Chapter 12. A New Meeting, Part IV

Mielle’s long, luxurious eyelashes trembled. It was interesting to see her in that state. She seemed like a baby bird struggling to learn how to flap its wings.

‘For all of your life, just flap your wings and fall.’

Tears once again fell from Aria’s eyes. Seeing this, Mielle truly felt that she wanted sincerely to get rid of Aria, like her clothes which had been burned down and were gone, and the slight crease of a frown appeared in the middle of her forehead. However, she didn’t show her inner thoughts, smiling smoothly instead.

She did it so naturally that no one was able to guess at the dark, dirty inner thoughts that swirled within her mind. Mielle’s specialty was hiding her thoughts and acting unlike them.

“What are you saying, sister? Of course, I’ll lend you some clothes. The clothes are nothing! It’s a relief that our sizes are similar.”

“Are you sure it’s OK?”

“Certainly. Borrow as many as you like.”

“Thank you! Thank you, Mielle! You’re truly an angel!”

Aria grabbed Mielle’s hands. Aria, who was smiling brightly, really looked happy. Mielle, who hadn’t anticipated that Aria would dare grab her hands, almost pulled them back out of surprise, but realizing the situation, she smiled awkwardly as she barely held hands with her.

This stirred the hearts of the audience watching the scene since it was beautiful to see two pretty children taking care of each other.

Since some of Mielle’s maids were children as well, they thought if Aria was educated, she would learn and understand. They had hated her too much using the excuse of her humble birth, but seeing her be polite to their master, Mielle, their thoughts started to change increasingly.

“Choose whatever you like, sister.”

Since the situation was such, Mielle talked to her kindly and told her immediately choose the clothes she wanted. Accepting Mielle’s kindness, Aria went to choose an outdoor dress from her dressing room. Bypassing all of the countless clothes at the very front, she held a box that had been stashed in the corner.

It had been hidden in the corner of the closet where others would have difficulty finding it. The box was very clean, without a speck of dust on it, as if it had been prepared for a special event.

Opening the box, she saw a beautiful white dress folded up. The white dress had a very soft texture and didn’t have many adornments, except for the red ruby that had been crafted in the shape of a rose on the chest.

This was the dress that Mielle had received from Oscar, the heir to the Dukedom of Frederick, for her birthday. It was trimmed very finely and looked a bit smaller than normal, portraying that it hadn’t been worn at all. It seemed that she hadn’t worn it because it was for a smaller size, so it was better for Aria to wear it instead.

Mielle’s face instantly paled as soon as she saw Aria came out with the dress. Her hand stopped midair like a conductor of an orchestra.

Aria asked with a very innocent smile, “Uh? Why?”

“This, this is a little…”

‘How could you find such a cherished dress of mine, which I had hidden so carefully?’

Seeing Mielle’s disapproval, Aria hurriedly apologized and quickly put down the dress with exaggerated flourish.

“Even if you told me to pick anything, it’s a little too pretty, right? I should have picked a suitable one instead… I chose this because it didn’t have many patterns, but since I’m still not accustomed to seeing what’s good or not, it seems that I chose an expensive dress. What do I do…? Then, what should I choose…? Mielle, I’m sorry for being slow-witted.”

“Ah… That is…”

Mielle, unable to say anything, bit her lip. If she had grown a little older, she wouldn’t have fallen for such a trick, but since she was only thirteen years old, she was simply at a loss.

On the inside, she despised and hated Aria, but on the outside, she was the only benevolent daughter of the count. Although Aria was not the count’s biological daughter, and she was of low birth, she was still a daughter of the count. Mielle wasn’t the only one like everyone else thought.

Therefore, even if Aria had to indulge in vulgar actions, people would overlook them since that would be understandable because of her low origins, but Mielle was different. Everyone should know that she was always benevolent and kind. That was the image that she had built of herself.

‘Funny enough, it seems that I am unable to part with that very image.’

Silence permeated the dressing room. The longer Mielle went without saying anything, the more questions arose in people’s minds.

‘You said that you would lend anything, so why aren’t you permitting it?’

The white dress was folded so that it didn’t look like it was a present from Oscar, which Aria was doing on purpose.

In the end, Mielle was unable to refuse directly and had no choice but to allow Aria to borrow the dress.

“Thank you so much. I’ll make sure to wear it clean and return it to you.”

“… Yes,” Mielle replied, a dark expression on her face.

She looked like a young lily that would wilt at any moment. ‘How could you resemble our family’s seal so well?’ Aria exclaimed in her thoughts.

If she was a lily, Aria was willing to be a poison-spraying flower. She would be a flower that would kill with just a small quantity of her strong poison; a flower as beautiful as a rose. But, she would be a flower that never forgave those that dared touch it.

The lovely image of the two girls hiding their venom with pretense was sufficient enough to keep the hearts of the audience warm.

***

Aria wore the dress that she had borrowed from Mielle, which was simple but extremely luxurious, and went downtown in a carriage with two guard knights and her maid, Jessie.

It was unusual for an aristocratic child to go out without her parents, but Aria was different. She had wandered the streets alone when she was younger than Mielle, and the countess hadn’t felt that there had been much danger to a small child acting independently.

That had been because there were few stupid kidnappers who would kidnap a slum girl. It was hard to identify a dirty, mangled girl’s face and sell her to the brothel, and there were little incentives for selling and buying slaves, so there had been no reason to kidnap her.

Moreover, now that her status had risen, she had two knights guarding her, so the countess was even less worried. If one knight were to die, the other would still be able to protect Aria.

On the other hand, Mielle never went out alone. She always went out with the count and, in the past, her mother, so unless an unlikely event, she would surely refrain from going out. At times, Cain and Mielle would go out together, but that was when their destination was clear. For example, a possible destination would be a residence of another nobleman or a gathering of a small number of acquaintances. She would never visit places where an unspecified number of people attended. Concern and worries about her surroundings also played a major part in that.

Aria recalled the scene and laughed that Mielle was the lovely child of the count and too precious to move alone, unlike her.

Jessie became anxious and restless when she heard her giggles leak out and raised her eyes. Aria, pretending that she did not see her, looked outside the window.

The fresh grass, trees, flowers and the busy movement of the people…

The scenery outside the window of the carriage passing fast was no different from before, so it was a bit annoying. There were days when she spent nights screaming from the nightmares of her head being severed, but the world was very peaceful in comparison.

Aria touched her soft, clean neck. The thought of death coiled with dread around her slender neck, but her neck stretched cleanly and unmarred. Yet, she even had hallucinations where her head would fall down just like that and roll in the dirt.

‘… It’s OK. Nothing will happen.’

Her faintly trembling hand continued to feel her neck. The scene of a yellow leaf falling to the ground after reaching the end of its life came into view. It looked like her neck rolling miserably along the ground in front of the onlookers.