Chapter 36

-ˏˋ♡꒷︶꒦꒷︶︶︶꒷꒦꒷︶꒷♡ˎˊ˗

(Hildea’s POV)

This is a dream. I know that it’s a dream because it happened before.

At that time in the past, I was on the way back to my room from my morning class to take a brief break after lunch, following my daily schedule.

But then I heard a burst of cheerful laughter from somewhere, and that voice belonged to Rosé.

When I turned around to look for her, a smile was visible on my face. But when I saw her around the corner, Rosé was not alone. She was with someone else.

Lira, who was following me, suddenly asked as if wondering,

“What’s wrong My Lady?”

“……”

I couldn’t say anything because I was immersed in the sight.

To be precise, it wasn’t just Rosé, who was smiling and clapping, but also a young man, who was looking at her with a slight frown.

In the bright sunlight, the man’s hair had a surprisingly beautiful color.

The lemon-colored platinum blonde hair was shining translucently and reflected all the more brightly.

It was him whom I was staring at for a while.

Just then, Rosé pulled out something. I couldn’t tell because of the distance, but it seemed like a piece of paper on which something was drawn.

It seemed like a person was drawn on it.

But Gabriel suddenly laughed, took the paper and smiled like a blooming flower.

‘Ugh.’

Then I felt my heart throb. I was puzzled for a while. ‘Why? Why does it hurt like this?’

‘What is this emotion that I’m feeling?’

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Hildea’s POV)

I opened my eyes slowly.

I realized that my whole body was sweating, and I was panting like I had a nightmare.

I sigh because I have no strength in my limbs.

Lately, I keep dreaming about Gabriel and Rosé.

I rubbed my chest, which was throbbing and numb in my dream.

The drawing that Gabriel was looking at that time must have been created by Rosériel. ‘But why do I have that urge to know who the person painted on that drawing was?’

“This is not good.”

I see a young lady in the mirror, who is pale and tired. ‘It’s me.’

Still, I’m not accustomed to seeing myself in the mirror, so I immediately turn my eyes away, but there was a pang of unexpected guilt that appeared on my face.

I get up and open the jewelry box on the dressing table. I see a necklace and earrings that are ornately crafted.

“This doesn’t mean anything.”

I said so while unconsciously stroking the necklace.

While talking to Rosé earlier, I went to her room and happened to see the necklace that Gabriel had given to her.

But the moment I saw that necklace, I felt as if my heart dropped and was pounding.

“I should have expected it already.”

‘That Rosé would receive the same necklace as me. It was a fact that I was very certain of, but why am I so bothered?’

(PR/N: *facepalm* -1 points for creativity Gabriel)

‘The color of the jewel is different from mine.’

“Did you know, Sister, that gems have different meanings to them, depending on the type and color! If you’re interested, I can explain it to you!”

“It’s okay Rosé, I’m not interested at all. I’m just happy that yours is very pretty.”

Rosé showed a sullen look on her face, but I cut off eye contact and changed the topic. 

“I can’t do this.”

I thought for a while, then slammed the jewelry box.

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Hildea’s POV)

“What would be the perfect gift for a man?”

Clang!

“?”

For me, those words weren’t a big deal, but Lira broke the vase that she was holding, Sien dropped the comb, and the Marquis, who was looking at me, screamed.

“Hey, why are you all like this? I just asked a simple question; can’t I do that?”

Now I feel awkward.

‘I know that I haven’t shown any interest in any young man of my age, but is it really necessary to be that surprised?’

“It was just too sudden.”

The Marquis sighed and covered her mouth with her hands.

She is a very good social skills teacher, but her reaction is like an old-fashioned theatrical actress.

Well, she’s like a swan flapping its wings.

“Oh, dear Hildea. It’s not like that. But, may I ask why you are asking such a question?”

Perhaps they have the impression that I’m confessing to someone.

The Marquis’s eyes fluttered with excitement, and her reaction was bothersome.

‘Did I say something weird?’

‘Will a return gift stir up a lot of rumors?’

“…I’ve received something very precious and I wanted to give something back in return, but I’m worried because I have never given a gift to anyone before.”

“Oh! So, you did receive a present?”

“It wasn’t a big deal. However, I thought that it would be expected that I return as much as I received. It would be nice to have items or things that are popular among youngsters of our age these days.”

“Again, was it a young man of your age who gave you that present? Oh my gosh!”

“…Yes, it was.”

The person I’m going to send the gift to is Gabriel.

‘So, can’t I just make a present like the one I usually gave to my father?’

‘Of course, not me personally, but through other people.’

‘But why are they so surprised?’

I blinked and looked at the Marquis, who was still startled and then turned my gaze towards Lira and Sien, who seemed surprised but still expressionless.

‘Have they misunderstood me?’

“Please give me your opinion, Marquis.”

The reason for this decision is simple.

This is because, while I’m returning the gratitude for the necklace, I am also determined to cut off whatever was bothering me.

‘And come to think of it, I have only received letters and flowers for the past 12 years, but I have no memory of sending anything back.’

(PR/N: Now that’s just irresponsible… regardless of their relationship, never sending anything back for over a decade after receiving so many gifts)

‘Thinking about that, I became even more embarrassed and rubbed my cheeks, which seemed to be slightly hot, but I could see the people around me exchanging weird looks.’

‘What seems to be the problem?’

Then, Lira said,

“Take Sien with you, My Lady.”

“Sien?”

“Yes. I don’t know much about fashion, but this kid is very interested in those kinds of things. It’s good to call the merchants, but they say there are famous shops these days.”

“Really? Can I ask you a favor then, Sien?”

I looked at Sien, and she, who had her head down, was surprised.

‘There’s nothing to be surprised about.’

I stared at Sien, trying not to look fierce as much as possible, but she couldn’t look at me for more than three seconds.

I felt depressed then.

“I know a lot of shops that we can go to, My Lady. If you take me with you… Ah… Ah. I will do my best to help you pick out a present that you’ll be satisfied with.”

“I see.”

If anyone saw this, they would think it looked like she was at an interview.

I nodded to acknowledge her statement while feeling disheartened, like I was like a stern manager or a director.

“Thank you. Please take care of me, Sien.”

“It is an honor for me to assist you, My Lady.”

Anyway, I’m grateful that she stepped up to talk to me first when I was feeling uncomfortable. 

For such a simple thing, which I didn’t understand at the time.

The fact that there are more people than I thought that are interested in helping the Young Lady of Hillington who had not yet debuted in buying gifts for other people.

And their concern about whose hands the gift will fall into.

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(3rd PERSON POV)

“Oh, did you hear the story?”

The eyes of the noblewomen, who were gathered with their fans gently fluttering, flickered.

“Did anything interesting happen, Young-ae?”

“Fufu, don’t I have another piece of news again? This is what I heard firsthand from my trusted maid.”

“Ah, I can’t stand it. What is it? Come on, tell us right now.”

Since the Debut Ball is just around the corner, a new wind is blowing in the social world which used to be boring.

Then how much fire will spark after the new wave happens?

Some will make love through hot romance, while others exchange hits in an invisible fight.

And the onlookers will be delighted!

“You mean to say that the Duke of Belfius bought two sets of necklaces and earrings with engravings on them?”

Oh, people’s lips parted roundly.

Someone immediately understood the meaning, and a red flush from excitement appeared on their cheek.

“Oh, how romantic.”

Even if the mouth-watering son-in-law they are aiming for is acting up for another woman.

Surprisingly, there are many early engagements among nobles, and even though they are young girls making their debut, there are some cases where they already have a fiancée.

In that case, there is a quiet romantic legend, which was to prevent other possible suitors, present necklaces and earrings that were hand-crafted. 

And one of those myths was choosing the color of the jewel to match the eye color of the recipient.

That’s what the fiance did for his fiancée, and vice versa.

What does this romantic legend have to do with the case of the 3rd Prince of the Mielle Empire?

“At that time, the Crown Prince was so beautiful back then, right? He must have been anxious because he was just engaged, so he had his maxim melted and engraved. Oh, how sweet is that?”

“From then on, the handicrafts presented to the fiancées before their debut came to have that meaning. I thought that the Duke of Belfius, who had been fighting a war since a young age, wouldn’t know about this legend…” 

It was such a sweet gesture.

It also meant that they now knew who their opponent would be.

It wasn’t known exactly which of the two daughters of the Hillington family would be the Duke of Belfius’s love interest, but it’s certainly one of them.

The meaning of the necklace would indicate whoever she is.

‘This woman is mine.’

The lady who spoke up smiled gracefully and said,

“Whichever one of the twins who will appear wearing a red necklace will be the person he has chosen.”

And that person is going to become prey for these ladies.

‘Aren’t they pitiful buds who would appear young and innocent, without a mother or a woman from another family to protect them?’

Invisible sword-like words, subtle sneers, and incomparable elegance will tear the Hillington’s young ladies to shreds, attack them, and cause them to cry.

So, it will make her give up on her fiance without him knowing the root cause. 

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Hildea’s POV)

As soon as I got out of the carriage, I frowned at the sight of a fairly crowded store.

“I didn’t know it was going to be this popular…”

Sien, who had a breathtaking expression on her face throughout the entire carriage ride, now had a pitiful face that couldn’t be explained.

Even now, I thought briefly about whether I should send Sien back to the mansion and buy things with the escort who accompanied me.

But then.

“My lady.”

“Yes?”

Sien stood quietly as if she had been contemplating and then spoke to me in a surprisingly calm voice.

“Follow me, My lady.”

‘Wait, the door to the lady’s entrance is not that way.’

TO BE CONTINUED….