10: The Culprit and the Ball
It was the man who had told the servants to make sandwiches when Lily and I went to the kitchen yesterday. Was he there earlier? I don’t think I saw him. The man’s expression was pale with terror.
I quietly watched the people enter until the office door was closed. Finally, once the door was shut, the Head Butler spoke.
“All the kitchen servants testified that the Head Chef committed this act.”
As soon as the Head Butler finished, the man called the Head Chef quickly argued.
“Count, I am being wronged!”
The Count asked in a voice that already seemed to have settled on the culprit.
“What is so unfair? You are the Head Chef, and isn’t the responsibility for everything that happens in the kitchen and with the food yours to bear?”
Despair washed over the Head Chef’s face. He looked at me with an expression that seemed to beg for help. The Count watched him, paused, and then nodded slightly.
“To dare look at the Count’s daughter with impure eyes. How have you trained them? Head Butler, Head Maid. Both of you, answer me.”
As soon as the Count’s words fell, the Head Butler and the middle-aged woman flinched and bowed deeply.
“We apologize. We have nothing to say. We will manage properly to ensure this never happens again.”
“Can I trust that? You two may also be among those who have been tormenting my daughter.”
The Head Maid squeezed her eyes shut and spoke with a firm, resolved voice.
“Whatever happens, we swear we will educate the servants to the best of our ability so that the Young Lady never feels discomfort.”
“Celia.”
“Yes.”
The Count averted his gaze from them and looked at me. I exchanged a confident glance with him.
“If you wish to grant them an opportunity, I will give the Head Butler and the Head Maid one more chance. What would you like to do?”
My spine tingled at the Count’s words. This was the first time I had ever wielded such authority. I swallowed hard and looked at them.
“My brother Kiel might order them to torment me. What will you do then?”
“Even if we receive such an order, we will not follow it.”
“We swear it.”
After hearing their answers, I nodded and looked back at the Count.
“I want to give them one last chance.”
“Very well. Head Butler, I can leave the Head Chef’s punishment to you, can’t I?”
“Yes, of course. Thank you for giving us this chance.”
“Offer that gratitude to Celia.”
“Thank you, Young Lady. Then, we will take our leave.”
With the Head Butler’s farewell, they left the office, taking the plate I had brought. I felt it was time for me to go too and started to turn away.
“Celia.”
It was the Count’s voice that momentarily stopped my steps. I turned my head and looked at the Count with a questioning expression.
“Yes?”
“Continue to speak up. Whether it’s something unjust like today, a problem that has arisen, or something you wish to do. You must find your own rights. I can only help if you speak.”
“I understand.”
“Good. You may go.”
“Goodbye.”
Feeling a strange ticklish warmth in my heart, I bowed slightly. As I opened the door and walked out, I felt a staring gaze on the back of my head. I quickly darted a glance backward, but my heart was pounding too hard to look at the Count again, so I faced forward and left the office.
As I exited the office, Lily was waiting for me just outside the door. Lily quickly attached herself behind me. She seemed curious but followed silently. When we were further away from the office, I casually threw out a remark.
“Aren’t you curious about what happened inside?”
Lily looked around, then at me, her eyes sparkling.
“I’m extremely curious!”
I knew it. Since various people had gone in and out after I entered, she had every reason to be curious. I walked along, telling Lily about what had happened inside.
“Really?”
After hearing everything, Lily’s face was red with excitement, and she asked me again.
“Yes, it’s true.”
Even as I answered, I looked at Lily, running various makeup concepts through my mind for her. I had always thought she suited Spring Bright, but when I saw her like this, she also seemed to suit Spring Light. She would look so cute if I used a warm pink color.
“Um, My Lady!”
“Yes?”
“I have one question.”
“What is it?”
“Where are we going?”
“Ah.” I smiled sweetly at Lily’s question. “To catch the true culprit.”
“What? The Head Chef isn’t the culprit?”
“Do you think the Head Chef has such massive guts? There’s only one person who could plot such a thing and get away with it.”
Kiel. He was definitely the one. He’s the only one who could plot such a thing and never be evicted or even suspected here.
Slam!
Following Lily’s directions, I reached Kiel’s room. I sent Lily away, then opened the door forcefully. A surprised Kiel looked at me. But a smile quickly crossed his face.
“My little sister? What a surprise. Why the scary face?”
“You did it, didn’t you?”
“Is that how you talk to your older brother?”
“Stop changing the subject. You told them to serve that, didn’t you?”
Kiel sighed and let out a sound. Then he smirked and swept his hair back.
“Well, what if I did? What can you do? I don’t even know what you ate. Did the Head Chef give you something weird?”
Got him.
“I never said I ate anything.”
“…!”
“Why did you suddenly say you didn’t know what I ate?”
“…Ha! Fine, what if I did it? What can you possibly do!”
It was true, I couldn’t do anything. But the Count could administer appropriate punishment. Now that I knew the truth, I just needed to bring the person who would confirm the truth. I scoffed at Kiel and turned away.
“I can tell Father.”
Before the door closed, I caught a glimpse of Kiel’s face. He was smiling with difficulty. He must have believed the Count wouldn’t punish him.
I went and stopped the Head Chef who was about to leave the mansion. When I explained the situation, the Head Chef, feeling wronged about being fired this way, agreed to be a witness surprisingly easily.
With the Head Chef’s testimony, I told the Count about Kiel‘s confession. The Count listened seriously and promised to give Kiel a suitable punishment. The Head Chef was still dismissed from the mansion because he failed to manage the kitchen and, following Kiel’s orders, put food on the Count’s table that shouldn’t have been there. Still, he left with his limbs intact and even received a portion of his severance pay, so perhaps he was adequately rewarded for helping me.
Before leaving the mansion, the Head Chef sought me out. He bowed deeply and thanked me.
“Thank you for clearing my name of this unfair accusation, Young Lady. And I am truly sorry. I don’t know if I can be of help, but if you ever need my assistance, I will do my best to help you! Thank you so much.”
The Head Chef shed tears, saying that if his name hadn’t been cleared, he would never have been allowed near a kitchen again. I had only ever said words like this, never heard them directed at me. It felt strange. But on the other hand, a sense of pride welled up, feeling like I had done something good.
After everything was settled, I headed to the dining room. As much as I wanted to eat out, when would I prepare and go to eat? I asked the kitchen to make just a salad and sat down at the dining chair to wait.
“Celia, are you watching me do this? I’ll create a good environment for you before you return, so when you come back, live by speaking up, just like I am. Of course, if you allow it, I would like to live here a bit longer! I want to achieve my life’s goal too.”
Six days passed like this, and I clenched my fists the moment I woke up. Today was the Imperial Ball. I had been working hard for this day. No matter what, I had to be the main character at the ball tonight. That’s the only way to get revenge as a reader and properly set the first stage of my plan.
I even prepared an extravagant dress in a white-with-pale-lavender hue. While he wasn’t exactly my ex-boyfriend, I had to prepare a ‘wedding villain’ look to get revenge on the Crown Prince who had been stringing along many women.
I finished washing my face, dried it with a towel, and stood in front of the vanity. I couldn’t mess up my makeup today. I needed to focus completely and achieve the best look!
After putting on the dress, I endured the pain of my abdomen being compressed and concentrated on my makeup. Finally, I finished the last detailed touch and put down the brush.
The perfect makeup was complete—the look artists create with passion when asked for ‘cute yet refined’ combined with ‘I’m going to my cheating ex-boyfriend’s wedding.’ Since I hadn’t worn makeup for a while and had been washing diligently, my skin blemishes had subsided somewhat. Thanks to that, my skin looked clean when I lightly applied a powder I made with dyes that matched my skin tone.
Today’s makeup was almost like a stage transformation, so I went all out with the color cosmetics. I used a blend of colors for eye makeup that supposedly doubles the size of the eyes, a cherry-pink for the lips, and lightly applied blush around the eyes to create a tearful look. I defined the aegyo-sal (under-eye bags) naturally but clearly, and drew the eyeliner up with an appropriate length. The highlight was my eyelashes.
While fake eyelashes didn’t exist, I could use the fire curling method. Though bothersome, I brought in a match and a thin stick found outside to curl my eyelashes upwards. Focusing on the lashes alone makes the eyes look dramatically bigger.
I realized this late, but Lily had excellent hair styling skills. When I tried braiding my hair, it came out frizzy. But when Lily did it, it was a perfectly neat half-up braided style! Nice, Lily!
Finally, I put on a pink sapphire necklace and a matching pink sapphire hair clip. Wow, this is really heavy! I feel like I might get a crick in my neck! How do nobles wear this every day?
Fully ready, I took a deep breath.
“Hoo, let’s go.”
Stepping out of the bedroom, I walked with confident steps, my heels clicking on the floor as I headed toward the mansion entrance.
