The dress provided was not only appropriate to wear, but also well-made.
The hand that trimmed my hair was also gentle and efficient.
"I will be staying away, so please call me anytime if you need me."
Instead of chattering nonsense in my ear, the maid left with a light greeting.
Thanks to this, I went down to the restaurant much earlier than usual and the head maid who was preparing the meal opened her mouth with wide eyes.
"You woke up earlier than usual."
Rather than that, preparations may have been completed earlier than usual.
I spoke calmly as I saw her panicking somewhere.
"I heard that Annie returned home last night."
"Ah, that's right. I heard it was a sudden situation, so maybe someone in the family is sick or in trouble."
The head maid nodded at my words.
There was no sign of lying on her face as she answered naturally.
After observing her face closely, I turned my head towards the noisy kitchen.
"This is over there! It's over there!"
As my gaze turned towards the direction from which the annoying shouts were coming, the head maid smiled and explained the situation.
"The kitchen is the busiest place early in the morning, so if you come down early, you'll often see this kind of commotion."
"Yes."
"That's why I prefer my master to sleep in late."
Although she said it in a different way, I could understand what she meant by not coming out too early and making the users feel nervous and burdened.
While I was standing there quietly looking at her smiling softly, the last dish was placed on the table.
Tarang-
A bright bell announced that the meal was ready.
***
When it was time for breakfast, Aileen came down just in time and looked no different from usual.
Next to Madam Mancini, she friendly voice with a charming voice chattering about the fun things she had during yesterday's outing.
"Isabella had fun too, right?"
I nodded slowly, looking at the smiling face.
Yesterday's events must have been painful, but surprisingly, she seemed to have shaken off her failure in just one night and was back to her usual self.
'Maybe she was smarter and more patient than I thought?"
No. If she had, she wouldn't have dug her own grave for no reason at the banquet in the first place.
There was a possibility that Alfred might have comforted her.
But was Aileen dependent on Alfred enough to obediently follow the butler's advice?
'She must have been so angry after experiencing such a humiliating experience yesterday.'
In that situation, words of dissuasion were more likely to inflame the person's anger, like fanning a burning house.
'I thought Aileen had clearly gone beyond the limits of what was acceptable.'
Considering the way she looked at me last night, it was difficult to understand her current calm appearance.
"Isabella?"
Aileen caught my gaze and tilted her head.
"It's no big deal. I was worried yesterday because your complexion wasn't good, but you look fine today."
"I guess I was very tired yesterday. It's okay now."
Madam Mancini, who was watching the heartwarming conversation, spoke softly to me.
"Speaking of yesterday, Isabella must have been upset because the dress you had been waiting so long to wear was ruined. It would be a good idea to get a new dress today. Is that okay, Qileen?"
Madam Pinatelli eyes turned to Aileen.
Aileen smiled brightly, folding her hands to her chest.
"Great. Then is it okay if I pick out Isabella's dress?"
She lowered her gaze to see a rare expression of satisfaction on Madam's face as she looked at her.
Considering Aileen's family circumstances, she must have been quite unreasonable in spending money in line with Madam's expectations.
However, instead of showing her disappointment when Madam Mancini said that she would prefer my dress to be tailored rather than her own, she would even choose it for her. I couldn't help but be curious about what was going on.
"Great. I'm looking forward to it too."
Aileen suddenly got up from her seat at the answer she gave with a smile.
"Then I'll get ready and come down."
A maid with a young face hurriedly followed behind her as she went up.
***
Madam Mancini was a fairer person than I thought.
It is true that she is particularly weak to Aileen, but I tried not to put myself at a disadvantage because of that.
"Is it really okay to just buy a dress?"
"Then. Last night's dress was something I gave you as a gift so we could go out together in the first place. Any accidents that happen when I go out are my responsibility."
Aileen, who was standing quietly next to me, occasionally caught her eye on the sparkling silk dress, but that was it.
Just like when she set out, she held the line more clearly than expected.
'Did you learn quite a lesson from yesterday? Like the fact that you shouldn't show your emotions too hastily?'
Knowing that people cannot change overnight, I observed her steadily.
Even though Aileen knew that she didn't have her share of dresses, she didn't throw a tantrum and calmly headed to the carriage without even showing her disappointment.
"Ah."
"I'm trying to be careful. It would be difficult to jump like that all at once."
"The dress..."
As she was about to get on the carriage, she saw the mud on the hem of her dress and immediately gritted her teeth.
Billy, the driver, sensed the annoyed gaze and hastily offered an apology.
"I'm sorry, Lady. It's enough to clean all the wagon wheels..."
"It's okay."
Aileen got into the carriage with a few words.
The woman in the carriage hurriedly followed her, and her soothing voice was heard.
Instead of jumping straight into the carriage, I asked Billy, who was removing chunks of thick mud from the wheels.
"I don't think the road back from the ballroom yesterday was that rough."
As if surprised by the sudden conversation, Billy turned around and jumped.
The young coachman nodded, unable to continue speaking with a bright red face.
"Yes, that's right. The road was long and fine."
His eyes seemed to tremble as if he was anxious, and then a sigh escaped him.
"It looks like Marco took the carriage somewhere else. Sometimes he rents a carriage late at night."
Late at night. Carriage. Marco.
With Billy's answer in mind, I looked at his dirt-covered hands and spoke softly.
"That's sad. The one who made the mistake was someone else, but it was Billy who suffered the loss. I am grateful to you for always driving the carriage safely."
"Ah, Lady..."
Billy's face turned red as if he was about to explode.
After smiling at him again, Aileen greeted me with her still-smiling face as we got into the carriage. Additionally, she even complimented the new dress I bought.
"I'm saying this because I already have matching dresses, but I think this dress suits you much better than the previous dress. The colors are the same, the design is the same."
And it's a much more expensive dress.
The pearl-trimmed silk dress was a kind of apology for Madam Mancini's dismissal of Aileen's rudeness and trickery without making a big deal of it.
"I'm glad you said that. Thank you."
When I saw Aileen smiling despite the stimulation that should have exploded, I was reminded of the grumpy man who lived next door a long time ago.
The impulsive and foul-tempered man, who drank a lot when he wasn't working, was abusive to the family he lived with every day.
His shouting could often be heard through the thin walls all the way to the house where my siblings and I lived.
There were very rare times when such a man would become docile, but that would be when he sobered up and discovered the mistake he had made and the devastation he had caused.
One day. Two days.
The man, who had been obedient for just that amount of time, drank again and started yelling and shaking his fist as if he had never done that before.
I looked down at Aileen, who was sitting across from me and smiling.
The probability that she suddenly became smart was not very high.
'I don't know if she did something wrong in one night that would have to please not only Madam but also herself.'
Even a puppy is bound to be embarrassed when it comes to his own mistakes.
***
How long has it been since I asked Windy to keep an eye on a servant named Marco?
In the middle of the night, Windy, who created a light breeze, whispered to my bedside while I was sleeping.
[Master.]
When I opened my eyes, a blue eagle flapped its wings in front of me and reported its mission.
[He went out in a carriage.]
'Yes?'
[The kitchen maid is grumbling. It's clear that he's going gambling again.]
I slowly got up and asked Windy.
'Do you know the location of the gambling house he went to?'
[Yes. But Master.]
'Yes?'
[Master's appearance has changed again.]
At the spirit's words, I quickly got up and headed to the window.
I saw my familiar face reflected in the transparent glass window.
"Oh my, this is crazy."
Why did I come back like this again?
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