Countess Youngae’s Money-Sweeping Makeup Shop - Chapter 23

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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23

“Sillia? Is there some kind of problem?”

A hand waved gently in front of my eyes.

My dazed mind snapped back to attention.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Your Highness the Crown Princess,”

“Helena.”

“But how can I so carelessly,”

“Try calling me ‘Helena.'”

Is this an assassination attempt?

You must never call a member of the royal family by their name!

My pupils shook wildly as Helena looked at me with a determined expression.

Should I follow proper etiquette, or should I follow the Crown Princess’s words?

Two selves fought in my head.

I moved my lips hesitantly, then spoke carefully in a small voice.

“He, Helena…?”

What would be right anyway.

If I’m going to die either way, it would be better to listen to the Crown Princess so I could at least have someone to blame.

Helena’s tense eyes softened gently.

“Thank you.”

The corners of her mouth curved into a soft arc.

Helena let go of my hand and returned to sit on the sofa.

“There’s still some time before the ball starts, so what would you like to do? You can rest here if you want, or if you arranged to meet your partner, you can go ahead.”

“Um, my partner Yeongseok will probably arrive soon, so I think I should head over.”

“Ah, then you should go. Is your partner Gardrid Yeongseok again this time?”

“Yes. Gardrid Yeongseok is the most comfortable for me.”

“You two have always gone together. You must have had many partner requests. Gardrid Yeongseok should consider it an honor.”

“Hehe, I suppose so.”

After hearing each other’s words, we fell silent for a moment, then both burst into laughter and giggled softly.

***

Since Felix didn’t seem to have arrived yet, I took a stroll through the garden as Helena had suggested.

I could see the beautiful garden that hadn’t been visible in the darkness.

White roses and fresh-colored leaves swayed gently in the breeze.

I walked along the white path, listening to the refreshing sound coming from the white fountain.

I took a deep breath and inhaled the clean air.

Is this why everyone tells you to take walks?

Just walking and breathing somehow made me feel healthier.

I was stretching as I walked.

I saw a dark figure in the distance.

That familiar silhouette.

My eyes sparkled as I hurried over.

“Hello, Jesuert Yeongseok!”

When I greeted him brightly, Ricardo flinched.

Oh, I should have spoken after making eye contact.

I gave an awkward smile as I looked at Ricardo turning around to face me.

“Sorry for greeting you so suddenly. I was just so happy to see you.”

“It’s fine.”

A stiff, short response came back.

Hmm.

Is that mask the problem?

It seems like the kid becomes subtly annoying whenever he puts on that mask.

I stared intently at his masked face.

His radiant face came to mind and overlapped with that wolf mask.

Ricardo would probably look good in glamorous makeup too, not just covering scars.

With cool black as an accent…

“Yeongae?”

“Oh, excuse me!”

I clapped both hands against my cheeks.

Why am I so spaced out today?

Is it because I’ve seen too many beautiful things?

I made eye contact again and smiled brightly.

Ricardo looked down at me quietly and remained silent.

As the awkward silence continued, cold sweat ran down my back.

It seemed like the corners of my mouth were twitching.

Worried that my smile might disappear, I carefully crafted my smile with maximum attention.

“What is it?”

“Pardon?”

“Didn’t you greet me because you had something to say?”

“Oh, ah, right! I did speak to you, didn’t I? I’m so scattered today…”

“Yes.”

“Um, so there’s something I’d like to ask of you as a business partner.”

“A request?”

“I need someone who’s good at color mixing. Do you happen to know anyone?”

“Do you need a painter?”

“It doesn’t matter what profession they have. They just need to be good at color mixing.”

“Hmm. I’ll have to look into that. Are there any other conditions?”

“It would be good if they can distinguish subtle color differences well.”

“Understood. But why do you need such a person?”

“Um. It would be faster for you to see rather than for me to explain.”

I turned my head to spot a nearby bench and approached it, gesturing to Ricardo.

I placed my basket on the bench and took out pink dyes of various colors from inside.

“Look, this color and this color are different colors.”

“…Pardon?”

I knew you’d say that, you fool.

I smiled and applied the colors on the back of my hand.

Then I held my hand out to Ricardo.

“How about it?”

“What’s the difference?”

“This is cherry pink, and this is wine pink.”

“…?”

“You can’t tell, right?”

“No.”

“But there’s a big difference. The mood changes depending on what color you use it with. It can become lovely or elegant.”

“So that’s why you need such a person.”

“Color cosmetics create the most change in makeup.”

Ricardo, who had been bending slightly to examine the colors, nodded slowly.

“Would it be better to find someone as quickly as possible?”

“Fast would be good, but more than that, I want someone with definite skills.”

He straightened up as if understanding my answer.

After wiping the back of my hand with a handkerchief, I organized the cosmetics.

“Are you finished with what you wanted to say?”

As I lifted the basket, I briefly touched my chin and pondered over the words I heard.

Was there something I needed to say?

I had already talked about the most urgent matter.

I closed my eyes to check once more if I had missed anything, then opened them when it seemed like there was nothing.

Suddenly, the mask caught my eye.

“Ah!”

“Do you have more to say?”

“The mask, why did you come wearing that? I gave you foundation as a gift in return for the raisins back then.”

“…Haah.”

I heard a sigh that seemed filled with irritation.

The golden eyes that had been the only thing glowing differently from within the mask disappeared into the darkness.

Did something happen?

Don’t tell me it was an allergic reaction?

Is this business deal invalid?

All sorts of thoughts crossed my mind, but I carefully asked a question.

“Was there some kind of problem?”

“It doesn’t work.”

“Pardon?”

“No one other than yeongae can cover the scars. Even when they succeeded in covering them, it felt like something was piled on and it was bothersome.”

“Piled on…?”

I tilted my head and blinked.

Soon I realized why Ricardo felt that way.

I didn’t tell them how to do color correcting.

Everyone must have just piled on tons of foundation that matched Ricardo’s skin tone to cover it.

That would make sense then.

It must have been the story about how his skin felt stuffy and sticky, making it bothersome.

There’s a lot to change, a lot.

“It’s probably because they didn’t do color correcting.”

“Color correcting?”

“Do you remember there was foundation in different colors from your skin tone among what I gave you?”

“Are you referring to the green or pink ones?”

“Yes, those!”

“Color correcting is killing the color of the patchy scars with those to unify them into a similar color.”

“If you do that, wouldn’t only the scarred parts look strange in color?”

“That’s when you lightly cover it with foundation similar to your skin tone. That way you can cover it cleanly.”

“Hmm, where did you learn such things?”

“Ah, um…”

Is there an appropriate place?

Are there such things among the books here?

They can’t even recognize me when I do full makeup, so would such things exist?

Rolling around, my gaze wandered aimlessly and my mouth went dry.

Just when my head started throbbing,

“Ria!”

A familiar voice called me.

Oh, my savior. My rescuer, my lifeline.

You came? My lovely escape rope!

When I turned around following the voice, I made eye contact with Felix.

I was so grateful that I smiled brightly without realizing it.

Tap tap tap, Felix who was approaching saw Ricardo in front of me and immediately took a backstep.

Wait, wait, wait!

Where are you going, where are you going!

What kind of escape rope escapes by itself, leaving behind the person who needs to escape?

It was so absurd that I stared at the direction Felix disappeared with a truly dumbfounded expression.

“Ria?”

In a situation where betrayal was bubbling up, the young man behind me casually spoke.

Flinch.

Did I just flinch?

Wondering if it was too obvious, I turned my head while being a bit cautious.

Something felt strange.

It was creepy and not pleasant…?

It was just odd.

Ricardo using such a familiar way of addressing me?

It felt like I had glimpsed into a company president’s private life.

When I made eye contact with Ricardo, my heart pounded.

My head felt dizzy and thoughts of escaping, I need to escape, gradually filled my mind.

“Fe, Felix seems to be urgently looking for me!”

“Are you two on a first-name basis?”

“Yes! I’ll work hard!”

“What?”

I nodded enthusiastically at Ricardo’s question.

I didn’t know what I was saying right now, but I figured it might be right somehow.

My pupils shook.

“So, so…”

Breaking out in cold sweat, I looked at Ricardo with blurred vision.

Moving my lips, forgetting about etiquette and everything else, I put both hands together, bowed deeply at the waist, and blurted out a reflexive greeting.

“Ebennain yeongae?”

“Thank you for visiting!”

“What visit,”

“I’ll see you again next time!”

Ricardo seemed to be saying something, but I was too flustered to pay attention to such things.

I straightened up abruptly and ran off in the direction Felix had backstepped.

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