I'll End This Engagement

“Ptui, it wasn’t like that!”

Lindy, who had been sitting on her knees, stood up from her seat.

As Lindy went back into the dressing room, she nodded confidently.

“How should I put it? His eyes were looking anxious? I’m pretty sure!”

That cheerful voice continued to come through the door.

As I lay down on the bed, the teddy bear I had almost thrown away got caught in my fingertips.

‘She must have really taken care of it…’

I lifted the doll in the air and looked at it silently.

There are traces of the seams ruptured several times, and even the color is pretty dull.

Leah cared for the doll until it was worn out, isn’t it too different from her image in the original work?

“How old is this doll?” I asked deliberately.

“Umm… It’s been around since before the late master’s death…”

Lindy was walking out, pushing a hanger with a handful of dresses on it.

“So It must have been about 10 years? I think.”

“I see.”

The “late master” must be Leah’s father, Count Prezis.

It was a fact I already knew that he died while revealing the truth about the assassination of the emperor.

‘What happened in detail?”

I was told that Davan survived thanks to that…

“It’s a present that the master left for my lady before he left. How surprised I would be if I lost it.”

I frowned because I couldn’t remember, but my heart was trembling just thinking about him from afar.

“…”

I couldn’t answer anything.

I didn’t know it was that precious and almost threw it away!

“My lady, look at these dresses. What do you think?”

As I turned my gaze, I saw dresses hanging in a row.

“These are new items for this spring season, but we’ll probably have to make a new one for the summer festival, right?”

“Mhm…”

My face crumpled by itself.

I was going to say anything was pretty because I was lazy, but all of them were spectacular.

The design is already overly flashy, why are all the colors like that?

“It would be better to get a new one, right?”

As if my expression of frustration was a sign of permission, Lindy put on an excited face.

“Especially considering the ‘Oath of the Chloris Bridge’ held on the last day of the summer festival, we’d better get all the jewelry and shoes right together.”

Lindy’s cheeks were tinged with her red as if she was in a good mood.

“My lady and His Excellency on a bridge full with petals of flowers. How beautiful it must be.”

But on the contrary, my expression darkened in an instant.

The Oath of the Chloris Bridge.

As a scene from the original work came to mind, an unpleasant sensation wrapped around my body.

‘That’s the episode.’

It was the worst episode.

Just thinking about it makes me feel like a beggar. It was so shabby.

So…

It was the last day of the summer festival.

At the end of summer, the Empire held a summer festival called the Stars of the White Nights.

It was a four-day festival that started with a hunting festival and closed with a temple worship.

However, the highlight of the festival was the ‘Oath of the Chloris Bridge’.

It was because of the myth that if lovers walk hand in hand on the flower petals of the Chloris Bridge, their fate will be tied up for the rest of their lives.

‘Did it say she waited all day?’

In front of the bridge, Leah waited for Davan until night came. He never came, though.

The reason was simple.

Leah wanted their fate to be tied, and Davan didn’t want his fate tied to Leah. That simple.

“Lindy, how long until the festival?”

“There are only two months left, my lady. We must hurry from now on!”

“Two months is enough.”

I don’t think I’ll ever walk on the bridge with Davan like in the original work, but if I think that my fate may be involved with him even by mistake…

‘Ah, that’s terrible.’

I got goosebumps because it was terrifying.

Fortunately, I already knew the original. I would not wait foolishly without knowing anything, nor would I cross the bridge by mistake.

Never, never, never even approach that area.

“Starting tomorrow, I have to return visitation cards to famous salons. I also call Madame Bella,” murmured Lindy as she walked into the dressing room, pushing the hanger.

I couldn’t remember what this madame was famous for or who she was, but I could sense the solemnity in Lindy’s tone.

How much are you going to prepare for a festival that’s only a few days?

‘It would be meaningless.’

Of course. Because I was going to stay in the room pretending to only show my face.

“I’m sure all the young masters will gather at the summer festival. It’s an important year since my lady has come of age.”

“…The young masters?”

“I wonder how much noise they will make? Hoho!”

I heard Lindy’s cheerful laugh.

Who are these young masters again?

I had to stand up after fumbling my thoughts.

‘Wait a minute!’

Don’t tell me, the three Prezis brothers…?

***

From this morning, maids came in in a row.

As the sunlight fell on the bed, a groan flowed out.

“My lady, designers will be visiting for a few days. Madame Emma too.”

“Why is that…”

Water was smeared on my face while I was still half asleep. As I  gradually came to my senses, I saw a sight unfolding in front of me.

‘What is this all about in the morning?’

The brilliance emanating from the jewels flashed all over the place. My brows furrowed.

Lindy, who had already laid out each accessory in front of the dressing table, hummed.

“We’d better do a half-up today. It would be cute to have thick curls on the ends and braid on the top, right?”

Lindy styled my hair in various shapes. Then, she moved in a hurry, putting all the jewels on my earlobe.

“Do you think pink sapphire is better for earrings?” Or a graceful pearl?”

Lindy looked more excited than usual.

She seemed to think that Davan was starting to pay attention to me, but…

What should I do? That’s not going to happen. It’s just absurd.

Then I heard a knock.

“My lady, are you awake?”

The person who opened the door was a new person.

‘At last, the time has come.’

Of course, I could tell who she was at once.

She was the wife of Viscount Tizenna, a high-ranking maid assigned by the imperial family for the princess consort and duchess.

“Yes, it’s been a long time.”

She glanced at the woman and answered.

I had to be as nervous as possible not to make the slightest mistake.

‘A five-star dangerous person!’

Yes, Viscountess Tizenna was a person of interest to whom I had to be on the lookout.

First of all, the problem was that she was a senior maid.

Nobles would think it was a great honor to be assigned a high-ranking maid of the imperial family, but that was a mistake.

Because all the secret information of the nobles escaped through them.

Above all, Tizenna was the person who set Leah up.

After encouraging Leah to kill Ollina and providing the poison, she told the imperial family that the whole process was Leah’s work.

‘In the original story, she was praised as a fresh character.’

Well, to me now, she’s just a rat that moves a horse, nothing more or less.

“I heard that you finally got well, so I’ve compiled a list of your first week’s budget expenditures.”

“Yes, thank you.”

After arranging my facial expressions, I accepted the paperwork the woman had presented.

In the first week, it was a time when I had not yet adapted to the world.

I wanted to look closely at the paper because I wondered if I’d spent anything in particular.

“Then, as always, I’ll deal with it on my own terms.”

It was an instant. Tizenna hurriedly took the papers lying on the table.

‘Huh, what are you doing?’

My jaw tensed a bit.

When I looked up, Tizenna looked at me in wonder.

“I haven’t checked everything yet,” she said as kindly as possible.

She was a maid of the imperial family, so it was no good for me to offend her for no reason.

“There must be so many professional calculations that it’s hard to see.”

At my words, Tizenna’s expression seemed to stiffen at first glance.

But she did not hand over the papers to me again. She only smiled vaguely, as if to appease me.

“I’ve always taken care of it myself, so there’s no problem this time—”

“That would be up to me to decide.”

I said with my eyes wide open so she could not feel any malice.”

However, perhaps even that was an unexpected reaction, the woman could not hide her embarrassment.

‘In the meantime, you desperately hide the documents.’

My gaze touched Tizenna’s hand hidden behind her back, and soon fell.

Maybe it’s because of prejudice, but I can feel she’s nasty from the first impression.

“But, my lady—”

“Will you give it back?”

I reached out my hand this time.

I looked straight ahead, but my eyes were softly relaxed. I didn’t mean to fight.

“…”

Still, Tizenna hesitated for a long time, as she was unwilling.

I was at a loss for words.

I mean, I’m looking at my expense sheet, and anyone who sees it would think I’m taking the land document of her house.

“It’s hard to say twice. I still have a cold, so my throat hurts.”

There was no aggression in my voice or tone.

It was just enough to convey the meaning of not wanting to repeat the same words again.

“H-here it is, my lady.”

Tizenna eventually handed over the papers.

She seemed to hesitate even at the moment when the paper was handed over to me.

‘How much of a mess have you done?’

I pretended to be ignorant, but examined the items more carefully.

‘What’s a garden flower bed replacement? How can this cost 500 cents?’

[The cents’ or ‘센트’ is this world’s currency. Not $ cents, alright? So the 50 cents wagger of Heins and Stea last chapter is actually bigger than you thought :lmaocry:]

As I tried to calculate it according to the monetary units of this world, I was more and more impressed.

Let alone, I had never heard of any mention of flower bed replacement in the garden.

In the first week… I’d been so busy planning to survive all day, how could I care about what happened to the garden?

“What is flower bed replacement? Which flower bed are you referring to?”

“Ah, the one over there…”

When I looked up and asked, Tizenna paused for a moment.

“I thought I’d make a pond and make a flower bed along it.”

But the answer came quickly.

I turned my gaze to where Tizenna was pointing.

‘You’re making a pond over there?’

After checking the surrounding landscape, I felt dejected. 

On the side Tizenna was pointing at, there was a layer of large trees.

“There are a lot of big trees around, is that possible? The roots will absorb all the moisture and rainwater.”

“…Ah, that’s…”

“Hmm, 500 cents to build a pond and even a statue in addition to the flower bed?”

I kept asking questions with a clueless face.

It seemed too exaggerated to force a flower bed replacement for a large expenditure of 500 cents.

“When are you going to start construction?”

For now, I pretended not to know and went on.

“I was told that the contract with the company should be made next year, so I decided to write the contract properly then…”

Tizenna, who had been making it up well, seemed to be slowly panicking. to the point where I felt she was talking gibberish.

“Oh. Is that so…”

There was nothing more to see.

As it was, I laid the papers down on the table.

“The contract has not been drawn up yet, but the advance payment has been made first.”

“My lady, that’s…because it is a company that has been working with us!”

In the end, it meant that the balance had been paid in advance without the contract being written properly.

If you’re going to tell a lie, you have to show the least sincerity.

“That’s okay.”

I waved my hand to tell her to stop. Then Tizenna clenched her lips, and looked at me while biting her lips.

“I don’t know what kind of company it is, but it’s a place I’m really grateful for.”

“P-pardon?”

“For only 500 cents, you can build a pond, a flower bed, and even a statue.”

Contrary to her expectations, I smiled as wide as possible.

“Tizenna, I’m so satisfied!”