The Villainess turns the Hourglass

“I was going to ask you about that, and thank you. I’ll bring all your items to the mansion sometime tomorrow morning. This is a gift for you, Ms. Aria Roscent.”

The employee took a case from his sleeve. It contained a sapphire necklace. Judging by the size of it, it was likely to cost quite a bit. Aria immediately understood his intention and accepted his insidious thought.

“Jessie, will you hang it around my neck?”

“Yes, miss.”

It was probably a necklace unsuitable for her young age, but when she put it on, strangely, it melded naturally with her beauty, as if the necklace had met its master.

The eyes of the man who had given her the necklace shone. He was thinking the girl would be making her social debut in the future, and that she would be a trendsetter. There would be nothing wrong if he favored her somewhat.

“Not bad. Thank you.”

Aria smiled sweetly. The store had a colorful interior, but it brightened suddenly with Aria’s flowery smile. The staffer couldn’t hide his red ears while giving her a slight nod.

“I’d ask you favor us in the future as well.”

The necklace around Aria’s neck returned to the man’s hand by Jessie’s hand. That meant that it should be sent with everything else in the morning.

She couldn’t afford to go around with luxurious items yet. In any case, that man hadn’t given her the necklace so that Aria would wear it around immediately. It had been a gift to build a strong relationship.

“Oh, are you the owner here?”

“Yes, miss.”

“I’ll stop by often.”

“Thank you.”

The one whom she had thought to be an employee was in fact the owner. Seeing that he was even tending to a customer by himself, he seemed to run his store with a lot of affection. The store also needed thorough management, as it was the largest and most luxurious jewelry shop in the capital.

It was an unexpected harvest. There was nothing wrong with being close to a boutique or a jewelry shop. She would be the first to hear from him when something precious came in, and he might let her know what the latest fashion would be.

She would accept the help because not all of her memories were detailed. Of course, the help wouldn’t be tremendous since she had been able to make a name for herself in the future and lived as part of high society.

While she waited for one of her stupid knights to find a carriage, she had a brief cup of tea. But the stupid knight hadn’t come back even after the tea had been brewed.

Aria, who had already exchanged the tea twice after it had gotten cold, was so impatient that she ordered the other knight to find the whereabouts of the first one.

Jessie, who realized that Aria did not feel well from experience even if she did not express it, rushed out of the room while saying that she would bring her a new refreshment.

Toward her extremely agile retreating figure, Aria added, “You don’t have to come back until you’re ready.”

‘You are sharp.’

Aria didn’t mean to make any trouble with her statement, but she didn’t want to see Jessie fretting and squirming. In addition, Aria couldn’t be herself, who was in a bad mood due to a number of reasons, with others around. While waiting for Jessie, there was nothing to do, so she opened the window and opened the curtain located in the center of the room.

The window that started near Aria’s chest and stretched out to the high ceiling was huge enough for her entire body to fall through.

Aria sat on a one-man sofa by the window and watched the view out of it, taking care not to let herself fall.

Outside the window, the poor and shabby-looking people were busy moving about, unlike those within the painfully colorful jewelry shop.

The nobles did not walk, so those who were walking up and down the street were mostly commoners, except for the occasional colorful carriage.

Some had tanned, sunburned skin and wore tattered clothes, and there were those whose clothes were all patchworked. Those were the commoners. Some even left holes unrepaired because they could not afford to fix them.

Customs offices were present to either side of the jewelry store, like dust against the fancy jewels.

‘I used to wear those clothes too.’

Her mother had always busied herself with dressing herself up, so she had had to constantly wear old clothes that didn’t fit her.

Her mother wouldn’t have lived such a miserable life if she had paid a little attention to other things, but had never dreamed of such a thing. She had also been desperate to live every day.

Aria faced the pieces of her past that passed out the window blankly.

Then, she thanked her mother for removing her from that shambling life. She did not want to return to that time and refused to have Mielle push her off a cliff again.

‘I’ll take everything you have and end you horribly. If I can, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to hang that pretty face of yours on the wall for treason.’

Of course, if someone in the family was found to be planning a rebellion, the whole family would be exterminated, but the mere thought of it made her feel better, just the image of the Roscent family, all of whom had their heads hanging from the wall, in her mind.

Enjoying the cool autumn breeze, she still thought about how to get rid of Mielle, but suddenly, something foreign, an unusual sight, walked up.

‘… The man in the black cloak!’

She had met him at the general store. Although the hood only revealed his face a little, the subtle contour of his face and the soft-looking hairstyle made her assume that he had an unusual look. Still, even for a nobleman, he had a beautiful face.

With that face that was still short of reaching adulthood, he had taken away Aria’s freedom and urged her to answer him. He must have noticed Aria’s gaze when he came out of the nearby customs building and looked up to her.

Aria, who had been frightened by the past and who had not encountered him all this time, was about to stand up immediately, but the expression on the man’s face held her down.

‘Did he smile?’

He was smiling charmingly at her, his mouth in an arc underneath the hood covering his face, as if he had never threatened Aria.

Frightened, Aria stepped back a few steps. She was appalled by the way he put his hands near his chest and greeted her politely, as if he would do her no harm.

‘… What’s your intention?’

He was a man of unknown intention. When he stood at the door and refused to exit fully, the man who was following the cloaked man’s footsteps looked troubled, unable to exit as well. Still, the man stood there, facing Aria.

Surprised, Aria hurriedly closed the window and drew the curtains to block the view, quickly returning to the sofa located in the center of the room. Even though he was no longer visible, she still recalled his unexpected smile and gaze, which made her feel uneasy. She calmed her mind by wetting her throat with a bit of cold tea.

She thought she would not see again. ‘How could there be such a coincidence?’

Aria, who had once hugged her body while trembling like dried leaves sobbing in the autumn wind, changed her mind.

‘Let’s not pay attention to that. He can’t be a powerful man if he was coming out of a customs office.’

Ordinary, nobles were bound to let their servants do such chores. Therefore, the nobles did not have to go in and out of government offices in person. If necessary, they could announce themselves through letters or their servants.

So, she didn’t have to worry about it anymore. She could ignore him. He wouldn’t have as much access as he had had and he wouldn’t be able to get close to her.

In the past and in the future, the distance between them had to have been great enough that they had been barely able to identify each other’s faces. Once that stupid knight brought the new carriage, she would take it back to the mansion.

In the meantime, Jessie would bring her a new refreshment, so she would enjoy a sweet cookie to freshen her mood.