Countess Youngae’s Money-Sweeping Makeup Shop - Chapter 25

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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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25

It was beyond my expectations.

Helena danced with the Crown Prince.

Helena, who I thought would slap him and demand a divorce, danced with a smile.

But that was all.

Nothing else happened.

After finishing the dance, Helena approached me in the corner.

Helena, smiling brightly at me, sparkled more brilliantly than anyone else in the ballroom.

This would be a fact that everyone in the ballroom would acknowledge.

“Ebennain Yeongae.”

“…Your Highness, Crown Princess.”

I answered blankly and hurriedly greeted Helena.

“I greet the Empire’s little moon.”

When her identity as Crown Princess was revealed, all the nobles from Felix onwards greeted Helena.

“I greet the Empire’s little moon.”

Helena told them it was fine and to rise, then looked back at me again.

Cheerful music spread through the ballroom once more.

Only then did I lift my gaze from the floor upward, meeting violet eyes.

Confirming our eyes met, Helena smiled with her eyes and turned her body slightly to check behind herself.

“How was I?”

“You were beautiful.”

“Oh my, how delightful. Did my nervousness show?”

“No. You actually looked very composed.”

“It’s thanks to Ebennain Yeongae.”

“Me?”

“Yes. I always dressed up copying others, but facing him with my own appearance somehow gave me courage.”

Helena took a deep breath and exhaled, then looked at me again and approached to carefully embrace my waist.

“He really was nothing special. I wonder what I was so afraid and troubled about.”

“Your Highness…”

“Thank you for giving me courage, Yeongae.”

My chest felt ticklish.

My hands moved awkwardly before I gently embraced Helena back.

The last time I shared an embrace like this seemed to be when a teacher comforted me when I was very young.

It was incredibly awkward, but the body warmth I felt was nice.

I felt my heart ache, but I smiled foolishly to keep my emotions from bursting out.

As the hands that had touched my body slowly fell away, I also released Helena.

Helena, who had been looking me over carefully with her eyes, smiled elegantly.

“His Highness the Crown Prince will probably be quiet today, so stay and enjoy yourself comfortably. If you get tired, it’s fine to leave early too.”

“Yes, thank you. May glory always be with the Empire’s little moon.”

After receiving my greeting, Helena nodded and turned to walk among the nobles.

Come to think of it, I don’t understand why the Crown Prince is acting like that.

Did they talk about divorce while dancing?

Even as I tilted my head wondering, I erased my concerns thinking Helena must have done whatever she wanted anyway.

I expected Felix to ask what kind of trouble I had caused this time, but he was surprisingly quiet.

He just danced once to the music without saying anything.

Did he fall in love with Helena?

Well, I did make someone who was already too pretty reach a divine level.

I nodded and was about to form a mischievous smile.

“Felix.”

“…Yeah?”

“Honey is practically flowing from your eyes. Is it first love?”

“Wh-what!”

Felix’s face turned so red it was indistinguishable from his hair color.

He was so flustered that his previously smooth steps got tangled.

Somehow, even though I couldn’t dance well, I ended up in the position of leading.

Still, the situation was funny so I let out giggling sounds.

“It’s all showing. How innocent.”

“Sorry, but you’re a year younger than me, you know?”

“Oh my, Felix oppa! Please tell me about oppa’s first love~.”

“Why would I tell you that?”

“Why? You should teach love to your younger sister. Hurry up and tell me.”

“Forget it. Why would I teach you about love? Someone who hasn’t even started properly.”

“Oh my.”

Right. This is exactly the fun of hearing about other people’s love lives.

What should I do? Helena is the Crown Prince’s wife for now.

Someday someone who suits you well will appear, Felix.

They say all first loves fail.

Who knows?

Maybe the day will come when Helena proposes to you!

Kyaak, what should I do! So exciting!

“Want to go meet her together later?”

“Wh-who?”

“Her Highness the Crown Princess.”

“…? Why would I?”

“Huh?”

“?”

“?”

“First love?”

“What is this girl saying? Stop imagining weird things and look at reality, Ebennain Yeongae.”

Felix looked at me with an expression of disbelief, then easily took back the lead and finished the dance.

He didn’t fall in love with Helena?

Then why is he being so well-behaved?

Did he eat something wrong?

Thinking that Felix had become a strange guy today, I hoped the song would end quickly.

My feet hurt.

Right now I wanted to go to bed immediately and rest with pain patches and foot patches.

Please.

I’m so desperate right now.

***

After the song ended, I sat on the sofa to rest for a moment.

I had been tensing my legs worried I might fall or make a mistake, and now I could feel them swelling in real time.

My feet also felt hot as if they were on a grill right now.

I need break time, break time.

“Ebennain Yeongae, would you dance one song with me?”

A shadow fell over me.

Who is it?

Who dares to speak to someone who’s resting?

Well, what can I do if they speak to me?

It’s not like I have any power.

Felix is also busy talking to other people, so I have to handle this myself.

I lifted my head with a forced pretty smile.

“I was….”

As soon as I raised my head, what I met was a black wolf mask.

“Ricardo?”

“…Yes, Ebennain Yeongae.”

“What did I just say?”

“…You said ‘Ricardo.'”

“Ah.”

Look how I just threw etiquette out the window.

Did I just carelessly call him by his name alone?

I licked my lips and rolled my eyes to the side, then smiled brightly as if nothing had happened.

“Let’s call it even since you called me by my nickname earlier.”

“Understood. More importantly, are you refusing?”

“Refusing what? Oh, the dance request. Hmm.”

“If you don’t want to, you can refuse without concern.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. I’m just worried I might make mistakes.”

“You danced well with Young Lord Gadreed.”

“I stepped on his feet terribly.”

“Please step on mine too.”

“Do you like pain?”

“Are there people who like such things?”

“But you told me to step on you.”

“I meant I don’t mind if you accidentally step on me. Not that I like it.”

I looked up at Ricardo with a groan.

I can’t tell what he’s thinking because of that mask again.

Whether it’s really okay to refuse or not.

I frowned and stared, then finally let out a deep sigh.

If I’m not certain, there’s no benefit in gambling.

Let’s just sacrifice them, my feet.

Rather, let him step on them.

If I can’t do it, he’ll stop on his own.

I stood up from my seat and grabbed Ricardo’s outstretched hand.

I smiled helplessly and looked straight at Ricardo.

“We’ll only dance one song.”

“That alone would be an honor.”

We mixed among the nobles and began dancing to the next song.

Dancing with Ricardo was fascinating.

My feet didn’t hurt as much as I thought they would.

I wondered if Ricardo was good at leading,

but then I thought it might be because I wasn’t tense since I thought it was okay to make mistakes.

Indeed, people shouldn’t be nervous.

As I was nodding and praising myself, a low, calm voice brushed against my ear.

“How did you recognize Her Highness the Crown Princess?”

“Well, because I did it?”

“Pardon?”

“I said I did it for her. Her Highness the Crown Princess’s makeup.”

“Oh,”

“How about that? Did you ask me to dance to extract information?”

“Yes.”

“Hah.”

He was so brazen that I was dumbfounded.

Why extract information?

Want to buy information?

I let out a hollow laugh while looking at Ricardo, then deliberately stepped hard on his foot.

“Well. I don’t want to tell you. I was taught that information should be sold for a price.”

“You won’t tell even a business partner?”

“Not for the reason of ‘extracting information.’ If I asked Young Lord to tell me business secrets to extract them, would you tell me?”

“Hmm.”

“You wouldn’t tell me, right?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“Haaaaah.”

As I sighed deeply, I heard laughter from somewhere.

It was brief but definitely laughter.

Did he just mock me?

When I glared at Ricardo, he changed the subject as if nothing had happened.

“Are you lovers with Young Lord Gadreed?”

But that question made my head go blank and then fill with question marks, making my previous thoughts disappear.

Were Sillia and Felix lovers?

Receiving such a question, I squeezed my eyes shut and gathered my memory to its maximum, worried they might have been lovers.

While diligently organizing the parts I remembered,

Come to think of it, I can’t remember Felix’s role in the novel at all, so what is he?

Where did he come from?

Did his name even appear?

I squeezed my head until it hurt, but I couldn’t remember, so I groaned and opened my eyes.

Since Felix definitely wasn’t in the important events, he probably just appeared briefly as Sillia’s partner in the early parts.

“We’re not lovers, we’re friends. Friends who’ve been close since long ago. Like childhood friends, you know.”

“Childhood friends.”

“Yes.”

At my answer, Felix seemed to contemplate for a moment in silence.

The silence wasn’t long, and words soon followed.

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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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