# Chapter 20

Episode #20      In a New Place

"You should have called us to help you change, My Lady!"

At the maid's words,

 Lucifella spoke, pouting her lips.

"Why? This isn't the capital.”

"Even if it's not the capital! My Lady here is like a princess! You have to be formal!"

Roisa came up and grabbed Lucifella by the shoulder.

'If you say wrongly like that

, you could be punished for treason.’

Lucifella decided to warn Roisa later.

She had barely gotten up to leave the room, but she was dragged back immediately and had to have her face washed.

Unlike Estelle, who had not paid much attention to eye boogers, people here couldn't even 

endure a grain of dust falling on her long eyelashes, let alone eye boogers.

"Come on, 

change your clothes

! But where is the dressing room...…."

"I'll guide you to it, My Lady!"

One of the castle's maids sprinted and dragged her to the dressing room.

Lucifella frowned slightly because the castle maid folded her arms into hers to support her. 

'The maids of the castle must have heard of the real Lucifella, but she must be courageous.'

Of course, the maids who worked there had also heard of Lucifella's rumors. 

However, the provinces were far away from the capital and had no first-hand experience of Lucifella's fury. They did not relate to Lucifella's infamy because it was like hearing childhood stories such as that of a werewolf or the story of a demon grandmother living in the corner of a twin mountain.

Nevertheless, the fear remained, but their first impression of Lucifella shattered it. How could they be fearful of a person who arrived comatose and slept for days? Moreover, even when she was awake, she seemed quite gentle.

Besides,

 wasn’t she 

beautiful? Her Ladyship was so beautiful that she could not be compared to those known to be beautiful in this city. The maids of the castle had no reason to run away in fear of Lucifella.

Suddenly caught by the maids here, Lucifella stepped into the dressing room.

"Oh, my God, the dresses must be shown while she is in the room! How could you think of taking Her Lady to such a small dressing room?"

"Unlike the mansion, the castle's dressing room is very spacious. I guess you didn't know."

"Her Lady has to take the clothes back to her room. Her Lady is very frail.” 

With that retort, the castle maid closed her mouth. When she thought more, the city maid was right.

“Since we are here already, you might as well guide me,” Lucifella ordered, looking at the castle maids.

The capital maids looked at Lucifella ruefully, but she consoled them by patting them lightly on their shoulders, which filled their faces with pride.

For Lucifella, these maids were much easier to deal with than the knights who would suddenly pull out their swords with frightening murderous energies.

The maids were really cute people. Having had enough sleep, Lucifella could be generous enough.

Arriving at the dressing room, Lucifella was perplexed, looking at the fully packed dressing room.

Lucifella sighed. ‘Where the hell did the Duke get all this money? Was he that rich?’ Seeing his splendid mansion in the capital, perhaps he was.

"Well."

Lucifella crossed her arms.

"I don't want to wear any of these.” 

The capital maids raised their chins triumphantly at the castle maids, with a look of ‘we told you 

so.’

"Well, the dresses here are out of fashion. We should get new ones custom-made."

The castle maids looked embarrassed.

"No, I mean, I don't want to dress up here. Don't make me sound weird,” Lucifella explained, looking at the capital maid, who then became sullen.

Lucifella went around the dressing room and looked at each dress. There were only fancy dresses that could only be worn to events like the Imperial Palace banquet.

Still, it seemed proper to choose at least one dress for the sake of those who prepared them all. 

Then Lucifella looked at the dresses in the corner of the room. They were different from the other dresses at a glance. Most of these dresses were monochromatic and had no fancy decorations

"These dresses."

"What?"

"What about these?"

"Ah, My Lady! Those are not new ones. Those belonged to the late Madam.” 

"Madam?"

She was referring to Lucifella’s mother. But it was strange. Unlike Lucifella’s fancy dresses, the 

dress in front of her was simple, almost shabby.

"These are different."

"What?" 

"I meant they look simple.

She raised her hand and smoothed the dress. Even though it was an old dress, it had no wrinkles and looked well maintained. To say that this was the Duchess' taste, it seemed too frugal. 

"I'll take this." 

"What? But lady...….” 

This time, both the maids of the capital and the maids of the castle looked disappointed at the 

same time, but Lucifella's choice did not change. It was not about pursuing thrift and frugality; 

she just wanted to wear comfortable clothes that were not flashy and so tight at the waist.

"This one."

Lucifella, who gave a stern look to the maids so that nothing more could be said, and chose the dark green dress among her mother's dresses. 

After grooming herself, Lucifella finally managed to get out of the room. All the maids were busy praising her beauty, saying that her beauty was even more visible in simple dresses.

Next, she went down the stairs through the hallway to have breakfast.

Two men who were standing there greeted Lucifella.

"Good morning, Her Ladyship. Are you ready to start the day?"

In contrast to the high tone voices of women, the man's baritone voice drew immediate attention.

Lucifella and the maids looked to see a middle-aged man with a mustache and an older man with his hair neatly slicked back. 

"My Lady, this is Matty."

Looking at Matty as he bowed his head, she felt he seemed familiar. He was probably someone Lucifella knew from her childhood. 

"What should I call you?”

“My Lady, call me what is comfortable to you.”

"All right, Sir Matty."

Matty's expression remained unchanged, and seemingly the address was acceptable.

Lucifella was hesitant about how to treat this man, whom she couldn't even remember, so she decided to be honest. 

"I don't remember much, but it's nice to see you." 

‘When you don’t know, you have to be bold.’ Matty nodded his head as if he knew what she 

would say.

"On behalf of the Duke, I am in charge of the overall management of the estate."

She guessed him to be like an aide. 

"And this is Yamin, the butler in charge of castle management."

She probably wouldn't remember the names, but still, Lucifella nodded, pretending she was making a note of their names. Then the butler next to him spoke carefully.

"Oh, My Lady, do you remember me?"

"No." 

Of course, she didn’t remember. 

Lucifella's memories were fragmentary, and only specific, meaningful memories occasionally came to her mind. The rest was just a vague feeling.

"I guess you don't remember me because you met me when I was too young.” 

His eyes were filled with emotions, looking excited to see Lucifella again. Lucifella nodded, feeling profoundly touched. and there was silence between them.

“…….” 

“…….”

Lucifella wondered what they were waiting for. Unable to bear the continued silence, she spoke again. 

"What, do you have something to say?” she asked, tilting her head.

"Oh, no. I'm sorry! I should have prepared more thoroughly!"

Yamin bowed his head and hurriedly answered.

Lucifella was puzzled. She thought it was just a friendly time to greet each other, but why did it become a time to repent for sins?

"I've tried to fit both the clothes and the room to meet your aesthetic taste, but it didn't work out. Forgive me as I was unable to meet the sophisticated standard of the capital.” 

“…….”

She waited to see what he was saying, and the butler mistook her silence as a display of anger, and his face looked desperate.

 “I know that you used to hate coming here. That is why, all the more, I am so sorry for our deficiencies.

Did Lucifella hate it here? Sorting through her memories, Lucifella had never come down here at 

any point. Lucifella could not be certain, but knowing that she lost her mother and 

her father attempted suicide here would be good enough reasons why she would want to stay 

away.

“I have no eye for beauty, and I can’t judge sophisticated styles, so you take care of it. You can 

tell just by looking at this dress, right?”

Lucifella said, lifting the skirt of the dress she was wearing. Yamin and Matty's eyes widened as 

they bowed their heads.

"Oh, My Lady! I thought it looked familiar, but the dress you're wearing!"

"They said it was my mother's. I borrowed it."

"Is that so?"

At Lucifella’s dry words, Matty put on a subtle expression. Lucifella could see in his eyes an 

apparent longing. She felt uneasy and knew what he would say next.

“Oh, you look just like Madam.”

Ugh! She knew those words would come out. Lucifella was somewhat tormented by her guilt 

because she was Estelle. But because they saw her outer appearance and thought of Lucifella’s 

mother, it made her feel like she was deceiving them. Lucifella rubbed her chin in uneasiness.

“Now, is there anything I should do here?”

“Oh, no, My Lady.  Just do whatever Her Ladyship wishes.”

“Okay.”

Then, she would eat breakfast first. Lucifella thought, patting her stomach. In the new place, the mornings were already becoming brighter.

***

"You look pretty bored, Jed."

At the voice of Yiojif, Jed frowned and lifted his head.

“Now why did the bookworm, who should sit quietly and read a book, come here? Are you going to tell me your hidden agenda?”

Yiojif put something on Jed’s desk. Looking at it, Jed saw that it was a book.

A purple-dyed book with a title, 'Violet in the Training Ground.' It was apparent that it was a romance novel.

The knights at the guard shack probably let this cunning jackass Yiojif through when he waved 

his book, feigning that he came here to learn more about the knights.

Jed shivered when he saw Yiojif’s grand acting performance of “bookworm”.  If they knew how twisted he really was, everyone would avoid him.

“These days, this is the best-selling novel in Greenhill.”

"What kind of violet blooms at the knight's training ground? Everyone would trample on them, and they would wither away."

"Hey, you cold man! How can you say that when you can't read this book without tears? There is great meaning in this violet flower. It symbolizes the true love of a knight! Read it!"

Yiojif explained passionately. To Jed, it was like a dog barking at him. As Jed threw the book to the floor, Yiojif screamed, picked it up, and blew away the dust.

"Did you come here to do a lousy acting performance in front of me?

“No, I thought you might be bored.”

“Even if I was bored, I don’t want to play with you to relieve it.”

At Jed's unkind words, Yiojif sipped the tea on Jed's desk and said,

“Why, then, would it be fun to be with the Duke Aydin’s daughter?”

At that, Jed’s face contorted in an instant.

“I don’t know why you keep talking about Lady Aydin.”

“You are reacting too sensitively, Jed.”

“Shut up!”

As Jed lashed out again, Yiojif laughed. He re-adjusted his black glasses.

"I am curious about Lady Aydin. What in the hell happened? Why is she so different?

Have you ever thought it was strange?” he asked, his green eyes shining.

“You are really overly interested. Just like your brother.”

As Jed growled, Yiojif laughed.

“Jed, have you held hands with Lady Aydin?”

“Hands?”

“Not at the banquet this fall, but bare hands.”

“I don’t know what shit you are talking about. Don’t you know that this question is too much?”

There was an icy chill in Jed's voice. Hearing this, Yiojif broke into a cold sweat.

"No, no matter how you look at it, it's weird. I was hiding pretty well the fact that I can handle swords. The servants are my people, so there is no way that they would have leaked this secret out. So how did Lady Aydin know about it?" he responded.

“…..Don’t you think that perhaps “you are clumsy” could be the reason?”

"No, it was the first time I met Lady Aydin and spoke to her properly. You know, only you and my attendants know that I learned the swordsmanship from the late Duke. But how did she notice with just one conversation like that?"

“I am telling you it is because you were clumsy.”

At Jed's words, Yiojif shook his head.

"No, I thought about it somewhat and came up with the answer."

Seeing interest in Jed’s eyes, Yiojif smirked.  He took his gloves off of his hands.  The white, fine 

back of his hand caught Jed’s eye.

“The only time I hold women’s hands is at a banquet. Holding hands while wearing gloves at that. In the first place, I like women, so I never hold hands with men.”

Yiojif smiled and turned his hand over. Then, Jed saw a hand covered in scars with calluses.

“Only once, I put my bare hand on the Lady’s hand.”

“….hand?”

"There is no other answer than that. It seemed that I had held the book lightly, but that can't be associated with holding a sword so the evidence…"

“…..”

“It was this hand. She figured it out by the feel of the calluses on this hand.”

“That must be.”

When Jed heard that, he answered as if he understood it. It was only then that Yiojif realized that Jed agreed with his opinion.

“Yes, so there was an event that caused you to hold her hand? You hid it well from me.”

However, the response was quite different from what Yiojif had expected.

At Jed’s cold tone of voice and face full of displeasure, Yiojif was puzzled but then burst into 

laughter.

“Ah, Jed! Jed! You are so much fun!”

“………..”

“I was just trying to pick up fallen books.  At the same time, I accidentally brushed against her hand! I didn’t hold it!”

“Right. It must be so,” Jed replied scornfully. Jed was displeased with the interest Yiojif had in Lucifella. Why would he talk about someone else's fiancée like that after only meeting once?

There was also the fact that before she left here, he deliberately went to meet her.

In Jed’s mind, the scene where Lucifella and Yiojif’s hands touched came up too vividly.

Why did he hold her hand? It was obvious that Yiojif had approached her under a shallow guise of acting as a friendly person.

Then, suddenly, Jed remembered what had happened that day in the Imperial Palace.

She had met Yiojif at the Imperial Palace Library and he said that Lucifella had thrown herself trying to jump from the Imperial Palace balcony while they were walking out. Yiojif seemed to know something.

What was it? As Jed suspected, did she really not forget the Crown Prince and was trying to jumpdown again?

Jed looked at Yiojif. If he asked Yiojif for information, he would tell Jed to pay the price. There was no need to dig into the facts that he had already concluded.

He thought again.

How the hell did Lucifella know the feel of a sword-hardened knight’s palm?

Of course, Jed's hands were also covered in calluses. And to say whether they held hands, they had, when they were dancing. But then Jed was wearing his gloves.

Could it be when she had held the hands of the Crown Prince?

That couldn’t be either because, although the Crown Prince learned swordsmanship as a part of 

his education, he did not thoroughly train in swordsmanship to the extent that his hands became rough.

Could it be that she had something to do with the other knights, perhaps?

‘What is it? What is it?’

Jed frowned. Thinking of Lucifella made him fall further and further into a labyrinth.

She fell for the Crown Prince, and he betrayed her. She couldn't forget the Crown Prince, and she fell into despair and her condition was not well. Shouldn't she be easy to understand?

Once again, Lucifella's twinkling eyes came to his mind. He was going crazy because he couldn't figure out why he kept thinking of those eyes. Sometimes, he remembered her bright smiles and her sparkling eyes, even while he was working or swinging his sword.

It had already been over two weeks since she left.

It must have been a long time since she arrived. Wait, if she arrived, wasn’t it etiquette to send a letter to her fiancé? He would check separately with Bernard at home whether there was any letter and check to make sure the letter didn’t get delivered elsewhere by mistake. He would need to trace that.

Thus, the odd question about Lucifella brought by Yiojif disappeared from Jed’s mind.