12: DAILY ROUTINE
My father and Furore-sama didn’t want to invite me to tea parties or night balls. I don’t know if they couldn’t stand letting other families see me or they just didn’t want to pay money to dress me up… Or did they just want to neglect me?
I didn’t see that glamourous world nor was I exposed to nobles and their ill intentions. I guess I was protected in a way.
However, my father spoke to Count1) Noir at a night ball just a little while after I ran my errands at the library.
“It’s been a long time, Earl Thousand. I met Lady Ayeshamaria for the first time the other day. She doesn’t appear to be here tonight, is she doing well?” My father was troubled when my name came out of Count Noir’s mouth. It was very fortunate that Furore-sama wasn’t by his side at this time.
The Curators and Librarians were acquainted with each other through their works.
The next day when I went to the office to draw up documents, my father asked me questions like: “What did you tell Count Noir?” and “Did you act in a way that would make him worry?”
“Nothing really…” Was all I could say to him. I think the Count saw me when I was in a daze. I can’t say that he thought I was weird…
My father was fine but I didn’t want to provoke Furore-sama. I was deeply traumatised when I was hit by the folding fan when I was younger.
I vowed that I wouldn’t approach Count Noir even if I met him. I didn’t want to be friends nor acquaintances with nobles.
They didn’t tell me that I had to go to tea parties or night balls after that.
I sneaked out of the estate whenever I wasn’t drawing up documents and went to town to observe the common way of life.
I won’t live in the Royal Capital if I become a commoner. I don’t want to live there.
Some of the citizens that frequent town knew who I was but they didn’t say it out loud.
That’s why me becoming a commoner would become the subject of gossip, no matter why I was doing it.
Even so, the slums is scary so I didn’t want to live there and I would need to ride a carriage to get to cities outside of the Royal Capital. I don’t think a teenage girl can live leisurely in the countryside… I need to gather more information.
First of all, I needed money if I wanted to settle somewhere.
I had the savings that my mother and I secretly saved for a long time but it wasn’t a large amount.
I would become an adult soon and then I can become a commoner but first I need to save more money!
Embroidering handkerchiefs only gave me pocket money. Now that embroidering was in fashion, it was fine to earn a little more. So I thought about embroidering organdie2)stoles.
I gave the designs a twist. I used an illustration book to stitch the flowers and butterfly more realistically. By doing so, it looked like real flowers intertwining together and the butterfly looked as if it had landed on the person’s shoulders. This would look good even if nobles wore it over their dresses.
I took it to the western clothing shop and the shop owner looked really pleased as they brought my stoles. The shop owner told me that they wanted more but it was impossible because I embroidered the stoles when I wasn’t doing paperwork. So I tried asking the storeowner if they wanted to buy the design.
And surprisingly they did.
My ideas and designs have become money. This made me very confident and it was useful to know that my skills could be used to make money.
A noble lady learnt bargaining skills from attending tea parties and night balls, but I learnt how to bargain by negotiating with shopkeepers in town.
Oh yes, I asked for discounts from food stalls.
Would nobles receive discounts?
I have to use what little money I have carefully.
… After that, I didn’t have the chance to talk to my father about becoming a commoner after I reached adulthood even if I met him when I helped out with his paperwork. I couldn’t discuss this with him if I didn’t have the chance and time just passed by.
I didn’t have the chance to wear that milk tea coloured dress either.
One day, when I met Ms. Dolcie in the corridor, she muttered: “The way you walk isn’t elegant at all.”
I knew it.
In order for people not to notice that I was a noble, I would tramp and straddle whenever I went into town. Since the maid’s uniform wasn’t a dress, I could step very widely and my behaviour was sloppy. I had intended to act different inside of the estate and outside but I overestimated myself.
I was also summoned the next day when my sisters had their dance lesson.
I wore dresses whenever I met my family in the estate and I had to wear high heels for dancing.
Ms. Dolcie taught me a lot of the latest dance steps… Teacher, I don’t attend night balls so I won’t have the chance to dance. I didn’t say that out loud. She should know this though.
I hadn’t danced in a long time but I went out to town a lot so I wasn’t tired.
However, the muscles that I didn’t normally use were in horrible pain the next day. It was unavoidable since I didn’t move with grace since long ago.
Ms. Dolcie, who saw this, wanted to check my mannerism… My homework was to make tea every day.
She comes when I forget about it… It feels like she heard about it from somewhere.
Ms. Dolcie doesn’t let me forget that I’m also a member of noble society.
Translator: Blushy
Editors: Readers
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Enjoy the chapter!