I Will Become the Queen of the Enemy Country

Elise made up her mind and picked up her pen. The letter quickly filled a page.

Before she knew it, the owl, having emptied its snack box, was hopping around playfully at Elise’s feet.

Elise picked up the large owl.

The owl seemed to enjoy Elise’s touch.

It seemed to know that Elise found it adorable. Elise stroked the owl’s feathers and put the letter in a small bag.

“Take care.”

In the middle of the night, the black owl flew up from Elise’s window.

Unnoticed by anyone, the black owl blended well into the darkness.

****

Guests began to arrive in droves at the capital of Bedrokka.

Then, news from Chase became scarce. He seemed busy entertaining the guests.

‘I must have been a big help in the past, but now he must be having a hard time doing it all by himself.’

Elise felt good seeing Chase struggle.

“Regina, prepare to go out.”

“Are you going out? The master will be very angry if he finds out.”

“He went into the palace with my sister. He won’t have time to worry about me.”

Although he had ordered Elise to be confined, there were no knights or servants guarding her room.

‘He must have forgotten what he said. That means he doesn’t care that much.’

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to meet Jasmine.”

Elise had to meet Jasmine before the party. Coincidentally, two days ago, as she was contemplating whether to contact Jasmine, her invitation arrived.

“Understood, Miss. I’ll prepare the carriage.”

A while later, Elise boarded a carriage heading to Baron Orleans’ house with Regina.

To get to Baron Orleans’ house, it was necessary to pass through the city.

As they passed the fountain in the square, Regina muttered.

“Miss, you need to buy a dress…”

Her gaze was directed at the carriages lined up in front of the dress shop outside the window.

When the New Year’s party comes around, dress, shoe, jewelry, and bag shops are bustling.

Wealthy nobles invite experts to their homes before spring to make reservations, but other nobles hustle to get samples or items that others have canceled.

Elise had joined that line last year.

Because Viscount Worton was very reluctant to spend money on Elise, she had no choice but to buy a good dress with little money.

[Iris needs to get her clothes tailored. But there’s no money to tailor yours.]

Did she get hurt when Veilney said that? It didn’t seem like it, but it seems Regina was.

‘In fact, I could have bought and worn clothes with my own money. The business I was doing under Chase’s name was doing quite well. But all the money I earned went into what Chase ate and wore.’

The business she had built up would continue to be Chase’s generous back pocket.

It was a pity, but she decided to consider it as a consolation for the breakup.

“I have the one from last year.”

“No lady wears the same dress in a row.”

“Then wear the one from the year before.”

“But still…”

Even if Regina pouted her lips, there was no way Elise could help.

But one thing she could promise.

“I won’t look shabby.”

Because that day is not just about wearing clothes.

Thinking about it, Elise became impatient.

Elise knocked on the window connected to the coachman.

“Hurry up a bit.”

As the carriage speeding through the city increased its speed, the noise of people preparing for the New Year’s festival also faded away.

“We’ve arrived, Miss.”

Thanks to Elise’s urging, the carriage arrived at Baron Orleans’ house at just the right time for tea.

As Elise got off, the butler of Orleans came out to greet her.

“Miss Jasmine is waiting for you. Please come up.”

Whether Jasmine had said something or not, the butler escorted her very politely.

Elise looked around the mansion, which was imbued with the taste of Lady Orleans, and followed the butler upstairs.

He led Elise to Jasmine’s reception room.

The reception room attached to Jasmine’s room was smaller than the main reception room, but it had many cute props and was full of things to see.

“Welcome, Elise.”

Jasmine greeted Elise warmly.

“I didn’t think you’d accept my invitation.”

Jasmine smiled shyly, as if she couldn’t believe Elise was here.

“Why would you think that? I thought Jasmine and I were friends.”

Jasmine’s pupils shook from side to side.

“Friends…right. We said we were friends.”

Jasmine muttered as if talking to herself, then firmly grabbed Elise’s hand.

“Was it hard?”

The sentence was omitted both subject and object, so Elise had quite a hard time figuring out what Jasmine meant.

What could have been hard for me?

“That…scandal.”

Jasmine said in a very low voice.

‘She’s talking about the incident with Karan.’

Even without hearing how rumors about Elise were circulating in the social world, it was easy to infer.

Although the focus was shifted to the story of Iris and Chase, the story of Karan and Elise did not completely disappear.

Because they couldn’t openly talk about it, more people started to gossip secretly.

A fox that captivated a barbarian, perhaps.

‘What if a bad rumor comes out because of me?’

Elise was suddenly grateful for Jasmine’s invitation.

“Oh my, what am I doing leaving someone standing. Come here and sit down, Elise. I’ve prepared some good tea. I wanted to buy coffee too, but I couldn’t find anything as delicious as the coffee Elise showed me.”

Of course. That’s because Elise bought green beans and roasted them herself.

Coffee distribution was not yet active.

So Jasmine thanked Elise for serving her precious coffee and apologized for not being able to serve such coffee.

“The tea is also excellent.”

It wasn’t just lip service, it really was.

“I’m glad it suits your taste.”

The two asked each other how they were doing. But the conversation didn’t last long.

Jasmine had no friends, so she had nothing to bring up as a topic, and Elise, even if she brought it up, only experienced things that worried Jasmine.

Naturally, when the conversation stopped, Elise pointed to the hair ornament that Jasmine had been eyeing.

“It’s really pretty. It looks practical. I haven’t seen it in stores, where did you get it?”

Elise asked ambiguously, knowing that it was a pin made by Jasmine herself.

“This? Would you like to see it?”

When Elise showed interest in the item she made, Jasmine’s face lit up.

She quickly took the pin out of her hair. Then her voluminous hair unraveled and flowed down.

“It’s shaped like a clip.”

Elise took the pin that Jasmine handed her and looked at it from all angles.

The pin, which looked like a collection of animal ribs, could easily twist up the hair.

“Yes. I call it a hair clip for convenience.”

Elise turned the hair clip around. As she thought in the past, this hair clip was a very convenient item.

In Bedrokka, unmarried women usually let their hair down unless it was a party or a special day.

Because long hair with good texture was a symbol of beauty.

But there were many inconveniences when letting your hair down.

When eating food, writing, reading books, closing doors, etc., hair was a problem in various situations.

It was not even shameful to chew hair, not food, in front of guests.

At such times, they couldn’t tie their hair.

Because it required a lot of pins to fix long hair.

‘And when you let your hair down again, there are traces.’

But with this hair clip, you could easily twist your hair up, and wouldn’t show when you let it down.

For that reason, Elise was interested in Jasmine’s hair clip in the past, but the pin did not become a big trend and disappeared.

As mentioned earlier, because there was no model.

“Can you give me one of these hair clips? It looks so convenient.”

“My hair clip?”

“Of course it’s not for free. I’ll pay you.”

“No! I’ll give it to you for free! One, no two! I can even give you three.”

Jasmine immediately got up from her seat and disappeared into the room connected to the reception room.

She quickly returned to the reception room.

Her hand was full of hair clips.

“The size varies a bit. Probably because I made it myself with buffalo horn.”

Jasmine laid down the hair clips on the table as if they were precious works, laying a cloth on the table.

When laid on the cloth, it looked like a decent accessory.

Still, it lacked the charm to captivate the eyes of the nobles.

It would be nice if it was more flashy.

Then, Jasmine’s nails, which were tidying up the hair clip, caught Elise’s eye. Her nails were sparkling.

“Jasmine, what’s that on your nails?”

“This is…”

Jasmine clenched her fist as if she was embarrassed.

As Elise waited for an answer, Jasmine let out a small sigh.

“Oh my! I was making something and it got on my hand. My hands are already ugly, and now they’re dirty, it’s so unpleasant to look at. I’m sorry, I showed you an untidy appearance.”

Jasmine took out a handkerchief and rubbed around her nails.

“No! You don’t need to do that. Your nails are sparkling, so they’re pretty.”

It wasn’t a lie. The small jewels stuck on her nails caught the light, making Jasmine’s rather ugly hands look pretty.

“Huh? You think it looks pretty, not dirty?”

Jasmine looked at Elise’s reaction. As Elise nodded, Jasmine’s smile began to spread.

Suddenly, Elise clapped her hands. She had a good idea. A way to transform the plain hair clips into something flashy!

“No! It’s too good. You say Jasmine’s hands aren’t pretty. They’re perfectly beautiful hands. How can you say they’re not pretty when they make so many pretty things. And the jewels stuck on your nails are so eye-catching that I can’t see Jasmine’s hands. It looks like you put them on purpose. By the way, do you have a lot of jewels like the ones stuck on your nails? It would be nice to stick them on the hair clips too.”

Jasmine was flustered by Elise’s excessive praise.

“I do have some…”

“Jasmine, how about sticking those jewels on the hair clips? Make it and sell it to me. I’ll buy it, all of it. You’re going to sell it to me, right?”

Jasmine nodded her head in a flustered manner.

“I’ll just give it to you…”

“No. You must sell it. And I have a favor to ask. Can you make a lot of hair clips with jewels attached by the New Year’s party?”

“How much is a lot?”

“As many as you can make. Even if you have to stay up all night. Please.”

“It’s hard to handle if I make a lot.”

“Not at all, Jasmine. People will line up to buy your stuff. I’m going to make it that way.”

Jasmine nodded her head. Not because she believed Elise’s words, but because Elise, full of confidence, was too dazzling.

Jasmine loved all the cute and pretty things in the world, and Elise, who was sparkling, was pretty, cute, and even cool.

So she couldn’t refuse her proposal, her request.

Elise was a bewitching woman to Jasmine.

****

“Are you going home?”

Elise handed the gift package she received from Jasmine to Regina.

As Elise boarded the carriage, she answered.

“I’m going to the square. I have someone to meet.”

As Elise thought of the person she was going to meet, a faint blush rose on her cheeks.