Episode 126
Ten days later, Elisha held her first tea party for the wives of her military officials.
“Your wife has a knack for hospitality.”
“Right. This cake is really delicious. Besides, it is beautiful to look at. Where did you order this from?”
Elisha's tea party was elegant, from her table decoration and tea food to the selection of songs played by the invited harpist. Not only that, but she was just one step ahead of the trend. The noble ladies meticulously looked at what Elisha had prepared for them to follow.
“Today is the first tea party I host, and it's great that everyone is so happy.”
Elisha paused her words and frowned for a moment as if she had a headache.
“Are you okay?”
The noble ladies made a fuss over her and bowed down to Elisha.
“Actually, I've had things to pay attention to for the past few days, so I'm a little tired.”
“Aren't you overexerting yourself with the preparations for the tea party?”
“Sit down on a long chair and relax.”
The noble ladies competed with each other to support her Elisha. Elisha smiled slightly.
“It's not because of the tea party. It's not different, I'm helping someone these days. That's why I didn't have enough sleep as I looked for things I didn't know well about.”
“The law?”
Elisha said calmly.
“In fact……. Not long ago I met a young woman beggar on the road. She says the boy's name is 'Lulu'. She is said to have been assaulted in broad daylight by a lady-in-waiting of a certain lady. And as a result of her aftermath, she ended up limping on one of her legs.”
Elisha's words continued quietly. The child named Ruru was once a child who worked in a top-notch clothing store in the capital.
“I feel like I've been harassed by bad people, so I'm trying to get you a lawyer along with a place to stay,” She says. She has to sue for damages. If anyone is going to jail…….”
“…….”
“I don't think I should send it. As you know, my wife is a person who works for the country. As the wife of such a person, can I look after a pitiful person?”
The noble ladies felt a strange sense of deja vu from the story.
'A first-class dressing room employee was assaulted by a noble lady's maid…… ?'
One of the younger ladies gasped and covered her mouth. She looked at Elisha's outfit. She was wearing a delicate gold dress with a black shawl draped over her arm.
'Auction case!'
She said that during the auction, Carola had beaten an employee of a first-class dressing room. It was because she leaked her costume.
Just then, the maid came to call Elisha. Elisha left for a while and the ladies started whispering frantically.
“That's right, the first grandson and daughter-in-law of the Cartier family…….”
“Yes. Do you remember the name It was a girl named Lulu.”
Then Elisha came back and the noble ladies shut her mouth like a lie.
“Since you've come to visit today, I'd like to give you a present.”
The eyes of the noble ladies widened at the object the maid brought. What Sophie brought back on a large silver platter were kingfisher feathers beautifully crafted around a silver rim.
“Kingfisher feathers are said to have the meaning of good luck. This is even more precious because it is the feather of the beast, Thunder Kingfisher. Take one.”
The ladies took feathers one by one. And they made jewelry out of it and wore it everywhere.
Naturally, when someone praised that precious item, he boasted and brought up the story of Elisha's tea party.
“By the way, I heard an interesting story at the tea party. There will be a lawsuit soon…….”
As a result, rumors spread widely, and everyone wanted to go to Elisha's tea party.
And people sincerely expected that another fight would break out between the daughters-in-law of the Cartier family.
* * *
“Madam, no matter how much I think about it, it's too precious. For sharing these precious feathers!”
Sophie was crying. Elisha didn't care.
“What's wrong? It's better to do this kind of party properly once in a while. That way, you'll increase your reputation in the social world. It's a waste of time as well as money if you have to do a lot of small parties.”
“But the general might be disappointed.”
“That person is not free enough to be sad about this.”
She told Lucerne that she would craft kingfisher feathers and use them as gifts for people. When she heard that, he replied calmly, “Yes.”
Elisha pulled Sophie's little pouch from her bosom as she left. She pulled the string on the opening and opened the pocket.
Inside was a few kingfisher feathers tied together with a silk ribbon. It was the ribbon that Lucerne kissed and returned at the last hunting festival.
When Elisha saw it, she couldn't help but feel her heart pounding. She squeezed it in her hand. Various emotions were felt. She felt like a fool and she felt like someone was tickling her heart.
'Even if I turn back time, can't I help my weaknesses?'
Elisha's weakness in her previous life was Lucerne itself. Exactly, the lingering attachment to him. Mind without knowing the subject. It was an obsession that could not be disguised as love. That weakness was digging into Elisha's heart like a dot and trying to take root in her current life as well.
'Although I looked down on the people of the Cartier family who made the same mistake over and over again. I might as well.'
She could not explain her own mind, otherwise she carried this silk pouch to her bosom.
Elisha stroked the pouch and eventually pushed it back into her arms.
'It means good luck. That's all.'
After Elisha turns her time around, the first time she's lied to herself. She pretended not to know her body temperature, which went up before she knew it. She did as she should.
* * *
Sophie made a big decision. She combed her Elisha's hair through, adorned it with her new pin, and spoke her prepared words.
“Madam, please be kind to me. What about me?”
“What do you mean, Sophie?”
Elisha, who was casually looking in the mirror, frowned slightly.
“That's because the madam took her child named Lulu! According to her rumors, she is from a top-notch clothing store, so she must be able to take care of the lady's clothes……. She can do that for me. Will I get fired?”
Elisha almost laughed. It was because I could guess how worried Sophie must have been before she asked this question.
She sent an errand yesterday during the day, and she seemed to have heard rumors from the maids of other houses.
“Where are you?”
“Yes?”
“Where did I hide her child named Gruuru?”
“Uh, that…….”
Sophie rolled her eyes slyly.
“People say that the mistress will help a poor child named Lulu.”
Elisha was the same as her cold face.
“Who is pitiful? She did the right thing, so it must have been right.”
“…….”
“Uh, then……. The lawsuit…….”
“I've said it. It's not a good thing to meddle too much in other people's affairs.”
I don't know if Lulu is in a really pitiful situation. The child had been very spiteful towards Elisha in her previous life. She was a child who looked down on people less than herself, so it was inevitable that he was trampled on by someone above him.
Besides, Lulu was definitely beaten, but she wasn't crippled. All of them were just some kind of ground work thrown by Elisha.
“Then why are you saying that at tea time?”
“Well.”
Elisha took a sip of her tea.
“I want the guilty person to feel uncomfortable.”
“Yes?”
“Isn't that strange? A person is only at a crossroads where he does not know if he will be punished.”
“…….”
“Because of the guilt, the pain of the victim, I think of these things. How shameless There will be a hundred sins committed. Among them, he feels fear only in things that are likely to result in punishment.”
Anyway, I was glad I felt that way.
Sophie tilted her head. Elisha's inner meaning was in a dimension she could not easily understand.
“It's quite a commotion, isn't it?”
It was a big commotion for trying to placate one of the lowest chess pieces. But she thought Elisha was worth it.
“Yes? Uh. Well. That's right.”
Sophie nodded her head unconsciously. Elisha's tone grew warmer.
“Anyway, don't worry. One lady-in-waiting is enough for me. Problems always arise when there are three people, so I would like to decline adding one more lady-in-waiting to her.”
Regardless of era, age, and gender, if there are three people, there will always be a dispute. This is because the person at the center of a relationship tends to favor one person.
Sophie was relieved by Elisha's words, not knowing what she meant.
“Right? That alone is enough!”
Elisha gave a tiny smile, driving a wedge into her Sophie's relief.
“Everybody really likes gossip.”
“…….”
“Thankfully.”
Elisha checked the mirror one last time and left her room. It was time for her to go to see Lucerne off to work.
* * *
“Mimosa. What are you doing? Should Carola wait for you?”
“Ah. I'm sorry. Miss Carola. I'll brush her hair right away.”
Mimosa has been thinking a lot lately. As she waited on Carola, she remembered what had happened a few days ago.
A few days ago she ran into Elisha by chance at her store where she went for an errand. She had no idea how Elisha had found out about the place. Carola was different from her hair ornaments to ribbons and even her shop that matched small accessories. Elisha was waiting at the place where her gloves were matched.
'Oh, what a coincidence. Mimosa.'
'Did you come to seduce me to betray my master? No use…….'
'Do you know what it means to be overly self-conscious?'
'…….'
'Mimosa, I know that she didn't study hard at the girls' school affiliated with the temple when she was young. I don't know if I know that.'
Elisha whispered softly.
'The word rank.'
'…….'
'Do I look like the class that will come here because of you?'
Mimosa's face burned like fire.
Elisha was wearing her delicate sky blue dress and accessorized with her gold bracelets and diamond necklace. She looked like she was a princess from another world.
Elisha was once the lowest class in the world of a special class under the rule of the Cartier family. If it was before, Mimosa would get kicked out of her way if it was a laundromat's slave. She was Elisha, a 'collateral' class.
But now Mimosa and her status were the difference between heaven and earth.
'Then go, if you see me talking to my wife…….'
'But since we've been together for a long time, let me give you a piece of advice. Originally, a person is the law to take care of what he cares about in a crisis situation. Let Carola see who she favors.'
From the day Elisha said that, Mimosa couldn't shake off a subtle ominous feeling.
