After Alay Kus left, there was only one person left, Ross Green. She didn’t look much different from the last time I saw her. Her light green hair cut to match the length of her chin and her sunken eyelids make up her impressive face. Still, she was dressed up because she was coming to the Duke’s house, wearing expensive accessories and a suit to match. But what was a little different was the look in the eyes. The last time I saw her, she just had irritated eyes, but now she looked thoughtful and somewhat withdrawn.
Since she didn’t say anything, I ended up speaking first.
“What are you doing here?”
She looked at me for a very long time as if she was seeing someone for the first time, and then suddenly her shoulders slumped. She looked so small and exhausted that I wondered if she was the same person I had seen on Green Manor.
“Arbice, you’ve changed so much since you came here, it’s like you’re a different person.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes… It’s completely incomprehensible, no… You have become such an amazing person. You weren’t like this just a month ago.”
“Not at all.”
Ross Green glanced at the other carriages slowly moving away. Her eyes wandered between the pure white chariots used in temples and other chariots with expensive decorations, and then slowly returned to me.
“…My daughter’s wish is to attend a royal banquet at least once, but Arbice, you are among such great people… No, that’s enough.”
Unlike last time, her face now showed more resignation than jealousy.
“At this point, I don’t know what to say.”
I approached Ross Green, who was muttering for a long time as if she was talking to herself rather than to me.
“Please hold my hand.”
I held her hand tightly without thinking about it. As a noblewoman, her hands were quite wrinkled as she did not do many household chores, but they could not escape the passage of time, so they were quite wrinkled. I held her hand in both of hers, patted it, and smiled.
“Thank you for coming all the way here because you were worried about me.”
She sighed and looked at me.
“…Don’t you hate me?”
“Rather than hating it, I think it’s too much.”
It seemed like he actually liked my honest answer. Ross Green laughed softly, wondering why he was so helpless.
“Maybe I came because I was worried about you? You, who have no family, went through such a big problem, how much criticism would you get if I, her aunt, didn’t even show my face?”
‘Anyway, there’s no way to say something nicely.’
“You didn’t say anything, considering you came because you were so worried about your public image.”
She pursed her lips a few times, then took a deep breath as if she was making a big decision, and then she sighed.
“I originally planned to return your parents’ inheritance to you. You probably know that.”
I opened my eyes wide.
“Suddenly?”
‘Last time, you said it as if you would never give it to me…?’
Ross Green was about to say something she didn’t want to say, but her lips kept getting dry. She moistened her pale lips several times, and then she looked at me.
“You’re acting like it’s a story you don’t know anything about.”
“Yeah…”
“I’ve been looking for you since the last time I brought a police officer, but… They say they’re going to conduct an investigation, but they resort to threats. I didn’t know he would act like that just because he became popular.”
“…Me?”
“Anyway, it’s okay, take it.”
She took a bag out of her arms and handed it to me as if throwing it. She opened the very light pocket and looked inside, and found that it contained something that looked like a bank certificate. I took it, looked at it closely, and took a deep breath.
‘…10,000G?’
In an aristocratic society, this money may be enough to be spent on a single luxury. Considering that the dress and accessories Luke bought me cost about 6,000G, it seemed small. But for a worker ant who earned a living, it was a truly enormous amount of money. I need to find out more exactly how much Arvice’s parents’ inheritance was, but it was a welcome amount of money for me. First of all, I needed money right away, and I couldn’t afford to go into an inheritance dispute. I was so surprised that I couldn’t say anything and just looked at him, and Ross Green moistened his lips and looked at me.
“Now that I think about it… You seem to be lucky enough to know great people, so don’t go somewhere and say bad things about my daughter or me… Also, if there’s a good spot for you, introduce it to me. What’s all this about liking relatives?”
‘If you give me back the money I stole with such a reluctant face, I can’t even say anything.’
This is truly shameless. Ross Green will live happily wherever she puts it.
“Don’t worry, I’ve never said anything bad like that.”
“…Well, that would have been fine… Now that we have properly settled the matter, stop now. It’s not that I was thinking about something else during this time, I just kept it for fear of you using it in vain.”
“…yes?”
She nervously combed her emerald hair with her long fingernails and then turned around as if she had done her business. I put my hand on her back and shook her gently.
‘…But what do you mean by making threats? You’ve never even cared about the Green family?’
Who did Officer Amanta tell about me? Even so, who on earth even bothers to threaten? I shook my head. A person cannot live after committing a sin.
‘She came all this way because of her reputation. She must have made up a story that didn’t exist as an excuse to return the money because she was scared that her reputation would get bad.’
After thinking that, I was so caught up in thinking about how to spend my suddenly increased wealth that I completely forgot about the threat. And the last thing on the agenda was the guests from the costume room. Without thinking much, I entered the small reception room as Mr. Blier showed me, and was surprised to see as many as eight wardrobe workers waiting for me. And the next surprise was the dress I ordered.
“…and. It’s really pretty.”
To be honest, I didn’t even look at the design properly because I was only looking at the additional features, but when I saw this dress separately, it was really pretty. I was very impressed by the hem of the dress, which seemed to be twice as shiny as the one I saw in the boutique. The outer layer of several layers of lace was densely studded with sparkling sequins, and the lace underneath had roses embroidered with white thread. Moreover, upon closer inspection, the small decorations along the waistline turned out to be pearls.
‘And… It was incredibly expensive, but even without the extra features, it was a great dress. I’m sure I’ll have a dream about dresses that I never knew existed, really.’
The boss I saw the other day came up to me and said hello with a more excited look on his face than I did.
“Hello, Arvice.”
“Hello.”
“I can’t tell you how fortunate I am that you came back safely like this, really.”
The boss’s voice was so sincere that I laughed a little.
“I can’t believe you were so worried… thank you.”
“I heard the sad news the moment I finished adjusting the size of the dress and was about to have it delivered. A dress is a dress, but the moment I heard Arviche’s courageous and great story, I felt so much respect…”
“…yes?”
“I heard that you gave Master Shine her whistle to protect her and instead got kidnapped. Is that true?”
“…Oh, I did.”
[Anton Rio’s favorability has increased.
Lv.2(3/198)]
I was a little confused when I looked at the notification window. I had no idea that someone I thought was just a costume room NPC would have this much affection for me.
“In these scary times, everyone is busy taking care of themselves, but I had no idea that there was such a courageous person. What an honor it is for me to be able to make Arviche’s dress like this… I recruited everyone I could in that short period of time and did additional work.”
I looked at the dress again.
‘…no wonder.’
Thinking about it again, I don’t think the dress was that sparkly and sparkly when I first decided to purchase it, but when I heard that additional work had been put into it, I was convinced.
“You should like it.”
“I really like it. It seems too flashy…”
“Hey, what are you talking about? You’re Luke’s first official lover, so you have to do this.”
‘Why doesn’t this rumor go away?’
I didn’t have the energy to deny it anymore, so I just laughed softly.
“…haha. To say we’re officially a couple, it’s a really good joke.”
“Luke doesn’t even bother to put together his own clothes, but I knew right away when I saw him coming side by side with Arbice and kindly picking out a dress for her.”
The owner, who had been talking nonsense about how if you work in the business for a long time, you gain insight, started praising me and even praising the Luke.
“Anyway, you are a match made in heaven. Luke, you are truly like a cane of hope. My wife might have died if it weren’t for the hospital sponsored by Luke.”
“…Oh my, what happened?”
“It was a brain hemorrhage. It is said that he suddenly lost consciousness and fell down on the street and could not remember anything that happened during the day…”
“Oh my. Are you okay now? How did something like that happen…”
As I was about to answer, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘I think I’ve heard a story that’s strangely similar to this.’
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on May, 25.
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