Chapter 12
Of course, I didn’t immediately receive 250 dresses. At my strong insistence, we simply made a contract in advance, agreeing that I would receive a new dress whenever I wanted.
Theodore and I paid the deposit and left the shop. The madam, who had just come into a large sum of money, was grinning from ear to ear as she came all the way outside to see us off.
When we stepped out of the boutique, I stole a glance at Theodore’s face—he looked utterly bewildered. He had been the one to say I shouldn’t hold back and should order whatever I wanted, but he clearly hadn’t expected me to order 250 dresses.
He must have spent a fortune on the spot. But he couldn’t take back his words in front of the madam—noble pride and all. Not that he was short on money, anyway.
“Young master, shall I take you to the jeweler now?” the coachman asked.
Snapping back to his senses, Theodore nodded and offered his arm to escort me once again. We both looked visibly exhausted as we boarded the carriage.
After rubbing his face with his hands, Theodore glanced down at what I was holding in my hand, looking curious.
“What’s that?”
“It’s something I specially requested from the madam.”
“A special order?”
He looked intrigued.
“I thought it would be nice to have a pouch with a strap so I can carry small things hands-free.”
“That’s… actually quite clever. When did you even ask for that? I didn’t notice.”
‘Obviously, it was while she was robbing your wallet… when else?’
I smiled awkwardly and avoided giving a clear answer. In the meantime, the carriage arrived at the jeweler.
To my surprise, the jewelry shop we stopped at looked rather shabby from the outside. It didn’t even have a sign. Inside, the interior matched the humble exterior.
As we entered, the man who seemed to be the owner greeted us warmly.
“Welcome, young master.”
“Show this child some jewels that would suit her. I’ll browse the rest in the meantime.”
“Right away, sir.”
The jeweler stroked his mustache with his fingers, looked me up and down, then left his seat.
It was a peculiar gaze—tinged with disdain and condescension.
He soon returned with a selection of gemstones, laying them out on the table and beginning to explain them to me one by one.
“This is a gemstone called a diamond.”
“……”
I do have eyes, you know.
“And this one—you probably haven’t seen it before—it’s a ruby…”
His tone went beyond a normal product explanation. At first, I thought maybe I was being overly sensitive, but as he kept going, I became sure of it. This man wasn’t treating me as a guest from a ducal family—he saw me as some lucky commoner who had risen in status.
‘So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?’
I picked up the prettiest diamond from the spread and breathed on it.
The surface turned foggy.
Fake.
Looks like even the boring lectures I dozed through came in handy today. I felt a sudden surge of respect for that professor everyone mocked for teaching us how to spot fake diamonds.
“How lovely—this gemstone turns opaque when you breathe on it,” I remarked sweetly.
“Then you’ll take all of them, correct? I’ll wrap them up for you.”
He began packing them away before I even finished speaking.
‘Wow, he didn’t even catch the sarcasm…’
“What would I do with fakes?”
My cold remark made the jeweler flinch and stare at me in shock.
“W-What do you mean by that?”
“I suggest you bring out the real ones now. You don’t actually think the Duchy of Delphinium wouldn’t notice a bunch of fakes, do you?”
I smiled as I whispered. The color drained from his face as he hurried off to bring out new jewels. This time, they looked genuine.
As I browsed through the newly presented items, Theodore approached.
“Lacetia, have you picked one you like?”
“This one…” I pointed to a gemstone.
“Just one?”
“Ha! I knew i—”
“Everything except this one.”
The two men reacted very differently to my words.
One’s facial features all seemed to expand in shock, while the other remained as expressionless as always. The shocked one was, of course, the jeweler; the calm one, Theodore.
“E-Everything except this one?”
The jeweler looked like he had just swallowed a bug. I had excluded the fake gem he’d tried to slip in to preserve his pride.
“I don’t like repeating myself. And I especially don’t like people who repeat their mistakes.”
I scolded the jeweler and picked up a single violet gem that resembled the color of my eyes.
“I’ll keep just this one. The rest can be sent to the ducal estate. Brother, let’s go.”
“All right.”
I stepped toward the door and ushered Theodore out first. Then I approached the jeweler and whispered,
“Keep running your business like that, and you’ll go under soon. Be more careful next time—if there is a next time, which there won’t be.”
I waved to the stunned jeweler and exited the shop.
Theodore was waiting for me outside.
“Let’s go.”
Inside the carriage, silence fell just as it had on the way to the boutique. No one spoke.
Theodore seemed deep in thought after the earlier conversation with the madam. I also found myself reflecting on something he had said:
“He was angry at Father for bringing in a new child.”
It wasn’t that I was hurt or bothered.
After all, the people in this world still felt like fictional characters to me—just words on a page.
But the truth was, my fate, even my life, depended on them. So I couldn’t completely ignore them either.
I had nothing. Of course I would be cautious and try to stay in the good graces of the powerful duke who was providing my food, shelter, and clothing.
Before the possibility of a beheading entered my future, I needed to enjoy the duchy’s wealth and escape once my male lead showed up. Of course, returning to my original world before anything happened would be even better.
That future hadn’t arrived yet, but thinking about escaping this world and living freely made me smile without even realizing it.
By the way… when are the male leads going to appear? Every stock I picked as a reader crashed, but I really need to succeed this time.
I closed my eyes gently as I dreamed up various future plans on our long ride back.
—
By the time we returned to the ducal estate, the sun had already set.
As I stepped out of the carriage, I happened to glance up at the sky. A multitude of stars sparkled above me, and that stunning sight made the surreal nature of my current situation feel more real.
I stood still, gazing blankly at the sky.
“What are you looking at?”
Startled by the sudden voice, I turned to see Theodore also staring up at the sky.
“The stars are really visible here. It’s amazing.”
“Stars are common across the entire empire. I don’t see what’s so amazing.”
“Where I used to live, you couldn’t really see stars in the sky.”
It was something Theodore could never understand. I looked away from his puzzled expression and focused on the night sky once more.
“Let’s go in now.”
“Yes.”
Waiting for me after our late return was a summons from the Duke of Delphinium.
—
Knock knock.
As soon as we got back, I went straight to the duke’s office. When I knocked, his voice immediately called for me to enter.
“It’s me, Lacetia.”
“Come in.”
As if he’d expected me to arrive right away, a warm cup of tea had already been set on the table.
“Come, sit.”
I walked over and sat on the sofa where the duke gestured.
“I heard you visited the boutique and the jeweler today.”
“Yes.”
The Duke of Delphinium took a sip of his tea as he sat across from me.
“Two hundred fifty dresses. And some jewels.”
“I also got a few accessories.”
“You spent a total of 1,000 gold today. Were you aware?”
“No.”
I had no sense of how much 1,000 gold was. Was that like… 10 million won?
As I tried to calculate the value in my head, the duke set his teacup down with a sharp clink. When I looked up at the sound of glass striking glass, he spoke with a serious expression.
“I’m disappointed in you.”
