060. Real Adult
“Look over there.”
Unlike before, Emilia stood obediently next to him.
As she followed where his gaze landed, her mouth, which had been stubbornly shut, lost its strength and began to open slowly.
The lights that had been turning on one by one for a while were not the street lamps that were hung in every house. They were sky lanterns.
“I heard there was a night market in town, and it was today.”
Dozens of tiny lights were flying slowly up into the sky, starting from the ground. It was as if she were looking down at the stars from above.
Could it be a faint starlight feast dancing along the summer night?
Hardius suddenly called Beppy.
“Is your sister there?”
"I don't know."
The moment she heard the short answer, Emilia realized something strange again.
Laura was definitely going to live nearby and marry a vineyard worker. She was also going to work as a maid at this Sitmer villa soon. Emilia was even happier that her uncle's sister was going to become a royal maid...
“Come to think of it, why are we here now? Why at His Majesty the King’s villa...?”
Hardius was following the fastest flying lantern with his eyes. Then, at one moment, he answered, “It’s a gift.”
Emilia began to organize the jumbled answers logically.
If it was a 'gift', it meant that His Majesty the King had given this villa, which was owned by the royal family, to that man. It was an inconsistent situation, with the one holding the sword hilt giving a gift to the one who did not.
But at least one thing is certain.
“So, you met His Majesty the King?”
"...Yes."
Emilia's heart suddenly sank into a rage at the reply that was a beat late.
“Did you tell His Majesty? About our broken engagement? Did His Majesty allow you to break it off?”
"Yet."
It was an absurdly short answer.
Emilia felt suffocated by the humidity. In order to end this tiresome relationship, she first had to get permission to break off the engagement.
Emilia leaned her staggering body against the railing.
The two pairs of eyes each trace the trajectories of the lanterns. Unlike Hardius, who only sees the fastest and highest ones, Emilia finds the last one that hasn't even lifted off the ground yet.
“...I did it when I was little. That...”
Unlike the other children who were jumping around excitedly to see who could fly higher, Emilia was not happy at all.
She didn't want to let go.
Because the beautiful light leaving her hand seemed to be that of her late father.
It seems like it's talking about breaking up...
Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes.
Emilia started muttering incoherently in confusion.
“I should say that I accidentally burned my head while flying a lantern. That happens often. Because of you, my lying skills are only improving.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Emilia turned her back on him and pretended to look somewhere else. Annoying tears kept welling up in her eyes.
Why is she like this? There was no reason to cry.
But still, her nose stung and her eyes grew hot. Emilia tried to pull herself up, her heart that was about to collapse, and opened her mouth coldly.
“I warn you, don’t ever think that I have forgiven you. I don’t know why you gave me the gun and acted like a good guy, but I don’t trust you anymore. Never.”
The man who had been wandering in the darkness also came back to reality. In the meantime, the lanterns had lost their power and gone out, or each had gone its own way and disappeared somewhere.
In the deep night when the moon had turned gray, Emilia opened the door and appeared. Kalia turned pale as if she had seen a ghost.
"Oh my god..."
Her wrinkled eyes wandered aimlessly over the bare nape of her neck, then to her sunken crown, and then back to her hair, which had been cut off in clumps.
Mitch, who had been resting his arms on the back of the chair, froze in that position.
Only Charlotte tilted her head like a meerkat, asking, “What is it?” and “Why are you doing that?”
Even amid the shock, Emilia remained quite calm and began to tell the lies she had practiced.
'I met Laura to buy her a wedding present, and there was a town festival going on, so we flew lanterns, and somehow my hair caught fire.'
If you think about it even a little bit, it's an excuse that seems ridiculous, but her family believes it outright.
“...Do you know how close this could have been?! How lucky are you that it didn’t get on your clothes? Are you okay everywhere else? You’re not hurt, are you?”
At first, Kalia had no choice but to take it at face value. She was too shocked to examine the situation closely. It took quite some time for Kalia to connect the suddenly cut hair with Ramsko.
“Oh my god... I’m so glad you didn’t get burned...”
Like any mother who realizes that her child was not seriously injured, her surprised heart turns to resentment and beatings.
“How can you be so careless? How long did you have to be so absent-minded to burn your hair on a lantern...?”
It was the worst scolding for Kalia. Emilia could only lower her head at the fact that it was the first time in her life that she had been scolded by her mother.
A sigh as if the earth was going to cave in was heard, followed by the sound of a drawer being rummaged through.
Kalia was looking for scissors.
“First, let’s do something about the rough parts.”
A linen cloth was draped over Emilia's shoulders, and the frosty blade began to move slowly. A soft, quiet rustle could be heard, quite different from the sound made when the wig-maker cut it.
With each jagged, uneven section cut away, Emilia felt her heart, which had been pushed to the edge of a cliff, return to a safe place.
“Sister, just how short has your hair become? Here? Here?”
Charlotte, who realized the situation late, started to weep, poking her hand at her chest. Emilia, unable to tell the truth, put her sister's finger on her shoulder instead of her earlobe. Still, Charlotte's eyes filled with tears.
“It’s a boy! My sister became a boy!”
Emilia thought that everything was fine, but for some reason, she felt her eyes getting hot again.
“Don’t worry, she's still incredibly pretty. Men will still drool after seeing that.”
“Oh my god, crazy. How dare you say that in front of your little brother!”
“...Really? She's still going to be as pretty as a Princess?”
“Yes, Charlotte. Your sister is not that ugly. She is not only pretty, she even looks younger. It’s really okay.”
Thanks to her family's excitement, Emilia could feel the torrential downpour slowly receding.
Of course, it wasn't that it didn't hurt. It was as if the pain that slowly crept in afterward was much greater than the moment of being mercilessly beaten... Something thick was squeezing her chest.
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't understand it. Before the incident in the carriage, Hardius Meyer was a man with at least a modicum of common sense.
What could have been the problem? Nathan Malvin? Was his presence awakening the monster that had been sleeping inside?
Could it be that there was a novel about a man who was a gentleman in the morning and a monster at night that was actually true?
Yes, maybe the medicine she saw on the terrace wasn't a tranquilizer, but some cursed poison or drug.
All kinds of new drugs and cigarettes are being imported from the New World.
Hardius may be in a state of irreversible drug addiction.
He made threats, then suddenly changed to joking, then suddenly threw a gun at her and exploded with anger.
He seemed completely unaware of what he was saying and doing.
“Yes, let’s see.”
The final scissors cut was done. Emilia looked up and looked in the mirror.
Is this me?
Her stepmother said she looked much younger, but it was clear that this was a lie to comfort Charlotte.
The woman in the mirror had changed in a strangely unfamiliar way.
Maybe I've really become an adult, Emilia thought sadly.
“Sister, do you want to try this?”
Mitch gave her the hairpin that his stepmother had given him as a gift, and he couldn't bring himself to sell it.
“...Hair will grow again. Don’t be too upset.”
Mitch lifted one side of his sister's hair slightly and carefully pinned it in. She was so pretty when she had long hair, but it doesn't suit her at all with short hair.
Emilia still laughed. It was her last laugh as a child who had briefly stepped foot into the world of the nobility.
“The factory where Kalia Bern worked was a fairly sound place.”
Grojean turned the pages of his notebook excitedly for once. Instead of digging around and plotting sinisterly, he was displaying his skills in his field of expertise.
“The problem was that the business partner suddenly closed down. As a result, the bill was temporarily dishonored, and the factory owner seemed to have explained the situation well to his employees. He said that the non-payment period would not be long, so please bear with it for a little while. Compared to the unscrupulous factory owners in the neighborhood, he was surprisingly gentlemanly.”
Hardius nodded as if to continue.
“I think Kalia Bern also thought she could repay it. That’s why she dared to knock on the door of ‘Ramsco’. Madame Bern is a bit too docile and obedient, but she doesn’t seem to be the kind of person who would blindly take on a debt without any plan.”
Hardius's gaze left Grojean and turned to the window.
“I met with the factory owner, talked to him, and guaranteed the bill. I confirmed that the factory is productive and sound, so I paid for the investment. As you asked, not a single penny of Meyer’s funds should be wasted. The unpaid wages will be paid to the employees in two days. I have arranged for a certain allowance to be paid as severance pay so that Kalia Bern can pay it all, including interest. Of course, everything will be carried out through a trust company that has nothing to do with Meyer Steel.”
"Yes."
“But, Your Excellency.”
Grojean continued cautiously.
“The Bern family’s finances are not in good shape. Up until now, the young master has instructed me not to interfere in their private lives as much as possible, so I have not been paying attention to them either... But after looking into it this time, it is almost a miracle that they have managed to maintain their livelihood. Perhaps, if it weren’t for the laundry that Miss Bern does with her mother as a side job, they would have been out on the streets long ago.”
Grojean barely managed to swallow the words, "I personally wanted to help."
“Is there any way to solve the financial problems the Bern family is experiencing...?”
“No. Leave it alone.”
Hardius cut it down with one stroke of his sword.
Grojean's collar twitched. At first, it was certain, but now he had no idea what his master was thinking.
When he was ordered to vacate Sitmer's villa, he was convinced that the owner was trying to take his fiancée away without anyone knowing. So when he learned of Kalia Bern's debt, he knew he would do it.
Many noble men take women that way. It is a normal thing in their world.
But he just paid off the debt and sent her back. And then he said he wouldn't help her even though he knew she was having financial difficulties.
But isn't she his fiancée?
It is not a large sum of money, and for the Meyer family, it is nothing more than drawing a bucket of water from a vast river.
How do we explain this inconsistent behavior of saving someone from a difficult situation and then pushing them into another one?
Could it be... you’re serious?
Grojean, who had been frowning, barely managed to suppress a sigh at the conclusion that naturally came to him.
From the music box to the ring, everything that young Meyer had done to his fiancée was close to 'sincere'. Above all, he heard from Pip just before. He had given that top-of-the-line pistol with his initials engraved on it to the woman.
Giving a gun to a woman who was whining with her hair cut short is crazy. Anyone can tell that he's out of his mind.
But Grojean, who knew the meaning, felt a pang in his heart.
The pistol is the only heartfelt gift that Duke Meyer has ever given to his heir.
He was very proud that his seven-year-old son was showing off his skills in marksmanship.
The eldest son, Theodore, was the only one who showed below-average skills in this field.
For a while, young Master Meyer treasured the pistol as if it were his life.
Although he is currently ignoring his father to the point of not even visiting him in the hospital, he must have great affection for him, as he places the gun right next to him, rather than against the numerous guns in the shooting room.
Of course, he would never admit it.
The problem is that Emilia Bern doesn't like it at all.
She has no interest in her fiancé. In fact, sometimes she seems to hate him.
Even Elier from the costume shop did the same. She said that it was the first time she had seen a woman refuse a man's gift of clothes. She clearly hated Master Meyer, or she clicked her tongue, saying that she thought she had another man.
Grojean was, on the one hand, understandable as a woman.
From what he's seen so far, Emilia Bern has a really strong sense of pride, just like Hardius Meyer.
She could never forgive the man who treated her as invisible, and his family. When he recalled her attitude at every banquet, which was as cold as the young master's, it was clear that she had an extreme hatred for the Meyer family.
Besides, Nathan Malvin got involved. He doesn't know what kind of feelings she has for the Malvin family's young master, but given the circumstances, there's no reason why she wouldn't feel attracted to him.
The conclusion...
The two are completely out of sync. It's too late for their relationship to recover.
Yet his master seemed intent on making the woman his own.
Blood is thicker than water, and Hardius Meyer is still Meyer after all. Once he makes up his mind, he will become even more vile and merciless.
“Why are you just standing there blankly?”
"Ah..."
Grojean quickly focused on his notebook.
“Finally, a message from Palazzo Riccardi. Her Majesty the Queen will be waiting for you at the Villa Etna at 8 p.m. on the 17th. As she said before, she has asked you to come alone, without Miss Bern.”
“Look over there.”
Unlike before, Emilia stood obediently next to him.
As she followed where his gaze landed, her mouth, which had been stubbornly shut, lost its strength and began to open slowly.
The lights that had been turning on one by one for a while were not the street lamps that were hung in every house. They were sky lanterns.
“I heard there was a night market in town, and it was today.”
Dozens of tiny lights were flying slowly up into the sky, starting from the ground. It was as if she were looking down at the stars from above.
Could it be a faint starlight feast dancing along the summer night?
Hardius suddenly called Beppy.
“Is your sister there?”
"I don't know."
The moment she heard the short answer, Emilia realized something strange again.
Laura was definitely going to live nearby and marry a vineyard worker. She was also going to work as a maid at this Sitmer villa soon. Emilia was even happier that her uncle's sister was going to become a royal maid...
“Come to think of it, why are we here now? Why at His Majesty the King’s villa...?”
Hardius was following the fastest flying lantern with his eyes. Then, at one moment, he answered, “It’s a gift.”
Emilia began to organize the jumbled answers logically.
If it was a 'gift', it meant that His Majesty the King had given this villa, which was owned by the royal family, to that man. It was an inconsistent situation, with the one holding the sword hilt giving a gift to the one who did not.
But at least one thing is certain.
“So, you met His Majesty the King?”
"...Yes."
Emilia's heart suddenly sank into a rage at the reply that was a beat late.
“Did you tell His Majesty? About our broken engagement? Did His Majesty allow you to break it off?”
"Yet."
It was an absurdly short answer.
Emilia felt suffocated by the humidity. In order to end this tiresome relationship, she first had to get permission to break off the engagement.
Emilia leaned her staggering body against the railing.
The two pairs of eyes each trace the trajectories of the lanterns. Unlike Hardius, who only sees the fastest and highest ones, Emilia finds the last one that hasn't even lifted off the ground yet.
“...I did it when I was little. That...”
Unlike the other children who were jumping around excitedly to see who could fly higher, Emilia was not happy at all.
She didn't want to let go.
Because the beautiful light leaving her hand seemed to be that of her late father.
It seems like it's talking about breaking up...
Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes.
Emilia started muttering incoherently in confusion.
“I should say that I accidentally burned my head while flying a lantern. That happens often. Because of you, my lying skills are only improving.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Emilia turned her back on him and pretended to look somewhere else. Annoying tears kept welling up in her eyes.
Why is she like this? There was no reason to cry.
But still, her nose stung and her eyes grew hot. Emilia tried to pull herself up, her heart that was about to collapse, and opened her mouth coldly.
“I warn you, don’t ever think that I have forgiven you. I don’t know why you gave me the gun and acted like a good guy, but I don’t trust you anymore. Never.”
The man who had been wandering in the darkness also came back to reality. In the meantime, the lanterns had lost their power and gone out, or each had gone its own way and disappeared somewhere.
***
In the deep night when the moon had turned gray, Emilia opened the door and appeared. Kalia turned pale as if she had seen a ghost.
"Oh my god..."
Her wrinkled eyes wandered aimlessly over the bare nape of her neck, then to her sunken crown, and then back to her hair, which had been cut off in clumps.
Mitch, who had been resting his arms on the back of the chair, froze in that position.
Only Charlotte tilted her head like a meerkat, asking, “What is it?” and “Why are you doing that?”
Even amid the shock, Emilia remained quite calm and began to tell the lies she had practiced.
'I met Laura to buy her a wedding present, and there was a town festival going on, so we flew lanterns, and somehow my hair caught fire.'
If you think about it even a little bit, it's an excuse that seems ridiculous, but her family believes it outright.
“...Do you know how close this could have been?! How lucky are you that it didn’t get on your clothes? Are you okay everywhere else? You’re not hurt, are you?”
At first, Kalia had no choice but to take it at face value. She was too shocked to examine the situation closely. It took quite some time for Kalia to connect the suddenly cut hair with Ramsko.
“Oh my god... I’m so glad you didn’t get burned...”
Like any mother who realizes that her child was not seriously injured, her surprised heart turns to resentment and beatings.
“How can you be so careless? How long did you have to be so absent-minded to burn your hair on a lantern...?”
It was the worst scolding for Kalia. Emilia could only lower her head at the fact that it was the first time in her life that she had been scolded by her mother.
A sigh as if the earth was going to cave in was heard, followed by the sound of a drawer being rummaged through.
Kalia was looking for scissors.
“First, let’s do something about the rough parts.”
A linen cloth was draped over Emilia's shoulders, and the frosty blade began to move slowly. A soft, quiet rustle could be heard, quite different from the sound made when the wig-maker cut it.
With each jagged, uneven section cut away, Emilia felt her heart, which had been pushed to the edge of a cliff, return to a safe place.
“Sister, just how short has your hair become? Here? Here?”
Charlotte, who realized the situation late, started to weep, poking her hand at her chest. Emilia, unable to tell the truth, put her sister's finger on her shoulder instead of her earlobe. Still, Charlotte's eyes filled with tears.
“It’s a boy! My sister became a boy!”
Emilia thought that everything was fine, but for some reason, she felt her eyes getting hot again.
“Don’t worry, she's still incredibly pretty. Men will still drool after seeing that.”
“Oh my god, crazy. How dare you say that in front of your little brother!”
“...Really? She's still going to be as pretty as a Princess?”
“Yes, Charlotte. Your sister is not that ugly. She is not only pretty, she even looks younger. It’s really okay.”
Thanks to her family's excitement, Emilia could feel the torrential downpour slowly receding.
Of course, it wasn't that it didn't hurt. It was as if the pain that slowly crept in afterward was much greater than the moment of being mercilessly beaten... Something thick was squeezing her chest.
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't understand it. Before the incident in the carriage, Hardius Meyer was a man with at least a modicum of common sense.
What could have been the problem? Nathan Malvin? Was his presence awakening the monster that had been sleeping inside?
Could it be that there was a novel about a man who was a gentleman in the morning and a monster at night that was actually true?
Yes, maybe the medicine she saw on the terrace wasn't a tranquilizer, but some cursed poison or drug.
All kinds of new drugs and cigarettes are being imported from the New World.
Hardius may be in a state of irreversible drug addiction.
He made threats, then suddenly changed to joking, then suddenly threw a gun at her and exploded with anger.
He seemed completely unaware of what he was saying and doing.
“Yes, let’s see.”
The final scissors cut was done. Emilia looked up and looked in the mirror.
Is this me?
Her stepmother said she looked much younger, but it was clear that this was a lie to comfort Charlotte.
The woman in the mirror had changed in a strangely unfamiliar way.
Maybe I've really become an adult, Emilia thought sadly.
“Sister, do you want to try this?”
Mitch gave her the hairpin that his stepmother had given him as a gift, and he couldn't bring himself to sell it.
“...Hair will grow again. Don’t be too upset.”
Mitch lifted one side of his sister's hair slightly and carefully pinned it in. She was so pretty when she had long hair, but it doesn't suit her at all with short hair.
Emilia still laughed. It was her last laugh as a child who had briefly stepped foot into the world of the nobility.
***
“The factory where Kalia Bern worked was a fairly sound place.”
Grojean turned the pages of his notebook excitedly for once. Instead of digging around and plotting sinisterly, he was displaying his skills in his field of expertise.
“The problem was that the business partner suddenly closed down. As a result, the bill was temporarily dishonored, and the factory owner seemed to have explained the situation well to his employees. He said that the non-payment period would not be long, so please bear with it for a little while. Compared to the unscrupulous factory owners in the neighborhood, he was surprisingly gentlemanly.”
Hardius nodded as if to continue.
“I think Kalia Bern also thought she could repay it. That’s why she dared to knock on the door of ‘Ramsco’. Madame Bern is a bit too docile and obedient, but she doesn’t seem to be the kind of person who would blindly take on a debt without any plan.”
Hardius's gaze left Grojean and turned to the window.
“I met with the factory owner, talked to him, and guaranteed the bill. I confirmed that the factory is productive and sound, so I paid for the investment. As you asked, not a single penny of Meyer’s funds should be wasted. The unpaid wages will be paid to the employees in two days. I have arranged for a certain allowance to be paid as severance pay so that Kalia Bern can pay it all, including interest. Of course, everything will be carried out through a trust company that has nothing to do with Meyer Steel.”
"Yes."
“But, Your Excellency.”
Grojean continued cautiously.
“The Bern family’s finances are not in good shape. Up until now, the young master has instructed me not to interfere in their private lives as much as possible, so I have not been paying attention to them either... But after looking into it this time, it is almost a miracle that they have managed to maintain their livelihood. Perhaps, if it weren’t for the laundry that Miss Bern does with her mother as a side job, they would have been out on the streets long ago.”
Grojean barely managed to swallow the words, "I personally wanted to help."
“Is there any way to solve the financial problems the Bern family is experiencing...?”
“No. Leave it alone.”
Hardius cut it down with one stroke of his sword.
Grojean's collar twitched. At first, it was certain, but now he had no idea what his master was thinking.
When he was ordered to vacate Sitmer's villa, he was convinced that the owner was trying to take his fiancée away without anyone knowing. So when he learned of Kalia Bern's debt, he knew he would do it.
Many noble men take women that way. It is a normal thing in their world.
But he just paid off the debt and sent her back. And then he said he wouldn't help her even though he knew she was having financial difficulties.
But isn't she his fiancée?
It is not a large sum of money, and for the Meyer family, it is nothing more than drawing a bucket of water from a vast river.
How do we explain this inconsistent behavior of saving someone from a difficult situation and then pushing them into another one?
Could it be... you’re serious?
Grojean, who had been frowning, barely managed to suppress a sigh at the conclusion that naturally came to him.
From the music box to the ring, everything that young Meyer had done to his fiancée was close to 'sincere'. Above all, he heard from Pip just before. He had given that top-of-the-line pistol with his initials engraved on it to the woman.
Giving a gun to a woman who was whining with her hair cut short is crazy. Anyone can tell that he's out of his mind.
But Grojean, who knew the meaning, felt a pang in his heart.
The pistol is the only heartfelt gift that Duke Meyer has ever given to his heir.
He was very proud that his seven-year-old son was showing off his skills in marksmanship.
The eldest son, Theodore, was the only one who showed below-average skills in this field.
For a while, young Master Meyer treasured the pistol as if it were his life.
Although he is currently ignoring his father to the point of not even visiting him in the hospital, he must have great affection for him, as he places the gun right next to him, rather than against the numerous guns in the shooting room.
Of course, he would never admit it.
The problem is that Emilia Bern doesn't like it at all.
She has no interest in her fiancé. In fact, sometimes she seems to hate him.
Even Elier from the costume shop did the same. She said that it was the first time she had seen a woman refuse a man's gift of clothes. She clearly hated Master Meyer, or she clicked her tongue, saying that she thought she had another man.
Grojean was, on the one hand, understandable as a woman.
From what he's seen so far, Emilia Bern has a really strong sense of pride, just like Hardius Meyer.
She could never forgive the man who treated her as invisible, and his family. When he recalled her attitude at every banquet, which was as cold as the young master's, it was clear that she had an extreme hatred for the Meyer family.
Besides, Nathan Malvin got involved. He doesn't know what kind of feelings she has for the Malvin family's young master, but given the circumstances, there's no reason why she wouldn't feel attracted to him.
The conclusion...
The two are completely out of sync. It's too late for their relationship to recover.
Yet his master seemed intent on making the woman his own.
Blood is thicker than water, and Hardius Meyer is still Meyer after all. Once he makes up his mind, he will become even more vile and merciless.
“Why are you just standing there blankly?”
"Ah..."
Grojean quickly focused on his notebook.
“Finally, a message from Palazzo Riccardi. Her Majesty the Queen will be waiting for you at the Villa Etna at 8 p.m. on the 17th. As she said before, she has asked you to come alone, without Miss Bern.”
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