109 - Fragments of the Broken Glass Slipper
Shattered Glass Slipper Shards Episode 109
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The Young Lady Roshan didn’t let go of my hand until I answered that I ‘understood.’ I thought she would be upset if I showed a hesitant attitude, but she seemed more composed than I expected.
Rather, she urged me on, acting as spiritedly as a mischievous boy. Her stubbornness in unexpected places was quite surprising.
I reluctantly nodded, and only then did the young lady smile brightly, as if satisfied. And she greeted me kindly in her unique voice, repeating that she would definitely see me again next time.
“Thanks to the young lady of the Roshan family, I came comfortably.”
Marie, whose nose had turned red from the cold wind as she got off the carriage, approached me and said. She, who had been riding in the coachman’s seat, said that the Roshan family’s coachman was very kind and kept talking to her, so she wasn’t bored.
Normally, people would ask about the young lady they were serving, but he didn’t, which made her comfortable.
“I heard that young lady is as kind as Miss Roena, and it seems that’s really the case.”
From some point on, the word ‘our’ had disappeared from Marie’s mouth. It was just ‘Miss Roena.’
The change was so surprising and amusing that I smiled faintly. Marie had no idea why I was smiling.
“Miss?”
“It’s cold. Let’s go inside. We have a lot to do.”
I urged her into the mansion. And as soon as I entered the room, I chased out all the maids, including Marie, and locked the door. I gave the order not to wake me until dinner, saying I was tired.
I threw the dress carelessly on the floor and climbed onto the bed in my underwear. And I carefully took out the Crown Prince’s portrait.
The Crown Prince of the Empire would surely appear at the Colosseum for the swordsmanship competition or at the National Foundation Day ball.
To face him squarely, I had to overcome my fear. It would be very difficult to resolve in a short time, but it was inevitable, so I had no choice.
“I can do it. Yes, all I have to do is look straight at it.”
I swallowed hard and tore open the wrapping of the portrait. First, the head appeared, then the forehead, then the eye… eyes.
Instantly, it overlapped with the gaze that had dragged me down back then. The inorganic eyes that reflected nothing and the sharp gaze that seemed to look at something insignificant were projected onto the portrait and stared at me.
“Huh. Huff, huff, huff.”
I clutched my chest and gasped for breath. My back was soaked with sweat from fear. Just thinking about it made me unable to move, like a mouse in front of a cat.
“Let’s think of good things. He was kind to me… but there’s no way. Even at this ball, he was a libertine himself. And what about when we met at the Imperial Palace?”
I shuddered at the chilling feeling and unconsciously stroked my arms, shrinking my body.
After a while, I mustered up courage again, but I kept stopping at his eyes. Thinking that I was facing a terrifying beast hidden behind a beautiful face all alone made me feel like all the blood was draining from my body. My fingertips were getting cold.
“I have to endure it. That way, I won’t avoid his eyes at the National Foundation Day.”
Like all battles, this one also required me not to show the fear inherent deep within my heart. That was the only way to seize the initiative.
To stand up to a man like the Crown Prince, I had to show a perfect appearance without revealing any weaknesses.
I had to do that to survive. If I stubbornly insisted on something that wouldn’t work, I would only repeat the unfortunate past. He wasn’t the kind of person who would be lenient just because I was a woman.
But what if I could endure this? What if I was different from the other women who could be flirted with by lifting their skirts? If that happened, if he showed me respect, I might not have to fear the attention of society anymore.
I could steal Roena’s future as the Crown Princess. Ah, so could there be a more perfect future than this?
“I can look down on her in front of everyone.”
And only then would I be able to feel the ‘self-pity’ that Madame de Lavalier had talked about. I would become my complete self.
So I couldn’t stop here. No, even if I was told to stop, I had to grit my teeth and go all the way. Just like I had desperately tried before, working myself to the bone until I became a gaunt skeleton.
So I repeated the practice of staring at his expression in the portrait over and over again until Marie and the others knocked on the door to tell me to have dinner.
Later, Blan, who came in after I opened the door, said with a worried expression, ‘Are you sick, Miss? Look at your cold sweat.’
“No. I’ll be fine if I drink a glass of water and rest.”
“But you’ve been resting. Shall I call the doctor?”
“I’ll be fine if I rest more, so don’t call him.”
Seril brought me water. And she asked, ‘Shall I bring you a hot water bottle with hot water in it?’ My body was already cold from the sweat I had been sweating.
I told her to put the hot water bottle in the blanket, saying that I would go to bed right after dinner.
Just a short practice had left me with an unpleasant feeling all over my body, as if I had stayed up all night for several days. It wasn’t just that I was mentally exhausted. I felt like I would pass out as soon as I collapsed.
So I barely ate dinner and got up from my seat first, saying that I wasn’t feeling well.
Roena called my name as if she had something to say, but I deliberately pretended not to hear. As if I hadn’t heard because I had left the dining room too quickly.
Ever since I had uttered the word ‘hypocrite,’ she had been looking visibly depressed whenever she saw me. Roena’s attitude of hesitating and stopping without being able to approach me was causing many people to imagine strange things.
She acted as if she couldn’t bear it because of me. She didn’t show it openly, but her expressions and movements were so subtle that anyone could easily guess.
So my mother and many others asked me if something had happened between Roena and me. Their minds were already filled with the idea that Roena was the victim, without even trying to find out the truth.
Every time that happened, my stomach churned, but I blinked my eyes as if I didn’t know anything and tilted my head innocently.
‘Well, I’m still learning, so I might have done something rude, but I wouldn’t know unless she told me, right? So I wish Roena would tell me clearly. Then I’ll know what I did wrong.’
But Roena couldn’t bring herself to directly criticize me, and she just mumbled and made ridiculous excuses that she was tired.
Every time that happened, I would say with a very wronged expression, ‘See? It’s nothing. But I don’t know why everyone thinks I did something to her. I’m really upset,’ thereby eliciting Roena’s apology and my mother’s explanation.
“Sometimes I think the people around us are trying to drive a wedge between Roena and me.”
It was only natural that Roena’s face hardened at my answer, which I said with tears in my eyes. Margo’s expression as she stared at me in disbelief was also a spectacle that I couldn’t help but laugh at.
Was that why? Margo’s group’s actions against Marie’s group began to become excessively severe.
They not only tripped them and sneered at them, but they also hissed like venomous snakes and didn’t hesitate to engage in physical fights.
One day, Marie came to me with her hair disheveled and panting, and I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the sight.
But I couldn’t continue to condone these physical fights, so I went to my mother and told her that it seemed like the maids should start comparing their superiority, even if it was just among themselves.
It hadn’t been long since I had made the statement that ‘the people around us are trying to drive a wedge between Roena and me,’ so there was no better time than now.
“The maids are fighting often. Especially my maids are being targeted.”
My mother frowned at my words, as if she couldn’t understand. It must have been like, what nonsense is this?
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Do you remember all the unreasonable treatment I received when I first came to this mansion? It seems like that’s being passed on to my maids.”
“No, is that true?”
“Yes. If you don’t believe me, call the head maid and ask.”
My mother called Margo immediately with an angry expression. Perhaps remembering the tears I had shown on the first day, her face was as white as a sheet.
Margo, who entered the room, hardened her expression when she saw me there with her. This old badger seemed to have a rough idea of why my mother had called her.
My mother asked the old weasel in a cold tone.
“I hear that Sissae’s maids have been getting hurt a lot lately. Do you know anything about this?”
“Sometimes people get hurt while working. I understand the young lady’s concern for the maids, but it’s not something to worry about so much.”
I naturally took over Margo’s words.
“It’s different if it’s to the point where you have to apply ointment and wrap it with a bandage. I heard that Roena’s maids are always picking fights.”
“You’re mistaken, Miss.”
“Then are you saying that Marie is lying? Head Maid, I’m not so foolish that I can’t tell the difference between these lies.”
“They may be trying to take advantage of the young lady’s kind heart.”
“I saw it with my own eyes.”
My mother and Margo’s eyes widened at my words. I smiled faintly and continued.
“You didn’t think I came to tell my mother just based on the maid’s words, did you? I wouldn’t be so lacking in judgment.”
Even the great Margo couldn’t say ‘that’s a lie’ when I said I saw it. That’s because there was no evidence that I saw it, but there was also no evidence that I didn’t see it. So even if she was suspicious, there was nothing she could do.
“…What do you want me to do?”
Margo lowered her tail and asked in a polite voice. She seemed to have realized that she couldn’t do anything anymore, and she was surrendering surprisingly quickly.
Was that why? The blue veins were bulging on her clasped hands, but the voice that came out was quite calm.
My mother looked at me as if asking what I wanted to do. It meant that she was handing over the decision-making power to me. I said in a leisurely voice, as if I had just thought of it.
“We need to reduce unnecessary fights. It’s the head maid’s job to find out why.”
“What do you intend to do with the maid you said you witnessed?”
Before coming to my mother, I had told Marie to give me the name of one of Margo’s maids that she wanted to beat up the most. And I had Seril and Blan bring him.
“I’m going to ask him the reason myself.”
“But that’s beneath the young lady’s dignity. You should leave it to me instead.”
“Or shall I ask my adoptive father? Mother, can you do that?”
My mother frowned as if she was in trouble, but she didn’t say no. And this would have put considerable pressure on Margo.
“I won’t stand by if anyone picks on my maids anymore.”
“Okay. Do as you wish.”
My mother looked at me with a very worried expression. But she didn’t object to my decision or dissuade me.
Perhaps she wanted to build up my self-esteem even in this way, and she was bravely enduring the pity that was welling up in a corner of her heart.
I was so grateful for that that I grabbed my mother’s hand and shouted thank you.
My mother gave strength to the hand she was holding, as if responding, and said to Margo, showing off the dignity of a Countess.
“Head Maid, I know how hard you work for the Count’s family, but I also feel that the maids’ morale has been very scattered lately. So I hope you will lead them better with this incident as an opportunity.”
Margo replied that she understood my mother’s words. The old weasel’s shoulders were trembling, as if she was upset and resentful that she had been taken advantage of without being able to do anything. My mother and I pretended not to notice.
