CH 21

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The next day, Eleonora changed into a dress and put on makeup before heading out to meet Alexei. The ones who helped her prepare were the same maids that helped her prepare for the ball, Lira and Larisa. They were also Eleonora’s followers.

“Eleonora-sama, your hair shines like the sun and your skin is as beautiful as white porcelain,” said Lira as she was doing Eleonora’s hair. Larisa, who was grooming Eleonora’s nails, nodded greatly.

“You can’t find someone this beautiful even if you look outside the empire. Furthermore, she’s not just beautiful on the outside, she beautiful on the inside too.”

(Are these two okay-dabe? I don’t think they have any ulterior motives, but maybe they ate something bad? Could they possibly have eaten a hallucinatory mushroom? Amateurs shouldn’t be eating random mushrooms.”

Though she was worried about their health, she had never been praised like this before and became embarrassed, blushing madly.

She was aware of her beauty in this life, but after being called a monster in her previous life, she thought basically anyone who wore a pretty outfit and didn’t have green skin was considered beautiful.

The only exception was Ham-chan. He was prettier than a doll.

(If you’re talking about beauty, then you’re talking about Ham-chan. If you saw how cute he was, you’d faint-pe.)

Even so, Eleonora thought she should give words of gratitude after being praised and replied to.

“…You’re exaggerating but thank you.”

Her shy appearance as she replied was extremely lovely. The two maids were moved to tears.

“That’s not true. We are thrilled to be able to serve you Eleonora-sama!”

Lira and Larisa nodded simultaneously as they said so, but there was no real benefit to taking care of Eleonora. In fact, Eleonora thought it was more like a demotion.

(Could it be, are they being bullied at the main residence-dabe? If that’s really the case then I wanna do something about it.)

“…Is work difficult for you two in the main residence?”

The two maids tilted their heads in confusion to her question.

“No! We’re really happy to be able to take care of you Eleonora-sama!”

Hearing this answer, Eleonora just became more confused.

“…I see. If you ever have any difficulty though, make sure to tell me.”

In response to Eleonora, having replied to them in her chair with upturned eyes, the two maids breathed heavily through their noses and thanked her.

(As I thought, they probably ate a strange mushroom.)

In any case, the two maids dressed Eleonora up beautifully. The dress was the same one used for the tea party last time and though it was of poor quality for a duke’s daughter, it looked high quality when Eleonora wore it so there was no problem.

Having a sense of satisfaction at their handiwork, the two maids saw Eleonora off to her carriage parked in front of the building. They stayed bowing until the carriage could no longer be seen.

Eleonora, holding the basket filled with five different kinds of pie, entered the castle. As part of her stepmother’s harassment, Eleonora did not have a single female attendant with her, but her father, completely unconcerned, didn’t even know. He probably didn’t think she would go alone.

When she arrived at the castle, Olec, the white cavalry knight who guarded her two days ago, led her in.

“Let me hold your belongings.”

(This isn’t that heavy.)

“…Thank you for your concern but this isn’t heavy.”

(I hate this-dabe! Do I have to speak like a lady all day-pe?! How annoying-pe!)

Eleonora, who was having trouble with her uncomfortable dress and ladylike speech, hid her melancholy by looking down and replied.

“I am a knight so I shouldn’t be letting a lady carry things.”

(So knights are kind to ladies-dabe. It’s true that that’s what’s written in books-pe. But I was killed by a knight.)

She nodded slightly and handed over her belongings.

“This is pretty heavy for a lady.”

(It’s not. There are only five pies in there. I’m worried about the strength of ladies in this world-pe.)

Following the knight, she was led to the roof surrounded by ramparts, which indicated that this castle had been used as a fortress. Here, there was a table set up under a parasol and Eleonora sat down to wait. After a few minutes, Alexei arrived out of breath.

His figure overlapped with that of Ham-chan who had often come running to her out of breath to show her the nuts he had found in the forest.

(He’s so similar to Ham-chan! This time he doesn’t have a cold gaze. He’s like the real Ham-chan!)

Though surprised, she got up from her chaired and bowed.

“…Thank you for inviting me today.”

Alexei stared unblinkingly at her. Though she was completely different from Pie, he still felt nostalgic seeing her. Not only nostalgia, whenever he was in front of her his heart would hurt and he would wonder why this pain felt so sweet.

“Be at ease. Now, let’s sit.”

Alexei smiled gently.

(He’s exactly like Ham-chan! He’s different from the emperor from the other day-pe. Why is he so similar-pe? Could he be a close relative of Ham-chan? If that’s so, maybe he’ll let me meet Ham-chan! Ham-chan! Ham-chan!)

Thinking that she could meet Ham-chan again, she moved to tears from happiness.

“Hey, what’s wrong all of a sudden? Did you not want to be with me that much?”

Alexei became panicked and asked her, but she remained quiet and tilted her head.

“…No. I just remembered someone. He resembles you a lot. I only know his appearance up until he was nine, but he really looks like you.”

Speaking of nine, Alexei remembered that he was nine years old when Pie was killed.