TSKSML 12

Chapter 12

Pop!

“Got it!”

At Jayna’s triumphant shout, Helene’s legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the ground.
A dead bird dropped with a thud behind her back.

“What the— You could’ve told me there was a bird!”

“Really? If I’d yelled, ‘It’s a bird! I’m going to shoot it!!’ do you think the bird would’ve stayed put?”

Why was that brat so annoyingly good at talking back?

Left speechless, Helene looked down at the bird pierced by an arrow.
It was a gray-headed finch — a delicacy adored by nobles, prized for its flavor.

Helene was dumbfounded.

She and Jayna were standing quite far apart — far enough that they had to shout to hear each other.

And yet Jayna had managed to hit a tiny gray-headed finch from that distance.

What kind of eyesight does she even have?

To make it worse, the arrow had gone straight through the bird’s body, a clean shot.

Jayna… I’m so sorry for ever doubting you…

“Anyway, what about you, I mean, Stepmother— what are you doing here in the mountains?”
Jayna pulled the arrow out of the bird’s corpse and asked.

She’d been so focused on her prey that she hadn’t even thought about how strange it was to see Helene here.

This mountain was not the kind of place for someone like her — rough, remote, and rarely visited by anyone but hunters.

Helene being here made no sense.

“Ahem… well.”

Helene handed Jayna a sheet of paper — a crude drawing she had brought to ask if anyone familiar with the mountain recognized the place.

“Oh, this?”

Jayna let out a small laugh. The drawing was worse than something her little sister April had scribbled when she was three.

Still, Jayna could recognize what it depicted. The drawing was terrible, but Jayna spent nearly every day in these mountains — she couldn’t not know the place.

After Jayna told her where it was, Helene finally asked the question that had been on her mind.

“By the way… are you out here hunting?”

Jayna froze.

Her hunting was supposed to be a secret. Neither Liriana nor April knew about it.

After her father’s death, Jayna had taken up hunting as a way to relieve stress from her stepmother — remembering the days when she used to go hunting with her father.
What started as a hobby had turned into a genuine passion.

Hunting was fun. She was good at it. And it made money.

Jayna had become a skilled hunter — capable of taking down any beast in the mountains.
She would cover her face, go down to the village, and sell the pelts of the predators she’d caught, earning a fair bit of income.

There was only one reason she was secretly saving money:

“April is a special child…”

Jayna still remembered Liriana’s words and had nodded in agreement.

April was a genius. She had learned to read before anyone even taught her, and now she could easily read books written in ancient languages that even Jayna and her sister couldn’t understand.

Maybe a tomboy like herself was better suited to this rough lifestyle — but her beautiful older sister deserved a happy marriage, and her brilliant, adorable little sister should be able to attend the Imperial Academy.

But the Academy — attended only by royals and the highest-ranking nobles — was far beyond what the fallen Emeldia family could afford.

She did feel guilty each time she killed a beast and skinned it, but if this meant she could someday afford April’s tuition — or even save up a dowry for her sister — then it was worth it.

“…Please, don’t tell my sister or April about this.”

Unable to come up with any convincing excuse, Jayna simply stated her request.

She still didn’t like Helene, but something told her that the current Helene wouldn’t snitch.

After all, April’s cheeks — once thin and pale — had grown round and healthy thanks to the delicious new dishes Helene made.
And just yesterday, her sister had returned from the temple humming happily for some reason.

Maybe — just maybe — Jayna had started to open her heart to Helene, if only a little.

“You’d better not tell anyone you saw me up here either! If people found out I climb mountains, I’d die of embarrassment!”

Helene, utterly unfazed by Jayna’s worried tone, marched away with firm, confident steps — off to find what she’d come for.

*

After morning prayers ended, Helene saw the Marchioness of Rousen approach with a meaningful look — and she knew immediately.
She was finally going to be invited to the Solar Fellowship.

She had worked so hard to win this woman’s favor.

The Marquis of Rousen was notorious throughout the Empire for being a womanizer.
Perhaps owning the largest farmlands in the Empire had made him… talented at sowing seeds.

His newest mistress was younger than his eldest daughter — and had just given birth to his sixth illegitimate child.

Rumor had it that the Marquis had even gifted this mistress an estate and a mansion.

Since then, the Marchioness had become obsessed with beauty and youth.

To be fair, she was quite beautiful for her age — but her skin was a different story.
Her face was covered in red, inflamed adult acne.

Her obsession with harsh cosmetics had only worsened things.
Sure, it wasn’t as bad as the mercury-laden makeup of medieval times, but this world’s cosmetics weren’t much better developed.

If only I had some Houttuynia cordata… (Korean: 어성초)

In her past life, Han Yena had studied makeup in college — after working part-time for three years to afford tuition — and had later found a job at a well-known beauty salon.

She remembered how, every morning, the head stylist would grind fresh Houttuynia cordata leaves into a facial mask — specially shipped from Jeju Island.

The woman had an awful temper, but her herbal masks were unmatched.

Before makeup sessions, applying that mask would calm even the most irritated skin and make foundation go on flawlessly.

Also known as “dokudami” or “chameleon plant,” it smells fishy because it’s rich in essential oils. But it’s antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and one of the best ingredients for soothing skin.

That was what had brought Helene to the mountain — searching for the plant.

And, by luck, the place Jayna had pointed out was full of it — almost like a natural cultivation field.

Helene crushed the plants and made her own facial toner.
A truly natural, vegan skincare product.

Helene, like the Marchioness, loved heavy makeup — and her skin had suffered for it.
But after just a week of using the toner, her red, blotchy complexion had cleared up and her skin had turned translucent. She barely needed powder anymore.

Apparently, the Houttuynia of this world was even more potent.

She poured the toner into a beautiful glass bottle she had bought in the city and gifted it to the Marchioness of Rousen.

The Marchioness’s expression was skeptical, but Helene’s bare, glowing skin — with no trace of redness — convinced her to try it.

She was stunned.
No matter how much money she’d spent, her skin had never improved — until now.
Just from this one simple toner.

For a brief moment, she even wondered if the rumors were true — that Helene, the “repentant stepmother,” was secretly a witch who practiced black magic.

Whatever it was, the Marchioness needed that toner — no matter the price.

Before she could even ask, Helene gifted her another batch — this time with a matching herbal bath powder.

When the Marquis returned home after six months away, he couldn’t take his eyes off his wife’s rejuvenated skin.
He even started staying at the main mansion again instead of his mistress’s estate.

“…Why would you give me something this wonderful?”

The Marchioness had always struggled with insecurity.

She was originally from the Kingdom of Arten — a nation famed for its warriors.
As the third princess, her marriage to a foreign noble seemed humble compared to her elder sisters, who had become queens of other lands.

As a foreigner in the Herssen Empire, with her exotic looks and awkward accent, she had never been fully accepted into high society.
Even as a marchioness, she was sometimes treated with disdain by countesses.

So she couldn’t understand why Countess Emeldia — among so many noble ladies — would offer her such a precious gift.

“Why, because I want to be your friend, of course!”

What Helene truly wanted was genuine friendship with the Marchioness of Rousen.

Gradually, the Marchioness began to open her heart. She had needed someone like Helene all along.

At the Solar Fellowship, she had always been on the fringes — excluded, ignored.
How wonderful would it be if someone like Helene — who was always kind and supportive — could join?

And besides, Helene, the “repentant stepmother” whose story was known throughout the Empire, was an intriguing figure for the Fellowship’s members.

It was also a perfect chance to redeem herself in the eyes of the Grand Duchess of Rebladian, whose disfavor she had once earned for flaunting overly lavish outfits during prayer.

At the Fellowship’s next tea gathering, the usually timid Marchioness finally spoke up:

“I… I’d like to invite a new friend to join the Solar Fellowship. What do you all think?”

For the first time, every lady in the room turned their eyes to her.