Chapter 36
#36
“Um, I, I heard a story.”
Ricardo, his face red, stammered, as if in a great hurry.
“What story are you referring to?”
“That you and Lord Wincaiser aren’t on good terms these days.”
The moment the story came out of Ricardo's mouth, my face hardened without me even realizing it.
Where did the rumor start?
Did someone see our fight at the ball that day?
Or is it speculation from rejecting the last social gathering?
Or is this another conspiracy from the book?
Question marks rolled around in my head like a tangled mess, and it took quite some time to fix my hardened expression.
And seeing me like that, Ricardo seemed to believe the rumor even more.
“So, I’m saying this because…”
“No.”
I cut off Ricardo's words with a single stroke, as if there was no need to hear the rest.
“Yes?”
Ricardo, his words blocked in mid-air, looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.
“I don’t know what rumors you’ve heard, but it’s not true that Ricardo and I are on bad terms.”
I denied it for now.
I was the one who had even considered breaking off the engagement with Ricardo, but I hated being the talk of the town for something that hadn't even happened yet.
At least, being caught up in a sordid scandal was something that should happen after I had finished all my mental preparations and had a clear plan for my actions after breaking off the engagement with Ricardo.
And when I could contain the rumors as much as possible with the power and influence of my family. It wasn't time yet.
“We are the same as usual, and we will continue to be.”
I spoke to Ricardo in a calm voice, with an elegant smile to increase the credibility of my words.
“Oh, I see.”
But strangely enough, Ricardo seemed to recover slower than I did. He still had a stiff face and a distorted smile.
“Of course, that couldn’t be. What kind of person is Bianca?
With a distorted smile, Ricardo began to ramble.
“Who would dare to push Bianca away? I thought so from the beginning. That can't be. Ha. Ha. Ha!”
With that artificial smile, Ricardo quickly gulped down his teacup.
I frowned slightly as I checked the letters that had come to the house.
It wasn't really a big deal. A certain Baroness was holding a small exhibition of paintings by an artist she sponsored and wanted me to attend.
The part that made me frown was the part that said she hoped I would visit with Lord Wincaiser~.
Ricardo was still quiet.
I couldn't bring myself to contact him first and casually ask, 'Shall we go see the art exhibition together?' when he hadn't contacted me at all.
“If there’s no contact like this, is it an automatic breakup?”
Maybe that's how it would be.
Ricardo had said that he couldn't break off the engagement without a reason, but if we didn't contact each other, it would be a breakup.
“Haa…”
Strangely, a sigh came out.
I was the one who had decided to break off the engagement with Ricardo.
But even so, I sighed when I thought that the breakup was just around the corner.
“It’s for the best.”
I tried to comfort myself and put aside the invitation to the exhibition that I couldn't go to.
Later, I would have to write back that I was very curious about the exhibition, but Lord Wincaiser was too busy with royal guard matters these days to attend, so I was very sorry.
Next was an invitation to the Countess of Cornwall's tea party.
The letter said that the flowers in the garden were blooming beautifully, and she wanted to invite people more beautiful than the flowers to have a good time.
The Countess of Cornwall's invitation was one that I could go to or not. Moreover, it wasn't a very important event, just a tea party.
“I should go to this one.”
But I thought I should attend this gathering.
It would be troublesome if the Countess of Cornwall's group turned against me because I had sided with Maria at the ball last time.
Each of them was a small family compared to the Croford Family, but originally, hyenas and jackals were not a group that hunted only with individual strength.
I needed to scratch their necks appropriately and be generous in giving up the leftovers.
For example, the beautiful Marquess's Young lady attending an unimportant gathering with a gift, allowing the host of the gathering to flex her muscles.
Furthermore, it would be even better if I could find out how far the rumors with Ricardo had spread.
“Then I’ll attend this one, and then this one…”
When I opened the next letter, there was another word that caught my eye.
‘…If you could grace us with your presence with Lord Wincaiser…’
Without even looking at who sent it, I folded it up and put it on top of the letters to send a rejection letter.
And then the next letter.
‘…If the two of you could attend…’
Rejection.
And the same was true for the next one.
“Why are they treating us like a set?”
I started to get a little annoyed.
No matter how long my engagement with Ricardo was, how famous we were as a couple in Splendor, and how much of a hot topic it would be if we attended together, it was annoying that they specifically asked us to come together like this.
Wasn't it enough for me to attend alone and grace the occasion?
I turned my head to look in the mirror.
A beautiful woman was looking at me with a slightly angry expression.
She was a woman who could shine and be beautiful on her own.
“Of course.”
I threw the letters requesting joint attendance into the rejection pile and shook the bell to call the servant.
“Yes, Young lady!”
Panya, who had rushed over as soon as I had said, poked her head in.
“Prepare the carriage.”
“Yes, I understand. But where are you planning to go?”
“Shopping.”
There was nothing like it for stress relief, and nothing like it for becoming a shining woman.
“This one, this one, and this one too.”
I roughly looked at them and picked out three dresses.
A pink dress that I liked, a dress with white lace as the main fabric, and a flashy red cocktail dress.
I was thinking of wearing that cocktail dress to the Countess of Cornwall's tea party.
I didn't have any plans for the other two yet, but I would buy them just in case I wore them someday. Because they were pretty dresses, and I would be prettier if I wore them.
“This one is pretty too.”
I reached out and pointed to a black, flashy dress. It would look great with the red ruby earrings I had at home.
No. Should I shop for new jewelry too?
“Panya, pay for it.”
“Yes? Aren’t you going to try them on?”
“It’s annoying.”
I knew what suited me and what didn't without trying them on.
Those four dresses would suit me perfectly.
“Ah!”
As I was about to leave the store, I spotted the shoes at the entrance.
They were pretty shoes with dizzyingly high heels and delicate sparkling imitation jewels on the side.
“This one in my size too.”
As I lightly pointed my finger, the clerk, who was about to write the amount on the check, stopped her hand.
“Excellent choice. These are the prettiest shoes in the new collection. Please wait a moment. I’ll go find your size.”
As I watched the clerk's back disappear quickly into the back of the store, Panya looked a little restless, unlike me, who was calm.
“Why?”
“Yes?”
“Why do you keep glancing around?”
“That’s…”
Panya glanced at the direction the clerk had disappeared, then quickly came to my side.
Then, she tiptoed and whispered in my ear in a small voice.
“I saw the statement that the clerk wrote, and the price is incredibly expensive! Could they be trying to scam Young lady?”
I turned my head to look at Panya, wondering what she was talking about.
Looking at her, who was watching me with a very nervous expression, it seemed like she was serious, not joking.
“There must be something expensive among the things I chose.”
That must be it. The dresses that suited me were usually high-end.
Because I had a talent for picking out dresses made of the finest fabrics, the finest lace, and the most excellent designers.
“Maria's dress was incredibly expensive last time, but this time there are four dresses, and the price is more than six times higher. I think they're overcharging Young lady.”
Panya was really serious. She even glared at the place where the clerk had disappeared, as if she was resentful of the clerk who had overcharged me.
“Shall I try to bargain? I’m good at bargaining. I’ve even managed to get five cucumbers for the price of three, which is one Rupi!”
Panya was still lowering her voice and whispering, constantly looking at the back where the clerk had disappeared.
Come to think of it, this was the first time I had gone shopping with Panya since I had made her my personal maid.
“Panya.”
“Yes, Young lady.”
“This place has fixed prices. You don’t bargain.”
“There are stores that don’t bargain?”
“No, not at all. And all the places I shop are like that. There’s no bargaining, and there’s no overcharging.”
“How can you know that?”
Panya’s eyes widened. It was a little annoying, but I had to address this issue for her, who had become my personal maid.
That way, she wouldn’t glare at the clerk with a nervous expression, wondering if they were scamming me every time she paid on my behalf.
“Because if they dared to overcharge the Croford Family, they would have to close their store immediately.”
It was very simple.
“So this is the real price?”
“Yes. There will be many times when you’ll be going to stores with me in the future, so get used to this price range now.”
“Ah! Are you going to other stores too?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you going?”
“Next…”
According to the original plan, I was going to go to a shoe store.
Because beautiful dresses need shoes to match.
But suddenly, I thought of another place.
“I have to go to a bakery.”
“A bakery?”
“Yeah. I need to place an order in advance.”
It wouldn't cost as much as a dress, but a shopping trip that would give me the same satisfaction flashed through my mind.
And I wanted to give a gift to my insignificant and brave maid, who was ready to fight for my wallet.
