Chapter 7 – The Jeweler and Lesir
Translator: Lioness
‘No way she wanted him to be her escort?’
She was the same person who insulted the Crown Princess yesterday in her coming-of-age ceremony therefore she couldn’t participate again for the second day. There were only 4 days left for the banquet to end.
“It was not really of a matter just that I hear Miss grew up somewhere else and had been registered…”
“So it was really not of a matter.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You said it was nothing but personally it is a big deal. I wouldn’t want to say it casually as that.”
He was speechless at her words and felt guilty as he watched her face turn hard and cold instantly which previously contained a bright and youthful smile. He tried to ignore the tingling in his chest but this expressionless face of hers seemed to be her real face.
He was speechless and could not speak any further. Lawrence Littenverk, who skillfully handled nobles in the Nakran Empire, was left hesitant in front of a small Lady. Alice spoke first and looked at him and gave a weak snort.
“Listen. Why did you ask this question?”
At that cynical tone, Lawrence couldn’t open his mouth anymore. After much thought, only one word escaped his lips.
“No, I wouldn’t ask any further.”
“Then I will go first.”
Alice, who had decided to ask Lawrence Littenverk to take another empire gave up in an instant.
As soon as she got up from her seat, her hard face, the owner of the pastry shop approached her and held out something of her. Alice, who accepted it, roughly selected her sweets, calculated her bill, and left.
Lawrence couldn’t take his eyes off her back for a long time. From that precarious and sad back of Alice.
****
‘If he’s a Duke, he could do that? Let’s see.’
She was determined not letting go Lawrence off the hook after stabbing her sorely.
The fact that she was an adopted daughter was unknown to everyone in the Erha Empire. However, she was the daughter of the wealthy Hamilton Marquess; the only one. There was no one who came up to her and asked her openly, ‘Are you an adopted daughter?’
I often heard gossip behind her, but Lawrence was the first to tell her openly that she was from somewhere else. Alice left the bakery store with a sigh, and confronted Benedict. She noticed that her face was not looking good, and he asked cautiously.
“What happened?”
“Something.”
“What happened to your face…”
“It was because I met a strange person.”
Alice, who had roughly passed her purchase of sweets to Benedict, got into her carriage without her escort. Lesir approached Benedict and spoke to him.
“Shouldn’t we go now?”
“That’s right, but the lady…”
“What is the lady, an immature child? She went to the bakery shop and said she would be back soon, but what time was it already?”
Benedict stiffened his mouth at Lesir’s attitude of ignoring Alice while snorting at him.
“It’s okay. Let’s go. With her expression, it’s time for us to go.”
Lesir, noticing her angry expression, quickly got on the horse. Benedict also looked at the carriage for a moment, then got on the horse. It was because he had to go further to get to the jeweler’s shop in the capital that Alice said.
Alice, who entered the carriage, couldn’t stand her own pace and stomped her feet on the spot.
“Oh, I should have fired more attacks!”
To just let go of someone who touched a painful wound. Alice, who had been confined to her room for four years and wondered if her personality had completely disappeared, came to her senses.
“I’m doomed.”
She was now doomed because even if she didn’t ask Lawrence to take her to Nakran Empire, she will need to use her connections at least. However, as her emotions got the better of her, she wouldn’t be able to talk to him easily the next time. She hit her head in the carriage with a deep sigh.
“Personality matters.”
This was also the reason she hadn’t been to socialite banquets. She sees a lot of cases where she doesn’t even have to do things according to her personality.
‘Should I just stay home? No, I have to run away.’
That chilly voice. The voice that she couldn’t hear now but only heard in her ears seemed to hold a deep grudge against her. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to embrace such a cold and chilling life.
“What did I do wrong!?”
If it wasn’t for that voice, Alice could live comfortably in the Erha Empire. The Marquis of Hamilton had a lot of money with him and was the only one who recognized her, unlike the servants of the household. The troubled Marquis at first, too, as she began to help him in his work, he occasionally watched her Alice with his affectionate eyes.
There was a time when she thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to live the rest of her life by the side of the marquis, but she gave up. She didn’t want to live in the country where the original story takes place. It was annoying enough to step into a story she doesn’t love, but to have to live there for the rest of her life? She couldn’t do it.
‘I must go to another empire. At least to Nakran.’
Even though she had no voice, she didn’t want to stay here. So, Alice waited until the original story was finished. And now that it was over, she only thought of moving from here and going to the Nakran Empire.
“Wait, now that I see it…”
She went out, but nothing happened. Yesterday, when she decided to go to the Nakran Empire in earnest, since the story was finished, Alice’s heart was at ease. Realizing that fact again, Alice recalled her decision.
‘I have to go.’
She wanted to get as far away from the original characters as possible. That way she could be comfortable. She also liked living according to her personality. She took a lot of money and she wanted to leave this empire and live in a place full of people who didn’t know her.
She wanted to live in a place where no one pointed their fingers at her as an adopted daughter, no one looked down on her for her lack of dignity or grace, and no one would call her timid. She felt that if she left this place, she would be able to live a freer and happier life. Otherwise, she didn’t have to leave this empire.
“I was afraid that it would interfere with the original work, but I didn’t.”
The novel was over, and the main characters will live happily ever after. All Alice needs to do was to quietly disappear from here. All that remains was for her to be happy.
‘Okay. That’s the best way.’
After finishing her thoughts, she looked outside with a slightly relieved expression. When the window opened, she met Benedict’s eyes. Alice, who smiled lightly at his worried eyes, turned her attention to the scenery outside her. Everywhere she looked, there was always something new.
There were various colors outside. Every building is built here. Buildings that look so strange that if they were built like that, it would be a building. The faces of the people in colorful clothes were bright. The festival energized people and those people running around in a hurry relieved her anxiety.
“I envy them.”
A bitter smile formed on Alice’s lips when she saw the faces of the people smiling brightly. As part of this world, they could live on whatever they wanted, but she couldn’t. She could not get rid of the thought of being a stranger here in this world. That’s why she didn’t move and didn’t try to change anything from the story.
There were times when she thought it was her ‘courtesy’ to this world. She thought for a while about what would happen if this world disappeared after the original story, but her worries were useless. Because her story was ‘part’ of this world, not ‘all’.
“I can go somewhere else.”
She wanted to find a new life somewhere else where her story didn’t reach. That was her only hope for Alice who couldn’t escape this world.
She didn’t change her mind about running away. Because she thought she had to go somewhere other than this empire so she could live a decent life.
“We’re here.”
As they entered the main street of the capital, Alice followed Benedict’s words and got out of the carriage. She was dressed as a commoner, so she had to walk from here. She paused in an alley in sight of the jeweler, and Alice pursed her lips at Benedict and Lesir.
“I’m going to go to that jewelry store and buy some jewelry.”
“Is that so, Miss?”
Alice smiled, liking Benedict’s polite words, and his face lit up.
“So, you two are watching from here.”
“Pardon?”
“That wouldn’t be possible.”
Lesir retorted in a low voice.
“You tell me to stay here without knowledge of what you’re going to do there.”
‘No, can’t you trust me?’
Of course, I knew they wouldn’t believe her. It must be absurd that they trust the girl who was always confined to the corner of her room and sends her alone to shop.
‘Still, I’m the daughter of a marquis, and these guys are the knights who have to serve me, right?’
If she was good, they’d be subordinate, and if she was bad, they’d be minions. They’re employees in the Marquis’s household. They say they had pride because they are knights, but she knew that pride will disappear if they had no money, so Alice’s eyes grow cold.
She purposely dressed in commoner’s clothes and insisted they’d escort her. She walked over to Lesir, who was more arrogant than Benedict, who said nothing.
