Moonlight Ball

“Oh, why?”

Margaret was annoyed that she had to be polite to a commoner since she said she was a commoner, but she had no choice. This store was the last dress shop that she could go in. There weren’t many dress shops that noble ladies regularly went to.

“You probably don’t know,” the employee said rather proudly, “In the palace society there’s somewhat of a rank. Her Majesty the Queen is at the top. There is a rumour that Miss Surah did something to displease her.”

“R, really?”

I did? Margaret remembered the short meeting with the Queen. Was I not formal enough? She couldn’t be so sure.

“To displease the Queen in the noble lady society basically means she’s done. She probably displeased the Queen’s connections, like Duchess Sethang and Marchioness Lasian.”

Marchioness Lasian. Margret gritted her teeth. “What shall we make her do?” That annoying voice still wouldn’t leave her ears.

“Why was the Queen so upset with Miss Surah?”

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“Well, people like me wouldn’t know? But since the carriage accident, she became kind like a new person….. So Count Surah’s daughter must have done something wrong.”

“But that might not be true…” Margaret didn’t do anything wrong but she was afraid that she would be revealed as Margaret En Surah, not Widney Ross, so she chose her words carefully.

The employee scoffed like it was nonsense.

“Her Majesty the Queen is the one that defeated the magical mold. That country noble daughter must have done something wrong.”

The employees left while speaking. The employee, who said she’ll return with a sample of cloth, saw Margert’s hand and opened her eyes wide.

“Oh my, why are your hands like this?”

Margaret hid it out of surprise.

“It, it’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing… Oh my, your hands are all dry. The housework must be tough.”

It was hard to supervise the laundering of patients’ clothes. She had to pick up each and every one of the wet laundry and check whether it was done properly. The hanging was done by the maids of Marchioness Lasian. But if there was even one laundry that wasn’t done properly, Marchioness Lasian came over and gave an earful: since the Queen was trying her best for the people, they should do the same and focus, all the while pointing out Margaret’s mistake to everyone.

“No, it’s not that.”

“Our store has a policy of a deposit fee of half price. That’s ok, Miss?” The employee asked suddenly as she seemed to be worried about her finances. The employee was examining Margaret’s appearance. She couldn’t hold back.

“What are you saying, you lowly brat!” Margaret threw tea at the employee’s face and screamed.

“What?”

The employee was flustered as she got hit by tea in the face.

“How dare you treat me like poor?! Tell the owner to come out! To treat a noble like this!”

“A noble? Miss, you said you weren’t a noble just before?”

“Mm…!”

“Miss, what did you say your name was?”

The employee crossed her arms and asked. As she yelled, big men came inside. It was the guards that were placed in case something like this happens.

Margaret’s face turned white.

***

Iris wasn’t feeling well for a while. Her mana wasn’t really depleted. Her mana was on top of the chart even in Magic Tower’s history. But she lost her strength as she met all kinds of people. It was hard for her. Furthermore, she met Margaret.

“Are you that unwell?” Sidrain lied beside Iris and whispered. His big hand was on Iris’s forehead.

“It’s not that much.”

“So you’re still unwell. Are you still having nightmares?”

Iris dug herself into Sidrain’s embrace instead of answering. He kindly and strongly hugged her.

Little by little, she liked him more each day. He didn’t keep asking her what she didn’t want to talk about and instead locked her into his embrace. Margaret could never come when she’s in there. She knew it showed weakness but she had to calm herself little by little like this. Margaret was scary. She looked like a scary monster that bullied her when she was little.

She knew that wasn’t the case in the head but she still didn’t want to face it.

“There are times you want to run away even though you shouldn’t,” Iris mumbled. She seemed embarrassed that she wanted to run away.

Sidrain almost hugged her tighter because he felt pity. But that would only hurt her.

“It’s tiring to think that you shouldn’t run away. You should run if you want to, Ris.”

“But…”

“Run away anytime. I’ll get rid of anything. Nightmares or anything.”

Sidrain’s voice was kind.

He came to see Iris every morning, day, night. It wasn’t only him that came to see Iris. Elena En Sethang came to see her at noon. She came looking perfect as always and never would ask Iris to work. She would just tell her to rest and patted the blanket that Iris was in.

“You don’t have to do anything, Your Highness. You’ve got rid of the honsy mold. You’ve done enough as the mother of the nation.”