The Villainess turns the Hourglass

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

“This dress was bought by our lady, no, with the permission of the Crown Princess!”

“Did Her Highness the Crown Princess permit…?”

“Yes! She paid for all the expenses. Why should I restrain myself when Her Highness the Crown Princess allowed me to do this?”

“…”

As Annie said that it was a dress that Aria had given her permission to buy, Jessie could no longer blame her. So Jessie stopped answering and glanced over Annie’s dress and closed her mouth. It was a look that Annie’s dress was still too much.

Annie, who regained her bright expression after Jessie had stopped blaming her, looked at the mirror but soon clapped her hands as she thought of something.

“Come to think of it, there was your share! I forgot!”

“… My share?”

“Yes. Your share of the dress. I put an order as I pleased, with the permission of Her Highness the Crown Princess because it was obvious you would say no anyway.”

Annie brought out a dress that she had put in the closet. It was just as fancy, dazzling and expensive as the dress she was wearing.

“… I can’t believe that’s mine?”

“Yes, I didn’t know your taste, so I picked it out. It’s a trendy design,” said Annie proudly, raising the dress to be seen well.

‘How do you expect me to wear such a dress?’ The cold sweat had already soaked her back. Of course, it wasn’t that she had never worn a very fancy dress. She had experienced wearing one on Aria’s wedding.

But it was now different from then. At Aria’s wedding, no matter how much she had been dressed up, she hadn’t been noticed, and she was able to finish it with a small burden because it had been a place where everyone was dressed up and attended but not now.

Now they might curse her, saying, “You don’t know who you are, and you’re a bit pretentious.” Rumors might be circulating that she was a wicked maid who wasted the Crown Princess’s property. This was also true. It was nothing more than a pretentious act without knowing who she was. That was why Jessie didn’t dare wear a dress Annie had bought at Aria’s expense, unlike Annie.

“… I can’t wear this dress.”

So Jessie thought Annie was going to blame her, but Annie nodded unexpectedly and hurriedly dressed herself up, putting the ornaments on her head and ears. She didn’t seem interested anymore.

“I knew you’d say that. So I asked for your share because I would be seen as strange as I bought it alone. You’re not greedy for this.”

“…”

“Then can I have your dress, too? Actually, I picked it for my taste.”

“… Yes.”

Annie, who had finished saying that she was kicking her own blessing, hummed as if she were excited as she saw herself in the mirror while she was putting on a hairpin.

Jessie watched this, and she looked somewhat dubious.

* * *

Jessie and Annie acted separately from Aria even though they were close maids of the Crown Princess. It was partly because Aria was busy. As soon as she entered the Imperial Castle, Jesse and Annie couldn’t keep up with Aria because she was immersed in her studies day and night.

Of course, they followed Aria at first, and she needed only a few maids that could do chores that didn’t require conversation. Therefore, Jessie and Annie had been naturally excluded.

It was also Aria’s consideration that they didn’t have to follow her because they had to stand there constantly without doing anything. Rather, Aria advised them to prepare for their future at that time.

This was because Aria wanted Jessie and Annie to get married as soon as possible, just like her. In the first place, they had delayed the timing of their marriage though they had been able to get married first, saying, “We dare not marry earlier than our master.”

So when they were unable to follow Aria, Jessie and Annie, who were quite free, spent leisurely meeting Hans and Baron Burboom as Aria asked or wandering around the Imperial Castle.

It was unimaginable for a maid. Some of the maids who saw Annie in the colorful dress would politely give their courtesy to her and not to Jessie, who was in plain clothes.

“… Have you seen it? At this time, they’re leisurely having tea… I thought some noblewomen were here again,” said one of the maids who caught sight of Annie and Jessie drinking tea on the terrace of their room.

And one of the maids who were cleaning together whispered quietly as if it were a very secret affair.

“I asked them with great curiosity, and they said, ‘Her Highness the Crown Princess has given us permission.'”

“I heard that, too. I heard all the expenses for the dresses and ornaments were paid by Her Highness the Crown Princess’ own money.”

“Oh, my God, they have no shame. I mean, if they’re noblewomen then it’s fine, but they’re commoners.”

“Noble? Don’t say such a funny word. They are just commoners among the commoners. They are commoners who met a generous master.”

“At this point, it was not Her Highness the Crown Princess, but the maids who had a rise in status.”

“As Her Highness the Crown Princess is generous and kind, she allows them to do that out of consideration. However, they don’t know who they are, and they are doing such things. They should be ashamed.”

“Yes, you’re right. It’s really too much.”

“They might have been like that around the Crown Princess, who was still young, luring her with sweet words.”

In fact, it was the opposite, but the current Aria was not that image, so the maids who were cleaning up had misunderstood. They concluded and gossipped about Annie and Jessie. There was no need to keep their mouths shut unless they were a noblewoman.

Besides, it wasn’t just the maids who didn’t like their existence. Aria, who was about to leave after class, was caught by a nobleman who was hired as a teacher.

“Well, Your Highness the Crown Princess. If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you a question.”

He was a very young aristocrat.

“What is it?”

“I’ve heard that you have two maids who you have brought from outside, but I don’t think I’ve seen them.”

When the nobleman asked that because he heard nothing but rumors, Aria replied, thinking that it was weird, “… Yes, I have two maids. I told them to act freely because I don’t think they have to be here while I study.”

“Oh, you did.”

The expression of the nobleman, who answered, so was unclear. And Aria’s face was filled with deep suspicion. ‘Why are you asking such questions even though they are just maids, not others?’

“Why do you ask me that? Did my maids give you any trouble?”

The look on Aria’s face was very cold. It was partly due to the misunderstanding which had happened between Asher and herself under the leadership of Lane.

“Oh, no, no. I just wanted to know why you didn’t bring your maids who you had brought in with you.”

He did not know that Aria would react like that, so the nobleman rushed to explain and made an excuse, waving his hands. He seemed to finally realize that he had asked a presumptuous question because she had been so kind and generous.

‘What the hell are you up to?’

“I see. If you can’t get an answer to your question, it’ll be toxic.” At his violent reaction, Aria gave a bright, soft smile again, as if she had never had a cold face. She looked forgiving of anything.

The nobleman, who was unable to catch the hidden meaning that hid a poison to know the truth, soon dismissed Aria’s cold expression as an illusion and laughed at her.

“But if you ask me, I think you heard something somewhere.” Aria, who said so, looked at the nobleman’s face and continued. He didn’t seem brave, so she was afraid he would run away, being scared.

“I haven’t seen them for nearly a month, but what happened to them in the meantime?” Aria asked, looking like she didn’t have much of a relationship with them. Since she was not very attentive to them, she wanted him to tell her whatever it was.

“Are you not meeting them often this month?”

“Yes, I still meet them most of the time. However, since I entered the Imperial Castle, I didn’t have to call them in for work because there were so many other talented maids.”

“Oh, you did. So…”

There was something really going on. Aria narrowed her eyes for a moment to gauge his intention but soon smiled again.