Chapter 18 - The Prettiest

I was going to take the carriage to go shopping, but Lumi stopped me. She told me that I wasn’t wearing makeup. “Sister! You should never go out on the streets without makeup on at the capital! Here, stay still. Come on now, get her some makeup!”

I didn’t know that. I never wore makeup when I was in my estate, so I didn’t put much thought into it. I realized that the capital was surely different from the countryside.

At Lumi’s orders, maids from the Marquis mansion began working on my face, putting makeup on me. Daisy looked disappointed at the sight. I guess she was disappointed that it wasn’t her who was putting on makeup for me right now. It was her favorite thing to do, after all. Maybe I should let her do it next time. It was when I was thinking of that when I heard a bustling sound.

“Marin! You sure are the most beautiful woman in the world!” declared Chelleno.

“Marin, I wish that I can marry a lady like you in the future,” said Jianneen.

Chelleno and Jianneen were praising my face with makeup on. But it would be foolish to consider their praise to be genuine. They always repeatedly said that I was pretty. Not only that, they insisted on following us on this shopping trip. Lumi’s threat, however, caused them to freeze. Lumi and I then left quickly while they stopped.

Even if we did leave those two behind, we still needed assistance. As such, Rey and a few other knights followed us as guards. Because Lumi was a shy girl, her knights were as expected. They all were very quiet. My cousin Rey was also silent and a skilled knight, so he was acceptable by Lumi’s standard.

“Sir Reyan, what do you say? Isn’t my sister pretty?” asked Lumi.

Lumi smiled while calling his full name. Even at Lumi’s friendly gesture, Rey just glanced and looked away while he answered, “Makeup sure is an evil thing. It turned a pumpkin into a watermelon.”

“Are you saying that because you’re shy?” 

Lumi’s innocent smile, not certain if it was intentional or truly innocent, made Rey sigh. That punk. You can at least pretend to agree.

“Marin! Why don’t we try there this time?” Lumi didn’t put much thought into Rey’s attitude and pulled me into a boutique. She then began chattering about the stuff on display, “Look at that! Those must be newly released! Isn’t that hat very cute?”

“Yeah.” 

I had no money before and therefore didn’t care about fashion. Due to that, I wasn’t aware of trends, so it all looked similar. But I couldn’t say that I wasn’t interested in this to Lumi, who came out just for me. I nodded at her just to react to her words.

“Hehe, you and I are on point!”

I was laughing halfheartedly at Lumi’s words when I saw a familiar face. Is that… Elise?

She was as beautiful as always with lavish jewelry and dresses. Not only that, she would still be beautiful even without her jewelry. After all, she was someone that came out on top even with all those other girls wearing similar lavish-looking clothes.

Elise was like a queen walking down the street full of boutiques with lavishly dressed noble girls by her side. She was so proud and bold that even I had to turn to look. That’s when her eyes turned to me. Every time she saw me, she glared at me just like this. Soon, her footsteps drew near, and I was readying myself not to look weak. I was ready for whatever she was going to throw at me. But Lumi was a concern.

‘What if Lumi gets harmed?’ I tried to hide Lumi behind me with that thought in mind, but she instead held my hand and stood forward.

“Why are you stopping, sister? There is no one here.”

Even when Elise and her followers stopped on the way here, Lumi was clearly ignoring her. Lumi was declaring that she pretended not to see Elise by not greeting her. Surely, it was a bold move befitting a Marquis family, the same rank as Elise’s family.

“How rude!”

Elise’s followers bellowed angrily, but Elise smiled as she greeted Lumi, “Long time no see, Lady Reclan.”

Elise ignored me, who was standing by Lumi. I didn’t put much thought into it as she and I weren’t in a spot where we would exchange greetings.

“My, yes. Long time no see, Lady Schuteiner. But I didn’t realize you developed bad eyesight,” Lumi snapped sarcastically.

Lumi was clearly pointing out Elise’s attitude. Elise glared at me in response to Lumi questioning why she was ignoring my presence. Then she smiled beautifully again and said, “Lady Reclan, do you know what happens to a cheap black dress if put together with a brightly colored dress made with high-quality materials?”

Lumi didn’t respond but only glared at her. Elise smiled innocently and continued, “The clean, high-quality dress then gets tainted by the cheap black dress.”

She was hinting that Lumi shouldn’t hang around with me, who was like a cheap black dress. I laughed dumbfoundedly. But there was no point in saying anything to a girl who was ignoring me as if she hadn’t seen me at all.