly, a wave of nausea so strong she thought she might vomit washed over her.
“Lam– Ugh!”
“Julia! Are you okay?”
Julia quickly clamped her hand over her mouth.
Lily reached out and grabbed Julia’s arm.
Her stomach churned and lurched so violently she felt like she could throw up at any moment.
“Uh…?”
Julia loved lamb.
But she couldn’t understand why simply thinking of lamb would make her feel nauseous.
Overcome by another rising wave of nausea, Julia jumped up and ran into the bathroom.
She grabbed the toilet and began dry heaving.
“Ugh! …Ugh!”
She hadn’t eaten anything all day since morning.
Only clear liquid came up, dripping into the toilet bowl.
“Haah… Haah…”
As the nausea subsided for a moment, Julia staggered to her feet and walked to the mirror.
She lifted her face, tear-stained from vomiting, and looked at her reflection.
This was truly strange.
From the inexplicable appetite to the sudden onset of nausea…
“Julia! Is your stomach that upset? Shouldn’t we go to a hospital?”
Lily, who had followed her in, approached with a worried expression.
“It’s okay, Lily… I think something just didn’t agree with me for a moment.”
“You haven’t eaten anything since morning… Aren’t you overdoing it lately? Let’s go back to the room and rest for now…”
“…No, it’s fine.”
Leaving the bathroom, Julia sat back down by the window and looked at the dessert tray on the table.
Round macarons and sleek, glossy éclairs were clustered together.
Just moments ago, she had craved them so much she felt greedy, but now, as if by magic, her appetite had completely vanished.
“I think I’m okay now! Lily, hurry up and eat. I’ll have some too…”
Julia forced a smile and picked up a macaron.
As soon as she picked it up, that terrible feeling washed over her again.
Lily stopped Julia’s hand.
“Julia, don’t push yourself. Stop pretending you’re fine like this. Let’s go back. Get up.”
Lily put strength into her hand holding Julia and pulled her up.
Julia had no choice but to stand up weakly, letting herself be led.
Returning to the dormitory room, practically dragged by Lily, Julia lay silently until Lily covered her with a blanket, turned off the light, and left the room.
“Rest, Julia. I’ll come back later.”
“Thanks, Lily… And sorry for making you worry.”
“Oh, hush! Don’t say you’re sorry! Why would you being sick be something to apologize to me for? Just treat me to a big lamb dinner next time, okay?”
“Okay, I will…”
Julia answered with a weak smile.
As Lily closed the door and left, Julia, now alone, stared at the ceiling with a troubled expression.
All the way back to the dormitory, she couldn’t calm her anxious feelings.
The reality she was trying so hard to ignore was piercing her chest sharply.
Slowly raising her heavy body, she walked to her desk and picked up the calendar.
Her hands trembling as she turned the page of last month, Julia lowered her head.
“…”
The anxious feeling was growing uncontrollably.
