Be My Heroine 44
Representative 1 Week (2)
Blink, blink.
Beth opened her eyes.
Beth did nothing as she laid on a moderately-sized bed, sleep still in her eyes. She woke up at 5:30am, the time she would usually wake up at. However, starting from today she was prohibited from working so she went back to sleep. Can she be this lazy? Beth worried. But her body was tired and fell asleep yet again. It was lunchtime when her eyes finally opened.
Not a single person sought Beth. Countess Claire’s orders had already spread throughout the mansion.
Beth rolled out of bed, still heavy from her long slumber. She hadn’t slept like that in ages. Her brain was still foggy when she noticed her hair. Her brown hair, now down to her waist, had tangled. It was evidence of how deeply she slept.
Shall I cut it soon?
She felt some would be broken-hearted if she cut her hair too short. Beth would find this annoying, so she considered cutting it up to her chest. As she looked in the mirror, she frowned. She was still in her pajamas. Still in this outfit.
She went to her dressing room, a room that had been made for her assortment of clothes whenever she needed to travel. She needed to maintain the dignity of the Countess’ representative. Even so, Beth wasn’t interested in luxury, so she only had enough clothes and accessories to uphold her status of a representative.
There were few dresses that were colorful while the rest were casual clothes for the mansion. Even then, the clothes were organized by season. Personally, she would rather use the money for the mansion or save it for Claire.
As she was not allowed to work, she picked a casual garment. The clothes were neat but not flashy. Beth stared at herself in the mirror for a while. She felt awkward in her casual clothes. Not only that, she had never worn this outfit before. Even so, the employees had selected good quality items.
After she finished fiddling with her clothes, she exited her room. In the hallway, there was a maid who carried laundry while another dusted. When they both saw Beth, they sucked in some air.
Oh my God, Miss Beth wore plain clothes.
Oh my God, that was true?
Beth is not working?
She’s doing her job secretly, isn’t she?
With astonishment, they focused on Beth’s figure as she calmly walked down the corridor. Inside, Beth felt deep agony as their eyes followed her.
When she did indeed take a break…what should she do?
Beth had no idea. She was someone who would look for more work to do during her break.
In her former life, she worked part-time since high school. Even after she graduated college, she worked endlessly. Now her current life was the same. She worked as soon as she was able to eat solid food, wash dishes, and sleep without her parents…
Beth really didn’t know how to spend time on herself. She felt it would be better to use this time to meet a high-ranking noble and discuss ownership of a mine.
Wouldn’t that be better? If she did that instead, she would have results. But there was nothing to gain from taking a break.
She shook her head, not realizing her thinking was just like the typical Korean workaholic. It was like someone who would learn a foreign language as a hobby, only to get certified.
“Beth, did you just wake up? Have you eaten?”
“I’m okay.”
Anne, one of the few people to call her Beth, smiled widely at her.
Even though Beth declined, Anne still smiled and handed her a small round loaf. The bread was chewy but had a savory flavor.
“Just eat it. Last time, you suffered from gastritis from skipping meals.”
“….”
No… if you’re just going to give it, why did you ask?
Beth looked at Anne with such an expression. She then just nodded without saying anything.
“From today on you have a week’s vacation? Good for you! What are you going to do?”
“Well… “
When Anne went on vacation, she made a list of everything she wanted to do. She had said she would visit family or would like to travel, naming the destination. Beth, with dark bags under her eyes, would stand there and listen to Anne’s chatter.
However…Beth didn’t have family to visit. And now she had no intention of leaving the estate. She had no desire to spend her vacation like Anne did.
“Ah! “
Anne clapped her hands as a thought popped into her heard and said,
“Recently, a dessert shop opened near the town’s square!”
“Dessert?”
Since last year, sugar and spice imports had increased. Though the price was still expensive, it’s price had decreased to a point that it even became popular among commoners.
“They said it was very scrumptious. I’ve been wanting to go as well.”
“Okay. “
Beth nodded. She didn’t care for sweets, but Claire did. If the shop’s desserts weren’t bad, then she could buy it for Claire’s teatime.
“Thank you for the advice.”
Once she determined what she was going to do that day, Beth left through the mansion’s back door. She didn’t use a carriage as it was not for work.
She thought she heard about this new dessert shop before. That’s right, it was from a tax report. It wasn’t that special, so she didn’t pay much attention to it. It was just a new business. To be honest, it was too much work to review every detail of every shop one by one.
It wasn’t difficult to spot the new shop. From the exterior design, it had the atmosphere of a dessert parlor. At this time of day there were not many people, so it was easy to find seating right away.
Beth glanced around. The interior was a lot brighter than she expected. They also carried a variety of desserts.
As she browsed the selection, Beth ordered the best-looking cake, one that stood out, and a third dessert that seemed popular. She also made sure to order black tea along with her desserts.
She had no desire to try everything. Mainly, because she wanted to spend time with her thoughts.
The most popular dessert was the Caramelized Apple Tart. It was an apple boiled whole and baked wrapped in pie crust and sprinkled with sugar. The apple core was removed and the empty cavity was filled with vanilla custard cream. The custard was not overly sweet, making the flavor subtle. It wasn’t too bad.
The second dessert was a white chocolate cream cheese mousse cake. The chiffon under the mousse, had an airy texture. The cake would melt in her mouth. It seemed the pâtissier was a person of great skill.
Beth wrinkled her eyebrows when she looked over the different types and prices on the cakes on display.
How much does a location in town square cost?
Most of the Gordon territory buildings were owned by the Gordon family. Some buildings were owned by wealthy merchants or nobles who lived there. But this dessert parlor was under the Gordon’s.
“Ah.”
Someone caught sight of Beth and let out a short gasp. Beth looked up. It was a face she hadn’t seen in a while.
“Miss Briar.”
Recently, Beth relocated Petite Garden Salon. It wasn’t cheap but it was a good investment. James had complained it was too late to relocate. However, it was important to do so as soon as possible as other investments were tied in. So Dana became busy until the Petite Salon settled down. In fact, Dana and Beth were mutually busy so they never had time to meet each other. Beth would only see written reports that came occasionally.
“…I decided to let the staff handle the store’s operations while I came here for a bit.”
Dana smiled sweetly while she explained without Beth asking. Maybe it was because Beth appeared to wonder why she was here.
Beth nodded and pointed at the seat in front of her.
“Sit.”
Without declining, she sat in the chair. On the round table, two cakes were spilt opened and disassembled while a seasonal fruit cake had been left untouched.
Beth looked at the three cakes in front of her, and pushed the untouched cake toward Dana. Dana gently smiled and expressed her thanks. Dana and Beth were definitely closer than when they first met, but they still maintained a business-like attitude.
“Are you here to see James?”
“Oh, well James is a lot busier than me.”
“I see.”
Beth didn’t say anything and sipped her black tea. The bitter flavor spread in her mouth.
In Beth’s mind, Dana and James came as a set. Whenever she visited Dana, James was there. And unless James was called separately, Dana was with him. Beth speculated that James had planted someone by Dana’s side.
In that case…
If Beth and Dana met, it meant James would show up.
“James.”
Like Beth, he was someone who stood out in such a place. Kedrick, on the other hand, would’ve fit in as he was very handsome.
James naturally pulled out a chair and sat down with them without permission.
His eyebrows furrowed when he noticed the two dismantled cakes while one cake was still intact.
“Still playing with your food.”
“It still remains to be determined whether it’ll be eaten or not.”
James hated it when food was played around with. Perhaps it was due to his parents starving him when he was young. At least this was what Beth assumed, based on what she knew about his background.
Thinking about it, many characters featured in the novel had an unfortunate past.
James also felt he was a victim from this setting when he asked,
“I heard that you’ve been banned for a week? You having withdrawal symptoms?”
He groaned at the moment he felt a gram of compassion toward Beth. That one gram of sympathy was crushed into dust and disappeared though.
“Withdrawal symptoms? I don’t really like work.”
“Okay.”
“…..”
At Beth’s resolute remarks, James looked at her with a suspicious face while Dana just smiled sweetly.
She didn’t like their reaction, but she didn’t point it out. She didn’t see a need to as she wasn’t overly annoyed.
Instead, she asked a question.
“What would you two do if you were on vacation?”
“Hmm…”
“Well……”
James and Dana viewed Beth as a workaholic, when in fact, they too were also work addicts. So, three adults, obsessed with their work, contemplated what to do on vacation.
“Maybe doing a hobby you’ve been wanting to try but couldn’t because you were too busy?”
“That sounds right.”
Eventually, Dana came up with a formal answer, and James nodded.
“Would I have asked you if I didn’t know that?”
Beth looked at them like two fools.
“What if you don’t have a hobby?”
“That’s proof that you’re addicted to work.”
“You’re making me angry.”
It was common for James to tease her because he knew that Beth hated being teased. However, Dana lingered between them and would only carefully intervene. She was still unfamiliar with Beth even though she often did this for two years.
“Well, since you have a week off, why don’t you try things you’ve put off, like looking for a hobby.”
It was a suggestion that didn’t make sense.
Beth nodded her head.
“If it’s a hobby that produces results…that would be nice. Something that can help me do what I need to do in the future or helps me with my career.”
“….”
“People don’t call that a hobby… they call it self-improvement.”
“….”
Dana and James looked at Beth with dark eyes, wondering where it had gone wrong. As time passed, they had become fond of Beth.
“Then…”
Beth looked at the cakes on the table and said shyly,
“Let’s do a gourmet tour.”
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