Chapter 2
#02
“This isn’t a book we sell, though?”
The elderly bookstore owner looked over the book this way and that, then handed it back to me.
Naturally, I frowned. As I glared at him as a bonus, he scurried about, pretending to examine the book again.
But soon, he carefully handed the book back to me again.
“I’m sorry, but the book you gave me isn’t one we sell at our bookstore.”
“What are you talking about? I clearly bought this book here three days ago.”
When I first took this book off the shelf, I clearly thought it was a history book. That was because it was written as <The Story of the Splendor Empire>.
I had already chosen one book of general knowledge and one book of humanities. I chose this book thinking that adding a history book here would balance things out.
I had been studying since I was young, so I knew the flow of the Splendor Empire’s history well, but history always only remembers the story of the victors.
My theory was that reading various history books was a beneficial experience that allowed one to look at events from more perspectives.
Clearly, this old man was sitting in this spot back then, and I paid for it myself.
But he’s lying, daring to lie to me now?
“Three days ago, clearly, I, bought, it, here, from you.”
As I spoke clearly, I could feel the old man flinching each time my words were cut off one by one.
“But really, it isn’t. The books we sell at our bookstore all have these stickers on the back. Books are expensive, so we do this to prevent theft.”
He took out another book from the side and showed me the very last page. As he said, there was a blue sticker attached.
“And when we sell it, we mark it on this sticker. Just in case a customer brings a book they bought last time, we don’t want to misunderstand.”
He tore off the corner to show me. It tore off easily as if it was made that way from the start.
“But look. The book you brought doesn’t have our bookstore’s sticker, does it?”
As he said, that damn book didn’t have any such sticker. The very back of the book was just smooth.
“But I clearly bought it here.”
“We didn’t sell it.”
“I clearly here……”
“Well, then I’ll show you the ledger too. I don’t usually show it to customers, but……”
He carefully took out the ledger. And turned the date to three days ago.
“We write down the books that are sold as they are sold. That way, we can reorder books that are missing.”
At his words, I narrowed my eyes and looked at the ledger. The book of general knowledge and the book of humanities that I bought were also checked as sold. But there was no book with this title.
I suspected that this old man might be senile and wrote it on another page, so I looked through the dates before and after, but it still wasn’t there.
“Besides, in the first place……”
What stopped me, who was about to search through a month’s worth of dates, was the old man’s cautious tone.
“I’ve been running a bookstore for 40 years, and I’ve never heard of such a title.”
“What?”
“You said you thought it was a history book, but history books usually have the name of a scholar attached. Like <Imperial History Written by Scholar Ellenmental> . And romance novels wouldn’t sell with such a title.”
He took two books from the bookshelf and showed them to me as if to prove it.
<The Duchess's Secret Private Life>
<How That Slave Made a Chaste Lady Cry>
“……”
Looking at the titles that made it easy to guess what the contents would be, I kept silent.
Honestly, I was curious about the contents, but they were titles that I could never buy with my own hands. I was a chaste lady.
…A chaste lady who has nothing to do with slaves and doesn’t cry.
“No one would buy such a title that could be mistaken for a history book.”
“So, you definitely didn’t sell it here?”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
“Can you swear?”
“Yes?”
“Can you swear on your life?”
I said, glaring at him coldly. He swallowed hard, knowing that my eyes were sincere. And he, too, stared at me with a very sincere expression.
“Yes. It’s not our book.”
“…Okay.”
He said it wasn’t his book, staking his life on it, so I had nothing more to say. Inside, I was dying of frustration, wondering what the hell this book was, but I realized that I couldn’t find out even if I pushed him any further.
“But.”
Just as I was about to leave the store, I turned around and looked at him again.
The old man, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, looked at me again with a start.
“You’d better remake that sticker, don’t you think?”
“Yes?”
“If someone secretly covers it with their body, avoids your eyes, tears off part of the sticker, and insists that it’s a book they bought before, is there any way to find out?”
“Uh… that’s……”
It seemed he hadn’t thought about that.
“Come to think of it, the number of books hasn’t been quite right lately. I didn’t think it could be theft because of the sticker, but……”
He seemed to have an idea of what was going on, rolling his eyes. How foolish.
“You shouldn’t just remove part of the sticker from the book, you should leave a mark on the sticker. One that thieves can’t copy.”
There was no need for me to tell him the specific method. I just told him because it seemed like a stupid idea.
The old man’s eyes widened at my words.
Whether his eyes popped out or not was none of my business, so I left the bookstore. The maid, who had been waiting quietly next to me, hurriedly followed me out.
“Th-thank you, Miss!”
The old man’s voice flew over my head and gently tickled my hair.
Whatever.
“It’s just a coincidence that the names are the same.”
After returning home, I decided to ignore the book.
There was no way that this awful book from an unknown source was a magic book.
Anyway, it was nonsense.
What was a bastard to the gentlemanly Lord Wendsbury, and what was Ricardo lacking that he would like a noble young lady who was an uneducated bastard?
Besides, there was no way I would suddenly become an evil woman who was driven mad and ran wild.
I knew myself best.
Knock knock.
“Who is it?”
I asked, roughly sticking the book I had been glaring at into the bookshelf.
“Young lady, you have a charity banquet hosted by Lord Wendsbury today. I’m here to help you with your preparations.”
It was a schedule I had forgotten because of that book.
“Okay. Come in.”
But I answered as if I already knew. The door opened and three maids came in at once.
It took exactly three hours to entrust myself to them, occasionally nagging, and finish the preparations.
It was a terribly boring time, but I didn’t regret it because I was satisfied with my appearance when I looked in the mirror.
“This me, an evil woman?”
Looking at my dazzlingly beautiful appearance, I muttered without realizing it.
My oiled and combed blonde hair sparkled more than any jewel, and my beautifully made-up face was beautiful even to myself.
The expensive, gorgeous dress was just a decoration to brighten my face. The expensive jewelry was just an accessory to enhance my beauty.
But this me, abandoned by Ricardo, jealous of a insignificant girl who came from the countryside and tried to kill her.
It was a terribly clumsy novel.
“Young lady, please put on your shoes.”
A maid holding pretty white shoes knelt carefully in front of me.
“Miss Bianca?”
When I didn’t lift my foot, she looked up and called me.
“Do you think those shoes go with this dress?”
I just quietly asked her a question.
The dress I was wearing now was a red dress with gorgeous ruffles. But the shoes she was trying to put on my feet were white. Even sparkling and with a white corsage on the front.
I was really curious as to what she was thinking when she combined this dress with those white corsage shoes.
“Ah, th-th-that’s……”
The maid’s complexion turned pale, and her lips began to tremble.
Because I was a patient owner, I just stared at her and waited for an answer.
Wondering if that child had an aesthetic sense that I didn’t know about.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Miss!”
But instead of answering, she just bowed her head. Holding the white shoes she was holding tightly to her chest.
No, I’m just wondering why you think those shoes go with this dress?
“Young lady, I will give this child a stern warning.”
An older maid knelt next to her and spoke. The maid, who I thought had a unique aesthetic sense, was already shedding tears.
I couldn’t understand why she was crying. It was just a question.
Of course, I knew that the maids in our house were afraid of me.
I had never hit them. Of course, I did yell a bit when they made mistakes or something. I also glared at them.
“Okay. Do that.”
I just answered that. I didn’t want to waste time on just a maid.
Suddenly, I remembered when these children started to be so afraid of me.
One of the maids accidentally cut off my finger while cutting my nails. When blood gushed from my hand, I was naturally angry, and I jumped up and glared at her.
Then, the frightened maid stepped back and broke a vase, and the child cut her hand on the shards.
Clearly, all I did was glare at the child after she cut her hand due to her mistake, but the rumor was that I threw a vase at the child who made the mistake.
I didn’t bother to correct the rumor. I thought that if the maids in the house were afraid of me, they would treat me more carefully, and at least they wouldn’t make many mistakes in front of me.
“Those black shoes over there.”
I pointed to the plain black shoes in the second compartment.
Another maid politely brought the shoes and knelt in front of me. When I readily gave her my foot, she put the shoes on my feet, and I looked at my whole body in the mirror again.
It was perfect.
Now, all I had to do was wait for my fiancé Ricardo to come and escort me.
