“I-I didn’t mean it like that, I was just giving my opinion…”
“There’s no such thing as ‘just an opinion,’ Courtney. Be careful not to say anything just for the sake of it in front of me. Or who knows, I might just want to kill you?”
“F-Forgive me, my lady! I was wrong, truly wrong!”
Courtney knelt down, her face pale. A foot, adorned with a fancy shoe, slowly pressed down on her trembling shoulders.
Her waist naturally bent, and her forehead touched the floor. Despite the numbing pain, Courtney bit her lip to suppress a moan.
She feared that if she made a sound, Lizzy would become even angrier. So she kept repeating that she was wrong.
Courtney’s prediction was accurate. Lizzy let out a huff and mercifully lifted her foot.
Seeing Courtney with her face pressed to the floor begging for forgiveness made her feel a little better. There were still things to be done.
“Courtney, take this.”
Thud. Something long hit Courtney on the head and fell to the floor. Courtney bit her molars again, enduring the stinging pain at the back of her head.
Cautiously lifting her head to look around, she saw the object that had struck her head lying not far away on the floor.
Courtney’s dark eyes widened in surprise.
“I said I’d do anything you asked, didn’t I?”
It was a dagger.
A size perfect for secretly hiding in the pocket of her maid’s uniform.
“Then, let’s see you hold that first.”
Lizzy watched with delight as the maid’s hand trembled as if she had received a cup of poison.
***
The long-awaited debutante ball day.
Ariella woke up early in the morning to begin her final preparations for the ball.
She went in and out of the Violet Hall several times to check the details, meeting with the butlers and head maids to review if anything was lacking, and time flew by quickly.
Due to her busy schedule, she didn’t even have time to eat, but thanks to Amira following her around and feeding her finger foods, she managed to avoid starving.
“My lady, did you not sleep well last night? You look particularly tired today.”
As the urgent fire was finally put out, Amira observed Ariella’s condition with a worried voice.
To others, there didn’t seem to be much difference from usual, but she had a ghostly intuition that caught the evidence.
Ariella’s eyelids were drooping more than usual, and her expression was slightly stiff! She was also taking deeper breaths more often!
It was a difference that even Ariella herself was not aware of.
“Yeah. I woke up a bit early because I had a bad dream.”
“In that case, you should go back to your room and rest. You’ve done enough work by now, and it’s time for you to start getting ready.”
As Amira said this, she shot a fierce glance at Aurora, who was standing not far away.
It was obvious why Aurora had been guarding the Violet Hall since early morning. She was watching to see if Lady Ariella would do anything at the ball.
And it was infuriating that Lizzy herself had barely shown her face after receiving all sorts of massages since morning.
“Okay, let’s head back.”
Huff. Ariella sighed wearily as she left the Violet Hall.
She usually woke up early, but today she had hardly slept at all. It was because she had dreamt of an old memory after a long time.
“In that dream, I saw someone I missed very much.”
In today’s dream, a very longed-for person appeared.
The golden hair that shone like a mythical angel even in the dirty and shabby poorhouse, and the gentle and kind voice. It was Kaia.
“Forgive those who have sinned. Only then can you be happy.”
Kaia said this as he gently stroked Ariella’s hair. As if caressing something very precious, softly and tenderly.
Burying her face in his warm embrace, Ariella quickly realized that all of this was a dream.
After all, it was a fragment of her memory. The day young Ariella had beaten up a boy her age who had taken her potato, Kaia had comforted her with these words.
Even without that, she couldn’t have missed it. Kaia’s very existence proved that this place was not reality.
‘Kaia has been dead for a long time.’
In the dream, Ariella knew that the woman before her was merely a figment of her longing for the deceased, yet she closed her eyes and savored the warm embrace.
“Be kind to the weak, forgive the wicked…” As Kaia recited the familiar teachings while holding young Ariella, she awoke from her sleep.
The room was still dark. Looking out the window, she saw a sky that seemed to be still dark, as if the sun had not yet risen.
