Chapter : 08
“Only three candies. Promise me.” “Okay. I promise.” Theo held out his pinky—the shortest finger on his small hand. Hailey hooked her finger with his tiny one and sealed the promise.
“Eat the milk pudding for a snack, and this is for your dinner later, Theo.” “Pudding…! Don’t worry! I’ll eat it and wait nicely until Hailey comes back.”
This was the first time Hailey was leaving Theo alone for such a long time, so she was filled with worry. She hadn’t even been able to grab the candies the Prince had bought her because she was too busy running away. If I had known it would come to this, maybe I should have just taken the candy instead of fleeing.
Hailey felt a lingering regret over the sweets she’d left behind. Instead, she had gone out alone the next day and bought as much candy as she could afford. Fearing his teeth might rot, she usually only gave him some once every two days, but today she felt so guilty about leaving him that she allowed him three. On top of that, she had gone out early this morning to buy milk pudding and had prepared his entire dinner.
Hailey met Theo’s eyes and gathered both of his small hands in hers. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. It’s an important event, so I couldn’t skip it. I’m sorry.” “It’s okay. I can wait while I read books and write a letter to Hailey.”
Theo gave a beaming smile to ease her worries. Hailey opened her arms toward him. “Give me a hug.” Theo wrapped his short arms around her with a little grunt of effort. Hailey pulled his small, warm body into a deep embrace. Even as she breathed in the sweet scent unique to young children, her heart felt heavy. She didn’t know why, but she felt as though she needed to hold him just a little longer.
‘When I get back today, I’m going to become Theo’s real mother.’ She made a mental note to tell him, “From today on, I’m your Mom,” as soon as she returned.
“I’m going now.” “Okay. Goodbye, Hailey! Have a good time!” Leaving behind a smiling Theo waving his hand, Hailey turned away.
Lately, it was the busiest day the Baron’s household had ever seen. The house was packed with women attending to Hailey and the Baroness to prepare them for the banquet and the ball.
In Hailey’s eyes, the evening dress was excessively lavish, and the way it was put on was as complicated as it looked; it took at least four people to get her into it. “My lady, you look so beautiful.”
The voluminous skirt was heavily embroidered with flowers, which felt like overkill to Hailey, who preferred a clean style. With a low-cut neckline that emphasized her chest and hair swept up high and decorated with diamonds and pearls, the look was, for her, the absolute worst.
‘Where on earth did they get this kind of money?’ While being groomed for hours, Hailey was preoccupied with calculating the cost of it all. No matter how she crunched the numbers, it didn’t seem like something the Baron’s family could afford.
“Just give a light smile.” “……Like this?” “That’s a sneer, dear. That’s why you never get any follow-up requests.” “Mother, I don’t need any follow-ups, and I have no reason to impress them. I’m only going today because you said you wanted to attend the palace banquet.”
The Baroness cleared her throat at Hailey’s blunt attitude and added, “This is the basic duty of a lady.” Hailey pulled at her white gloves made of kidskin and gave a half-hearted reply. “Yes, yes.” “Honestly, child. Leave those gloves alone.” “It’s suffocating. The gloves are too small.” “It’s just because your hands are excessively large. You’ll get used to it if you stay still.”
Hailey utterly loathed the social trend of making tiny gloves that only a child could fit into and then forcing everyone to wear them. ‘I want to rip these gloves off right now.’
The carriage carrying the Baroness and Hailey passed the plaza and entered the main thoroughfare leading to the royal palace. Since every carriage was heading to the palace at once, the traffic jam had already begun. She wanted to take the gloves off just for the wait, but these impossibly small things were so hard to put back on once removed that she couldn’t even do that.
“I only want to attend the banquet. If we stay for the ball, we’ll be there until dawn.” “The ball is the most important part. Attending only the banquet is nonsense.” “Do you really need to find investors at a ball? It’ll just be young people anyway.”
The Baroness wasn’t going to dance, and since the ball was a place for young noble men and women, there was no reason for Hailey to stay if she didn’t want to. Of course, since the ball was the highlight of the party, no other young lady would dream of attending only the banquet.
“This is my last request, and yet you are so cold. We might not have supported you luxuriously, but we protected you in a warm and safe home. How can you be like this?” “……It’s not that. It’s because Theo is alone. I’ve never left him alone at night.” “Six years old is old enough to sleep alone.” “Theo is five.”
The Baroness cleared her throat again. It seemed Hailey’s plan to escape early before the ball had failed. She let out a long sigh, thinking of Theo alone in the attic of the Baron’s estate.
Meanwhile, the long procession of carriages began to move. Hailey and the Baroness finally passed through the central hall of the palace and entered the Grand Ballroom. “Announcing Baroness Langston and the Lady Hailey Langston!” It was the beginning of a very long night.
She didn’t even know how the banquet passed. Hailey was so dazed she felt like she’d lost her mind. It took nearly an hour just for all the nobles to enter, and the Baroness dragged Hailey around to introduce her to so many people that she barely had time for a sip of water.
‘My mouth is going to go dry at this rate.’ All Hailey had eaten was a finger-sized piece of dessert made of high-quality cheese and peaches, and a single glass of apple wine. Since there was a bit of time left before the ball started, she used the excuse that her shoes didn’t fit to escape the Baroness.
Of course, it was true that the shoes didn’t fit. After walking around in them for so long, her feet were swollen and her heels were already chafed and a total mess. As soon as she entered the lounge, Hailey plopped down in a chair and kicked off her shoes. “Ha, I can finally breathe.”
She could feel other ladies whispering, “How could she…?” at her unladylike behavior. Whether they did or not, Hailey didn’t care.
After a while, she left the lounge and was turning the corner of the hallway leading back to the hall when she saw something. “……Departure at about …… o’clock……. You can rest easy after that…….”
She saw the Baroness a short distance away. But the Baroness wasn’t alone. ‘A servant from the Roman family?’ The man with her was definitely the servant who always followed Count Roman around. They seemed to be having a secret conversation, but because of the distance, she couldn’t hear the words clearly. Count Roman hadn’t come today. It wasn’t an event he would attend.
‘Did he come along as a servant for the lady of the Roman branch family who made her debut today?’ Even so, it was strange that Count Roman’s closest aide would bother acting as a servant for a lady from a branch family. Soon, the servant glanced around and discreetly slipped away, and the Baroness re-entered the ballroom as if nothing had happened.
‘Why do I have such an uneasy feeling?’ Feeling suspicious, Hailey entered the ballroom as well. She could hear the music signaling the start of the ball. If she could just endure one or two more hours, she could go home.
Hailey’s plan to return home early was perfect. Once the ball begins, a lady dances three times with noblemen introduced by her chaperone. However, Hailey wasn’t a good dancer, and she had no desire to put in effort during a time meant for scouting marriage prospects.
Compared to other noble ladies, Hailey wasn’t overly dressed up. However, she was strikingly beautiful enough for anyone to stare, and her height made her stand out, so it wasn’t hard for the Baroness to pair her with young, wealthy noblemen. It was just that Hailey herself was a complete brick wall.
“My lady, would you care to…” “I have a child.” “Pardon……?” “It would be a waste to throw away one of your only three chances on me, wouldn’t it? I don’t want to waste my time either, so let’s just not try.”
Hailey cut him off flatly, telling him to look for another lady because she had a child, and then she opened her fan decorated with expensive feathers to cover her mouth. She didn’t care if the Baroness was trembling with rage while watching her stubbornly stick to the wall.
‘Wallflower.’ It was a term used for those who were completely isolated at a ball because they were rejected once or because no one invited them to dance. While it was the most shameful thing for a young noblewoman of marriageable age, for Hailey, it was the only way to escape this tedious event.
Just as Hailey expected, no one approached her. ‘I’ll tell her we should leave as soon as this song ends.’
It was then. “My lady.” “……!” “Would you do me the honor of a dance?”
It was that crazy Prince again.
End Of Chapter : 08
