Chapter – 21
The ball rolled over there.
I had done my best to lure him, and he…
“Then I’m more useful, aren’t I?”
“…?”
“More useful to you than the Count, right?”
He said something strange.
I couldn’t tell whether he had fallen for it or not.
Maybe it was my mistake to even try to deceive the original protagonist.
“Well, actually, the acting can be all on Benvolio’s side anyway.”
In the version of The Prince and the Pauper I wanted, the pauper’s acting skills mattered more. Of course, the prince’s performance could only add to it.
“Expecting Leo to show the true side of the prince is just my selfish desire.”
I ended my contemplation and stood up. I was about to change clothes when the maid stood at the door, fidgeting.
It didn’t seem like she was planning to help me get ready.
“What’s this? Has the Count decided I have to pay the maid to help me now? Don’t bother me. Just take any dress from the luggage you brought when you came to the mansion and put it on me.”
Dresses for noblewomen were so complicated that I couldn’t put one on myself.
If I had to pay, I would have to cover the maid’s fee just to get dressed.
“Eh? Ah, no. It’s not that…”
The maid pointed slightly outside the door.
“They’ve all been waiting since earlier. They wanted to ask if it’s okay to start now.”
“Start what…?”
I asked dumbly, but then frowned when I saw her expression and nodded.
“Whatever it is, tell them to come in.”
What a nuisance.
“Yes, ma’am.”
As soon as the maid opened the door, Alfredo came in—actually, he brought along maids I hadn’t seen before.
Each maid held something in her hands: one had a dress, another a necklace, a ring, earrings, and so on.
The last person carried an array of hair styling tools.
“Then, let’s begin.”
Alfredo stood in front of the formation, spread like a tactical formation.
“Begin what?”
“Getting you ready!”
“But why are so many people helping? And why with such gravity…?”
“The Count instructed firmly. He said to prepare you so that everyone at the party would be astounded.”
…The Count?
I didn’t know what it meant to astound the guests, but once I put on the clothes, I understood.
The dress crafted with painstaking precision by a tailor.
A grand diamond necklace, delicately detailed.
Earrings and rings carved to scatter light brilliantly in every direction.
“An incredible amount of money.”
I had experienced luxury even when I was a “diva” in my former life.
In my household, there was a set amount for my “maintenance expenses,” some of which went to luxury shops.
So I knew.
I knew what it meant when the wealthy splurge on luxury goods.
These were items so flashy and expensive that they could easily outshine the wearer.
And the result of wearing just these items? This.
I looked at myself in the mirror and couldn’t help but admire myself. The people around me gasped.
“Too…”
I beat them to it.
“Beautiful.”
“….”
“….”
It seemed none of them had ever seen someone declare themselves beautiful.
But I didn’t care and continued to admire myself in the mirror.
“This woman really suits this glamorous look.”
“…It’s not easy to pull off these pieces. Yet, I’ve harmonized them…”
While I murmured, the maids and Alfredo regained their composure and began praising me.
“Yes! You look like a fairy from a painting!”
A witch, more like.
“The Count will surely fall in love at first sight!”
We’ll see about that.
“We’re so proud!”
Why are you proud of me?
I understood the fearful respect from the maids, but Alfredo’s behavior puzzled me.
Ignoring these nonsensical compliments, I went downstairs. Getting ready had taken a long time, and it was already time to depart.
Downstairs, the Count was waiting in the parlor, as expected.
Legs crossed, glasses on, he was reviewing documents in his outing clothes.
“So he’s coming with me, after all.”
It was the inevitable outcome.
I walked down, hardly taking a moment to admire myself, and called out to the Count as I approached.
“Count.”
“….”
“Count!”
He glanced up briefly.
“….”
For a moment, his eyes widened.
But it was only fleeting. He returned to his expressionless face and said,
“Worth the money.”
Right. Worth the money.
I returned his “praise” in Diensche fashion.
“You don’t have to say it, but make sure this is added to the debt repayment schedule. I’ll repay it without fail.”
Count Arno’s expression stiffened at my words.
Then he calmly said,
“…This time, I bought a diamond mine.”
“…?”
I didn’t understand at first, then it clicked.
Ah. This was PPL as well.
“After the sapphire mine, now the diamond mine. The wealthy are on another level.”
Soon, a maid informed me that the carriage had arrived.
“It’s time to go.”
“Count. It’s time to leave.”
“Yes.”
“…? Aren’t you getting up?”
“Do I have to rise just to see you off?”
Arno looked at me while seated, perfectly posed in his expensive suit.
Then… he stood without a word.
“Then I shall see you off. Have a good time.”
I looked up at Arno and said,
“You… were bothered by what my servant said yesterday?”
“Yes, I was.”
As expected.
I frowned.
“You truly believed I would throw you out. That arrogant one.”
“Well—”
“This is my answer, then. Today.”
This.
So he meant this dress and jewelry.
The items I must wear to benefit Arno’s business?
And then I understood Diensche’s way of thinking.
I am useful to Diensche. Therefore, I will not be abandoned.
As I realized this, Benvolio shouted from the doorway.
“Princess, it’s time to go…”
I turned and saw him wide-eyed.
“Princess?”
“She looks so beautiful you barely recognize her, right?”
I let out a hollow laugh and walked toward the door.
“Yes… incredibly beautiful.”
Benvolio always spoke his mind.
I didn’t even bother to say goodbye to Arno.
‘I will not be abandoned.’
The subtle thrill of that thought stirred my heart.
When I was a “diva,” I had always lived in fear of being abandoned. My mother sold me off, and my father kept me only because of my grandfather.
I always wanted to prove my usefulness. If given a chance, I would have studied business and helped a company with my intellect.
But my stepmother, Shin Seong-hyeon, wouldn’t allow that.
I had to remain a “useless” person.
Art became my only option.
Art that brought neither money nor fame.
During the play, I was a harmless “extra.”
But here, I was different.
During the play, I was useful.
Catherine Herotia looked down at the Meseña estate, smiling contentedly.
The Meseña estate. Once the center of the Meseña Duchy, second only to the emperor in power.
And above all, the room where Catherine’s father had drawn his last breath—a room she despised.
“Father! Louisa is not fit to inherit Meseña! You know it! That vain girl will squander everything the moment she inherits!”
“Quiet. A cadet branch has no right to speak on succession.”
Her father had no sense in people.
He never acknowledged the new emperor, remained loyal to the late emperor, and designated foolish Louisa as successor before dying.
If he had any eye for talent, Meseña wouldn’t have fallen into ruin, and Catherine would already have been the ruler of a prosperous duchy.
Though she already ruled this castle.
Catherine smiled as she watched the guests filling the ballroom and, most of all, her shining daughter, Jeanne.
Jeanne stood tall, graceful, and with a noble demeanor, surveying everyone around her with a lofty gaze.
Catherine heard constant praise of Jeanne’s beauty.
“The most beautiful woman in this empire.”
“If the prince were older, she could easily be a princess. Sadly, he’s too young…”
And the remark Catherine enjoyed most:
“She can’t be compared to that bratty princess.”
Jeanne was far more beautiful than Louisa Meseña.
Catherine relayed this to Jeanne, who responded with bored indifference.
“Mother.”
“Why do you act like that?”
“Look at the expressions of those who say it. They praise me while glancing around for Louisa. But—”
Jeanne lazily scanned the ballroom. Louisa had not arrived yet.
“Louisa won’t come.”
“What? Why?”
“I bought her that dress myself, from the studio. The thought of her showing up in that cheap dress already excites me.”
Jeanne recalled Louisa’s tantrums.
“I cannot wear anything unbeautiful!”
When Louisa was ten, she tormented the maids all day if the colors of dress and shoes didn’t match.
Louisa wasn’t merely obsessed with appearance.
She collected art, music, and sculptures she liked. Anything she didn’t approve of invited a tantrum like the dress incident.
So Jeanne wasn’t shocked when Louisa decided to produce a play.
“She’ll pull it off.”
Her chosen actors would be handsome, and the play would succeed.
Indeed, it did. Half the guests at the party were discussing the play.
Catherine, noticing this, said:
“Even if the play succeeded, it’s still a debt celebration. And she ruined her noblewoman’s dignity, so the Count will surely abandon her.”
“The Count?”
That’s a bit… unfair.
Jeanne knew Louisa was quite attached to the Count.
To acquire all the “beautiful things” she wanted, she needed Diensche’s backing.
“Exactly. Watch. Louisa won’t come with the Count today. What does that mean? Soon, the Count will break off their engagement!”
Catherine smiled brightly, and Jeanne agreed with this one point.
If Louisa came with someone else, their engagement would be over.
Then, just as if on cue, voices stirred at the door.
“Is that… Louisa?”
The nobles slowly parted, revealing a woman approaching.
A woman in a lavish, full dress.
Jewelry sparkling on her body, but her face shone even more.
…And she had two men at her sides.
“One man? No, two!”
Catherine’s face lit up, but Jeanne’s expression turned subtle.
‘That jewelry.’
She recognized the diamonds at a glance: The Tears of the Sea.
Once notorious throughout the empire, a precious heirloom of the late Diensche Countess, worth far more than the Meseña estate.
‘Was the Count that crazy?’
In other words, the Count had essentially stamped Diensche’s seal on his fiancée, parading her with other men at the party.
