Chapter 9
The Dress
“I might not be able to marry my boyfriend.”
“Did your father, the duke, choose someone else for you?”
“That’s… possible. If I don’t like it, I’ll just run away to my boyfriend.”
“I pray it doesn’t turn into a bloodbath. So in any case, you were originally planning to attend the party.”
“Well, it’s more like… I came here of my own will, and then he chased after me.”
Whether that was true or false no longer mattered.
Mia was bedridden, and it was clear she wasn’t in any condition to attend the party.
“Sena. Ever since I arrived here, you’ve been the only one I could rely on. I told my parents I was bedridden, but they must think it’s a lie since they haven’t contacted me at all. But still… I wanted to enjoy the very last event I can attend as an unmarried woman. Maybe it’s selfish, but…”
“How much of that is true?”
“Eighty percent of it is genuine gratitude for your kindness. The other twenty? If I were healthy, I’d absolutely want to attend the crown prince’s party!”
“…Fine, fine, I get it. I happen to have a shift open.”
She took out her schedule from her chest pocket and checked it again.
Sure enough, from the evening of the day after tomorrow until late at night, she was scheduled for a day off.
“Not assisting at a ball is proof of incompetence!”
Her superior, Baldo, screamed in her mind.
But the staff allowed to assist at the masquerade ball were selected far in advance.
No matter how loudly her boss shouted now, there was nothing to fear.
“Thank you, Sena. You don’t even get paid for this, and yet you worry about me without complaining once. I’ve never known anyone who could work so selflessly for someone else.”
“Stop, you’re making my back itch.”
In all her life, only her father and grandfather had said such exaggeratedly kind things to her.
Her paternal grandfather had died when she was five.
He’d been quiet, but when he praised someone, it was always from the bottom of his heart.
Remembering him now, she thought again how Mia resembled her family so much more closely than she did.
Her round eyes, the refined shape of her brows, and the slight natural wrinkle at the corner of her eyes—she resembled both her parents and her late mother.
In Mia, Sena could see the shadows of her parents and grandfather.
Having lived such a harsh life, even if they were relatives or friends, Sena wouldn’t have taken care of anyone so deeply after being apart for so long.
Perhaps her affection toward Mia was the lingering influence of the love those people had given her.
“The ticket is in my name. So you’ll need to be me.”
Mia looked at her as if saying, You can do that, right?
Four years ago, when they both attended the Imperial Academy in the capital, they had been so similar that they could imitate each other’s hairstyles, gestures, and even fool teachers, friends, gardeners, and maids of various mansions.
Remembering that, Sena knew she could do it again.
“At the ball, you’ll be Mia, the daughter of Duke Palstein. And I want you to have a wonderful encounter—It pains me to give this up, but you should enjoy yourself with all the handsome men there. Burn the sight of real royal princes into your eyes.”
“That was the goal all along?”
“Alonzo has a nice face, but he’s quiet and not very approachable. He lacks sparkle. In that sense, this party is perfect. Go ahead and enjoy life as your real self for one night.”
“I’m not coming back at dawn even by mistake.”
Sena blinked at Mia’s dramatic tone.
Then she fought desperately to hold back the tears that were about to fall down her cheeks.
If she cried now, she’d ruin her makeup and wouldn’t be able to make it in time for her shift.
She somehow held it in and managed to say, “Thank you,” to her friend.
Over the past four years—after finishing the academy halfway, and having her stepmother and stepsister steal her late father’s inheritance—Sena had survived by spending the small amount of luggage and meager savings she’d been allowed.
She had tried to forget the rights she was born with.
Though she could return to noble society anytime she wished, she had chosen not to look at that possibility.
If she didn’t, the daily hardships would crush her heart, leaving her on the brink of choosing death at any moment.
Working constantly was the only way to distract herself from the past and look toward the future.
“Can you check the closet?”
“Eh, but… I don’t have much time…”
“There’s still a little. Just take a look.”
Pushed by Mia, Sena walked with unsteady but excited steps to the closet next to the bedroom of the suite.
“That door.”
“I wonder what’s inside… Actually, I think I know.”
“A dress for you. It was supposed to be mine, but if your figure hasn’t changed much, it should fit.”
And then Sena saw it.
When she opened the front closet door, hanging there was a dress that reminded her of the wedding of the Emperor and Empress of the Empire—an event she had attended when she was younger.
Back then, Her Majesty the Empress had worn a dress very similar to this.
It was the most cutting-edge design.
An haute couture piece, with a hem that reached all the way to the floor.
