QOL 12

Chapter 12

“……What is this?”

The maids exchanged uneasy glances among themselves and hesitated before one finally stepped forward and held something out.

Two thin sheets of light brown paper. The kind commonly seen in street tabloids.

“W-we found this… in the young lady’s room, but none of us brought it in.”

The head maid took it and checked the contents. Her face twisted more and more by the second.

“Where in the room?”

“On… on the table.”

After a moment of deep thought, the head maid tore the papers into pieces and threw them into the brazier.

“Tell every servant to gather in the lounge. Immediately!”

The head maid, gentle enough that one might think even a hundred bosses like her would be acceptable, was furious.

The killing intent radiating from her was subtle, yet even that alone was enough to make every servant in the Cornu duchy shrink back and enter a period of intense self-reflection.

To them, the duke and duchess were symbols of kindness and benevolence.

And what about Lady Cornu? Was there anyone more fitting of the words pure and upright?

Their young lady had finally returned after such a long time. They should have served her even more diligently in gratitude for all the grace they had received over the years.

Yet somehow they had allowed the filthy waste spewed by lowly troublemakers into the mansion itself!

“Oh, dear heavens.”

One young maid, whose sick younger brother had been taken to the hospital thanks to the duke family’s help, muttered to herself. On her way back to the servants’ quarters, she crouched down clutching her head in distress.

“I definitely checked carefully, so how did that even get inside…?”

Two days later, Erin left the mansion wearing clothes she had painstakingly chosen.

As though it were only natural, the head maid had already dressed in outdoor attire and waited in the drawing room, but she was stopped before she could leave through the entrance.

She argued that if she remained inside the carriage the whole time without getting out, she would not be a disturbance at all, but she failed to properly answer Erin’s question of then what was the point of coming together in the first place.

For some reason, she had been unusually persistent today. After breaking into a sweat trying to dissuade her, Erin climbed into the carriage and let out a long sigh.

‘Did she simply want to go out?’

If that were the case, there would be plenty of other opportunities besides today.

More importantly, Erin currently had no room to concern herself with someone else’s gaze while acting. Even if that someone was a servant from the mansion.

‘It would be most accurate for you to see it yourself, my lady… but it’s bright and glamorous.’

‘Bright… and glamorous?’

‘It sounds vague, but I can think of no better way to describe it. Yes, that’s all Lepite is.’

Actually, stepping into a men’s department store itself was not the issue.

What made her uncomfortable were the eyes that would naturally follow her once she went out onto the streets, and the fact that she no longer had any natural excuse to avoid them.

During her days in the ballet company, she could always use convenient shields.

Preparing for a performance, in the middle of a performance, exhausted after one. Anything worked, and people accepted it without question.

But things were different now.

With news of her retirement already spread far and wide, showing her back to people would only look like she was running away to avoid an uncomfortable situation.

Erin looked down at her outfit, her hands resting on her knees. The pale orange dress trimmed with luxurious lace was bright and lovely even in her own eyes.

“Hoo…”

The outfit alone would surely attract attention. But sometimes there were things one had to endure even while knowing full well.

Instead, she pulled her hat lower. Shadows covered half of her small face.

“We’ve arrived, my lady.”

When the swiftly moving carriage came to a stop, Erin slightly parted the curtain.

The entire department store building fit into view so perfectly she wondered how they had managed to park the carriage like this.

The window frame looked almost like a picture frame. From the very beginning, she could fully understand what the head maid had meant by glamorous.

Large and shining, yet perfectly blended with its surroundings. Even so, it had not lost the unique oppressive grandeur of being both new and imperial.

‘When I merely passed by before, it felt like just another part of the street…’

She could somewhat understand now why Eden Fletcher stood so proudly as a businessman.

Taking the hand of the duke household’s footman as she descended, Erin smiled lightly.

Remembering the head maid’s instructions, the footman Dane discreetly looked up to observe her.

There was not the slightest trace of anything unusual on Erin’s face. She was simply Gavin Cornu’s daughter, Lady Cornu.

‘The head maid worries too much.’

Feeling twice as proud while filling in for the absent butler of the past week, Dane bowed toward Erin’s retreating figure.

She had gotten off at a small park located across the road from Lepite.

Unable to bring herself to follow the other ladies directly into the entrance, she had asked to be dropped nearby so she could walk slowly instead.

More than anything, she needed a moment.

A chance to calm herself.

‘…This should be enough. I’m not poorly prepared.’

After taking a deep breath, Erin straightened her shoulders and tucked in her chin.

Her clothes, shoes, handbag. Inside the carriage she had even checked her makeup with a hand mirror.

‘Considering who made these, I can hardly complain about wearing them.’

Her makeup as well—her lips were vividly red, making her look bright and untouched by shadows.

Once mentally prepared, Erin lifted her gaze and swept it from the top of the department store all the way down.

People gathered around the entrance chattered noisily, while private carriages lined the semicircular drive. Expanding her view further, the everyday sounds filling the streets felt peaceful.

Before she realized it, she too had blended into the scenery of the park.

‘Maybe I worried for nothing.’

Already half-hidden by shadow, she adjusted her narrow silk hat once more.

Everyone’s busy with their own business. Surely nobody would stare that hard at someone’s face.

Then recognizing her should be difficult—

“Oh my~! My dear, it’s you!”

She really had almost managed to think exactly that.

“My goodness. How long has it been, Erin?”

If not for the familiar high-pitched voice calling her name and waving enthusiastically.

The voice came from the street.

A woman with elaborately pinned-up hair leaned out from an unusually luxurious carriage and waved. It was Princess Kayla, the king’s youngest daughter.

“Come closer so I can see you properly, pretty girl. Hmm? Hurry now. Come over here.”

Erin hesitated upon seeing the princess beckoning her with one arm resting against the window frame.

“Have you been well, Lady Kayla?”

“Yes, and what luck meeting you right on the street! The last time I saw you was when you performed at the royal palace, wasn’t it? I heard from my sister that you quit. How did that happen?”

“Ah, well…”

“No, never mind. I’m sure you had your reasons. More importantly, dear, can you come to my birthday this year? Last year you refused saying you were busy. It was my thirty-second birthday party, no less. How cold-hearted to only send a gift!”

“……”

“I was terribly hurt, you know. This year you absolutely must come, alright? Hmm? You will, won’t you?”

Kayla, adorned with enormous jewels, blinked even more dazzlingly than the gems themselves. After a moment of thought, Erin nodded.

“You promised now, didn’t you? If you don’t come, I’ll personally go drag you out of your house~”

“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely attend.”

She had attended the princess’s birthday parties since childhood. Not going would be stranger at this point.

Satisfied with the answer she wanted, Kayla blew her a kiss, saying she was already late for an appointment, then quickly departed.

The carriage had already grown distant, racing down the boulevard.

Erin’s gaze, briefly halted, shifted toward a piece of paper fluttering in the wind.

It was an incredibly thin tabloid sheet, unable to hold itself steady even in the gentlest breeze.

When the wind died down, it dropped limply to the ground. Then another gust caught it, sending it skidding farther away.

‘They hand these out for free like this, and all it does is create more trash on the streets.’

Clicking her tongue, Erin soon looked away from the drifting paper.

Raising the head she had lowered, she turned toward the building ahead. One hand gripped her handbag while the other pressed her hat down firmly again.

“E-excuse me, miss?”

A boy who looked around ten years old approached Erin just as she was about to take a step forward.

“There’s more detailed information in here!”

“What?”

“If you’re curious, would you like to check this out?”

Apparently thinking she was interested in the tabloid that had blown away, the boy thrust out a worn sleeve. He was one of the newspaper boys commonly seen around parks.

Unable to ignore his gaunt face, Erin tilted her head.

“What do you think? Would you like a copy? There’s lots of new information. You won’t be disappointed.”

“Really?”

“Uh—?”

But the moment the boy properly saw Erin’s face, he suddenly recoiled in shock and dropped the newspaper.

“?”

“Ah. I-I, um…!”

Then he immediately turned around and fled in a panic.