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‘She said that she was sincere to the Duke and she had a good reason……’
From something so roughly said, Selena was influenced by many thoughts.
‘Is she saying that not being sincere can be a problem?’
She was confused. She wondered if it was about her moral flaws, but……
‘That Fionel?’
It didn’t fit in. Selena shook her head and pushed those thoughts aside for another time.
‘If it’s about me.’
What were her criteria for mentioning she meant no harm?
‘What if she knows what others have done?’
Maybe she wasn’t able to say it confidently.
Selena glanced at the door of the store from afar.
Though it was just the entrance to a clothing store, it was also the doorway to a small gathering. To induce Selena to revisit there on purpose meant something was planned within its walls.
It felt like a burden to enter the store recklessly without any knowledge.
But, it didn’t mean she could avoid it. If it was Selena’s own business, she could have managed it, but she was infiltrating society for information.
‘The swearing and cursing I would receive here…… would be from those who don’t even know me.’
She took a deep breath, repeating it to herself. Even if this was a criticism of her work, she wouldn’t have stuck to it all her life.
She walked in with all confidence.
Jingle.
As soon as she did, the voices fluctuated like water inside a kicked-off water bottle. Selena calmly looked around to find the representative standing near the entrance.
“Ah, you’re here!”
She rushed to Selena.
“You must be very surprised by the sudden call, but we found it late….. Please forgive me. Thank you for visiting us again.”
Something felt off about her constant bowing. She shouldn’t have asked her to visit if she was going to squirm like this.
“Oh my, what is this? She rushed to someone below her as soon as she stepped into the store?”
A voice popped up from the guests sitting inside. It sounded like a whisper, but everyone in the store heard it.
As Selena’s eyes darted towards the source, it stopped abruptly. She couldn’t even spot the speaker.
“I deeply apologize. Unfortunately, we have enough people…… But, I’m very grateful that you understood and cared to visit us.”
Selena smiled.
“I enjoyed shopping the last time I came here, so I wanted to visit again. Of all things, the Duke is by my side. You see, when he heard about it, he was quite angry and said it was very rude of you to ask me to visit in person. ”
Selena wasn’t acting up. They provided the cause and she accepted it generously.
“I bet she was whining at His busy Excellency because she couldn’t handle such trivial things on her own.”
The arrow was still aimed at Selena.
She smirked. Could it be so boring here? Selena carefully skimmed her eyes around, one table after another. Some wavered their eyes down and some stared back at her with a questioning eye.
One of them was familiar.
‘Her?’
It was Rosalyn.
She was sipping on her tea gracefully, looking at the picture adorned on the wall with an indifferent gaze.
When Selena’s gaze reached her, she turned to meet her eyes. She didn’t even smile out of courtesy.
“Look at your smile, it’s so vulgar.”
“That’s how your standing form is. Seems like a body to become a man’s toy to give birth to, doesn’t it?”
“You look like that even if you stay still. So how many ways do you try out at night?”
Curses showered down like rain. Selena’s words were as vulgar as Rosalyn’s.
Employees, including the CEO, were dead silent and no one tried to mediate the situation.
Selena ignored her and turned to the representative.
“It seems like your customers have increased since the last time. Does this always happen?”
“It seems, it’s a bit more than usual today.”
“Perhaps it’s the reason why it’s bustling more than last time. I can hear all sorts of sounds.”
Even if the target shouted at the top of their lungs, their voice would be buried when attacked by a large group. People who hated the same individual would not listen to any defense. Even the words brought up for defense would become controversial.
“Depending on how you take advice for yourself, your character may change. Don’t idiots use face packs and think they look the best?”
“Hah, pack. Cute.”
Therefore, it was better to laugh it off than to listen to those accusations intently.
The woman who said so quieted down as Selena murmured to her comment.
The moment they realize their attack didn’t hurt, their weapon would disappear. On the other hand, despite getting hurt inside, the humble victim would become stronger.
Selena calmly walked toward Rosalyn, who only returned her silent gaze.
Groups of people stopped their gossip one after the other as Selena got closer.
“Hasn’t it been so long?”
Rosalyn smiled gracefully as if flowers were blooming around her.
“Were we close enough to say hello?”
However, the reaction Selena received was not very fragrant.
“We still are.”
Selena’s words were graceful but they had hidden thorns.
“I guessed you’d feel affectionate about my greeting.”
“I hate puns. I’m not that free.”
“You wanted to say you’re not free enough to talk to a commoner like me, didn’t you?”
Rosalyn’s eyes shook in embarrassment.
However, she wasn’t so easy either. Her fighting spirit that dominated the social circle did not disappear just because she lost once.
“If you’re already aware, wouldn’t it be better for you to be careful with your words?”
Rude, but said so gracefully.
‘If it were Irelle, she would have wished death over this.’
It was hard to believe how Irelle dealt with these kinds of people.
Selena wasn’t strong from the beginning either. When she was young, she was framed wrong many times, and after she started to walk on the path of acting, she was constantly caught up in fights and factions, struggling to survive. There were still a lot of things that made her cry when she thought about it.
But, what about Irelle, who had lived a simple and quiet life, and was suddenly brought into a dramatic environment?
Selena had a goal. To find the criminal responsible for Irelle’s death, there was no reason to surrender to their coldness as it was just a process to find out how Irelle was treated in society.
But, what if Irelle wanted to be seen and establish herself as a great Duchess? She must have been quite embarrassed. No, she must have been scared.
While doing so, was she caught in an abrupt instinct to fight with one hundred individuals? Quarrels were also fights. Fighting was about having skill and stamina. It didn’t seem like Irelle was born with them, and she wouldn’t have had a chance to polish her skills anywhere.
Would she have burst into tears? Perhaps she was only left with her pride to spare. However, it wasn’t difficult to imagine her whole body shivering with shame and her mind wiped blank.
Did they have their fill beating a person like that? Selena smiled coldly, in addition to the cold gaze she was holding.
“If you don’t know how manners should be, you won’t understand even if I presented a hint.”
A girl sitting next to Rosalyn intervened. Other people followed.
“She does look shallow. There’s an impact, am I right?”
“Some are born with it, but it’s their facial expressions they acquire. You can see what they’re after.”
Curses swept the air like insects.
Perhaps because this world had a status system, everyone spoke their mind against a single person with low status. Usually, when one said something, the others would keep silent for the sake of sympathy, but here, they were rushing in together with equal blows.
Selena clenched her jaws.
Evil bastards. She wanted to flip their tables upside down. They criticized people in the meanest way possible. They knew it would hurt the most and they were doing it on purpose.
The origin of a person. It couldn’t be changed even if you were acting.
Those curses were towards Selena herself. She could just let go of her status, but her behavior was hers, whether she was Selena or Seo-lin.
“Sigh.”
Her fists were clenched so tight that her joints felt numb. With her nails digging into her palms, she could barely hold back an urge to exercise her skills physically.
“It’s clear that His Excellency, the Duke, doesn’t know the world’s affairs. He is not interested in women at all.”
“It must’ve been easy for her to twist him. She was lucky to find such a Duchy to live in peace, while His Excellency was too busy to be careful.”
Just like a river’s bed rose to submerge a bridge after heavy rainfall, their speech skyrocketed.
The last time Selena came here, she was cheerful, but it didn’t work today. There were also too many mouths to deal with. She didn’t have time to deal with each one.
Sometimes, one had to tackle it all physically. An argument didn’t have to end with real violence. In the end, the one who would be able to subdue others by any means would turn out to be strong.
Selena grabbed the hem of her dress. It was time to make up her mind to kill them one by one.
“What is going on here?”
A cold wind whistled behind her back.