Chapter 12
Whack!
“Got it!”
At the same time as Jaina’s triumphant cheer, Helene’s legs gave out and she plopped down to the ground.
A bird’s corpse fell to the ground behind Helene with a thud.
“Seriously… if there’s a bird, you should’ve warned me!”
“Oh, really? If I yelled, ‘It’s a bird! I’m going to kill a bird!!’ you think the bird would’ve just stayed put?”
Why is she so irritating and yet speaks so well?
At a loss for words, Helene turned to look at the bird pierced by the arrow.
It was a gray-headed grosbeak—a delicacy nobles went crazy for, known for its exquisite taste.
Helene was dumbfounded.
She and Jaina had been standing quite a distance apart. It was so far they had to shout just to hear each other.
And yet she’d hit a gray-headed grosbeak from that distance?
What kind of vision did she even have?
On top of that, the arrow had gone clean through the bird’s body.
“Jaina… I’m really sorry for everything I ever said.”
“Anyway, you—uh, stepmother, what brings you to this mountain?”
Jaina asked as she pulled the arrow out of the bird’s body.
She had been too distracted by the bird to think about it, but now that she saw Helene here, it struck her as truly strange.
This wasn’t just an area Helene didn’t belong in—it was a remote, rugged mountain hardly frequented by anyone who wasn’t a hunter.
“Ahem… well.”
Helene handed Jaina a piece of paper. It was a drawing she intended to show anyone familiar with the mountain to ask if they recognized the location.
“Oh, this…”
Jaina let out a small snort of laughter at the drawing, which looked worse than one April had made at age three.
Still, she understood what it depicted. It was a terrible drawing, but someone who spent nearly every day in this mountain like Jaina would definitely recognize the place.
After learning the location from Jaina, Helene finally got around to asking her a question.
“By the way, are you out here hunting or something?”
Jaina flinched.
That she hunted in the mountains was a secret. Neither Liriana nor April knew anything about it.
She had started hunting to relieve the stress from her stepmother after her father passed away, reminiscing about the times she used to go hunting with him as a child.
It started as a hobby—but over time, it had become something more.
Hunting was fun, suited her nature, and even made money. Jaina had grown into a skilled hunter who could take down any wild beast in the mountain.
Wearing a mask, she would sneak into town to sell the hides for a decent profit.
There was only one reason she secretly saved that money:
“Because April is a special child…”
Jaina agreed with what Liriana had once said.
April was a genius. She could read even before being taught, and now she devoured books written in ancient languages that neither Jaina nor her sister could read.
Jaina thought that maybe a rough, wild life suited someone like her, but the world’s prettiest sister deserved a happy marriage, and the world’s cutest, smartest little sister should be able to attend the Academy.
But the Academy—reserved for royalty and high-ranking nobles—had tuition far beyond what a fallen noble family like the Emeldias could afford.
Killing beasts and skinning them gave her guilt, yes. But if she kept at it, maybe she could at least afford April’s tuition—and if she got lucky, even prepare a dowry for her sister.
“…Please don’t tell my sister or April.”
Unable to come up with a convincing lie, Jaina kept it short and to the point.
She still disliked Helene, but the Helene of recent days somehow seemed trustworthy in a weird way.
Thanks to some mysterious delicious food she’d brought, April—who used to be scrawny and picky—now had chubby cheeks. And just yesterday, her sister had returned from the temple humming with joy.
Maybe, just maybe, she had started to open her heart to Helene—just a little.
“You better not tell anyone you saw me in the mountain. If people find out I go hiking, I’ll die of embarrassment!”
Helene walked off with strong, confident strides to find “that thing,” leaving the worried Jaina speechless.
✦✦✦
After morning worship, Helene saw the Marchioness of Rausen approaching with a meaningful look on her face and knew—this was the day she would finally be invited to the Solar Sisterhood.
She had invested a great deal of effort into winning the Marchioness over for this moment.
The Marquess of Rausen was a notorious playboy.
Perhaps because he owned the largest farmland in the empire, he had a serious “talent” for sowing seeds.
His newest mistress was younger than his eldest daughter and had recently given birth to his sixth illegitimate child.
He’d even gifted her an estate and mansion.
Since then, the Marchioness of Rausen had become obsessed with youth and beauty.
Though she was indeed beautiful for her age, her skin told another story.
Red, inflamed adult acne covered her face.
She likely damaged her skin from using overly harsh beauty products in her obsession with beauty.
It wasn’t as bad as mercury-based makeup from the Middle Ages, but the cosmetics of this world weren’t very advanced either.
“If only I had Houttuynia cordata…”
In her previous life, Han Yena had studied makeup in college after working day and night for three years to save up.
After graduation, she got a job at a fairly famous makeup studio.
She remembered the Houttuynia cordata face mask they made fresh every morning there.
The head stylist would grind the herbs herself, specially flown in from Jeju Island.
Her boss had a horrible personality, but the mask’s effectiveness was undeniable.
If you used the Houttuynia mask before makeup, irritated skin would calm instantly, and makeup would go on perfectly.
“It’s also called dokudami. Smells fishy because of the essential oils, but it has strong antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties—better than anything for calming skin.”
Helene had been scouring every mountain in Lepia for Houttuynia cordata.
Luckily, Jaina had pointed her to a place that looked almost like a cultivated field, where it grew in thick clusters.
Helene ground the leaves and made her own toner.
This was true, all-natural vegan skincare.
Helene had loved thick makeup just as much as the Marchioness, and despite her beautiful features, her skin had always suffered for it.
But that very day, she began using her homemade toner.
After just a week, her skin—previously red and bumpy—became clearer, to the point she no longer needed powder.
The Houttuynia in this world seemed even more effective than back home.
Helene poured the toner into a pretty glass bottle she’d bought in the city and gifted it to the Marchioness of Rausen.
Though the Marchioness looked skeptical, Helene’s bare, makeup-free skin was clear and glowing.
She decided to try the toner—just in case.
And she was shocked.
No amount of money had ever helped her skin, but this simple toner worked.
For a moment, she even wondered if the rumors were true—was Helene actually a dark sorceress?
Whatever it was, the Marchioness needed that toner.
Before she could even ask, Helene gave her more—this time with a bath soak as well.
When the Marquess returned after half a year and saw his wife’s transformed skin, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He even stopped staying at his mistress’s mansion and returned to the Marchioness’s estate.
“…Why are you giving something so amazing to someone like me?”
The Marchioness of Rausen had always lacked confidence.
She was originally from the Kingdom of Arten, known for its military prowess.
As the third princess, her two older sisters had become queens of other nations. Compared to them, her marriage had been underwhelming.
Being a foreigner with exotic features and poor Hercean pronunciation made it hard to fit into imperial society.
Even as a Marchioness, some countesses still looked down on her.
So it puzzled her—why would the Countess of Emeldia give such a precious gift to her, among all the noble ladies?
“Because I want to be friends with the Marchioness of Rausen!”
What Helene truly wanted was the Marchioness’s genuine friendship.
And slowly, the Marchioness began to open her heart. She had needed someone like Helene.
At the Solar Sisterhood gatherings, the Marchioness always felt out of place. But if someone like Helene—who always stood by her side—joined the Sisterhood, how wonderful would that be?
And now that Helene was becoming known across the empire as the “repentant stepmother,” she was an intriguing figure even to the elite Sisterhood.
This was also a chance to redeem herself after being shunned by the Grand Duchess of Revladian for her flashy outfits at worship.
During the Sisterhood’s tea time, the usually timid Marchioness finally gathered her courage.
“I… I’d like to invite a new friend to join the Solar Sisterhood—what do you all think?”
For the first time, the other noblewomen turned their eyes toward her.
You are good sisters