SPRH 8

Chapter 8

The next day, Emma and I watched Declan while keeping our distance.

Fortunately, Declan showed no interest in Emma’s hand. He was far too busy for that anyway.

As I was letting out a sigh of relief from all that tension, evening came.

After dinner, the ladies and young noblewomen gathered leisurely to enjoy tea and refreshments.

“I heard Viscount Bihan injured his leg and is confined to his carriage.”

Countess Akis mentioned this with regret, saying she’d heard it the day before.

The table where the ladies sat was separate from the table where the young noblewomen sat.

So I had to sit face-to-face with that insufferable Oliana at the same table.

“Oh my, how did he injure his leg?”

“I know, right. In this sweltering summer weather.”

The other ladies fluttered their fans and furrowed their brows sympathetically.

I pretended to know nothing and bit into a crisply baked cookie.

*Well, it’s not like I broke his leg, is it?*

On that point, I was innocent.

Viscount Bihan’s leg was undoubtedly the work of Declan’s subordinates.

I perked up my ears and eavesdropped on the ladies discussing high society and politics.

“Did you hear the news? They say the young Marquess Highphone has returned from his studies abroad. He’ll be joining our party tomorrow.”

A lady with brown hair swept up high fanned her chest and lowered her voice as if sharing extremely precious information.

“Is that so? I’d heard that the Marchioness Highphone had taken ill recently.”

Countess Akis’s eyes lit up as she responded.

“They say the Marchioness’s condition is serious. That’s why the young Marquess is rushing to marry.”

“Oh dear, how unfortunate that the Marchioness’s illness is so grave.”

Countess Akis, who had been leaning forward to listen, elegantly straightened her back.

As if she had absolutely no interest in the position of the young Marquess’s wife.

Encouraged by this, the brown-haired lady who had brought up the topic grew more enthusiastic.

“They say the young Marquess graduated from the Academy with excellent grades. He’s also exceptionally handsome, so it seems the most prominent families in the capital have already been sending marriage proposals.”

“The young lady who becomes the young Marchioness will be so lucky.”

The ladies covered their mouths with their fans and glanced slyly at their own daughters.

“Perhaps Young Lady Oliana should also look for a suitable young gentleman when she goes to the capital this time?”

One of the ladies addressed Countess Akis, her rival, probing indirectly.

“Ho ho, I simply wish for our Oliana to marry someone she loves.”

Countess Akis gazed fondly at Oliana, who was sitting across from me.

Oliana pretended she hadn’t heard anything and primly raised her teacup.

*You’re trying to marry me off to that good-for-nothing Philip, while you plan to marry the capable, kind young Marquess?*

I brushed the cookie crumbs off my hands and twisted my lips to one side.

Just then, the brown-haired lady asked in a booming voice.

“What is Young Lady Oliana’s ideal type? When I go to the capital this time, I’ll introduce you to some young gentlemen.”

“I’m embarrassed to say. I simply wish for someone of excellent character.”

At Oliana’s hypocritical answer, goosebumps rose on the arms of me and the young ladies sitting next to me.

“Liriope, dear. It’s fundamental to embroider for your future husband, and you haven’t done it yet, have you? I’ll teach you well starting tomorrow evening.”

When Oliana spoke as if she were being considerate of me, the ladies praised her once more for being so kind.

*Oliana becoming the young Marchioness, huh…*

I absolutely cannot let that happen.

I smiled brightly at Oliana.

“Oliana, let’s embroider together. I think you’ll have a handsome husband soon too.”

“Oh my, sister. How embarrassing.”

Oliana covered both cheeks with her hands as if she were the most innocent young lady in the world.

“Embarrassing indeed, Oliana.”

I rinsed my mouth with the appropriately cooled black tea.

As Oliana’s cousin, I should personally choose her husband for her.

—

\* \* \*

—

Embroidery began the following evening.

After finishing dinner, the young ladies decided to gather together in one tent to embroider.

“Did you see the young Marquess Highphone? I think he’s truly handsome.”

“He seems to have an elegant grace ingrained in him.”

The young ladies were excited, talking about the young Marquess Highphone who had joined them that afternoon.

The young Marquess Highphone, whom I’d glimpsed, was a tall man with long green hair.

He was set to become a professor at the Academy once they reached the capital, which made the young ladies even more enthusiastic.

“I had a conversation with him, and he seems like such a kind person.”

At Oliana’s boastful words, the young ladies even squealed.

Oliana lowered her eyes as if she were already the young Marchioness, enjoying the reactions of the other young ladies.

*Yes, Oliana, keep dreaming away.*

I simply smiled and placed the embroidery frame and supplies Oliana had prepared on the table.

The other young ladies, who had been chattering away, also placed their embroidery frames on the table and settled into position.

After a moment, only the sound of needles piercing fabric—pok, pok—could be heard in the silence.

But I couldn’t place a single stitch on my handkerchief.

*I don’t know the Empire’s pattern exactly.*

The Tercian Empire—the Empire of the Eternal Sun.

When a woman marries, preparing embroidery featuring the sun is apparently an essential virtue.

Handkerchiefs were basic, along with gloves, marital pillowcases, and for women with particularly skilled hands, even baby bibs and baby blankets.

This was because of a superstition that doing so would strengthen the marital bond and bring children quickly.

*I need to know what shape to embroider before I can start.*

Naturally, I’d assumed they would provide a pattern, but there was no separate pattern.

Yet the young ladies embroidered the same design without hesitation.

They must have been practicing since childhood.

I sat there with only needle and thread, staring intently at what the young ladies were embroidering.

“Ahem.”

Oliana turned her body along with her embroidery frame so I couldn’t see the pattern.

She then applied silent pressure on the other young ladies not to let me see either.

The way she moved her pupils up and down to signal was as busy as a chameleon’s eyes darting in all directions.

*Petty.*

Fortunately, a baron’s daughter named Luna sitting next to me quietly placed her finished handkerchief on the table.

Luna, with her red hair, always sat next to me during tea time—the seat everyone else avoided.

When difficult vocabulary or capital noble names came up, she would subtly inform me.

*Good girl, I’ll have to repay the favor someday.*

I watched and began to embroider.

The stitches the young ladies were making were roughly similar to French embroidery I’d learned in school, so it quickly became familiar to my hands.

“Young Lady Liriope, this doesn’t seem to be your first time embroidering? You’re quite good.”

Luna glanced at my embroidered handkerchief and was surprised.

At Luna’s reaction, the other young ladies also examined my handkerchief closely.

“To embroider so perfectly even on the back side. That’s truly amazing.”

As even the other young ladies praised me, Oliana gripped her embroidery frame tightly.

“Really? I just followed Young Lady Luna’s stitches.”

I pretended to be modest while complimenting Luna, who had helped me.

*I’m confident in sewing!*

When I was in school, practical exams included not only Korean embroidery but French embroidery as well.

There were also practical exams where we designed and made clothes ourselves.

And I received full marks on all these practical exams.

Not only did I mend all the clothes for the younger children at the orphanage, but I also altered large clothes to make them smaller.

When I bragged that I could feed Emma as long as I had a place to shelter from the wind and rain, it was all thanks to these practical exams.

*I could make a living doing piecework sewing. I could also do embroidery work.*

Given the background, the jobs available to women would be limited.

However, in any society, at least some occupations were open to women.

One of them would be this kind of work.

—

\* \* \*

—

Having perfectly embroidered not only the handkerchief but also a baby bib, I put them into my basket.

*I should show off to the nanny.*

I was humming a tune as I headed to the tent when I saw a large black silhouette across the way.

*Declan!*

Suddenly, a fairly strong wind blew.

Pretending to adjust my basket, I let the handkerchief on top fly into the air.

It was the handkerchief I had just embroidered. It flew on the wind like a butterfly.

My handkerchief, fluttering along, landed on Declan’s chest.

Then, as if it liked that broad chest, it rubbed against it in the wind.

“Young lady?”

He caught my handkerchief clinging to his chest and looked at me.

“Duke Declan.”

I ran to him in quick steps and stood before him.

*It’s an old-fashioned method, but there’s nothing more certain than giving a handkerchief to a man!*

I had even sprayed perfume on the handkerchief.

Luna had said she had a nicely scented perfume and suggested I try spraying it, so I’d sprayed it without much thought—but it was good that I did.

“What is this?”

Declan’s eyes widened minutely.

Soon, his eyes returned to their usual expression and fixed on the pattern of the handkerchief.

“The handkerchief seems to have taken a liking to you, Your Grace. Please keep it.”

I said it as if it were nothing and curved my eyes thinly.

That way, I could use the handkerchief as an excuse to talk to him again.

“Do you not know what it means to give a handkerchief embroidered with the Imperial pattern?”

Declan asked, rubbing the embroidered area with his thumb.

—