Chapter 2

“Ah, that person. He was really amazing.” I nodded my head in agreement, and Dana sighed.

She nagged at me because I was still dawdling and had not yet changed my clothes.

“Please have a bath and get ready. Even though this is a sudden appointment, you shouldn’t look like you haven’t prepared well.”

“Whatever I wear will look ordinary when I’m next to my mom, anyway.”

Dana grimaced. No matter how hard she thought, she could not argue with this.

I took advantage of Dana’s hesitation and went up to my room.

Madam Tatiana, aka Madam Titi.

She was originally an opera singer from a rural area.

Many people said they would support her, because her skill could not be doubted, and even her looks were excellent.

Mother, who had gradually made her name famous and gained attention in the society, one day suddenly disappeared from people’s sight.

No one knew where she was gone.

Lady Tatiana, who was almost forgotten by people, one day reappeared while holding a child in her arms as Madam Tatiana.

The child born from an unmarried woman became a talk for busybodies, but she was confident. ‘Even though my child has no father, she has a mother who will give her everything, so this is more than enough.’

She always drove new gossip and never worried about the prickling gazes, contempt, and ignorance that surrounded her.

As she was always at the centre of attention, the title ‘unmarried mother’ had become insignificant. ‘It must also be because she didn’t talk about her daughter in front of others.’

I brushed my dishevelled brown hair as I looked in a mirror.

The reflection was a plain girl with common looks, unlike my mother—who was spectacularly beautiful.

“What kind of person is he?”

At this point, it would be good if he was someone who could make my mother happy for a long time.

It was unavoidable for her to have many break-ups when given her many dates, but whenever it happened, my mother always filled the holes left in her heart with alcohol and steamy one-night stands.

It always amazed me that she had the courage to start over despite having experienced so many break-ups.

It was incredible that she could be lively and rise again even though she was hurt, but on the other hand, I hoped she met someone who was more mature than the ones she had met in the past.

* * *

While I was preparing, a maid came to my room and delivered a message.

“Madam said she would head out first because she wants to buy new accessories. She also said that My Lady could come to the appointment location right away.”

“I got it.”

If it was accessories, I was sure she already had many crates of them in the warehouse.

I was amazed at her diligence to go shopping again.

She was someone who never wasted time hesitating about collecting the things she liked.

“Madam’s own accessories already filled this entire house. She should buy some for My Lady.”

“I don’t need it.” I shook my head at the upset Dana, who was touching her ear that hadn’t even pierced.

I was sincere about the words that flowed with a faint smile. “It’s fortunate, anyway. I am more comfortable when I go alone.”

Rather than running through the city in a gorgeous gold glittered carriage, which was my mother’s taste, it was more comfortable for me to rent a carriage and go alone.

“I’ll go through the textbook one more time before I go out.”

“My Lady, you still have done nothing other than deciding your dress and confirming its size.”

I heaved my shoulders at Dana’s serious look. “This is enough for me.”

As long as I didn’t wear embarrassing rags, Mother wouldn’t care.

She thought it was very important for herself to be sparkling, but she wasn’t someone who pressured others to suit her taste.

For me, how ‘beautiful I was in others’ eyes’ wasn’t very important.

In that sense, it could be said we were a very compatible mother-daughter pair.

Just as I opened my textbook to utilize my time efficiently, someone knocked on the door.

“Mmm, My Lady. There is a problem.” A servant with a troubled face told me. “There’s a carriage at the back gate.”

“Our mansion’s back gate?”

What kind of person would leave their carriage on someone else’s mansion’s back gate?

It was something that couldn’t be understood by common sense.

Dana, who was by my side, carefully gave her opinion. “Don’t you think that’s a carriage Madam prepared for you, My Lady?”

“My mother?” I asked back as if it was absurd, and she shut her mouth in silence. I turned my head and talked to the servant. “For now, try to ask them to move their carriage.”

“That is….”

Seeing the servant’s very troubled appearance, I headed to the back gate myself and was met with a scene that was hard to believe.

“….”

As expected, there was a carriage at the back gate, just like the servant had said.

On both sides of the blinding gold carriage, there were two manly knights standing, equipped in a full-dress uniform.

There were patterns of an exquisite wolf carved on all sides of the carriage, and a red velvet carpet that came out of the opened door was laid out till the back gate.

‘What kind of day is it today?’

Mother declared remarriage in the morning; she arranged a meeting for both families today, making me cancel my studying plans; and now there was a golden carriage at our back gate.

‘Was it possible that I was in a dream?’

I didn’t even have enough time to pinch my cheek.

From the carriage door that was wide open, a young master of rare beauty stepped down, holding a big bouquet of flowers in his arms.

With a graceful and dignified walk, the young man approached me step by step.

The confusion over this creepy situation made my heart pound with dread, rather than butterfly fluttering.

At every step that brought him closer, the terror and fear doubled.

The shiny platinum decoration caught my eyes intensely. ‘Look at that brilliant insignia on his shoulder….!’

Something flashed through my head as I slowly stepped back. “Ah!”

Sometimes, things like this did happen.

A man serenading at the garden in the middle of night, or even, a man who thoughtlessly waited at the back gate with a heart to meet Mother.

The blonde-haired man with radiant blue eyes looked marvellous, like a prince from a fairy tale.

If there was a flaw though, it was that he looked a little younger?

‘That’s right, at that age, they feared neither water nor fire….’

I approached him slowly, holding pity in my heart.

He was pleased to see me. “Ah, are you a maid from this house? That’s great. Can you please deliver a message?”

“Before that, please hear me out.”

“Hm?”

I put my hands together and carefully opened my mouth, hoping that he would not get hurt. “Today, Madam Tatiana has a family meeting with her remarriage partner.”

“I know that.”

Why did you come if you knew about it?

“Everyone grows up through the pain of a broken heart. Because you are young, have a promising future, and you are an outstanding beauty, so I’m sure you will meet a more wonderful lady someday.” I gave him a sincere consolation and cheered for his next love.

The flower bouquet in that man’s arms fell down, producing a ‘thud’ sound.

And the knights on both sides of the carriage also looked at me with a blank expression.

‘Cheer up, young man.’ I clenched my fist to cheer him up.