Smiled at me (4)
The blessing of Diar.
From the night before until dawn this morning, she was busy preparing for the festival. No, perhaps it’s been a few days. It was renewed on a weekly basis, and the amount of incoming work suddenly doubled, so it definitely felt like a big festival.
‘At this time of year, there are many things to do’
Beth pressed her rare, tired face and dull eyes with both hands, and had breakfast at the dining room after a long absence.
At the news that Beth was eating at the dining room, both the chef and the employees working in the kitchen were startled and opened their mouths, and at Kedrick’s gentle prompting, they began to work.
“I have no appetite… I want to eat lightly.”
She delivered her message to Kedrick, who nodded his head in understanding and brought a meal for two after a while.
“…”
It was a three-story toast tower with brown toast on the outside, and bacon that wasn’t overcooked in between. Maple syrup was sprinkled on the still hot plate, and Kedrick, who was considerate of Beth, did not sprinkle sugar powder on it.
For Beth, who tends to get sick from being cold all the time, there were plenty of hot creamy mushroom soup and lettuce-based salads.
When cut in half, the plump omelette is filled with generous amounts of colorful vegetables and cheese. Beth, who watched it silently, raised one of her eyebrows. These foods had only one meaning.
“Kedrick….”
“Yes…?”
“I definitely said I want to eat light.”
It wasn’t light at all.
“Hahaha, the rule of thumb is that everyone has different standards.”
He handed Beth a cup and then drizzled a bunch of syrup on his own plate, as he said naturally.
Beth clasped the fork and stared at him intensely, as if she were looking at an enemy.
Beth didn’t enjoy leaving food behind.
She had packed all of the food on vacation in the first place, and she wanted to make sure other people felt what she was feeling, and she just wanted to eat it all in order to collect data.
So… No matter how much the investigation was, she did not want to leave any food, and in the process, the employees were only slightly sacrificed.
Besides, this food is made by the people who work under her. So she didn’t want to leave any more.
‘The chef here is too emotional’
She was so moved by it, and she quickly became depressed. It was very difficult for Beth to deal with everything calmly.
Kedrick said nonchalantly, whether or not he knew what she was thinking—he probably did—while slicing the toast into large pieces.
“We have to go out with the lady today, so eat a lot.”
“….right.”
She knows, but she usually doesn’t eat much. Kedrick said in a grinning voice as he patted the toast with a fork without hiding his feelings.
“If you think you’re going to leave it, give it to me. I’ll secretly eat it without the chef knowing.”
“Don’t pretend to be sympathetic.”
How can you eat so much, is it muscle?
Beth, who felt the need to tighten her muscles, but she wouldn’t do her exercises, was feeling the mystery of her body. Kedrick was a slim guy and she was amazed at how he ate so much.
Before Claire woke up, she had finished eating and she had to get ready first. She couldn’t keep her master waiting as an employee, so Beth stopped as she stared blankly at the food and began her meal.
The meal, which started slowly, finished perfectly with a little help from Kedrick, and ended with a cold drink.
Claire’s outfit, which she ordered from Dana for today, was also perfect this time. Without revealing the silhouette of the body, it emphasized activity and at the same time had a brilliance.
It was a nice dress that caught both the concept of the blessing of Diar and clothes for children.
“After all, Miss Dana makes a great outfit.”
“Do you think Briar will become the best designer in the empire in the future?”
“More than an imperial designer?”
“…well, then, let’s do it the second time.”
After waking up and pacifying the sleepy, whining Claire, and finishing her breakfast, her bath, Beth interrupted her with her fine craftsmanship as usual.
From the point of view of an omniscient Beth, Claire was a complete angel. An angel, or at least a flower fairy.
Claire was always lovely, and Claire was the best. Again, this was Beth’s point of view.
“Today’s Beth is also very pretty.”
Beth was wearing an ivory-colored skirt with a subtle pattern on the hem. It’s not flashy, but the neatness suits her perfectly.
Except for the holidays, she usually wears only dark gray clothes, so Claire, who was looking at Beth wearing these clothes for the first time, with her gazing eyes as if in a strange way, smiled mischievously.
Her own clothes are white, and Beth’s clothes are also white, so she implicitly thinks that she is like her own family.
“That’s good.”
Kedrick was also dressed in bright colors. For the blessing of Diar, he was originally to be dressed like this, and he smiled and opened his arms to show off his clothes.
“Doesn’t it feel like a family by wearing similar clothes?”
Claire, who has no memory of having a family-like family, and the rest, who are no different from each other, were silent for a moment after those words.
Kedrick rolled his eyes back and forth, then hugged Claire naturally. He didn’t have to go out the back door today and get on the carriage. Starting with his actions, the three made a tacit promise not to answer the previous question.
“…”
“…………”
All the employees waited thirstily for these three to go out. The reason, Beth, passed the blessing of Diar to everyone and gave them a day off, but it’s probably because they didn’t take a break when Beth was there.
“Did she go?”
“I think she’s gone.”
“She’s gone isn’t it?”
Three of the employees, who raised their heads one by one like a meerkat, went out the back door, and as soon as they heard that the door was closed, they started moving to the dormitory.
The women each held a white flower, and the men each held a red flower.
***
“…”
“Haha, everyone is excited.”
A rumble was heard through the back door. Claire was snooping out of Kedrick’s arms, looking at where she had left before, Beth feeling a headache, and Kedrick just laughing.
“That’s what everyone wants.”
“These are the people Beth chose, right? That’s better than having a bad character.”
“It is so.”
As they went out into the village, they could hear the voices of the people more clearly. It was mainly the sounds of laughter. In the dazzling sunlight, people all smiled brightly and greeted the festival in their own way.
“…Everyone looks happy.”
Hearing Beth’s words, Kedrick put Claire out of his arms and said
“It will look like the joyous thing you’ll ever see.”
“…..”
“I know because I travel a lot. It wasn’t like this before.”
Kedrick grinned, subtly telling Beth that what Beth had been doing was in the right direction.
“Are you happy? The first festival you took part in was so much fun.”
“Every year it will become more glamorous, so today’s event will be unforgettable. She might forget today.”
“No way.”
Kedrick said it was nonsense, and picked up the flower stuck from Beth’s hair.
“People never forget the first.”
Then he smiled, instead of sticking it in her ear, he put it on his chest.
“So, the lady will never forget the day I participated with you.”
“Is it your experience?”
Beth asked him implicitly. He said with a friendly smile.
“That’s why the depth of the words must be different.”
As usual.
Beth looked at him with a sullen face and took the flower, which had been held hostage in Kedrick’s hand, that originally belonged to her.
It was not a coercive touch to steal iy, and Kedrick also graciously placed the white flower in her hand.
“How about it?”
“What?”
“This ‘Blessing of Diar’. Do you think I will forget you?”
Beth asked as she put the flower in the pocket of his chest. While sobbing and pretended to be troubled,
“Can’t you forget it?”
“If you don’t answer.”
“If you answered well, I would have been able to stay by your side until now.”
After talking like that, he turned his body around and stood next to Beth. At that moment, Kedrick, who was blocking her view, disappeared, and she saw Claire, who opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, just looking at the bustling figures from afar.
Both cheeks of the child were as red as a pink rose in midsummer, and her eyes gleamed like the first stars in the middle of the night. She looked excited just looking at it.
“Beth! Beth!”
Claire ran to Beth, clasping her hands tightly with both hands and waving, unable to contain her excitement.
“What is that? What is that again??”
Maybe it was because she always went out through the carriage, but when Claire saw the village through her real two eyes and not the window, she was excited and asked everything she knew. And Beth answered all the child’s questions.
Claire must have looked strangely at the clunky musical instrument sound she had never heard of in the mansion, and the children who looked her age dancing in a circle.
“Can, can I fit in there too?”
Because dances are simple actions that are repeated, she thought that she could do it too, so Claire moved her feet and looked at Beth. Who is the master? In fact, when Claire gave her orders, Beth was obliged to follow without a word, unless it was for treason or the road leading to her death.
Beth nodded her head with a gentle expression on her face.
“I will be watching. Go ahead.”
“….!! Yes!”
Claire then let go of Beth’s tight grip and ran to the group with the children. She almost fell, but as she managed to balance and run again, Beth felt again that Claire had a completely different appearance than when she first met her.
Beth and Kedrick were people who caught everyone’s eyes, but the color of the flowers was already different, so it was difficult for the opposite sex to approach them.
Beth, who felt the power of the flowers anew, was fiddling with the flower placed on the reddish-brown hair.
‘Should I wear a ring at all?’
She didn’t like that she had to do that to get the annoying men away, but there were many people in this world who didn’t give up even if she had a lover. They think that all women are good, and women think that too.
Beth was fiddling with the ring finger of her left hand.
Her complicated expression didn’t match the lively atmosphere where everyone was smiling brightly and dancing. Kedrick, who was looking at Claire smiling and dancing not too far away, looked at Beth, who was next to him, in a sudden sense of discomfort.
“Beth?”
“…”
Beth was weird.
***
She hears it again. The sharp sound.
She can feel it. She felt dazed.
She felt her heart beating, pounding slowly, as if she was squeezing herself. The scorching heat that filled her esophagus and vocal cords was like lava, and just opening her mouth seemed to vomit thick poison. Her eyes were spinning and her insides were still hot, but she started to feel chills.
‘Cold’
As if resisting the rushing cold, as if eating her from the outside, the heat inside ran wild like a wild beast. Either one was equally annoying to Beth.
“Beth?”
It was a clear day, but Beth’s world was strangely cloudy. She was blurry and stuffy. Kedrick looked worriedly at Beth.
‘Find me.’
That old voice filled her mind. Beth looked around with a pale complexion.
Children running around wearing ridiculous masks, lovers talking shyly in pairs, or dancing people.
And….
You don’t fit in with this place at all.
“Kedrick….”
“Yes, Beth. Tell me.”
“Please take care of the lady.”
After saying those words, Beth grabbed her dizzy gaze and ran away. Beyond the crowd, that person slowly disappears as if enticing her or just a coincidence.
She had to catch him.
He knows something she doesn’t know. Her intuition was telling her that he was the one who had everything she couldn’t do and didn’t know.
Her heart was pounding and pounding as if it were squeezing herself.
“….you!
She caught the person only when she reached a place where there was no one in a narrow, dark alley. No, he’s the one who told Beth.
Being caught might be the correct explanation.
“…You run faster than I think.”
As if he knew herself well, it turned her blood cold as the speaker turned around.
It was clearly a face she had only seen once, but Beth remembers it.
This face.
“You… ..
“And you’re doing a lot better than I thought.”
It was the uninvited visitor to her shop where she worked before she died.
The man was looking at her with a soft smile.
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