The Ugly Lady’s Secret Pouch

“I don’t think Your Highness would like to hear this.”

“What?”

“The lady used to say that. She said that when she got close to His Highness the Crown Prince, the sweet scent made it hard to for her stay awake.”

“…Is that so?”

“Perhaps you’re wearing a deceptive perfume made by an alchemist.”

“That is forbidden by law, and I, the crown prince, would not break the law.”

“That is an unknown law. Can a man blinded by love distinguish between criminal acts?”

“The Duke has some interesting things to say.”

Listening to the two men in a daze, Lila tried to run away. Even though she knew this was a dream, her heart pounded with anxiety.

Snap.

A branch snapped beneath her feet.

This must be a dream.

It had to be a dream.

“Who’s there!”

She didn’t know why she should be visible to two people.

“My lady!”

“How did you get here…!”

Violet and red eyes stared at her in surprise.

Then the violet eyes turned mournful, and the red ones twisted ferociously.

Clasping her hands over her mouth, Lila realized that she must not be caught by those two.

She turned and ran, frantically. She didn’t care if her dress caught on a branch or not.

The way they were looking at her sent goosebumps all over her body. Surely they weren’t… There’s no reason for them to look at her like that…

How come, why!

The place she thought was the Dukedom of Montefeltra was actually the Imperial Palace. And she was running, not knowing the way.

Looking here and there for a place to hide, she entered a room. Gasping for breath, she realized it wasn’t the empty room she was looking for.

It was an ornate, luxuriously furnished and decorated chamber, clearly belonging to someone of a high rank.

There were only two high ranking people in the palace. Frightened, Lila looked for a place to hide.

She tugged on the doorknob of the next door, hoping to wake up from her dream.

She couldn’t help but scream at the horrific sight before her.

“Aaahhhhhh!”

A woman with a face identical to Lila’s lay bleeding crimson with a shard of glass embedded in her neck.

As she watched the white bedding stained with her blood, Lila felt her own body collapse.

“”Lila!”

The crown prince’s voice was ringing in her ears like she has tinnitus. He flashed before her eyes one last time.

“Aaaahhhhh!”

With a piercing scream, Lila woke up, her body drenched in a cold sweat, chilled by the breeze coming in through the window.

“Hhhk.”

Lila shivered at the sight she saw before waking up and hugged herself with both arms.

She hadn’t seen anything in the original story about the female lead dying. So she couldn’t tell if the dream was from the original or her own future.

“What the hell was that…”

The vividness of the dream and the sight of red blood made her want to gag.

“Ugh.”

She clamped her mouth shut and lowered her head.

BANG!

A harsh pounding on the door sounded briefly, then it burst open.

“Wife!”

As if he’d heard her scream, Lucas burst into the bedroom at a run, quickly approaching Lila, who had her head down.

“What.”

She asked, grabbing him by the shoulders, her expression unreadable. Lucas turned to Lila, who couldn’t answer and only shivered.

“Tell me what’s wrong.”

The scream could be heard all the way to his room. It was such a terrible scream that he thought it might have reached downstairs.

Reaching for her, Lucas allowed her to lean against him, then ran his hand through her sweaty hair, wiping it away.

“What. Why are you like this all of a sudden.”

He felt a pang of frustration in his stomach at her inability to say anything.

He had no idea what had happened in the room that frighten her so much.

But instead of asking her more, he pulled her closer with a strong hand.

“It’s okay, I’m here.”

The gentle stroke of his hand on her back and his reassuring words touched her heart. ‘I’m not alone,’ Lila thought, finally coming to her senses.

‘Yeah, I’m not alone.’

This isn’t like the time when she was struggling at the barony. She now have Lucas and Michael.

They accepted her for who she was, without asking why she wore ugly makeup, without asking why and how.

Terrified that she had seen the future, she reached out and wrapped her arms around Lucas’s neck, clung to him, and whispered.

“Yes, I’m not alone…”

* * *

For days afterwards, Lila locked herself in her room and never left. The aftermath her a nightmare that lasted longer than she expected.

She couldn’t sleep for fear of having another nightmare or being trapped there forever.

This was lessened when Michael and Lucas came over. Lucas’s scent, especially, helped her sleep a little.

His scent was weaker than it had been the night before, but it was still there. There was something about his scent that made her wonder why she hadn’t noticed it before.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

It was Michael who stepped in as soon as she permitted.

“Lila.”

Lila bent down and hugged him as he ran toward her with a bright smile on his face.

“You’re going to school soon, right?”

“How did you know that?”

“Of course. The Duke was bragging about how smart you are, Michael, and that you’re entering early.”

“There’s no way my uncle would do that.”

“But he did!”

Lila laughed, kissing the whimpering child briefly on the cheek.

“Now, shall we wash your hands and feet?”

“Sure.”

They walked hand in hand into the bathroom, and Lila washed his hands and feet.

He’d resisted her touch at first, saying it was a maid’s job, but now he meekly accepted it.

He loved her warm cobalt eyes and her concern for his well-being.

No, right now he loved everything about her. Even if she’d suddenly turned around and started treating him like his mother, he would gladly endure it all.

“You’re all washed up, come here.”

Her outstretched arms wrapped around him. This was Michael’s favorite moment.

Lila picked him up so his washed feet wouldn’t touch the ground. It was something no one else had ever done for him, and it was the first time he realized how good it was.

Returning to the couch, Lila sat him down on the couch at an angle and put a cushion behind his back.

He spent a lot of time studying in the chair, so she showed him stretches to loosen up his tight muscles to help him grow.

Lila brought out a fragrant lavender-scented oil and applied it to Michael’s legs and feet.

She pressed firmly with acupressure and stroked gently.

Michael murmured with a relaxed expression.

“This is really cool. How do you know this stuff?”

“Because I’m into this stuff.”

“I see.”

He knew she had a secret, but he decided not to force it on her.

He’d promised her he would, and he wanted to make sure he did.

“Come to think of it, my skin looks better than it did before. I don’t know exactly what’s changed, it just did.”

Despite Michael’s clumsy explanation, Lila understood immediately.

“It’s because your skin tone is brighter. It’s one thing to put on your skin, but it’s also very important to eat well and sleep well, and you’ve been eating well and sleeping well lately. So maybe that’s why your skin is looking better.”

Michael, who had been listening to her words and feeling her hands moving around, said.

“Maybe that’s why you have bad skin lately. You didn’t sleep well last night, did you?”

Lila’s eyelids fluttered at his words. It was getting better, but it was still so vivid it gave her a headache.

She wondered why she’d had such a dream.

It was definitely a scene she hadn’t read in the novel, which might explain her anxiety.

She couldn’t help but wonder if something omniscient in the novel had given her a hint, since she had changed the original story on her own.

“Don’t worry. I told you I’d protect you.”

Michael smiled softly, taking her hand where he’d stopped massaging it.

Lila felt better at the sight of the child’s expression, which had brightened from the first time. He spoke softly to her.

“If anyone tries to hurt you… I’ll use my magic to finish it, no matter who it is.”

Lila was indescribably touched by Michael’s words, but she answered firmly.

“I want you to be safe more than I am, Michael. So please don’t do anything dangerous, and you said that magic is top secret.”

Pouting at her scolding tone, Michael said.

“I want you to be by my side for the rest of your life, and that means taking some risks.”

It was true. Sometimes he was like a grown man, not a child. He was pragmatic, but he could also recognize what was important.

“Oh! Did you pass that along to the magical engineer?”

Lila, who had been spending a lot of time in her room, remembered something she wanted to make with the gemstones she had received from Michael.

She asked Michael for a favor right away, and his eyes lit up when he saw the plans she’d drawn.

“I hear it’s almost done, so I should be able to get it soon.”

Michael was just as excited as she was, and he was all over the Duke’s magic engineers.

“I can’t wait. When it comes out, we can make it together.”

“How could you think of that? It’s so novel.”

“I’m just thinking about it. I’m more impressed with the tinkerers who can make it happen.”

“That’s their job.”

Lila thought of the magic engineers like this. They’re like engineering students and craftsmen.

They could make any tool if they had the magic crystals, and it was almost like they were craftsmen to see the intricacies of their work.

Lila’s request wasn’t for a tool in particular, but it required some elaborate work, and that’s why she’d asked the magic engineers.