‘Why is Lise suddenly doing this? Could it really have something to do with me meeting the second-level exception condition?’
She was lost in that thought when suddenly Cliff said something different.
“Ah! Do you know a maid named Sabina?”
“Yes? Who?”
“Sabina.”
“No. It’s the first name I’ve heard. What do you look like?”
“…She is a slightly thin maid with mixed blonde and chestnut hair. She mainly hauled laundry.”
“Um… sorry. Any laundry that goes in or out of my room was taken care of by Anna or Sophia, so I can’t remember. But why are you asking about the maid? What’s going on?”
Cliff smiled slightly when she asked. It was something that felt very uncomfortable.
“Okay. If she had known, she would have been better.”
“Yes?”
“Ah, she thought that if the boy had a good reputation, she would give him a promotion.”
“I see, sorry. I still don’t know all the names of the maids in the mansion.”
“Well, that’s fine.”
Cliff drank his tea with a strange smile.
“Anyway, don’t forget what I said, give it a try. If it goes well, wouldn’t it be good for you and me too?”
“Ha… Will it be so?”
She wasn’t expecting much. She was just worried that it might end up stimulating his memories of being with Lise. However, there was not much time left until the episode where the hair was blown off. All she could do was try to do it.
* * *
“Look at that, Killian! So cute!”
Lise, who had been out together for the first time in a while, smiled as she pointed to the show window of a common general store on Le Belle-Marie Street. In the show window, there were music boxes and glass crafts that were imported from abroad.
“It’s cute. Shall I buy it for you?”
From Killian’s point of view, they were expensive and pretty garbage, but when Lise said they were pretty, he just thought it was so.
“No. I just said it because it’s cute.”
However, Killian took Lise and bought the things she pointed out. A music box made by one of the world’s top three artisans cost 200,000 sena, and a rabbit-shaped glass ornament said to be imported from a famous glass producer cost 18,000 sena.
“I’m really fine…”
Lise, who had been embarrassed the whole time Killian was paying the price, received the gift and raised her eyebrows again.
“I just bought it because I wanted to buy it. Because there aren’t many days left before I can buy you something like this?”
“Yes? Killian, where are you going?”
“Sooner or later, I will have to go down to the manor.”
“Uh, when are you going?”
“Well… Maybe early next year?”
Killian smiled lightly at Lise’s regret for breaking up with him.
“Edith too?”
The question was a bit odd. She was asking the obvious, and the nuance that seemed impossible was also the same.
“Isn’t that obvious? Of course, Edith will miss life in the capital, but the lord’s wife has no choice but to follow suit.”
“Yeah, that’s right…”
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s because I’m sorry, that… Because I don’t have many friends…”
The strange atmosphere quickly dissipated. When Killian remembered that Lise didn’t have many friends her age, he thought she’d regret it. As they talked, they arrived at their destination in no time.
“Ah, everything is here.”
The two went into a high-end shoe store together.
“Welcome! Ah! You’re here for shoes!”
“Yes.”
The shop owner immediately remembered the two dazzlingly beautiful people. Then he took one of the boxes off the shelf and opened it in front of them.
“It is out of shape very well. Try it on.”
Lise smiled shyly, sat down, and stuck out her dainty feet. The shoes were lined in cream satin and decorated with ribbons and diamond buckles at the insteps. Killian remembered the day he came to get these shoes tailored. It was a few days before the fake document leak incident. Edith had come out to comfort Lise, who smiled sadly, saying that she was much smarter and better at work than she, who had never learned anything. Perhaps that day, Edith also said that she was going out with her maid.
“They say good shoes take you to good places.”
He bought it while saying that. They were words to comfort Lise, but she also said goodbye to Lise. Originally, he wanted to be a ‘good place’ for Lise, but he was saddened by his situation that he could no longer hold Lise in his arms, and these were the shoes he bought with that mindset. But how cunning was the human mind. The heart that was heartbroken at the time was nothing now.
‘I must have been pushed away by Cliff because my love was only this much.’
Come to think of it, Cliff put everything he had into Lise. It was terrifying to see at times.
Perhaps even letting Killian fall in love with Lise was a smoke screen operation to slowly make Lise his own.
“As long as you live, things will get better, Killian. I think you and Edith are a good match.”
The words of his mother, who had once heard and were angry, came to mind. At the time, he thought it would never happen, but now he could only confirm that none of his mother’s words were wrong.
‘What is Edith trying to do today…’
The image of Edith standing in front of the carriage with only her maid kept lingering in front of his eyes.
‘Before we go down to the manor, Edith’s shoes and boots should be adjusted a bit more. Come to think of it, I don’t have much time, do I?’
He couldn’t even remember what kind of shoes she was wearing. Killian blamed himself for his nonchalant behavior and told the shoemaker, who paid his tribute to Lise.
“Sooner or later, I will stop by with my wife. I think I will have to order two or three pairs of shoes and boots. How long will it take to make them?”
“If you two each have two or three pairs, well… I think it will take three months no matter what. I guess orders for winter shoes will be pouring in soon.”
“I should come as soon as possible. I see.”
He nodded, but Lise was looking up at him with a strange face.
“Why is that, Lise?”
“Oh, no. However… I think we should consider Edith’s taste as well.”
“Edith’s taste?”
“Edith seemed to like things a little more flashy.”
Killian laughed at that.
“I thought she was like that too, but after getting married, it seems like her tastes have changed a lot. I didn’t know she was such a pragmatist.”
“Is that so?”
“Perhaps the shoes here are too luxurious and expensive for her taste,” he said.
“Really? I misunderstood because I heard that all the dresses she has are gorgeous, and even hearing from the side that she likes flashy styles. However, Edith looks good in a flashy style…”
“Well, that’s right. The dress she wore on the wedding day was a bit embarrassing, but it suited her well.”
It was embarrassing to even think of the dress that exposed the dizzying breastbone, but he thought he would like her to try it on again in a place where no one was around.
‘I’ll probably peel it off right away.’
Killian tried hard to control the leaking mouth. After leaving the shoes packed in the shoe store with the servant who followed them, the two decided to look around Lebelmari Street again. Just as he was about to take his step, Killian turned to the side at the unfamiliar sensation he felt on his forearm.
“Huh? Why?”
Lise was hanging on his arm with her arms crossed. It was the first time Lise crossed their arms.
“Oh, no… Nothing.”
Killian was a little embarrassed, but it wasn’t something to be serious about, so he just let it be.
‘Looks like Lise was in a good mood after a long absence.’
He considered himself lucky. Maybe today was the last day to go out with Lise. As they were walking down a street full of cute shops with Lise and young girls in pretty dresses, he suddenly remembered Edith and the street they had walked after watching an opera. It was connected to Darsus Street, but it was a little shabby than that. A street with a cheap candy vendor, a girl who picks and sells wild flowers, and a clown who doesn’t even get a few coins for tricks all day long. It was a place he would never have been to if they hadn’t chosen to go out the back door because of the crowds at the front door of the Opera House. It was a place he didn’t even think Edith would like. However, unlike someone who was born and raised as an aristocrat, Edith did not hesitate to contact commoners. In addition, she smiled happily even after receiving shabby things.
‘Come to think of it, there’s nothing left of the things I bought back then…’
The candy was all eaten before they returned, and the flowers must have withered in less than two days. Zergling caliber also had nothing materially left.
‘Shouldn’t I have bought her something different?’
So whenever Edith saw it, he belatedly thought that she should have been able to remember that day.
“Killian. Look over there. It seems to be a new store.”
“Ah…!”
Killian, engrossed in Edith’s thoughts and startled, turned his gaze to the direction Lise pointed. It was a shop full of pink that he might want to pass by. He didn’t want to go that far because he’d been stared at by people passing by, but Lise seemed to want to stop by.
‘Now that I’m out, I’ll have to look at everything I want to see before going in.’
Killian entered the pink shop with Lise. When they went in, it was an accessory store that sold things like ribbons, headbands, corsages, and laces.
How do you feel?
