♛
“It’s a nickname, but it’s lonely if no one calls you by that name.”
But I couldn’t even tell him, ‘I know your pain.’ I made a reasonable excuse to convince him like a person who seemed to recommend a strange religion.
Grandiel also quickly agreed. You probably think that I’m a sentimental person.
“That’s okay. Now Miss Mayerie calls me by that nickname.”
Grandiel lowered his eyes and smiled shyly and said. It was the first time I’d ever seen his long eyelashes create a shadow, so I stared blankly, and then his words reached my brain a bit late.
‘Wow, that handsome face was a real disaster.’
How dare you say those words with a face like that. If it was my previous self, I would have fallen in love here already. But now I know that Grandiel wasn’t a pure big dog.
‘I’m sure that would only be in my dreams.’
Maybe he deliberately pretended to look more pitiful and rip something out later. Since I don’t know what he’s trying to do, I have to be careful around him.
“I have to go to work now.”
“I’ve been holding you for too long. I’m sorry.”
When I was about to finish our conversation, Grandiel also quietly backed away.
Then I hurriedly grabbed him as he was about to return. It was the red string that he was holding to tie his hair that caught my eye.
“Oh! Di-diel, could I borrow your hair tie?”
“Hair tie?”
He tilted his head at my sudden request, while steadily tying his hair. It was different from the ribbon provided for the uniform, but it didn’t matter.
‘Because no one’s going to acknowledge it anyway. No one cares about it, right?’
Still, I didn’t know what kind of scolding would come after walking around without it. I tied a ribbon under the collar of my shirt with the hair tie I received, thinking that anything would be better than nothing.
“I was in trouble because I didn’t have this, but thank you.”
“No, I’m glad it helped Miss Mayerie.”
“See you next time”, Grandiel said with a mischievous smile and went back.
It felt like I was alone in the hallway in the enemy camp.
‘I can do this! Wait, no, what if I can’t?’
I clenched the ribbon thinking that if I didn’t die, it would work out somehow.
♛
‘Because I’m now an exclusive maid, it’s probably a role that sticks to Stella’s side.’
Without knowing anything, I was at a loss as to what to do first, but I decided to find Stella.
Usually, the higher the status, the higher the floor, so I tried to check by opening every door on the top floor.
Contrary to my worries, the princess’ bedroom radiates a splendid presence unlike other rooms, so I was able to find it right away. Erica opened the door when I knocked.
“Come in.”
Stella, who was sitting at the tea table elegantly drinking tea, greeted me. As described in the novel, she had blonde hair and amber eyes that seemed to have been drawn by melting pure gold.
“I greet Princess Stella, the descendant of the Guardian. I’m Mayerie Syringa. It’s an honor to serve her majesty.”
I greeted her and prepared according to the etiquette of nobles. However, I had to keep my head down as there was no reply that I could raise my head from her.
“I heard from Erica.”
So, the reason why she disappeared first was that she went to tell Stella about me as the new exclusive maid. I glanced at Erica, who was pretending not to know about me beside Stella, but she didn’t even look at me.
“You wanted to become my exclusive maid, so you brought the letter of recommendation with the imperial seal. You must have lost a lot of money. I don’t know which family in the countryside you’re from, but I’m worried if you could afford it.”
No kind words came out of Stella’s sweet lips. Stella’s jade-like voice was full of malice.
“But what should I do? If a girl like you becomes my exclusive maid, my standards would look too low.”
I was listening silently with my head down. I knew I wouldn’t be welcomed by her, but now that I’m treated like this. I thought I just wanted to quit already.
“I want to kick you out right now, but this letter has an imperial seal, and I’m short-handed for the tea party tomorrow, so wake up from your dream of becoming my exclusive maid.”
“I will obey your orders.”
“Get out.”
Right now, I knew that I wouldn’t look good if I went against Stella’s order, so I quietly followed her words.
Stella refused the letter, so monitoring her would be difficult, so if I asked Grandiel to give me a different job, I thought about whether he would listen to me.
While I was about to leave, Erica’s lively voice caught my attention.
“Princess, since Duke Ellex would come to this tea party, how about getting some new accessories? Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a new dress because we were running out of time.”
“Shall we? A gorgeous ruby would be nice, wouldn’t it?”
Why was Ellex here? As I was seriously bewildered by the unexpected appearance of his name, I stopped holding the doorknob.
‘Ellex must be moving north to marry Radiata by now.’
When I met him at the palace this morning, I thought he came to greet the Emperor before leaving the capital.
Moreover, he hates parties, so why would he attend a tea party hosted by Stella?
“Wasn’t Duke Ellex going back to the North?”
When I asked the question urgently, the corners of Erica’s lips went up.
Her eyes glistened and she whispered something to Stella, and Stella’s impression grew increasingly worse when she heard Erica’s words. I saw the look on her face and realized that I had made a mistake.
“There’s no way you’re going to meet Duke Ellex. Don’t expect anything weird, just work hard. If you don’t want to be kicked out of the palace.”
Bang!
Stella, who approached, slapped me on the cheek harshly with her small hand. My cheeks burned when she hit me, but on the contrary, my mind calmed down.
‘It was a trap.’
Erica knew the rumors that I was a stalker of Ellex. Maybe that’s why she brought up the story of Ellex on purpose.
Because she thought I would react. If it was just a conversation about Ellex, I wouldn’t be interested. Because now, I don’t care if Ellex rolls back or dances naked.
The important thing was Radiata. To be honest, it was hard enough to take care of me on my own.
I just wanted to get out of the original, but I felt like I was walking on thin ice again as an exclusive maid of a villainess.
But I couldn’t turn a blind eye to Radiata. Because I was the only one who knew the misfortune that would happen if Radiara didn’t meet Ellex.
Erika whispered to Stella as I stood blankly, clutching my cheek. She spoke in a low voice, but her gaze was fixed on me. I’d like to hear it.
“It must be hard for you, too. Even on the last day of the New Year’s party, many strange women keep sticking around him.”
I bit my lower lip, not avoiding Erica’s gaze.
“That’s right. On the last day of the New Year’s party, there was a woman who was like a leech. Was it the illegitimate daughter of Count Ricoris?”
It seemed that such a topic was brought up to make me miserable, but to me, it was a valuable piece of information.
Stella responded to Erica, reminding her of what had happened.
“She said that she knew the Duke’s weakness and that she wanted to marry him. It’s not even funny.”
“It’s clear that she has a mental problem.”
Erica, standing behind Stella, laughed sarcastically. It felt like she was telling me that I had a mental problem.
‘But what did I even do to make her hate me so much?’
I met her for the first time today, and it seemed like she was desperate to get rid of me for not having a proper conversation. I wanted to argue what the hell was wrong, but now I have to put up with it.
Stella, who was next to her, was also a problem, but first, I need to hear more about Radiata.
“It’s a big deal for Count Ricoris. Because of her, he won’t be able to socialize for a while. By the way, how long are you going to stay there? I told you to leave.”
But that was the end of the conversation about the last day of the New Year’s party. Stella gestured distastefully as if she didn’t want to see me, and Erica pushed me out of the door.
I could hear the voices of Stella and Erica from beyond the door, but nothing came up that could help me. I couldn’t stand in front of Stella’s bedroom, so I headed back to my room. As I walked down the quiet hallway, I was lost in thought.
‘What the hell was happening?’
It was confusing. I didn’t understand why Radiata was being treated as a stalker. She must have seen Ellex for the first time that day.
‘Was it because of me?’
Originally, I was supposed to be the stalker with a mental problem, not Radiata. The role of clinging to Ellex in front of everyone, saying that he should marry me instead of such an illegitimate child.
‘Was the first meeting messed up without me interrupting them like in the original?’
I was an extra villain who appeared and disappeared at once from the start of the story, so I thought it wouldn’t have a big impact on their story if I didn’t involve myself.
Or a new person similar to me takes over the role.
‘No, but this is too weird.’
Radiata and Ellex talked in a quiet hallway. So the other nobles at the party should not have known about their conversation. If someone else hadn’t been paying attention to Ellex in the middle of the party like me.
‘Did something else change?’
In addition, Ellex meets Radiata and thinks she’s a stalker, but he was attracted to her heart, so he listened to her story until the end. That means Ellex was somewhat fond of Radiata.
‘Ellex wouldn’t have driven Radiata to be a delusional person.’
A lot of thoughts got tangled up in my head. The two are connected by a grand destiny, so I thought it would be okay if there wasn’t a minor role like me.
No, the novel didn’t start. What happens if I leave it at this rate like this?
‘Radiata would suffer the same misfortune.’
Her unhappy marriage lasted only one page in the novel. But could the despair contain within it be implied by a single page?
I realized this while talking to Grandiel earlier. It’s not written, but everyone has their own story. Because this place was not a novel but a reality.
Comments (0)