The Ugly Lady’s Secret Pouch

“Just trust me!”

Lila thought as she placed her hand on Michael’s shoulder. When you build self-esteem as a child, you grow up to be a confident adult. Adults with high self-esteem love themselves.

When she was younger, she had an insecurity about her skin. It’s probably why she became a makeup artist in the first place.

Lila prayed that Michael would grow up to be a man who could love himself. Even if she was only an aunt for a limited time, she wanted to be the best aunt she could be for him while she was here.

“Wait a minute!”

Lila quickly checked Michael’s skin. In fact, she’d noticed something off about his skin from the beginning.

She pulled out her cosmetics from the pouch she kept by the bed.

“Soothing products first. Then vitamin products and natural products…”

Skincare products started popping out of the pouch into the air. She scooped them all up in her arms and turned to walk away.

“Young master, before I do something, I need you to answer all my questions.”

Michael nodded vigorously, looking at the strange object in her arms.

“Yes!”

“Did you put anything on your skin?”

“Oh…”

Lila turned to Michael, whose face immediately changed color at her question.

“Please tell me everything honestly. You let me in on your secret, so it’s only fair that you tell me yours!”

Pushing a little harder, Michael hesitantly opened his mouth.

“I don’t know, Chelsea and Rose put something on my face every time before I go to bed… and it itches so much that I can’t help but scratch it. They say I shouldn’t, but it’s so itchy…”

Lila’s eyes turned into squares at the child’s words.

The Empire favors clear skin, so skincare is a big deal. Most noble families use natural ingredients, but sometimes they hire alchemists to create their own cosmetics.

Still, nothing compares to the modern cosmetics Lila has on hand.

Lila pressed her nose close to Michael’s face and sniffed. Startled, Michael tried to pull away, but Lila gripped his shoulders.

“Mmm, it smells like cucumber.”

It was very subtle, but it had the faintest smell of cucumber.

Lila scrutinized Michael’s face, looking for the problem.

‘It seems like they grated a cucumber and mixed it with something else… So is this an allergic reaction?’

She scratched at his reddened skin and noticed that his lips were also slightly swollen.

“Were your lips swollen when you woke up?”

“Uh, yeah, but it went down right away…”

“From now on, the young master shouldn’t eat cucumbers.”

“Why? They’re often in salads.”

“You must listen to me. It’s because the young master’s body doesn’t like cucumbers. It’s not serious, so you might not have realized it until now. How do cucumbers taste?”

Lila asked, quickly teasing his hand. She took out a mask pack that has a good calming effect.

“What does it taste like? It’s always the same.”

“So what does it taste like?”

Michael looked at Lila in disbelief as she tried to stick something like white paper to his face, but she was faster.

Michael’s eyes widened as the mask stuck to his face. It was very cool.

“Cucumbers are supposed to taste good.”

Lila’s eyes widened as she placed a cushion from the couch behind Michael’s back and carefully laid him down.

“Are cucumbers spicy?”

“Yeah, they’re tongue tingling, and I don’t actually like cucumbers.”

A languid Michael replied in a slurred tone as she stretched out his legs.

“Oh my God!”

Lila exclaimed as she pulled Michael’s socks off.

“Don’t you ever eat a cucumber again! Do you understand?”

“Why?”

Michael asked, his eyes glazing over. Lila squeezed some massage cream into her hand and grabbed his foot. Pressing gently to get the blood flowing, then she answered.

“You’re supposed to eat cucumbers for their fresh flavor, not their sour flavor. There’s nothing special about cucumbers.”

“What?”

“I mean, don’t eat them again.”

Michael felt sleep begin to creep in, despite his surprise. It came so fast that he didn’t realize Lila was nuzzling his foot.

Lila sighed in frustration as she watched him drift off, unable to respond.

“Awww, he’s so young, isn’t that too much?”

Lila huffed and drew the curtains so that Michael could get a good night’s sleep.

  * * *

Lucas was talking to his aide Owen in the carriage.

“They say this newly discovered vein yields blue sapphires of high purity.”

“Yes.”

“And they say that products imported from the Kingdom of Castile are fashionable in the capital.”

“I see.”

Lucas, who’s busy tending to the affairs of his estates, the mines, and the company business, listened to his aide’s reports in the carriage.

But today, he couldn’t concentrate on the barrel conversation.

He couldn’t stop thinking about Lila from the previous evening.

“Owen.”

“Yes, Duke.”

“The two maids who assist Michael were once the Duchess’s personal servants, weren’t they?”

Owen looked up from his papers to file a report. He lifted his fingers to his glasses and answered.

“Yes, that is correct. I understand this coincided with the retirement of his nanny, Maria, due to health issues.”

“It did.”

Owen asked Lucas, who was sitting cross-legged and looking out the window with an impassive expression.

“Why do you ask that out of the blue?”

Owen was from the Montefeltra family and had attended the Academy with Lucas as a child. 

He was handsome, with light blue hair and deep green eyes, and the only one of his classmates who didn’t tease Lucas about his appearance.

“I left the affairs of the mansion aside because it was a nuisance… But a rat is trying to take over.”

“Then you should tell the rat who the owner is, or how it should live.”

“Well, find out what my sister-in-law did to my nephew.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The carriage screeched to a halt before he could finish his sentence.

Lucas leapt gracefully from the carriage. At the entrance to the manor, a line of municipal servants saluted in unison.

To work for the Duchess of Montefeltra was an honor. The servants often bragged about it to their own families and acquaintances.

It should have been normal, then, to show loyalty to Duke Lucas, but that was not the look in their eyes.

Their impure eyes darted about busily as they bowed their heads. They even frowned at the freckled face of Lucas.

Vincent followed silently. Lucas waved Owen over and asked.

“Did anything happen?”

It was an automatic question, since they’d been out so early in the morning. Normally, Vincent would have kept his answer short.

“Master Michael dined with the Duchess and slept together with her.”

But today, his answer was long.

“What?”

Lucas repeated, his eyes widening. Vincent’s expression, usually neither agitated nor bewildered, was subtle.

“Well, when you arrived, he was already with the Duchess, and he said he wanted to sleep in her room tonight…”

“So Michael is in the Duchess’s room now?”

“Yes, he is.”

It was already a full moon night. Perhaps the two were already asleep.

“Hmm…”

Lucas reached the third floor and turned his head to look at the Duchess’s room. He saw a door with a gray wolf on it that could only be used by the master of the House of Montefeltra.

After staring for a moment, Lucas turned and spoke to Vincent, who was waiting for his answer.

“We shouldn’t wake a sleeping person.”

Then he moved quickly on his halting feet. It was a tiring day for him, too.