Chapter 19

Elena tried to maintain a rigid posture.

She could feel the gazes of everyone in the salon fixed on her and Hazel.

Her pale face flushed faintly.

Hazel smiled at the sight of Elena.

“You don’t have to try so hard.”

“Pardon?”

Elena asked back with a tense face.

“We only came to buy a single dress. You don’t need to freeze up and try so hard not to make mistakes.”

“But my mistakes would bring shame upon your honor, madam. I don’t want to make any mistakes.”

This stiff-necked stubbornness was not frustrating at all—it was simply endearing.

‘As expected, she is different from the young people of today.’

Hazel drank her tea with a satisfied face.

How long had they waited?

The salon’s madame appeared, dragging a clothes rack laden with dresses.

The rack wobbled under the weight of the heavy, ornate dresses hanging from it.

Elena looked at it and let out a slow breath.

With a solemn expression, she spoke to Hazel.

“It seems the dress I am to wear has not been prepared yet.”

“Hm?”

Hazel tilted her head.

“There is no way I could handle that many dresses.”

Elena smiled brightly.

It was an absolute denial.

Understanding what she meant, Hazel let out a low laugh.

“Madame.”

“Yes, Lady Hazel.”

“Please take good care of her. I will be serving as this child’s chaperone for a time.”

“A chaperone?”

Before Elena could ask again, the madame lifted her from her seat.

Elena, forcibly raised, shook her head.

“There must be some misunderstanding… Lady Hazel!”

Hazel gave a light wave to Elena as she was dragged away by the madame’s hand.

Help with her education, introduce her to society, buy her dresses.

This much made her a chaperone, didn’t it?

What else could a chaperone be?

Sip.

Hazel drank her tea leisurely.

“Kyaa! No! I really can’t!”

A small shriek came from inside, but to Hazel’s ears it was nothing but a sweet song.

As Hazel was flipping through a magazine, the curtain opened and Elena was dragged out by the madame’s hand.

With a face that looked as if her soul had been sucked out, Elena stood before Hazel.

Hazel looked Elena over through her glasses.

“Your figure is so beautiful. And your skin is fair, so you seem able to carry any dress well. This dress has an off-shoulder design—it boldly reveals the shoulders, but the bust line is set high to add a touch of innocence.”

“It suits her well. She can wear this to a tea party.”

“A t-tea party?”

“Practical experience is just as important as theoretical study. Practical experience is important for becoming a good governess. I have no intention of doing the work I take on half-heartedly. Elena, you just need to trust me and follow along.”

Elena stared at Hazel, pale as a sheet.

The scale of things was growing larger than she had thought.

Elena swallowed.

Of course, she knew that well-paying jobs were not easy to come by, but…

“Have her try on the next dress, madame. Ah, and as ordered, we’ll also need the dress for her debutante. This child’s debutante was delayed for certain reasons, so I want it to be perfect.”

“I have understood the points you mentioned, madam.”

The madame clapped her hands.

At that, the staff brought out the largest and heaviest-looking dress from the rack.

“Oho.”

It was a bell-shaped dress layered with deep blue silk, emphasizing the waist, with pearls and Swarovski crystals decorating the hem.

White lace adorned the top to add an innocent atmosphere, and a thin sheer fabric lightly covered the shoulders.

And along the bust line, jewels were embedded, decorated with a blue rose corsage—a dress that looked expensive to anyone’s eyes, and beautiful.

Elena stared at it with wide eyes.

“Finally, something interesting. Have her try that one first.”

“L-Lady Hazel…!”

“Elena.”

Hazel smiled brightly.

“It is rare for nobles to take on a child who has not even had her debutante as a governess.”

Hazel gestured.

Elena, pale as death, was dragged back inside by the madame’s hand.

Hazel leaned back on the sofa with a leisurely expression.

Honestly, she could not bring a child who had not even had her debutante into Maxim’s match.

‘Everything is going smoothly.’

Now that Empress Liena was aware of Elena’s existence, people’s eyes would turn toward Elena.

Hazel casually looked around.

The gazes of the guests already in the salon were fixed on them.

Through their mouths, stories about Elena would spread.

Since Hazel, a princess, had firmly established herself as Elena’s chaperone, most young ladies would not dare to treat her carelessly.

Hazel had never once granted the requests of noble young ladies asking her to be their chaperone.

Surely there would be those who envied Elena.

But she had a feeling that Elena would overcome it well.

Hazel turned a few more pages of the magazine.

And by the time she had finished a cup of tea and broken a cookie in half, the curtain opened again.

“Oho!”

Hazel set down her cookie and clapped.

She spoke with a bright smile.

“As expected, the madame has an eye. Elena, you could capture the gaze of every man. People will all praise you as the blue rose.”

“Madam…”

Elena called her in a voice on the verge of tears.

The weight of this dress, its texture, and the ornaments attached to it were all extraordinary.

She did not know for certain, but it was clearly a price beyond imagination.

No matter how many excuses she gathered, she could not accept something so beyond her station.

But Hazel did not allow Elena to say another word.

After that, the madame, following Hazel’s orders, had Elena change into dozens of dresses.

Hazel paid for most of them, and Elena, though aghast, could not stop her in the end.

She had been mindful of Hazel’s public reputation.

Watching Elena fidgeting and dripping with cold sweat, Hazel smiled softly.

‘As expected. She is unlike the young people of today.’

Elena’s insides were burning black.

The amount Hazel had spent on her clothes today was a sum Elena could barely repay after working ten years.

Elena could not bring herself to stop Hazel in front of others, and only after getting into the carriage did she carefully speak to her.

“C-could the dresses be refunded?”

“Why? Are there some you do not like? They may have been prepared in a bit of a hurry. But they seemed quite wearable.”

“That is not it… No matter what, how could I accept such things? Madam, I was taught that a kindness one cannot repay is not something one should accept. So that I may repay your kindness, madam…”

“Child, Elena.”

Hazel called Elena tenderly.

Hazel wore a deliberately frail expression and patted her hand.

Then, with a sorrowful face, she spoke sadly.

“Don’t I actually have no daughter? This is the first time I have known such joy. I have only one son, so I was always alone, even when I went shopping.”

She had deliberately gone alone.

Because she did not want to mingle with those who bothered her.

But Hazel conveniently left that part out.

Editing a story to her own advantage was one of Hazel’s abilities.

“I had such a wonderful time today, but it seems Elena did not.”

Elena’s mouth was sealed shut.

“…Refunding those dresses would feel like refunding my joy as well. Must you really do that? Please think of it as this old woman’s gift.”

The payment would be made by the empress, of course.

Elena was completely fooled by Hazel’s crocodile tears.

Hazel was Elena’s benefactor.

Even if it weighed on her heart, Elena had no right to make Hazel sad.

Elena chewed her lips over and over.

“…Then I will make you handkerchiefs.”

“Handkerchiefs?”

“Yes. I will embroider your name and your favorite flowers on them. As many as the number of dresses I received. Would that be all right?”

It was the best Elena could do.

Hazel beamed.

She had never imagined she would receive such a cute and charming repayment.

Hazel spoke in a delighted voice.

“I would love that, Elena. I actually like roses. And I like blue hydrangeas as well.”

Elena quietly took note.

Looking at that innocently radiant face, Hazel wore a gentle smile.

If only she would embrace Maxim with that same tenderness.

“Let us have dinner with Maxim before we go back tonight. He said he would be busy today and might return late.”

“Would I not be a bother?”

“Still, isn’t eating how we survive? Hmph.”

Hazel was doing her utmost today as well, as the cupid who would connect the two.