Chapter 32
I started a background investigation on Shabelle.
Shabelle liked sweets, and in particular, her favorite was fresh fruit tart.
The Barony of Float was said to be a poor territory, so the Baron barely maintained a mansion in the capital. And the cook at their mansion wasn’t very good at making desserts.
That’s why Shabelle seemed to be diligently going to events and banquets, only to eat the food there.
Dresses took time to make, so I first sent a letter to Shabelle along with five kinds of tarts—strawberry, melon, blueberry, peaches and orange. They were made by the Krenberia estate’s chef.
And I didn’t miss an opportunity that I got with the help of Radiev.
At the Rose Garden, Radiev told me to stop picking a fight with Shabelle and give her a chance to ‘heal’ her ‘wounds’, and Shabelle agreed.
That was much of the contents of my letter.
There were a lot of greetings and formalities in accordance with aristocratic etiquette, so the letter itself was two pages long. But to summarize the contents—
It’s a precious opportunity given by His Highness the Crown Prince, so I’m going to do my best to help and heal your wounds. Please look forward to it.
In other words, Shabelle told Radiev that she’d give me a chance. If I refused, I wrote that it would be tantamount to disobeying an Imperial order.
But when the letter was sent, what came back was a reply from Baron Float, Shabelle’s grandfather.
The Baron seemed to have panicked when he saw that a letter came from a Ducal Princess with the mention of the Crown Prince.
Shabelle’s wounds were healed with the tarts I sent, he said, and thanked me for caring.
‘…How come an adult is targeting me? To make it easier?’
I sighed as I thought of Shabelle.
My purpose wasn’t to heal her wounds, but to attack.
I planned to write a reply addressed to Shabelle again despite the correspondence coming from the Baron, but come to think of it, it’s a little strange.
It wasn’t good etiquette for a man to reply directly to a young lady.
It would be fine if I was an adult, but I was only a year older than Shabelle.
I read the Baron’s reply again. After the greeting, I noticed his first sentence.
「 My granddaughter is lacking knowledge, so I will be answering for her. 」
When I first read it, I skimmed over it and didn’t think to read between the lines, but…
“Shabelle… doesn’t know the holy language.”
The holy language was used by aristocrats.
I’m not fluent myself, but I knew how to read the words, enough to recite poems or read theater programs, and other necessary words for children my age needed for tea parties.
Since everyone’s still young, if they didn’t know the holy language well, a family scribe could help or ghostwrite the letter.
But I wrote my letter myself.
That’s how I could practice the language more, and it’s always better to send handwritten letters.
The language is used for invitations anyway. Ten or twenty invitations were being written and sent, so wasn’t it weirder not to be able to use it?
The Float family wouldn’t have enough correspondences with other families to hire a scribe, so perhaps Baron Float, the head of the household himself, had sent the reply.
Because the head of the family couldn’t possibly ghostwrite his own granddaughter’s letter.
‘Shabelle, no matter how hard it is, shouldn’t you know the Imperial language?’
The Baron politely expressed his gratitude instead, and the letter to be sent to Shabelle would be in the Imperial language.
But if I only wrote in the Imperial language, I would just embarrass myself as the young lady of the Krenberia family. So, I wrote down a conventional greeting in the holy language.
I talked about the weather and other pleasantries.
How do you do, something like that.
{ t/n: ^ that was written as english words written in hangul. }
‘But if the person who’s to become the Crown Princess of the country can’t read that… Will the country be okay…?’
In the novel, I didn’t mind anything since I was an outsider, but now I’m worried if Shabelle would eventually become the national mother of the country when she’s this way.
Time passed, and the dress was completed. I sent a letter asking Shabelle if we could meet together and have fun on a day when she wasn’t busy.
Of course, I also repeatedly wrote that there’s no pressure to accept my invitation.
Wouldn’t she hate me more if I did though?
Somehow, since she’s the female lead of the original, I feel like I became the male lead who’s seducing her with all the things money could buy.
I don’t know if Shabelle really could understand the Imperial language, but a direct letter came back.
Just like I did, she wrote down the conventional greetings in the holy language.
“But… Um, how do I read this?”
「 The sprring whether is nice. Howw do yew do? 」
The letters were written in cursive, but they weren’t accurately written.
‘The spring weather is nice…? Ahh, this is really hard.’
It took a long time for me to decode the Imperial language here because of the terrible handwriting. But unexpectedly, the letter was full of pretty words.
She said that it was really touching that she could try Krenberia’s tarts.
She really wanted to see the play, but it’s a shame that her father said no. She’s still glad that she was invited.
She also liked the dress so much that she looked forward to this day.
…I was confused because the letter was so full of affection, that it’s like we’ve become best friends.
I looked at the signature at the end several times. I was wondering if I sent the dress to the wrong noble lady.
But no matter how many times I read it again, it was still Shabelle Float. Not Sherbet or Lavelle, but Shabelle.
Her handwriting was terrible.
Today’s the day I decided to watch a theater performance with Shabelle.
I didn’t have enough time because I had a plan, but I couldn’t miss my morning walk.
It’s said that my Elven language teacher will visit tomorrow morning, so I thought I needed to get myself used to waking up early.
Since I didn’t have much time, I went out for a walk for only thirty minutes, then started preparing for the outing.
To make Shabelle stand out, I chose a turquoise dress with little decoration.
Still, my silver hair was so pretty that it shone on its own with just a pin on it.
I know it’s my own face, but I think I’ll fall in love with myself just by looking at this face.
‘But not Karpel.’
This beauty won’t work no matter what, and it won’t touch his heart.
‘Of course, it’s hard to attack.’
It’s hard because I already have this hair. Wouldn’t it be better if I hid it?
After preparing, I set off for the Float mansion two hours earlier than promised. The maids who dressed me up were also brought along.
In the novel, I read that Shabelle dressed herself as her mother taught her.
In fact, Shabelle presented herself so prettily and neatly that I wouldn’t have been able to tell that she didn’t have a maid.
But I didn’t want Shabelle to prepare all by herself again today. I had to make sure that after-sales service would be given.
Stein followed me there.
He naturally accompanied me because it was Stein who reported directly to the butler about anything related to Shabelle, and the butler entrusted him with this.
I was worried that I was taking away Karpel’s aide from his side, so I told Stein not to follow me, but he seemed to want to come because the butler told him so. I eventually just brought him along.
The Baron’s mansion was a two-storey detached building.
They had carriages and gardens, but I could see everything in just one glance.
‘The Float family is very poor.’
Of course, there were also nobles who were poorer than them, to the point that the madams of the household would sew clothes themselves.
Still, even if this noble family had a low rank, after I reincarnated, I never thought it would be to this extent since their family had a mansion in the capital, a home in their territory, and a villa.
Baron Float came to meet me at the front of the mansion, startled by me arriving ahead of schedule.
“Lady Krenberia, welcome.”
“Thank you for welcoming me, Baron Float. I am Inaila of Krenberia.”
When I greeted him gracefully, Baron smiled warmly in return.
All the excuses he must have prepared about Shabelle not ready yet seemed to have flown out of his head.
“I really wanted to dress up Lady Float, so I brought some maids from Krenberia. I hope I’m not being a bother. Baron, is this alright?”
“No, please. Shabelle would be happy, too.”
“Since you’ve allowed it, Baron, I’ll take responsibility and make Shabelle happy today!”
“Shabelle’s room is on the left side of the second floor. I hope you both have a great time.”
“Of course.”
I nodded towards the maids.
As expected, women’s preparations should begin with pleasant words.
The maids began to move busily as though this was the Krenberia mansion, getting to work right away and boiling bath water the usual way.
I climbed up to the second floor.
Shabelle, who was trying to style her hair with waves by braiding it, stuck her head out of her door wearing only a chemise.
“Who’s…? Ah! Princess?”
{ t/n: a duke’s daughter is also called ‘princess’. }