Chapter 48
“Why didn’t I think of that? I almost placed an item meant for the landing in a completely wrong spot.”
“As expected, the Marchioness’s discerning eye is simply incomparable.”
“I told you to give up on trying to match it. How many times must I say it’s a matter of innate talent?”
Charlotte hidden her faint smile behind a champagne flute. The pale green champagne held Ruhas raspberries, a delicacy that could only be tasted at this department store during this specific time of year. The reddish, heart-shaped berries floating in the light green liquid looked like works of art in their own right.
“Champagne with Ruhas raspberries… To think the person who decided to distribute this was a young man of only twenty-one. I still find it hard to believe. It seems a fine eye for quality is hereditary.”
The noblewomen naturally shifted the conversation from Charlotte’s taste to Oscar, praising Charlotte for being his mother.
As was her habit, Charlotte merely maintained an elegant smile, listening more than she spoke.
It was then.
“But tell me, why is the Marquis still unmarried?”
That single question caused the warm, harmonious atmosphere to sink instantly.
The ladies close to Charlotte immediately turned their gazes toward the one who had asked. She was perched on the very edge of the group gathered around Charlotte. By her appearance, she seemed to be a noble who had come to the exhibition while visiting the capital.
The noblewomen glanced at Charlotte, then shifted back, pressing themselves deeper into the sofa.
Oscar’s marriage.
It was a topic they were all curious about but too cautious to mention, waiting for someone tactless enough to finally ask.
A child’s marriage was the parent’s responsibility. Therefore, the Marquis’s marriage should have been the Marchioness’s concern.
Yet, the Marquis was not even engaged, let alone married. It meant the Marchioness was either failing her duty as a mother or was unable to fulfill it—and everyone knew the scales tipped heavily toward the latter.
“He is so charming that I imagine proposals must be flooding in. As a mother with a son of my own, I envy you, and I couldn’t help but wonder what sort of prestigious offers you’ve received…”
No, there was one person here who didn’t know.
Charlotte tilted her head, looking at the woman sitting some distance away. Normally, one would back down at that point, but the tactless woman did not avoid Charlotte’s gaze, as if determined to hear an answer. Charlotte let out a short, sharp laugh and spoke.
“You have many curiosities, Madame.”
“Well, actually, I recently received a marriage proposal for my son…”
“Look over here.”
Charlotte unceremoniously cut off the tactless woman’s words and raised her right index finger with a smile. Her sharply manicured nail shimmered with a polished gloss. She drew a circle in the air as if telling her to look around the exhibition hall, and the bewildered noblewoman hesitantly scanned the room. Charlotte said to her:
“None of the works displayed in this hall have a price tag. Do you know why?”
The noblewoman blinked. She had asked about a marriage, and the sudden shift to art and prices left her unable to grasp Charlotte’s intent.
Charlotte took a leisurely sip of her champagne before continuing.
“It is because there is no reason to set a price. To those with the eye to recognize a work’s true value, the price is irrelevant. And to those who cannot recognize it, they lack the means to pay for it anyway.”
“……”
“Madame, did you purchase a piece here today?”
Only then did the woman’s face turn a deep, sudden red.
Charlotte gave a smile beautiful enough to melt anyone.
“Then I suppose you have nothing to be curious about?”
It was a cold dismissal—a warning not to dare be curious when she lacked the status to even pay the price.
The tactless noblewoman hurriedly stood up and vanished in a fluster. Charlotte murmured that this was the downside of open spaces and laughed.
The others, who had been holding their breath to see Charlotte’s reaction, began to laugh along and change the subject as if nothing had happened. Charlotte played along, ignoring their true thoughts. Just as the heavy atmosphere was beginning to lift again—
“Mother!”
Sabine arrived and took the empty seat. As she joined them, the atmosphere didn’t just lift; it felt as though the very season had changed. The noblewomen cried out in admiration as if on cue.
“Oh, young lady!”
Sabine was wearing a dark green velvet dress. Though it was unadorned, it complemented her luscious, golden-blonde hair so perfectly that she appeared more radiant than anyone else.
“You are beautiful today as well, young lady.”
Sabine folded her hands neatly and gave a charming smile.
“Thank you for always saying such kind things.”
After listening to another round of pouring praise, she turned back to her mother, only to feel a sharp gaze scrutinizing her. Sabine faltered for a moment before linking her arm with her mother’s and asking the ladies for their indulgence.
“I need to whisper something to my mother for a moment, so please forgive me.”
The ladies playfully narrowed their eyes at Sabine’s endearing behavior.
“Oh, of course, by all means.”
“I’m so envious. Such an affectionate and lovely daughter.”
“Everyone, let’s all turn our heads away.”
As the ladies obligingly looked away, Sabine leaned toward her mother with a smile. She whispered something and pulled back, only for Charlotte to knit her brows in a feigned scolding.
“Your brother already gave you such an expensive gift, and you received such an undeserved gift from His Majesty as well. Are you saying you must have a gift from me too?”
Sabine’s eyes widened and she raised her voice in mock shock.
“Mother! I whispered because I was embarrassed. How could you say it so loudly!”
The noblewomen, who had been looking away, burst into laughter.
“The day I suffered to give birth to you is your birthday. If anything, it wouldn’t be enough even if you gave me a gift.”
“Oh, Mother!”
As Sabine whined, the ladies laughed harder. Charlotte shook her head as if she were helpless against her daughter and stood up.
“If we stay any longer, it’s going to get noisy. We shall take our leave first.”
Sabine stood up with her mother, clinging tightly to her arm. The onlookers saw them off, commenting on how daughters always seem to want gifts from their mothers.
The glamorous and beautiful mother and daughter left the lounge under the gaze of the crowd. They dismissed those trying to follow and strolled lightly along the fifth-floor railing. Being on the highest floor, they had a clear view of the people moving about on the levels below.
It was when they were a good distance from the lounge.
Sabine stopped and voiced her frustration to her mother.
“Did you really have to make me look like a thoughtless child?”
“It wasn’t about being thoughtless. You became someone everyone envies.”
“You could have just said we were stepping away for a moment. Why do you use me every time something like this happens?”
“Use you? Don’t you think there was a reason I had to?”
Sabine, who had been voicing her complaints, fell silent when her mother’s tone turned sharp.
The atmosphere between the two turned cold in an instant. Standing face-to-face, they both turned toward the railing as if by unspoken agreement.
Suppressing her resentment toward her mother, Sabine looked down like a queen surveying her domain. Due to the department store’s open-center layout, the various floors looked like a well-constructed tower. She saw people moving to and fro amidst a feast of painfully brilliant luxury.
Then, something caught her eye.
Something that seemed to sweep away even the frustration filling her mind.
There are things in this world like that. Things that are visible at a single glance. Whether it be an object, a work of art, or a person, there are things that draw the eye even when mixed among tens of thousands.
And within this scene, there was such a thing. In this world so brilliant it made one’s eyes ache, there was something singularly out of place.
“Mother. Look at that.”
When Sabine spoke in a murmur and looked back at Charlotte, she saw that her mother was also staring intently at one spot.
“Do you see the woman with the red ribbon in her hair?”
At that, the elegant Marchioness’s eyebrows rose and fell almost imperceptibly.
A heavy, deeply colored oil painting on canvas. It was as if someone had secretly sketched over it with a soft colored pencil. The woman possessed a special quality that even disrupted the cold atmosphere between the mother and daughter. Their gazes, so alike, followed the woman’s movements.
And somewhere in the opulent department store, there was another set of eyes watching her.
