During the boring hospital days, one way to overcome it was daydreaming.
The themes of my daydreams were generally like this.
‘What would I do if I became the main character of a TV drama?
What am I supposed to do if I suddenly won the lottery?’
And among those daydreams, there was also this.
‘What if I see someone badmouthing me from behind?’
I came up with a few options.
1.
Give them a kimchi slap in the face.
2.
Eye for an eye.
Make sure they can’t badmouth me anymore by knocking their teeth out.
3.
Just like the proverb says, ‘Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind,’ I’ll return it in words since I received a verbal insult.
When I was in the hospital, I naturally chose option 2.
‘It must have been the stress of the long battle with illness that made me violent.’
Of course, not everyone who spent a long time in the hospital became violent.
But I had no idea what others were like; at least, that was who I was at the time.
‘I find it more surprising that people don’t change like that when they can’t go out and just cry every day from being stuck in a hospital room, getting injections, and being in pain.’
However, I was different now.
As I was living a much happier life than before, I wouldn’t make the same violent choices.
So, the one I chose was…
“Eileen, can you put that pin in my hair?”
“This pin?”
“Yes, that one.
Weren’t you trying to give me as a gift?
Ah!
Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I happened to overhear it.”
“Oh, no, it’s fine.
But can I really put this pin in your hair, Sylvia?”
“Yeah.”
I slightly bent my knee for Eileen.
Since Sylvia was tall and Eileen was shorter for her age, no matter how hard she would try, Eileen couldn’t pin my hair nicely without me bending my knee.
When I lowered my legs slightly, Eileen was momentarily confused.
However, she soon brought the pin she was holding in her hand to my hair.
After fiddling with my hair, adjusting and readjusting, Eileen said, “All done, Sylvia,” and took her hands off my hair.
When I looked at my reflection in a mirror on one side of the display, I saw a blue flower blooming exquisitely on my light brown hair.
The subtle shimmer of the blue flower was eye-catching without being too flashy.
‘It’s pretty.
Eileen also has a good sense of style.’
I looked at the pin in my hair with a satisfied smile and then diverted my gaze back to Eirin.
“How do I look?
Does it suit me?”
“Yes!
It suits you really well!”
“Really?
That’s good.”
After giving back a smile to Eileen’s cheerful response, I turned around and questioned, “But Lady Evadin, why do you remain silent??”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
“A… Anything to say?”
Evadin hesitated for a moment and then cautiously opened her mouth.
“It looks g… great on you…?”
“Yes, of course.
So, anything else to say?”
Evadin looked at me with a puzzled expression.
As I found her face asking what else she had to say more, I smiled crookedly.
“You should apologize.”
“Apologize?”
“Because what you said earlier was wrong.”
Wouldn’t she probably think, ‘Why did I say such a thing back then?!’
But it was already too late for regrets.
I crossed my arms and stared into Evadin.
She tried to avoid my gaze and gestured to the people around her for help.
The group of nobles who had been laughing and chatting with her, of course, all ignored her distress signal.
‘They have such a disloyal relationship.’
Realizing that no one was going to help her, Evadin lowered her head.
“…I’m sorry, my lady.
I made a mistake.”
“What mistake did you make?”
I pulled out my ‘Do you know what you did wrong?’ skill.
I had mostly experienced this skill being used on me by my mom, but anyone who had been on the receiving end of it, including myself, would all attest to its impact this way.
“It drives me crazy!
I mean, I admit I made a mistake, but how much detail do I have to go into?
If I say everything, then will I be forgiven?
Or is it suggesting that I should just kneel down without saying anything since I am one hundred percent in the wrong?”
Just so you know, whenever my mom used this skill on me, I used to get slapped on the back for grumbling and being unable to answer properly.
After a long contemplation, Evadin finally opened her mouth.
“I stopped Lady Eileen from trying to give you the hairpin as a gift, Lady Sylvia.”
“And?
You didn’t stop her nicely?
Right?”
“And then… I said it was like casting pearls before swine, something like that.”
Come on, did I ask her to do something terrible?
I had no idea why she was biting her lips with such a shameful face for telling what she did.
“What on earth is going on?”
“It looks like that noble lady over there did something wrong to the brown-haired lady in front of her.”
“And that’s why she’s apologizing now?”
“I guess so.
Wow!
This is the first time I’ve seen a noble person apologize ever since I was born.
Who would’ve thought I would get to see such a rare sight while coming to the market?”
As more onlookers gathered, Evadin’s face turned redder.
And before she even knew it, her eyes were filled with tears.
Seeing that, Eileen didn’t know what to do and became very anxious.
“Um, Sylvia… How about forgiving her now?”
As if she heard Eileen’s whispering words, Evadin’s face brightened up.
“Right!
Isn’t this enough?”
Enough?
“You haven’t said the most important thing.”
“What, what is it…”
“Look.
This hairpin, it looks good on me, right?”
“I told you that before!”
“And I really like it.
Especially because it’s a gift from Eileen.”
“…”
“Earlier, Lady Evadin, you said that this hairpin for me was like ‘casting pearls before swine.’ Not only does it not suit me, but you also insisted that it was too lavish for me since I would not accept Eileen’s gift and, instead, would definitely throw it away in the trash.”
Evadin’s earlier confident and shameless demeanor, which had led her to shout at me to stop, had now completely disappeared from her at some point.
She clutched the hem of her dress and looked as if she wanted to run away immediately.
I lifted my chin and asked her, “Now, what should you say to me?”
“…”
“You should apologize.
Do you want my forgiveness?
Then apologize.”
“But there are people here……”
“What about the people?
Weren’t you laughing at me without caring if there were people around earlier?”
“Well, that’s…”
She nervously glanced at the gathered crowd around us.
She seemed worried that someone who knew her would appear and spread rumors about this incident.
Her concern would likely become reality.
Considering the large crowd of people present, it was highly likely that at least one person would recognize her, and as soon as her identity became known, rumors about her would spread rapidly. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping.com.
If word of her public humiliation started to circulate among high society, she wouldn’t be able to show her face outside for quite some time.
To avoid being needlessly ridiculed at any high society events she might attend, Evadin would choose to keep a low profile and stay at home.
Perhaps for her, this would be a more insulting and degrading result than getting slapped.
Moreover, the fact that the person who humiliated her was someone she usually ignored and despised would make her situation even more shameful.
“I… I apologize.”
“What did you say?
I can’t hear you.”
“I apologize!
I made a mistake.”
‘She doesn’t admit she is wrong till the end, but that she made a mistake.’
Was it a mandatory lesson for nobles to not acknowledge their wrong behaviors?
I thought about pointing it out, but seeing Evadin, who was already shedding tears, I lost the drive to do so.
‘I’m the one insulted, but if this situation drags on any longer, people might think I’m the attacker, so it’s better to put an end to it now.’
I opened my mouth to wrap up the situation.
“Eileen, I’m sorry for causing a scene.
Although it’s not much as compensation, here’s a gift for you.”
I picked up the fanciest hairpin among the various hairpins displayed on the counter and handed it to Eileen.
“I’ll pay for this and this one as well.
Don’t worry about the change.
You don’t have to feel burdened as I’m willing to pay the price for causing some chaos and inconvenience to your business.”
After paying the shop owner a gold coin for the price, I turned around and found Eileen and her group staring at me with dumbfounded expressions.
It seemed that they were surprised by how differently I handled the situation compared to my usual clumsy behavior.
I gave them the brightest smile I could muster and said, “Well, have fun and I’ll see you at home.”
***
“That was really dangerous earlier.
Seriously, I… I thought my heart was going to drop, worrying if you would get hurt.”
Belle started to sob as if the feeling of her heart dropping wasn’t an exaggeration.
‘This is so tricky.’
I thought I had handled it well, but to Belle, it might have seemed like a perilous incident.
“If only we had brought a knight with us…”
Guardian knight.
‘Do I really need one?’
If I kept training to awaken and then became a spiritualist, I should be able to protect myself.
‘Still… there could be unexpected situations.’
There were many creatures called demons in this world, and public safety wasn’t very good either.
‘I might also encounter a band of thieves while traveling to another city.’
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to prepare for when I would leave the Atlante ducal house and stand on my own.
I made up my mind.
“I must get a guardian knight.”
“That’s a great idea, my lady!
The knights of the House of Atlante are all brave and skilled, so whoever you choose, they’ll be able to protect you.”
As Belle said, the knights from the Atlante ducal family were all outstanding in their own right.
They were only second to the Royal Knights in terms of skill.
However, they already had a master––Duke Atlante.
To become a knight of a family, one must swear loyalty to the family head.
Oath of loyalty was highly regarded among knights, who valued honor more than their own lives, so once they swore loyalty, they didn’t change their master.
If any of them did?
That knight would be maligned for a long time as a ‘dishonorable betrayer.’
So even if I chose a knight from the House of Atlante as my guardian, they would never truly become ‘my’ knight at all since they would always be a knight of Duke Atlante.
‘When I abandon the name of Atlante and leave, they won’t follow me.’
So…
“The knights of the House of Atlante won’t do.”
“Pardon?” Belle asked with confusion, “T… Then, how would you…?
My lady, you aren’t considering selecting one of the wandering knights, are you?”
“That’s not a bad idea either.”
Belle’s jaw practically hit the floor as I gave my answer, her face contorted in utter disbelief.
Wandering knights were a group of knights not affiliated with the royal family or any noble house.
These wandering knights were individuals who roamed the empire in search of someone to serve as their master, the ones who did not yet have a master.
Just hearing the explanation, one might question why Belle was making such a fuss, but there was a vaild reason for her reservations.