Celebrity Lady - Chapter 83

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Celebrity Lady
Chapter 83
……It was really Lizbet.
Taller by a finger’s length since they’d last met.
Her face narrower, the baby fat gone.
And…….
The moment his eyes dropped lower, Lark turned his head away sharply and laughed with an awkward “ha-ha.”
“What in the world is this outfit supposed to be? Neither dressed nor undressed, your lady?”
“Oh.”
Lark quickly stripped off his own jacket and draped it over Lizbet’s shoulders. “You weren’t actually exercising in these clothes the whole time, were you? I mean, is this even clothing? Does your shop sell things like this?”
“Well……. It’s Workout Clothes I wear when doing Home Training, but the design is so far ahead of its time that we’re holding off on mass production. Once the weather clears, I keep wearing these for exercise. They’re comfortable.”
“What did you just say?”
“There’s not a single ant on the trail where I exercise anyway.”
Lizbet shrugged carelessly, and Lark shook his head as if he couldn’t stop her.
“But anyway—”
“It’s been forever!”
Her cheerful laugh, a face brightened with genuine welcome.
Lark, gazing down at her quietly, let out a soft chuckle.
“It really has been a while.”
“Isn’t it awful? If you’re so busy, just write letters? So busy!”
“I’m sorry.”
“Is your busy season finished?”
“No, it got worse since May. I’m barely sleeping three hours a day these days.”
Lark pouted playfully like he was complaining. Lizbet, leading him forward, looked surprised.
“My, really? Then why did you come?”
“I was starting to forget what your face looked like. I just gave up on sleep and came.”
“Oh my……. Well, while you’re here, would you like to sleep in my room?”
Lark, who’d been walking alongside her, stopped short. His eyes rolled down to look at her.
“……?”
His expression was utterly innocent, without the slightest ulterior motive.
Lark let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.
“……Never mind. There’s something to be said for unselfconsciously catching someone off guard.”
“What?”
“You’ve changed so much since we last met, I don’t know where to look anymore.”
“Hehe, I’ve grown a lot taller, haven’t I?”
Lizbet stopped walking and turned to face him, raising her hand above her own head while laughing. Lark smiled in return.
“You sure have.”
“I’ve lost a lot of weight too. No more worry about dying at forty-five from obesity complications.”
“Isn’t losing that much weight a bit extreme just to avoid being overweight?”
Lark examined her frame—now half of what it used to be—with visible concern, then held out his palm. “Let me see your hand.”
“Hmm?”
She raised her hand to meet his, and Lark wrapped his fingers around her wrist.
Even with his middle finger and thumb encircling it, there was still too much gap.
“Nothing but bone left.”
“Your hands are just big, Your Highness.”
“No. You’re genuinely too thin.”
“I did manage my weight down to my ideal beauty weight. For the look of my clothes. I’m the owner of a clothing shop, after all.”
“What does that have to do with anything? Shop owners have to be slender?”
“Of course. It’s time for Madam Ruby’s identity to gradually become public.”
Lark looked startled.
“……Really?”
“Yes. People are already incredibly curious about who I am.”
“They are. Whenever I go out these days, people talk about nothing but ‘Madam Ruby.'”
“Ehehehehe…….”
Lizbet covered her mouth and laughed delightedly.
“Are you enjoying it?”
“Of course. Becoming famous is absolutely thrilling.”
Lizbet walked ahead and spun around deliberately, showing off. “A life where everyone in the world knows the amazing, wonderful me!”
That’s what being a celebrity means!
Lark watched her with an amused expression.
“I thought you hated the noise, the way you went with such mystery.”
“Not at all. I was just waiting until I was ‘definitely’ successful. This summer, I’m going to be the model for our new dress line myself.”
“Really? So Madam Ruby’s true identity as the Diolus lady will finally be revealed?”
“Hmm.”
Lizbet tapped her cheek with one finger and shook her head gently. “I don’t plan to deliberately spread rumors that they’re the same person. If it becomes known naturally, there’s nothing I can do, but I won’t push it.”
“Is that so?”
“It’s nice to be famous, but I don’t want it to get too tiring. I’m going to move out to the Forest Area soon and live a peaceful life raising a three-colored cat.”
For a moment, Lizbet’s expression looked somewhat bitter, and Lark found it puzzling.
“Anyway! Once my video airs, please make sure to watch it. Nobody will know we’re the same person~”
“I’ll look forward to it. By the way, won’t Victor recognize you? Actually, I almost didn’t either if you’d pretended to be someone else.”
“You suddenly mean Victor?”
“Didn’t he finally get a Visitation Privilege?”
“Oh, that’s right! He’s coming tomorrow!”
Lizbet clapped her hands, remembering. “He’s piled gifts like a mountain in the Living Quarters.”
“I just barely scraped together a Visitation Privilege, huh?”
“Ha-ha, Your Highness. Since you brought up Victor, there’s actually a funny story. Until now, Father used all the Visitation Privileges?”
Lizbet laughed with delight at how Lark was amused too.
“Oh, I heard about that.”
“But this time, he gave it up to his brothers for the first time. They all started making a fuss about wanting to come.”
“I heard about that too. Victor went with the Young Duke to play rock-paper-scissors, didn’t he? With such a serious face—”
As if imitating Victor, Lark tensed his eyes and added, “I must settle this with my brother. Won’t you grant me early leave?”
“Puhaha……!”
“Then he came back saying that a man settles things with his fists and was happy about it. I scolded him for getting into actual fistfights over a Visitation Privilege, and he said it wasn’t that—he played rock-paper-scissors. Said he showed his fist and won.”
“Ha-ha……. That’s right, that’s right.”
“It really is hilarious.”
Lark laughed helplessly and shook his head.
As they continued walking, Lizbet watched his face with a delighted expression. “So what about you, Your Highness? Don’t you have any funny stories? How are things with you these days?”
“Always the same. But tell me more about yourself. I carved out the time to come here, so I want to hear that pretty voice of yours without limit.”
“Oh stop, you’re getting slick! You’ve clearly improved!”
“Ha-ha-ha……!”
Lizbet playfully pushed at Lark’s shoulder.
For quite some time afterward, the voices of the two mingled with the spring fragrance of Reubon.
* * *
The next day.
A tea table set in the Villa Front Courtyard.
Victor Diolus, who had finally secured his first Visitation Privilege since Lizbet’s Isolation Period half a year ago, had arrived in Reubon.
Sitting with his legs crossed in the chair by the table, Victor swung his feet back and forth restlessly. “How long is this girl going to take with her preparations? A whole afternoon!”
Unable to fit all the mountain of gifts inside the villa, he was waiting outside.
To hold the grand gift-opening ceremony right here in the courtyard.
‘She’ll be moved, won’t she? This older brother used up three months of Knight Order wages, damn it.’
Unlike the other gifts stacked haphazardly, there was something Victor held carefully in his own hand.
A Jewel Brooch from the newly famous <Blanc de Ruby> accessory shop—the crown jewel, you might say.
“Kha-ha-ha!”
Victor wiped his nose with a satisfied expression.
Then.
All five of the Knight Order recruits he’d brought along suddenly faltered, staring at one point.
It was hard to believe these were the same men standing in perfect formation with tight discipline. Their mouths hung slack, eyes blinking stupidly.
Victor frowned and turned to follow their gaze. “Kids, what are you——”
And he froze.
A silver-haired woman he’d never seen before, crossing the courtyard of someone else’s villa without warning.
The moment he saw her raising one hand in a light greeting and walking toward them.
Victor’s eyes went wide and he stiffened in place.
What should he……?
As if celestial hymns were suddenly echoing in his ears.
The woman’s face was unfamiliar yet somehow familiar. Victor soon realized where he’d seen her.
‘That is…….’
The majestic Imperial Palace Main Fortress he saw every time he went to work. Walking through its broad corridors, there on the walls, painted in the murals…….
‘……An angel.’
Yes, the woman looked exactly like the angel in the murals.
Flowing White Dress following her form, fine silver hair rippling at her waist.
A delicate frame that stirred protective instinct, skin pale as snow.
The White Half-Mask covering her left face prevented him from seeing her whole visage, and this only deepened his regret.
Victor rose from his seat as if enchanted, and the woman drew closer.
“Ah.”
An exclamation escaped Victor’s lips.
He’d noticed the woman’s golden eyes as she drew near.
‘She’s of the Imperial Family?’
Realizing, Victor gave a signal to the line of recruits behind him, and they hurriedly prostrated themselves.
Victor too quickly dropped to one knee and bowed his head. It was protocol when addressing Royalty.
‘Why is a princess suddenly here? And her face—I’ve never seen it before…….’
In his lowered view, he could see the hem of the princess’s dress flowing gently.
“The Knight Order of the great Decaard Empire, Victor Diolus, greets the Imperial Family.”
Suddenly, the princess’s feet shifted.
Victor, who had been slowly raising his head to look at the princess’s face, quickly bowed again.
He swallowed hard, his throat tight with nerves.
‘Good heavens……an extraordinary beauty……!’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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