Mad Rosetta - Chapter 35

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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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Rosetta Gone Mad

Chapter 35

The Villainess, the Rose, and the Ghost (1)

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“I think it’s best to keep the fragrance subtle and delicate.”

“Should I bring solid perfume then?”

“Hmm, braiding just part of my hair would look more elegant and refined, I think.”

At the Capital Townhouse.

Since dawn, the children had been fussing over preparations, and I sat before the vanity mirror with an extraordinarily patient expression.

Penny and the servants, tasked with transforming me into a lady befitting Etienne’s dress, moved about like warriors preparing for battle.

Two days had passed since I recovered from the antidote’s effects.

We had departed as planned and arrived safely at the Townhouse, unpacking our belongings.

And so, at last, the day of the Spring Stage had arrived.

The Benatra attendants moved about busily in preparation for the young ladies’ one and only Debut Tante.

“What if we attach fresh flowers to just half of the pinned section? It would look fuller and more lovely.”

The children, brimming with excitement, chattered ceaselessly before me, their hands never still.

I simply closed my eyes gently, allowing them to adorn me as they wished.

At this, they eagerly touched my face and arranged my hair with fervent dedication.

Watching the children, who had grown comfortable speaking with me over these past days, a quiet smile bloomed across my face.

As I sat there, I found myself recalling the moment I had first awakened from that long sleep.

– “You certainly slept long.”

Sing, the first to greet me as consciousness returned, offered a rather dry greeting.

Perhaps because my vision was unusually clear, I immediately recognized this as reality, not a dream.

The medicine worked well—though my mind remained somewhat hazy, it felt distinctly different from before.

My head… didn’t hurt.

Gone were the sharp pains that pierced my temples, the sudden discomfort triggered by the slightest stimulus, the way my heart would race with inexplicable dread.

– “Oh… Lady?”

Perhaps that’s why I felt such genuine gratitude when the Servant came to my room early to change my cold compress.

Until now, it had felt as though dust accumulated on my entire body, as if perpetual rain and gray skies would never lift.

But how wonderfully light I felt!

– “The weather is finally clear.”

Experiencing a refreshing morning for the first time in years, I chose to smile rather than weep.

Reina looked bewildered, then hesitantly touched my forehead to check, before hurrying out to fetch the Physician.

– “I thought I’d die of boredom, darling…”

Once Reina left, Sing finally released his tension, burying his face into my bed.

I found it both amusing and oddly touching—this ghost muttering that I should never again teach him there were limits to talking to oneself.

Each time I’d opened my eyes in those fleeting moments, I’d seen that broad figure, and now I understood he had remained by my side all along.

No one yearns for something they’ve never tasted.

Before meeting me, Sing—a ghost—had never conversed with a person.

Now that he’d experienced the taste of meeting eyes, exchanging words, and sharing laughter with someone…

I wondered if perhaps my solitary murmuring, just as before, had made him feel lonely.

– 【In two days, I’ll need to drink the antidote again. If I’m as ill as I was this time, I won’t be able to attend the Feast, and you might end up in the same predicament as me.】

– “You really do spew out nothing but curses, don’t you?”

– 【Which is why you mustn’t even think about getting sick, Rosette.】

How long have you been living as a dead woman?

Sing’s incessant grumbling struck me as oddly melancholic, so I couldn’t bring myself to rebuke him any further.

Fortunately, Marmint’s concern that the first dose would be the worst proved accurate—when I drank the second antidote, though nausea seized me violently, I didn’t develop a fever.

The final antidote was perfectly timed to be taken after the Spring Stage concluded, so I spent those days in anticipation of that moment alone.

“Young Lady, you mentioned the accessories would be from Ceramimi, correct?”

With those words, Penny retrieved a box from the Wardrobe and opened it before me.

‘Oh, how dazzling.’

The brilliance of the gems—which appeared lavender from one angle and rose-tinted from another—made me nod in approval.

The morning after I collapsed.

Sing told me he’d watched Vicky enter, tend to me perfunctorily, and then slip into the Wardrobe.

– 【She just sprinkled it on, like scattering breadcrumbs.】

Vicky, still wearing her gloves, had dusted powder onto the necklace and earrings before leaving the room.

He even scoffed, saying that thanks to her, the imitation pearls gleamed all the more brilliantly.

Before I departed for the Capital Townhouse, I hid the box containing those counterfeit pearl accessories in a corner beneath my bed.

The servants, in turn, packed the genuine pieces from Marandranché into my travel bags.

Of course, I had no intention of wearing those either.

“Wow! It really suits the Lady perfectly!”

“Truly. I knew it would look wonderful on you.”

Reina and Sara continued their praise, even clapping their hands as they watched me adorned with jewelry.

Just as Penny finished arranging my hair and withdrew her hands, I took a moment to admire my nearly complete appearance.

【Truly… I hate to let you go.】

“….”

【Aren’t you even sorry to the young Princesses attending today’s feast in anticipation of it, darling? Hmm?】

Sing, who had been watching silently until now, chided me for even thinking of dancing with Cessia, saying it was utterly absurd—all while grinning to himself.

The very one speaking such words couldn’t stop smiling.

At his roundabout way of complimenting my exceptional beauty, I couldn’t help but laugh softly.

‘Well… he certainly looks like someone who’s been well-fed and well-cared for.’

Roses from Benatra, procured since dawn, adorned my hair with elegant grace like a floral arrangement.

Since unmarried women could not pin their hair up, I had curled only a small portion of my hair to the left and tucked the ornaments within.

The remaining locks cascaded downward in luxuriant waves, and the half-pinned style possessed a certain refined elegance.

The dress, which shimmered along its weave like sunlight shattering upon waves, was equally breathtaking.

‘…Truly, Etienne should have seen me like this with her own eyes.’

Ant Etuilane had finally made her decision and visited the Townhouse late yesterday afternoon.

Bearing the contract she had signed.

Rather than show obvious delight, I offered her my hand in a handshake.

Etienne smiled and said that should I ever need anything, I need only call upon her.

“Lady, pardon me for a moment.”

Soon after, Penny slipped a pair of shoes onto my feet—delicate heels studded with diamonds in intricate patterns.

The perfect fit brought a satisfied smile to my lips as I rose from my seat.

Just then, Vicky returned to the room, and I caught sight of her expression freezing as she took in my appearance.

A delightful anticipation washed over me—today promised to be quite an enjoyable affair.

“Vicky, you’re back?”

“Ah, yes….”

She had spent the morning at the Transport Station in the Capital City, sending the items I’d entrusted to her to the Estate, so she’d had no hand in my preparations.

Vicky’s expression, momentarily dazed with surprise, finally settled on the Ceramimi necklace adorning my neck.

“Ah, Lady. You look absolutely radiant.”

Her trembling voice carried a palpable undercurrent of anxiety.

“Hmm, even I must admit my appearance is rather presentable today.”

“But, the necklace…. Weren’t you planning to wear pearls for the Spring Stage?”

Vicky forced an awkward smile, speaking to me as one might soothe a child.

Sara questioned whether such an arrangement had ever been made, while Reina playfully chided her, saying the Lady’s accessories could certainly change as she pleased—what was there to be so startled about?

“Ah, that. Did I not mention it?”

I answered her with utmost gentleness.

“I sent the Marandranché jewelry you recommended to the Duchess.”

“…Pardon?”

“I couldn’t very well wear both pieces, and I happened to be searching for a suitable gift for the Duchess.”

Unlike me, who answered with an innocent smile, Vicky’s expression—shifting in real-time through a thousand anxieties—was truly a sight to behold.

The method Sing had recommended to unsettle the Attendant was remarkably simple.

First, to make her realize she had failed to properly execute her master’s command.

“I asked you to send something to my Estate, yet you haven’t visited the Transport Station just now.”

“….”

“That item you left with them—it was a gift for the Duchess.”

Second, to plant the fear that her mistake might actually harm her master.

Items received at the Transport Station in the morning depart to their destinations before midday.

And it was already well past noon.

No matter how urgently Vicky rushed back to the Transport Station, the item she’d entrusted would already be en route to Benitra Territory.

Realizing this fact, Vicky stared at me with trembling eyes.

‘She must be terrified. What if Lianna tries on the necklace? That thought alone will consume her.’

Though it was Odette’s order, the one who carried it out so brazenly was none other than myself.

And Odette would soon discover that I was wearing different jewelry.

‘If, after the Feast ends and Odette returns to the Main Residence, Lianna appears before her with a rash from the poison…?’

It was obvious that Vicky was currently consumed by such anxieties.

I would take only Penny, my personal Maid, to the Imperial Palace Feast.

Which meant Reina, Vicky, and Sara would remain at the Townhouse to prepare for the Feast after the Spring Stage.

For all that time, Vicky would have to worry endlessly about whether Lianna had tried on the pearl necklace.

That alone would ensure she spent an agonizing period marinating in anxiety.

‘A lie, of course.’

Of course, the claim about a gift for Lianna was nothing but a fabrication.

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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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