Chapter 47

Episode 47

Jane

To Lady Misérian.

The cold season has arrived. Are you wearing the coat / sent you last time? I’m just apologising for not being able to meet you in person because I’m having a busy day due to the debutante ball.

Please relieve your anger. I promised myself that I would make the lady’s first and last clothes with my own hands./ have always remembered that my biggest customer and muse is only Lady Misérian. Please wear this dress and shine as usual at the debutante ball.

Your faithful Twal Rose.

When I untied the silk laces and opened the box, found a beautiful dress like a dream.

A rich off-shoulder dress, naturally ruffled with countless layers of pale pink tulle, was draped with hundreds of silk flowers as it went down. Delicate lace adorned the layers, and patterns were embroidered between the flowers with silver and precious stones.

It was a waste to simply attach the rhetoric of ‘pretty’. When I see a work of art in real life, I feel intimidated, and this dress was just that. The maids barely let out the breath they were holding. While smothering the clothes, I listened to them as they made a fuss and praised Madame.

Just by looking at it, I could feel that more effort was put in this dress than in Helena’s clothes. If it was pretty, I liked it. Now, or when, won’t you like to try on a pretty dress you can only see at a Paris collection show?

However, from the Madame’s point of view, Eris was like a kite that had already fallen off the string, yet she put so much effort into it.

I wanted to know if there was something behind the scenes, but I couldn’t figure it out. In the original work, Madame was only treated as one of the tools to express Eris’ influence in the social circle, because later, even Madame was passed on to Helena.

Oh, come to think of it, I had to get a men’s suit. Because I decided to take Anakin as my partner instead of the prince. But Madame seemed to specialize in women’s wear, so I was thinking about whether to take Anakin to a men’s clothing store.

“I’m coming in.”

“You don’t have to come in. I’m going out again.”

Speaking of which, Anakin knocked on the door so! told the ladies to keep the dress safe and opened the door. While standing in front of me, I roughly assessed Anakin’s clothes and said,

“Don’t you think you should wear a nice suit to the debutante ball?”

“…If you’re talking about my clothes, you don’t have to buy them. Because there are uniforms.”

“A uniform……?”

Was there anything like that? Anakin calmly addressed the story for the first time.

“I was wearing it at the ceremony as well.”

“Is that… huh?”

I can’t remember anything during that time because wasn’t particularly interested in Anakin.

Hmmmm. I was embarrassed so I coughed meaninglessly and retorted.

“I was going to buy you expensive clothes that you can’t ever buy with your salary, so why don’t you pretend you didn’t know?”

“A uniform is enough. No matter how expensive it is, it will be less honorable than a uniform that will prove, I’m my master’s knight.”

How can every word you say be so pretty? Excited, I was patting Anakin’s cheek lightly, but the servant came running from afar so I paused.

The servant, who was sweating profusely, looked at me and Anakin in turn without saying a word.

“I, there…”

“What’s going on?”

“Lord K-Kazar wants to meet you…”

At this point, it was creepy. Seeing the disapproval on my face, the servant’s expression crumbled and he stuttered a little.

“Gee, I’m in trouble right now, shall I refuse?”

“No, that’s okay. I’m not going to refuse.”

Even if the servant told him to leave, Jason would not be convinced and would continue to shove his way into this mansion.

I didn’t even give you room to do so, so I don’t know why you keep messing around.

It’s not the gum stuck on the sole of some shoe……. At this point, I headed to the drawing room with the intention of putting a nail on it altogether.

As I entered the drawing room, Jason, who was sitting on the sofa, looked at me, smiled and waved his hand.

“Lady Misérian.”

“I’m offended if you keep coming here even though you don’t have any business, Sir Kazar. Please leave.”

“I heard that Alecto is taking Helena to this debutante ball, I’m thinking of us partnering up as the people who lost their partner.”

“Sorry, Sir Kazar, I’m going to take my knight as my partner.”

Jason raised his eyebrows in surprise, then glanced at Anakin. He replied in a soft voice.

“He must not be in the same class as you. Wasn’t that why you chose me at the coming-of-age ceremony?”

It was true. At that time, I didn’t want to be looked down upon, so I ran my calculations here and there to get the best number of moves. As if he knew everything, Jason added.

“If you walk in with that knight, won’t everyone at the debutante ball laugh at you for being abandoned? Can you handle those glances? Oh, Lady Misérian……. I’m here to help you.”

This was also true. No matter how beautiful and glamorous I appear, everyone in the social world will focus more on who the man next to me is. Then they will try to judge me by my man’s ‘class’. I was fed up with Jason, who came to me triumphantly after calculating all that.

“But I’m not going with you.”

I told him one more time in case he didn’t understand

“I’m not going with you.”

Jane’s life was no different from any other woman’s. She was born as a poor aristocrat, then she married another aristocrat who was similarly poor, then she led a simple but undisturbed household.

Her husband, who served as a court attendant, would always buy her a flower when he returned home despite his tight income.

Then she put the flower in a bottle, and when it withered a little, she’d make it into jam.

It was a sudden money plague that staggered her happy life. Her ill husband was forced to stop working and when the earnings disappeared, she had to send out even her maid, who was the only other person in her house.

Even if she tried to get her parents or in-laws to lend a hand, it did not help as both of them were from poor families.

Her chores and her husband’s care are now hers. The sewing that she had done with her handmaiden became her way of making wages for a living, as she had to work all day long to earn her husband’s medicine.

She would be lying if she said she didn’t blame her husband. She couldn’t even answer the question whether she still loved her husband, asked to her by her neighbour who saw her suffering. Because she didn’t love him in the first place.

But Jane didn’t want her husband to die. Like things that could not be thrown away easily even if they were broken and buried for a long time, she was attached to her husband and couldn’t even run away,

– Sorry.

Her husband used to say sorry more often than thanks. Although it is rather Jane, who is sorry for him, not being able to repay him for his love for her.

Contrary to her wishes, her husband died early from illness. He said he was sorry until the end. She wished he could have said something else if it was really the last time. Jane became this type of widow.

The calluses on her hands grew.

Her wages and sewing skills increased alongside her calluses, and places calling for Jane began to appear one by one, it was enough to make a living.

It was when she happened to get a job for a Marquis, When she was about to return home after finishing her work, a servant caught Jane.

Did she do something wrong? But she couldn’t remember no matter how much she thought, so she entered the room, terrified.

In the room, the Marquis’ only daughter, Eris Misérian, sat elegantly sipping her tea. When she saw Jane, she threw a pair of clothes that were set aside at her feet and asked.

– Did you make these clothes?

– Yes, miss.

The maid who entrusted her with work complained that she did not have a proper outfit for going out, so it was made by tweaking the old clothes she had.

Lady Misérian looked at her for a moment and then threw another pair of her clothes.

It was a beautiful turquoise dress.

– Make it similar to this dress, but much prettier. Can you do it?

– I’ll do it.

– I heard you’re a widow? Stay here until the dress is finished. The fact that you are making these dresses should never spread……. Do you understand what mean?

– I’ll keep that in mind.

– Okay, let’s go. If you need anything, ask my maid. Don’t let me down.

Jane picked up the dress and went into the room the maid had led her into. She had heard rumours that Marquis Misérian was the richest man in the capital, but was surprised to find out that this wasn’t his original mansion, and that the small room in this townhouse was about the size of the house she had lived in.

Jane sat alone on the bed in the room, organizing her thoughts. This level of authority was a secret. Killing a couple of people wouldn’t be a problem, so if she’s unlucky, she might not be able to survive here. She had to do her best.

Jane was awake for almost three days and nights. Because the time given to her was shorter than she thought. The clothes were mended to fit her size and additional lace and decorations were made and sewn

It was a semi-forced job, but as time went by tiredness disappeared and the joy increased.

Was making clothes always this enjoyable? No, could it have been more enjoyable than that? The euphoria she felt when she finally put the finished clothes on her master and looked at it……! It couldn’t be compared to anything else.