The Villainess turns the Hourglass

Then, Aria rose from her seat and stroked Annie’s cheek as she lowered her head. She wasn’t speaking lies. Rather, Annie’s skin was well maintained for a commoner. It felt like she might have invested all of the money she had earned working as a maid on it. She seemed more interested in dressing herself than Aria had thought.

And that was a great opportunity.

“I don’t have any other classes today, so why don’t we play for a while?”

Annie opened her round eyes to see if Aria was speaking to her. Of course, she was. Aria grabbed her hand, asking why she was dawdling, and sat her down in front of the dressing table.

“M-miss?”

“I feel bad because you have good skin, but it’s covered in freckles.”

Aria took out the cosmetics that had never been used and had been placed deep in the drawer. She had never used those products after she had returned to the past on purpose. However, they had helped her dress up every day in the past, so she knew how to use them very well.

‘There are only a few now, but for Annie, it’ll look amazing enough to turn others’ eyes toward her, just like they turned to me in the past.’

Since Aria was still young, she had received only cosmetics for formal occasions, and she did not have many types of cosmetics, but they were enough to make Annie look good.

“Yip, it’s cold!”

Annie raised her voice when Aria meticulously applied the sticky, plant-extract lotion to her face. Soon, however, she was stunned into silence when she saw her face glossy through the mirror before her eyes.

After tidying up the skin, Aria applied the ground pearl powder to her face and trimmed her eyebrows. Finally, after breathing life into both cheeks, Aria applied red pigment to her lips to finish her makeup.

“How do you like it?”

“This… is it really me?”

“That’s what I thought. If you cover your freckles, your figure will come to life.”

Annie looked at herself in the mirror without blinking her eyes. She seemed unable to take her eyes off of her distinctly different appearance.

Aria whispered, gently combing Annie’s hair, “I don’t use them, so you can use them if you want.”

“… What?”

“These cosmetics. I’m still young and have no freckles, so I don’t have to use them. So, you can use them.”

The cosmetics Aria had used on Annie were things common people would never have. The high price was one of the reasons, but their sales were limited to the nobility from the start.

The quality of cosmetics was different from those used by ordinary people. Unlike the ones that contained lead, which decayed the skin the more they were used, they did not ruin the user’s skin since they mixed natural extracts and fine soils into them.

Annie, who had secretly stolen Mielle’s cosmetics a few times, had experienced that. However, Aria had said that it was OK for her to use such high-quality products.

‘Am I dreaming?’

“It’s not very expensive for me, and I can get them again if I ask. And if I have such a pretty maid of whom I can be proud.”

Annie still looked dazed. She hadn’t had a sudden rise in status like Aria, so she hadn’t expected to ever be able to acquire them, but the cosmetics had suddenly fallen on her lap.

Aria, who even brushed Annie’s hair, took a little hairpin out of the dressing room and put it on her hair. There was no special gem on it, but the red-ribbon hairpin was cute. Only then, did Aria, who had a satisfied expression, stroke Annie on the cheek.

“It’s late, but this hairpin is a gift for being my maid. I should give you a golden brooch, like Jessie’s, but…”

“…!”

Annie’s eyes widened at the words “a golden brooch.” Even though she had purposely avoided looking at it recently, the image of it remained in her mind. She had heard that Aria had given it to Jessie, but she had never thought that Aria would give it to her, so she pricked up her ears and waited for the words to come.

“I can’t do that because you haven’t done anything yet. Jessie’s been waiting on me for quite some time, so she was worth it, but you…” Aria’s eyes, as she maintained her gentle smiled, turned sharp at once. “You haven’t done anything yet, have you?”

“Ah…”

Somehow Annie’s eyes were shaken by the prickly speech.

“Oh, don’t misunderstand. I’m not asking you to do anything. In other words, trust should be built up. I don’t know you yet. Everything is the same, isn’t it?”

‘It certainly meant I’ve done nothing, but why did it sound so different?’

Annie didn’t know why, but she couldn’t help nodding. Aria, content with how docile Annie was, took her hand, showing Annie the face of pure joy of an innocent girl her age.

“Well, then, since it’s been a long time since you’ve decorated yourself like a noble lady, why don’t you practice having a tea party? You’ll be following me to a meeting soon.”

After spending that time on Annie’s makeup, Aria lent her some of her own clothes. The garment was one of the ones that had been bought from a boutique used by the common people, but it was better than the maid’s gray uniform.

It was a modest dress Annie herself could’ve bought, but Annie failed to erase Aria’s touch from her skin, as if she was already plenty satisfied with what she had gotten. Both were of humble birth, but one was a noblewoman now, though ostensibly so. Annie couldn’t believe that she was drinking tea with Aria like that. She felt like she had everything she ever wanted while savoring Jessie’s tea.

“It’s a little awkward, but you’re pretty good at it!”

“Th-thank you, miss.”

In fact, Annie performed her natural moves in such a way that showed she might have practiced alone. Aria’s praise brought a shy smile to Annie’s face.

“Of course, it’s a little insufficient to really attend a young lady’s tea party, especially the use of your wrist. It’s stiff. Now, imitate me.”

“Ah…”

Annie bit her lip, looking down at Aria’s graceful hand movements and then at her own stiff wrist. She couldn’t hide her little clumsiness because she hadn’t learned it from anyone. All she had known was what she had seen when she had followed Mielle.

“But, if you keep practicing with me like this, it’ll be pretty good. It’s all about experience, isn’t it?”

“… Y-yes! Miss!”

“Go and take the rest of the day off. There’s nothing else to do, and Jessie’s enough for serving tea. Don’t forget what you learned today and try to practice.” Aria added in a hushed voice, “You never know when there might be another case like my mother’s.”‘

“…!”

When practice ended, the table was cleaned up right away. Annie disappeared from Aria’s room with a puffed out chest and a dream. Aria mocked Annie as she recalled her expression, which had been unlike usual.

‘It was a little annoying making sure she’d be the one assigned to me, but like I imagined, she’s a very easy kid, so I didn’t have to use my hourglass at all. Will Miele learn of this in a dream, that the maid she sent is falling for my shallow tricks and flashing her eyes? Foolish… Annie won’t even be able to sleep with that bloated dream of hers that’ll never come true.’

Of course, according to Annie’s behavior, it wouldn’t be difficult to introduce her to a poor noble. If making her his wife was hard, she could always become his concubine.

‘Anyway, Annie’s a good prey to roast and swing around.’

Aria becoming victim to the traps Mielle’s maids had created in the past had been decisive for the events that brought about her death. Having removed that possibility, she foresaw that whatever she did in the future would not hurt her at all.

* * *

Aria was willing to play the noblewoman game with Annie for a few days. She helped the maid dress up, had pretended tea parties with her in the garden, and took her along to the classes with the noble wives. Of course, all she had been able to do was pour tea and listen, but Annie had listened seriously, as if her whole world had been that.

“Did you learn a lot in class today?”

“Yes! Oh, my God, I’d never known that there were so many manners to abide by in society,” Annie answered with her cheeks flushed.