“Will you? Is the doll worth this much?”
She took out 200,000 sena of the remaining money she put in the safe last time and held it out. It was a situation where she was trying to relieve stress, so she didn’t waste money like before, even though she took out 200,000 sena. Or maybe she had gotten used to the aristocratic life in the meantime. But Anna only picked up 50,000 of them.
“With just this much, you can order a pair of male and female dolls from a skilled artisan.”
So she decided to give Anna the remaining 150,000 Senna.
“Then, buy some good fabric and sewing tools for making doll clothes with this. The rest is labor cost.”
“It’s my job to take care of the lady, so I don’t need to pay for my labor.”
“Why? What do you want to receive from me?”
“Yes? Oh, no, not like that…”
It was the first time she had ever seen Anna flustered. Just by looking at it, you could tell what kind of words she was receiving.
“Then what are you so nervous about? It’s too little money to hurt my pride or to buy you. So just take it as a cost of labor.”
After thinking about it for a while, Anna accepted it meekly.
“Thank you, lady.”
“I’m really begging you. It’s because I’m so bored these days.”
In fact, she knew from the start that Anna was the one attached to watch over her. It’s also a natural thing. But at least she didn’t look at her over her shoulder or ignored her. For that alone, she was grateful to her, and she always had a desire to repay her there. If Anna had rejected her sincerity in the end, she would have been even more heartbroken. And, perhaps because of the labor costs, Anna brought a pair of wooden dolls, sewing kits, and a box of various fabrics and buttons that evening.
“How did you already make it?”
“Fortunately, a previous request was canceled.”
“Good luck! This one is really well made.”
She thought of a crude piece of wood, and surprisingly, it was a perfect wooden doll with movable joints.
“Good job, Anna.”
“Should I get you a doll clothes pattern?”
“Huh? He, can you?”
“If you tell the needlewoman, she will draw it right away. I’ll be back.”
She felt that Anna had strangely become kinder. Was it really because of the labor cost…? Anyway, thanks to Anna, she was able to start making doll clothes the next day. She only remembered it after she started, but she wasn’t very dexterous with the things that needed to be manual done. At first, she was annoyed by the sewing that didn’t turn out the way she had hoped, but she soon changed her mind.
‘It’s not like anyone is evaluating it, so what if I can’t do it? I’m just looking for fun by killing money and time. And this is a true luxury.’
Thinking that this was a part of extravagance, she felt relieved at once and suddenly every stitch was fun. It was a little annoying to have to grass to keep the threads from unraveling, but she was thrilled every time what was a piece of cloth changed into a three-dimensional piece of clothing.
‘Yes, this is my hobby! Whether you do well or not, feel joy!’
She had never enjoyed such peace of mind in her previous life. She always lived as if she was being chased by something, and she was looking at efficiency versus time. It’s ironic, but it’s only now when she was possessing someone else’s body, and she finally felt like she was living as myself. No one was looking for her all day, and she had nothing else to do, so after three full days of dedication, she was able to dress the male and female dolls in decent clothes. When she turned the inside of the clothes inside out, the crooked stitching and the protruding seams were a mess, but it didn’t matter because she couldn’t see it from the outside.
“It’s pretty plausible, isn’t it?”
After congratulating herself in the absence of anyone around, she cut a thick thread and began attaching it to the doll’s head. It reminded her of the old days when she had leukemia, so she hated bald dolls. She made the male doll with black hair and the female doll with brown hair, but they looked much better with the hair attached.
“Finally finished!”
After looking at the male doll wearing a white shirt, black vest, and black pants and wearing a dark blue cape, and the female doll wearing a light yellow basic dress, they stood facing each other.
“Come on, kiss.”
The two faceless dolls stood facing each other and shyly kissed each other.
‘I’ve never done it at a wedding, but you guys can kiss your heart’s content.’
She put the doll in that pose and looked at it for a while. She felt like she was getting lonely for some reason, but she found it funny to be overly immersed in playing with dolls, so she quickly cleared the area. Now that she had made doll clothes, she was going to try embroidering.
* * *
“Edith Rigelhoff is on probation.”
“What? Is it really?”
“According to Hanson’s letter, yes.”
“Ahaha! What’s up!”
Layla, who was having tea with her younger brother, Anton, smiled broadly at the news Damian had brought to her. It was the happiest news since the seat next to Killian, whom she had only been eyeing sideways, was taken over by Edith, no one else.
“What on earth did a bride who had just been married receive a probation order for?”
Layla asked Damian with twinkling eyes. Damian recalled the letter from Hanson, the spy planted in the duchy, and briefly summarized the entire story.
“She stole the duke’s internal documents. To Count Rigelhoff.”
“Oh my god… Is she bold or stupid? How long has she been married, is she already revealing her true colors?”
“You should have rushed. Count Rigelhoff must be planning to attack the Ludwig family within this year.”
There wouldn’t be any noticeable conflict until the end of the year, but just because the water surface was calm didn’t mean it’s calm all the way to the bottom. Count Sinclair, who was aiming for an aide to the Duke of Ludwig, was closely observing every move of the Rigelhoff family, which was currently the most closely related to the Duke of Ludwig in terms of business. That’s why she was able to notice their feelings in advance.
“Since Edith was discarded in the first place, Count Rigelhoff would have tried to secure advantageous information as soon as possible, no matter what the ducal family dealt with. But Duke Ludwig isn’t that kind of a person.”
Layla gave him a big nod, but Anton held her back.
“But no matter how much she was caught, wouldn’t it be dangerous if the duchy’s internal documents ended up in the hands of Count Rigelhoff?”
“I’ll say it again, Duke Ludwig isn’t such a nice person. Did he really entrust Edith with an important document?”
“Well, even if it were me, I wouldn’t have left them to her.”
“Even from what Hanson said, he doesn’t seem to care about the leaked information from the Ludwig family. If that’s the case, he might have entrusted the useless documents to check what route this flows over there.”
At that, Layla burst into laughter.
“Fool! So Edith, that woman was caught in a trap in a good way?”
“Yes.”
Layla felt even better. The fact that Duke Ludwig talked about Edith like that was proof that he did not recognize Edith as his daughter-in-law.
“Then why did she only get probation? She dared to deceive the duchy, so they have to kick her out right away!”
“Layla. Not everything is as simple as you think.”
“What? Are you ignoring me now?”
Damian sighed as he looked at his quick-tempered sister.
“You say that because you are so naive. Why did Duke Ludwig marry Edith to Killian in the first place? It’s because of the idea of holding on to the leash of Count Rigelhoff.”
“But Edith just showed Count Rigelhoff’s cards!”
“It’s because the Ludwig family doesn’t know that yet!”
Who would have imagined Someone who wouldn’t mind spending 5 million on a dress for his daughter was using his daughter as bait.
“Then can’t we tell the Ludwig duke family about it?”
“That’s not allowed.”
“Why?”
“Then Count Rigelhof will keep his body close. That would only delay their downfall.”
Layla’s lips pouted out, but Damian thought the secret would be out by the end of the year. Around the time Count Rigelhoff really abandoned Edith and rebelled against Duke Ludwig.
However, there was one thing that bothered her. Damian recalled the rest of the letter he hadn’t given to Layla.
-…Lord Killian, who had no interest in Edith before, seems to take care of her strangely after this incident. He sometimes stops by Lady Edith’s room, and sometimes they eat together.
Of course, it hasn’t been confirmed that Lady Edith was the culprit in the incident yet…
It was pretty bad news.
‘It’s better that Killian stays indifferent to her… Eventually he’ll dump her, but for some reason it bothers me.’
Damian sipped his tea and brooded over his thoughts. However, for now, Lise was more of a nuisance than Edith Riegelhoff.
“Brother. What are you thinking so hard about? Crumpling your face…”
Contrary to Layla’s ecstatic mood, Anton looked at his brother’s expression before asking. Damian said nothing about Killian.
“Edith will take care of it, so don’t worry. Rather, Rize, that girl is the problem.”
“Lise?”
Even Layla’s expression crumpled at the name.
How do you feel?
