Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.
Time passed by quickly. And before knowing it, Angela came to the mansion.
I cancelled my whole schedule for the week and prepared to meet her.
Knowing the future was a relief for me. Having a rare free time, I spent it leisurely, looking forward to seeing Angela again.
Compared to the underground prison, the mansion was paradise.
The meals Anna brought had no special menu, but eating the soft bread dipped in the warm soup was satisfying enough.
Only those who had experienced the underground prison's dreadful coldness would know that. So I never want to step in there ever again.
"It is about time for His Excellency to arrive."
At Anna's words, I stood up from the table.
After leaving the room, I came back and stood in front of the mirror.
I had practised my smile for the last time so that Angela would not feel my smile was a fake one.
When I went down to the first floor, all the household staff were downstairs. They noticed me and greeted me.
I responded with a smile and stood next to the head maid, and Anna quietly went to line up where the servants were waiting.
"Miss Jayna, your dress is not one you'd normally wear."
What the head maid mentioned was one of my intentions. I used to prefer fancy dresses, but today I chose the most simple dress I have.
Even the most habitual behaviour can become the object of criticism according to the situation.
At my first meeting with Angela, I was wearing an expensive fancy dress.
Nobody had any problem with it at that time, because I was just wearing my usual outfit.
But one day, Angela told people: "I, who was poor, went to Bellechateur mansion in plain clothes. But Jayna, who I met for the first time, was dressed very well, so I got depressed. It was hard for me to talk to Jayna given how so shabby I was compared to her.' and from that moment I was labelled as an uneducated person who didn't want to welcome a girl from the countryside.
"Today we have another guest. My usual attire could make her feel uncomfortable and out of place. I don't want Angela to find me difficult."
Angela's family is poor.
Even if I didn't say this, everyone who is listening knows it.
"Oh my....! How are you so considerate? I so proud that my young lady grew up being very kind."
While I was having a brief conversation with the head maid, from outside a commotion was heard.
She and I stopped and turned to face the entrance. The mansion door opened.
"Father!"
"Jayna...?"
When I saw my father, I ran towards him and hugged him.
This kind of affection performance I had not done since my childhood, so father was visibly dumbfounded.
But He didn't pull me off until I parted first. On the contrary, the hug was short, making it easier.
Looking closer, his face was still expressionless, but there was a sense of joy.
Why hadn't I known this before? We simply lacked communication.
"I'm glad you're back safely."
"Yes, how have you been?"
"Fine. And that one...?"
The girl hiding behind my father appeared with her head down.
"Ah, greetings to you. My name is Angela Vito."
"You must be Angela! It's nice to meet you. Everyone has been waiting for you."
With a bright smile, I clasped her hands.
I can smile. That's a relief. It was worth practising all week.
Angela looked up and an exclamation of admiration broke out among the employees.
She wasn't called the top beauty in the Empire for nothing.
Unarranged silver hair, incredible white skin, rosy cheeks and green eyes quivering with anxiety.
Angela's first appearance still the same as I recall.
Even in a cheap dress of unknown fabric, her beauty couldn't be hidden.
"I'll introduce you formally, so let's move to the parlour.
My father looked at Angela and me with a smile.
I walked side by side, holding Angela's hand. She didn't hold back my hand, but it didn't matter.
My goal is to show people how I take care of Angela anyway.
This first meeting had gone all right on its own way.
In fact, the first real meeting with Angela was very different from today.
Previously I was in a bad mood since I received my father's letter. It was because of the sentence in the letter that said 'I'm sorry I couldn't find Blue Marie'.
I was not interested in the girl my father had brought.
So when her father came home, I spoke to my father with an annoyed face.
Although after I saw Angela who was standing right behind him, all my interest in Blue Marie disappeared.
Moreover, that night due to the presence of the guest, my father called me out for being immature and I had been harshly scolded.
When we got to the parlour, Angela and I sat across from him, still holding hands.
"This is my daughter, Jayna, and this is Miss Angela, Baron Vito's only daughter. Jayna, you remember Baron Vito, don't you?"
"Yes."
Baron Vito, a name I had heard long ago since I was a child.
As the saviour who salvaged my father's life in the war. After that incident, The Marquis Bellechateur and Baron Vito became close friends.
Following the war, Baron Vito returned to his homeland, but they kept in touch by exchanging letters for a long time.
After the loss of his wife early on, Baron Vito had raised his daughter, Angela, on his own.
The baron was not well off, so my father had provided him with momentary support.
And recently, Baron Vito passed away.
Before he died, the baron sent a letter to Marquis Bellechateur asking him to take care of his daughter Angela.
Of course, my father did not dismiss his friend's request, and that was the reason why Angela came to Bellechateur Residence.
"The baron was a great man who saved my father on the battlefield. I am really sorry to hear such news. I don't know how to convey my condolences."
Saying that, I then hugged Angela and lightly patted her back.
"And I trust that you will help Angela adjust to life at Bellechateur Mansion and the capital city, Jayna."
"Of course. I already love Angela as if she were my real sister."
"I'm glad you're already on good terms. I hope Miss Angela to think of me as her father."
"Tha-Thank you. I cannot express my appreciation, Your Excellency. I have no idea how I shall repay this grace."
I know. That grace has been repaid by your generous kindness of biting the hand that fed you.
"Don't think too much. We just wish you to feel comfortable."
There was a warm atmosphere in the parlour.
After a few more words, my father got up from his seat.
"it would be better for you to have some rest, as you've been travelling in the carriage for a long time. Head maid, Miss Angela's room should be ready, correct?"
"Yes, sir. Thanks to the active help of Miss Jayna, it's well prepared. Miss Angela will probably like it too."
"Jayna? I see."
Father then regarded me with a gratified look in his eyes and promised me that he would definitely obtain Bluemary in the future.
"Then let the head maid lead Miss Angela to her room."
"I will go along with you."
When I had received my father's permission, I led Angela out of the drawing-room. The head maid followed.
Angela's room was in the middle of the second floor. Before she and I used to live on the same third floor, but due to the proximity of the room, oftentimes than not our paths crossed thus this time it was changed to the second floor.
I had no desire to see that face didn't want to see her face for no reason, even by chance.
Reaching Angela's room, I opened the door.
The interior was decorated with white and pink. Everything packed in the room, from large furniture to small objects were of the highest quality.
A week's time was not much enough to decorate a noble's room, so former employees of Bellechateur house were mobilised to prepare Angela's bedroom.
It also took an enormous sum of money.
The furniture made by the empire's leading craftsmen was brought for a huge amount of money as we couldn't wait for our order, and the embroidery on the pink bed linen was the work of the maids who stayed up all night sewing.
In the case of the curtains, they are made with the finest threads of Barcelian silk. Even after checking all the cloth shops in the Capital, they didn't have that colour and so the Bellechateur servants had it dyed directly and made by themselves.\n[According to Jayna, the MC of Angelic Lady, Barcelian silk is the name of 'special silk' that can only be used by royal families</u> awarded by the emperor.]
In addition to that, I picked the accessories myself after visiting the boutiques. It was difficult to explain how much effort has been put into everything.
After a week of arduous labour, all the people who had been involved in the interior decoration were proud to see the excellent results of their hard work with the room appeared.
And today, it was finally shown to its due owner.
The maid and I waited expectantly for Angela's reaction. Even the employees who passed by were also looking over this side intently.
"I... I think it'd be better to use a different room."
"By any chance, are you feeling overwhelmed? Don't worry about it. Everyone's been working hard to prepare for the arrival of the new lady."
"It's... I don't like pink, so I want to use a different room."
As soon as Angela finished speaking, the silence descended on the mansion.