The Villainess turns the Hourglass

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

Violet, however, showed a sign of great disappointment. It was natural because it would be the first and last birthday of her granddaughter, and she wanted to make it colorful and gorgeous as much as possible.

Jessie slowly approached Violet as she waited and watched. “… I’ve prepared her birthday party, so I know what she likes.” Then she quietly, very secretly whispered to Violet.

Violet opened her eyes wide in surprise and turned to Jessie. No matter how much she was acknowledged by Aria, she was just a maid, and it was so mean to talk to the Marquise first without her permission, but the story was so interesting that Violet’s eyes sparkled.

“I’m sorry, Lady Aria, but can I finish the tea time now? Something urgent came up suddenly.”

Violet, who said so, gave Jessie a silent instruction. It seemed to mean to follow her out.

Jessie blinked silently to show her affirmation.

“… I see. Okay.” As it unfolded right in front of Aria, who had already grasped the whole situation, sighed and nodded.

Aria admired Violet’s personality and that she had survived in the Imperial Castle for nearly thirty years.

* * *

With Violet’s action and the proper advice of Jessie, Aria’s birthday party was well prepared. As Aria had not expressed her candid feelings at the party after growing up, it was decorated with things she liked when she was a child.

Violet, preparing for Aria’s birthday party, had a happy face that would make others feel better as they saw, and for a while, there was a lot of laughter in the family of the Marquis of Piast.

In the meantime, Aria spent time watching Jessie and Violet, who was preparing for her birthday, and occasionally answered questions about food and color, pretending not to be.

‘The cake is five-tiered, and the overall color of the party is blue…’

They were trying to keep it private until her birthday, but it was so obvious that Aria had to pretend she didn’t know.

‘Is it necessary to be so grand?’

Aria could not stop her mouth from rising, though she thought so. It was not the same as when her servants had prepared the party with all their heart and soul. Their work had not impressed her because they had just done their job to receive some payment, but Violet was different. Violet seemed to be really preparing for her birthday party, to celebrate her birthday and was hoping that Aria would be happy. She behaved as if Aria’s happiness seemed to be her own. ‘So how could I not be moved?’

Time passed quickly because it was running out of time, and finally, on the day of the birthday party, when Carin and Chloe, who had heard that Aria’s birthday party would be held in Croa, thanks to the servant sent from the mansion, returned to the mansion early in the morning.

“Why did you come back so early?”

“Mr. Chloe says he really wants to attend your birthday party.”

Carin, who was smacking Chloe, seemed to have no other complaint; she also seemed more inclined to celebrate the day when Aria would become an adult than to travel with Chloe.

“By the way, how could she have prepared so grandly?” said Carin, looking around the mansion, and it was still early and there were no visitors yet so that they could take a leisurely look around the mansion which Violet had prepared with all her heart as much as possible.

“It looks more brilliant than my wedding.” Said Carin, glancing playfully.

It seemed very natural and pleasant, and such a sight had not been seen in her marriage to Count Roscent, who she had to be wary of all the time and curry favor with him.

“Well, my mother’s wedding was more gorgeous in my eyes, and originally, the other’s party looks more brilliant.”

Aria responded with a playful gesture, and Carin burst into laughter and smiled.

“Are you going to go back when the party is over?”

“Yes, early tomorrow morning.”

She had to go back as soon as possible, for she had chosen, disappointing Asher who had said that he would prepare to give her a great gift.

She had sent a letter to him, but she was so uncomfortable. He would not be angry in his character, but he must be sad.

At the answer of Aria, Carin replied with a nod. “I see. I haven’t done much for you, but you’ve grown up and would live apart.”

It was the face of a mother, unfamiliar enough to be thought of like the first time, but still, Carin was pretending not to show her sorry. Some might think it was now? However, Aria understood that Carin had not been a good mother the whole time. Aria understood that Carin could not do so.

“Please don’t say that you did nothing for me, and I should thank you for giving me birth and for raising me.”

Although the days to be put alone had been long, Carin had a choice to throw her away, but she did not abandon Aria until the end and put her beside until she became an adult. Carin had been in a difficult environment, and that was enough for Aria.

“I have never resented my mother, so don’t think about it; rather, I appreciate you. A woman without a husband would not have been easy to raise her child alone.”

“Aria…” Now that Aria was really an adult and gave an adult answer, Carin could not keep talking.

“So I hope you live as happy as you are, and don’t worry about me.”

“…” Carin took Aria’s hand in silence.

It was a completely different look from her, who had always hidden her feelings pretending to be calm and relaxed. In the past, Carin could not avoid her death, but now she found the happiness which she could not imagine in the past, and Aria could not contain her heart, either.

“I know there’s a border, but it’s right next door, so I’ll often go to the empire. I don’t know if I can see you…”

“Who dares to stop the Marquise of Piast, and I have to make time even if I have no time.”

After all, they ended the conversation, praising each other up; holding hands for a while and checked each other’s faces, with a common idea that it was so good that everything worked out well.

* * *

“I congratulate you, Lady Piast.”

“Congratulations on becoming an adult.”

“I saw you at the wedding just a while ago, and I’m glad to see you again.”

“I am glad that such a good woman was the lady of the Marquis family of Piast.”

Aria, blessed by so many, smiled brightly and thanked them, and it was a sight that could not be imagined in the past since she had been a wicked woman of the century.

‘What was it like when I became an adult in the past? When I looked back, I was not so happy.’ Aria remembered that she had been drunk and made a fuss. ‘It was a drink prepared by Mielle’s maids to congratulate her on becoming an adult. It was too strong alcoholic to be drunk with a drink, but I did not know it, so I drank the bitter alcohol continuously like a fool.’

‘… My poor, pathetic past.’

And as she smiled at the praises of the people without her heart, recalling the past that would be no longer there, the entrance to the mansion was suddenly noisy.

“What kind of bouquet is that big…” Aria heard someone’s voice startled.

“It’s a tulip, isn’t it? I don’t know who it is, but she’s still a lover of the Crown Prince of the empire, but he is flattering too much.”

She heard a scornful voice, and quickly turned her attention to the front door, thinking that it might be him.

“… why?” Quite unexpectedly, there was Asher, who was supposed to be in the empire, with a huge tulip bouquet in his arms.

“His Highness Asterope?”

Annie, who had followed Aria, started to shout his name in a loud voice in great surprise, and the identity of Asher was revealed. The people who had been searching him with various emotions and gazes removed their cold, disdainful eyes and took a courtesy.

Thanks to that, the inside became silent, and the sound of Asher’s footsteps echoed silently in the mansion. And the eyes of those who gazed at him at each step as he stepped out soon followed. He approached quickly to Aria, and as he reached her, he smiled brightly between the bouquet of flowers in his arms.

“You said she couldn’t come, so I came.”

It was a long-distance that he couldn’t come so early even if he continued to drive a carriage without a rest, after receiving the letter from her.