Beneath the Surviving Princess's Joyful Facade - Chapter 81

“Ah, Sir Cullen. I left that item in the carriage—”

“It’s in the infirmary, at your station,” Cullen replied indifferently. He had just arrived to begin his shift.

“Oh… thank you.” Gella sighed. Cullen wouldn’t know the item’s owner was here, so there was no helping it. She’d have to tell the eagerly waiting madam that it would be a while.

Turning to head towards the bedroom to inform her, she felt a strong hand grab her from behind.

“Are you sure it’s okay to leave that lady and come straight here?” Cullen asked, concern evident in his voice.

“Huh? Why?”

“It looked like she was having a seizure earlier,” he said, his tone a mix of worry and urgency.

“Oh, her… It’s a known condition, she’s fine.”

“Does she have a chronic illness?” he pressed.

Gella made a gesture indicating she couldn’t say and headed for the room. But the urgent grip returned, this time on her shoulder.

“Answer quickly, before I report to the captain that you left your post to pick mushrooms—” Cullen’s voice took on a threatening edge.

“Wow, are you threatening me? Is this how you usually are?” Gella glared at him, her eyes blazing.

“I already told the master that I was delayed because I was picking wolf-eye mushrooms, and he said it was fine. But now, I’m afraid I have no choice but to report Sir Cullen for making threats.”

“……”

“Anyway, what does it matter to you whether she has a chronic illness or not?”

Cullen couldn’t find words to respond. Gella’s words cut deep, like an invisible knife into his chest.

“Besides, there won’t be any more outings, so don’t worry about it.”

With that, Gella disappeared into the bedroom, leaving Cullen standing in the hallway, staring blankly out the window.

There was no reason for him to care about that lady; they were just strangers. Yet, he couldn’t forget the brief moment he had supported that frail body.

‘Is she in pain? What exactly is wrong with her? Does her husband know?’

Gella explained the situation and got up. She had to tend to the harvested mushrooms urgently. “I’ll bring the cosmetics on my way back. It’d be perfect to use them now, wouldn’t it?”

“It’s fine. Go on,” Miesa replied, watching Gella leave.

After she left, Miesa sat on the sofa and looked into the mirror. ‘Do I have a pretty face or an ugly one?’ she wondered.

No one had ever held her to such a standard, so she didn’t know. When she was a child, everyone clapped and said she was pretty no matter what she did, so there was no need to think about it.

The owner of the dressmaker’s shop had such striking eyes, nose, and mouth that it was hard to know where to look. The shop employees and the sisters strolling along the riverside had bright faces and well-groomed appearances that were pleasant to see. Miesa sighed softly as she remembered each one.

Great Madam Cladnier’s beauty couldn’t be described as just pretty. Gella’s healthy and vibrant face was also pleasing… In Miesa’s eyes, every woman seemed beautiful. The maids, the handmaidens. Even the people working in the kitchen looked lively and vibrant.

‘Should I ask Eirik?’ she mused. But he would probably laugh or give her a half-hearted compliment.

Gella, too, seemed overly enthusiastic about anything Miesa did, like the maids of Celia Palace in their youth, lacking objectivity.

Cullen had taken a liking to her, but he hadn’t even seen her face.

Wait.

Someone having feelings for Miesa, hidden behind her veil, must just be a coincidence, right?

Miesa shook her head. ‘No. No one ever treated me as a woman or even as a person; that’s why.’ And she looked into the mirror again for a while.

Gella appeared much later, carrying the cosmetics in a medicinal pouch.

“Take the medicine first, it’s urgent,” she said.

The strange smell stung her nose, but Miesa drank the potion without hesitation. She had swallowed worse, like stagnant water; this was nothing.

“You did well. Now, have a candy,” Gella encouraged.

Miesa held the candy in her mouth, glancing at the mirror, but quickly spat it out when she saw one side of her cheek distorted grotesquely.

“What’s wrong, madam?” Gella asked, concerned.

“It’s… too sweet,” Miesa mumbled, stealing a glance at the mirror again. Spitting out the candy, she felt relieved to see her face was no longer ugly.

“Really? Is that possible?” Gella wondered aloud. As she fretted, contemplating whether heightened taste sensitivity was a side effect of the medicine, the sky outside turned crimson with the setting sun.

At that moment, there was a knock on the bedroom door.

“When you went out earlier, I prepared a surprise for you,” Eirik announced, his usually calm face unable to hide his excitement.

“Gella, please accompany the madam somewhere until everything is ready,” he instructed.

Gella, assisting Miesa, asked curiously, “Do you have any idea what the master has prepared? Any guesses?”

“No idea,” Miesa replied.

As they moved to the bathroom, they heard the sounds of servants’ footsteps and Eirik’s directions outside. “No, not there. Higher. Over there,” indicating that something was being set up.

“Eirik must be preparing some magic again,” Miesa giggled, her anticipation growing.

Gella, tilting her head in confusion, whispered, “It seems we won’t have time to apply the cosmetics after all.”

“Yeah, let’s try them tomorrow.”

As they whispered, they heard the servants retreating all at once. Eirik knocked on the bathroom door.

“You can come out now.”

Gella led Miesa out, and her mouth fell open. The room itself hadn’t changed, but…

Beyond the neatly tied curtains, the terrace was filled with bizarre human-shaped decorations.

“What… what is this?” Gella stammered.

Moreover, each window was adorned with straw cat-shaped figures, each covered in shaggy fur and securely fastened. The eerie sight cast in the red evening light left Gella wide-eyed.

“Eirik!” Miesa exclaimed, rushing into his arms.

“I love it! Thank you so much!” she said, embracing him tightly.

“Now, no birds will dare come near,” Eirik replied proudly.

While she wanted to point out that the decorations would deter more than just birds, Gella decided to hold her tongue, maintaining a polite silence.

***

“Ah, what a fright!”

Miesa had just finished her morning bath and was returning to her bedroom when the maids cleaning the room were startled by the cat-shaped decorations on the windows.

“Oh, you’ll get used to it if you keep looking at it,” Gella joked, but the maids left without a word, their expressions discontented.

Something was off. Miesa tilted her head, puzzled by the sudden change in the usually warm maids’ behavior.

Once the maids had left, Gella immediately pulled out the medicinal pouch and asked, “Madam, would you like to try the product we bought yesterday?”

“I have a strange feeling. I want to go out today,” Miesa replied.

“Would you like to?”

Miesa hurriedly tousled her hair and, with unsteady steps, left the bedroom. Gella followed silently.

Vallek, who was on guard in the hallway, greeted her with his usual calm demeanor. “Madam, you’re out.”

Ignoring him, Miesa descended the stairs with Gella’s support. They met three maids at the bottom.

“Madam, you’re out,” the maids said in unison.

It was strange. They didn’t make eye contact, and that was all they said. Two of them had once pricked their fingers while making a bib for Miesa, yet now they seemed distant.

Miesa wandered around the mansion, encountering servants, the butler, and Madam Cladnier’s maids. She even visited the maids’ workroom, but no one looked at her.

“……”

Turning back, she felt something was amiss but couldn’t discern what by wandering around. As she pretended to lean on the staircase while climbing back up,

“Who is this?”

she unexpectedly ran into the former Margrave.