Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Chapter 26: Chapter 26 Please don’t come to the evening concert (1)
Sevendron petals that were soaked in water throughout the day grew plump.
When she crushed them, dark brown juice flowed out. She gently applied the juice over her dark yellow hair and washed it with water after a few minutes.
As her hair instantly changed to a dark brown, she smiled contentedly as if she liked her appearance because she thought that brown hair would make her look more mature than a dark blonde.
Besides, she really liked her new hair as it was glossy and smelled sweet constantly. She felt that her new hair color would look better with the dress she had in mind.
Touching her hair lightly, she took her gaze from the mirror and pulled out the dress she had hung in the closet. The elegant golden dress was slightly inflated with a pannier to add perfection.
Indeed, her brown hair doubled the elegance of the dress.
She put on her makeup more carefully than usual and tied her hair a bit by twisting slightly.
It was obvious that putting her hair up would be more suitable for the dress, but she chose a hairstyle to make her brown hair look more prominent.
When she put on her lace gloves and shoes, she looked a little strange in the mirror.
Those who knew Wendy Waltz would not think of her as the same person as the woman they know. Since her dark yellow hair like yellow freesia was her most prominent feature, masking it was more effective than she thought.
She sensed someone’s presence on the porch while she was scrutinizing her appearance in the mirror. A little later, a man politely knocked on the door. This man informed her of his visit.
She held her breath and stared at the porch.
Although she made the decision to go to the concert to repay Lard’s kindness, she was kind of troubled when reality dawned on her. Staring at the door sharply, she briefly thought of pretending that she was not at home.
Knock knock.
In the meantime, she heard him knocking again.
“Yes, I’m coming out now.”
Opening the door inevitably, she greeted the captain of the Imperial Knights, who arrived to escort her.
Lard Schroder glanced up briefly after seeing her and frowned a bit as if he was curious.
His reaction was far from that of a typical man who saw a beautiful woman dressed up.
“How come your hair color…”
“Shall we talk while we’re going?”
She cut off his words and hurriedly locked the door.
Although the sun was setting, the sky was still bright with the sun, which easily exposed the two. She quickly checked to see if Benfork, a big mouth boy next door, was staring out of the window, then walked ahead of Lard in the alley.
Outside the alley, a large wagon was waiting for her. A red shield and the roaring lion on both sides of the wagon were clearly visible. She got in the wagon with him after curiously observing the crest of his family marked on the wagon.
‘Lion with the red shield! Isn’t it a crest that matches very well with the man in front of me?’ She shrugged her shoulders, recalling the behavior of the man who harassed her.
Given that he had a ferocious character that wouldn’t let go of anyone he grabbed, he really reflected the crest of his family.
Come to think of it, it was the first time she had seen the crest of his family. As for the prestigious families in the capital, she read about them in a book as a child, so she didn’t know much about his family except for their social status.
In fact, she did not pay much attention to the families that had nothing to do with her. His family was one of the few influential duke families.
“Why did you dye your hair suddenly?” He asked with a slow but discontented voice.
“Why? Because I wanted to avoid the venomous blades of the women who love you. Don’t you think that I would be their target if a poor commoner woman like me appeared at the concert as your partner? I don’t know how they will get even with me, so I can’t expose my identity. Please call me by another name instead of Wendy from now on. Um, what could be a good name? I have a good name. Oh! What about calling me Jane?”
“…You want me to call you by a different name?”
“Yes. If you don’t like it, I’ll go back home.”
“… Are you threatening me now? ”
“Threatening? Just assume it’s an offer that you can’t reject. If you don’t call me ‘Jane’, you will have to find the real Jane and go with her to the concert. Ah! I think I should be ready to meet Sir Jean Jacques Simuan and others who know my face at the concert, right? Well, you had better communicate with them about me! Please make sure they don’t call me Wendy.
Of course I wish you wouldn’t meet them, if it’s possible.”
“How can I have them call you Jane when I bump into them at the concert?”
“As they belong to the same Imperial Knights as you, don’t you think they should be able to read each other’s mind with your eye signal alone? In that respect, our tactics today could be called something like a camouflage tactic. As far as my identity is not revealed, you can use any method you want. I’m determined to be Jane from now on. ”
Lard frowned slightly. He felt a sudden migraine.
“By the way, it looks like you are not interested in my new hair. Do you think you can date a lady whey you are so sparing with your praise?”
She smiled at him. She wanted to point out his lack of etiquette rather than actually getting his praise.
“Of course, you’re beautiful, but I couldn’t take a closer look at you because I was hooked on your new hair.”
Only then did he examine her dress as if he wanted to appreciate her beauty. But contrary to her conceited advice to him, she felt very uncomfortable when he looked at her.
She looked straight at the old-fashioned knight.
“As I imagined, you are beautiful. ” That was it.
As she was about to rebuke his lack of sincerity, he added briefly, “It seems to me that your original hair color looks better on you. ”
Not sure if he was blaming or praising her, she twisted her lips a bit and replied curtly, “You look nice in black formals. I wish I brought you a rose. It would be great if you put it on your coat.”
Even though she glanced at him up and down, he showed no emotion.
“Flower for a knight? I don’t think it would suit me well.”
“Oh, you really don’t know! Flowers don’t know men or women. Why do you think a flower doesn’t suit you? You can trust me as I’m telling you this as a florist.”
She raised her head slightly and said proudly. Of course, she was aware that her remarks could be insulting to the knight, depending on how he interpreted it. But she genuinely regretted that she had not brought a flower, while looking at his very handsome nose.
‘Shouldn’t he share with me half of the trials that I have to go through today?’
She might feel a bit relieved if the captain of the Imperial Knights could be a laughing stock at the concert when he appeared with a pink flower in his coat.
“Okay, let me keep in mind what you said,” he said.
Although he noticed her sarcasm, he thought it would be nice to put a flower in his front pocket if she gave it to him. He had a silly smile, thinking about it, but he didn’t feel bad.
The wagon slowly slowed down as the two talked, thinking differently. They finally arrived at Jerus Hall.
“Are you ready?”
“Well, I’m ready. Please don’t forget my request. Oh, you should take this before that. ”
Seeing the silver envelope she presented, he burst into laughter because the fingertips of her hands were trembling.
‘Why is she so nervous even though she is going to a face-to-face social event like a prom or tea party?’ Her nervousness was new to him. But he couldn’t look away from this trembling woman. He received the envelope and stuck it into his inner pocket. Then, he held her slender fingers even before she put her hands over his.
Coldness. The moment he held her hand, he felt it was cold.
As he felt her fingers, he felt they were colder. After all, he had no choice but to grab her hand again. He felt like he had a little bird in his hand.
A bird was not a proper metaphor for Wendy Waltz, but he felt a sense of duty that he should protect this little bird.
As a knight, he should duly protect a woman, but this kind of feeling was clearly different from what he had felt until now.