Chapter 9

The comment fairies were clamoring to know what color the Duke Valent’s hair was, and if he was handsome, but the mysterious duke was outside my range of interest.

After the madams had left, I stealthily approached the director.

Now was the time to show my scheming heroine side.

“Um, Director?”

“What? Don’t tell me you’re asking for medicine again, saying your stomach hurts or something?”

“No, it’s not that…”

I smiled foolishly, just like I did with our sponsors, to lower his guard.

“The madams were saying… there’s going to be a party in the capital.”

“So what?”

“There’ll be nobles gathering from all over… and I heard some might want to support orphanages.”

Of course, the madams had never said any such thing.

But unless it was about money, the director wasn’t going to be interested.

“There are apparently some very rich people there, and when they see someone in need, they just give away jewelry with gems on the spot. Wow, I wonder what a party like that would be like…”

└ [I want to go too]
└ [My lord ㅠㅠ please have mercy on a commoner like me]
└ [That’s literally my daily fantasy. Returning a lost wallet, turns out it belongs to a CEO with a cherished family photo inside, and I get a ₩5 million reward plus a job at one of their subsidiaries.]

That story wasn’t for you comment fairies to drool over!

Still, it seemed it wasn’t just the comment fairies who were swayed—Director’s eyes were wavering.

‘The director has plenty of reason to go.’

This time, the title conferment ceremony was especially grand in scale, and it wasn’t just nobles attending.

Shoeshiners, carriage drivers, even flower sellers for a bit of potential romance. Where crowds gather, more people naturally tag along.

As long as we didn’t go too deep in, a couple extra people in a bustling place wouldn’t be strange at all.

‘Especially since His Majesty the Emperor has been giving our orphanage a lot of support lately.’

‘They just increased the number of supported orphanages in line with His Majesty’s wishes—’ A conversation starter like that might attract nobles wanting to show interest.

I egged the calculating director on further.

“If everyone knew how kind you are, Director, they’d definitely visit our orphanage too. I really like it when we get lots of visitors! I want to brag about how wonderful our place is.”

“Hmm…”

“The sponsors said they had more fun meeting the children in person. I wish I had more chances like that…”

I had flattered the director in front of the sponsors countless times before, so he didn’t suspect anything behind my blatant flattery.

Soon, the miserly director’s eyes sparkled—and seeing that, mine sparkled too.

---

Our suspected embezzler—err, teacher—tilted his head when he heard about the director’s trip to the capital.

“You’re taking a child with you?”

“Yes. Apparently other orphanages are sending someone too. I can’t be left out. I hear the capital’s nobles have enormous wealth.”

“But won’t it be hard to take care of a child while you’re there?”

His eyes seemed to say, especially you, Director.

The director never took care of the children himself. He was only ever on alert to make sure they didn’t break any furniture or toys.

“Since Rose is good at talking with the sponsors, I thought I’d bring her along.”

“Ah, well. Rose can handle herself, sure.”

The teacher, who had questioned the idea of the director taking a child, nodded immediately upon hearing my name.

‘Seriously? Am I the poster child for “no supervision needed” now?’

Even if I did act mature, this was just too much trust!

Seeing both of my guardians so relaxed about it somehow felt unfair.

“Count Mateo, our orphanage’s biggest sponsor, is currently in the capital. It would be nice to pay him a visit, don’t you think? So I’ll leave that to you.”

“Understood. I hope you have a pleasant trip.”

The director didn’t really do much anyway, so his absence for a day wouldn’t change much. The teacher wished him a flat, polite farewell.

└ [I bet the teacher’s planning something behind the boss’s back]

Thanks to the comment fairies’ persistent suspicions, I found myself watching the teacher’s behavior more closely.

‘He definitely didn’t come here because he likes kids.’

Whenever the director went out, he left the kids under Jeff’s watch and secretly smoked in the storage room!

└ [What kind of kindergarten teacher smokes in secret]
└ [Smoking is a fire hazard, you know]
└ [Are you the arsonist who burned down the orphanage?]

Thankfully, he seemed to extinguish the cigarette properly to cover his tracks.

But that fancy cigarette was expensive, way out of budget—how did he even afford it?

He was suspicious, but for now, there wasn’t much I could do.

Anyway, now that the other orphanage staff knew I’d be accompanying the director, it wasn’t likely our plans to visit the capital would suddenly change.

All I had to do now was wait excitedly for that day…

‘Wait—no!’

I had one very important task left.

It was great that I got to go to the capital, but there was a huge problem.

‘If this is such a big event, Count Torto is bound to be there.’

A high-ranking noble gathering like this wouldn’t be complete without him.

‘A child like me would already stand out—but on top of that, I’m blonde. That’ll definitely draw attention.’

With the director right next to me, it wouldn’t take long for someone to realize I was a parentless orphan.

So, the conclusion?

I needed to hide my hair.

‘There was no need to hide it here in the orphanage since everyone already knows I’m blonde.’

But for just one day among strangers, it was a different story.

└ [Is this the foreshadowing from last time someone joked about a bald heroine?]
└ [Are we really shaving the head now?]

I’m NOT shaving it!

That is the easiest way to hide hair color—but if I went bald, the director would never take me along.

To pull off the method I’d thought of, I began heading to the hill behind the orphanage every day during break time in the days leading up to our trip to the capital.

There, I gathered grass, flowers, and twigs, and conducted secret experiments in the kitchen at night…

“I found it!”

└ [Is she trying to poison the count with toxic herbs?]

No! I told you I’m trying to hide my hair color!

What I found was a dyeing material that absorbed well into the hair and didn’t fade easily.

I remembered that when the kids played in the forest, their clothes and hands would often get stained by flower and grass juice.

‘I vaguely recall hearing that dyeing cloth works in a similar way.’

Paint and makeup also use flower petals to get strong colors.

So I picked up scraps of cloth and used the materials I’d gathered to dye them at night.

I mashed things up, boiled them, and even added salt—something I heard was used in herbal medicine to help extract ingredients.

└ [This is like dyeing your nails with balsam flowers]

Looks like there are similar flowers in the fairy world too.

‘I should’ve asked the comment fairies earlier if they knew any good dyeing methods.’

They usually spout nonsense, but turns out they had some useful info hidden all along.

└ [Most fantasy stories just use magic to change hair color lol]

Magic—or rather, holy power—exists in this world, but it’s used only for ceremonies or healing, not fairy-tale effects like instant transformations.

Anyway, the dyed cloth would fade if washed or exposed to sunlight too long, but after several rounds of trial and error, I finally found a method that kept the color for a full day.

└ [So you invented hair dye at 5 years old? Let’s start a business.]

Cloth dyeing businesses exist, but maybe hair dye doesn’t because no one cares about styling their hair?

‘Still, applying it to my hair makes me nervous…’

The flowers I’d picked were wildflowers—I didn’t even know exactly what kind they were.

What if it made me itch like crazy? Or what if my scalp peeled off?

If I messed this up and broke out in hives, the director would definitely leave me behind.

└ [And thus, Rose becomes bald…]
└ [#BaldHeroine]
└ [No please ㅋㅋㅋㅋ protect that hair]

 

As I grew worried, the comment fairies started chanting strange spells to help my hair grow.