Chapter 45 – Inferiority (3)
Mason took a step behind Lucia. It was also a habit that she always escorted her Sianna, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of distance from her somewhere.
Obviously, we kept in touch through letters and talked about every trivial thing that happened to each other, but she didn’t know if it was natural because the childish person who complained in her memories had become her lady before she knew it.
Stop. Because you have such thoughts, it becomes even more difficult to deal with Lucia.
Watching Lucia treat her kindly, he thought that he was the only one who felt awkward about her, and that having such a mindset even thinking about her taking care of him would be a bad thing for her younger brother, but Mason still I can’t easily turn to her side.
… You will gradually get used to it.
Mason thought so and tried to distract her. She seemed to feel a little better as she turned her thoughts to her pockets, which gently swayed at her waist as she took each step.
It always bothered her that she couldn’t fill the void she had as her sister, as her family. She said that all Mason could send her was her letters and her living expenses minus her minimum expenses.
-If her sister was here too, she would be so nice.
Of all the letters Mason received from her Lucia, she was the one that bothered her more than any other. She did not know how many times she had re-read the letter Lucia had sent her after the coming-of-age ceremony with her village peers according to her village tradition.
She is vaguely pictured as Lucia, who would have been wearing a gorgeous dress and a delicately decorated garland on her head. She saw her beautiful sister walking in front of her now, with a smile as bright as a full-blown smile on the lips of the girls her age.
Even if her expensive decorations were not as good as her sincerity, she wanted to do her happy duty as her real sister, so Mason only wanted to give her Lucia at least one of her clothes.
“Sister!”
Lucia’s voice is heard suddenly, and her hand squeezes her arm and waist and grabs her arm. Her touch and warmth on her arm make her lose her thoughts.
“Why are you walking apart by yourself? Disappointingly.”
A smile is naturally drawn on Mason’s face at the sight of her brother, who looks just like her, facing her face.
“Sorry. That is a habit.”
“What do you have to be sorry about? I’m so happy just being with my sister like this. Ah, let’s go this way!”
At her sweet talk, at her laugh, at her voice full of anticipation, Mason matched her stride with her, trying to shake off her distance a little. But the more she walked, the more Mason felt a little strange. The place Lucia led was a place she had never seen before.
“Lucia. Are we on our way right now?”
At her question, Lucia tilted her head as if she was saying something, then giggled as if she noticed something.
“Right. Sister, don’t you know yet?”
With her brown eyes twinkling with anticipation and pleasure, Lucia pulled her hand closer. Mason followed her in silence, feeling her doubts. With each step she took, the city and market she knew gradually disappeared.
The city she had been accustomed to seeing was the market. A street full of vendors, a bit chaotic and messy roads, and stalls. Of course, she was quite different from what she remembered a decade ago, but she had only grown a little in size and items, but she hadn’t deviated much from what she knew.
But the street the two of them were walking on now was as clean and new as if it had been recently built. An orderly road with no signs of being broken or overturned, the shops around it gradually gained attention with their colorful colors and appearances. The items displayed in the windows of her shop were far from the groceries and daily necessities she was accustomed to seeing.
“Could that be… Is it perfume?”
Mason said, pointing to a small vial beneath a beautifully crafted glass display case. Perfume, she remembered, was a luxury item. Among the many items that had been sent as tribute in the name of Sianna, it was an item that was included intermittently.
“Uh, are you interested in your sister’s perfume?”
Mason said she was just curious that she’d seen such an expensive item in a place like this, but Lucia seemed to interpret it a little differently. And the savvy clerk who managed the display case did not miss the opportunity.
“Welcome, beautiful girls! How about a fragrant perfume that will enhance your beauty?”
When Mason came to his senses, she was already there after the clerk placed a cloth in her hand, sprinkled with some perfume.
“Take it! It is a perfume with a soft scent made from flowers from last spring! The subtle sweet scent is attractive!”
Unable to overcome the clerk’s twinkling eyes, Mason eventually brought her cloth to the tip of her nose and inhaled her incense, but Mason, who sniffed the incense, could only open her eyes wide in surprise.
“… It smells good.”
Lucia’s comment, closing her eyes and drawing a smile on her lips, replaced Mason’s bewilderment. It smelled really good. The fresh and sweet fragrance of spring flowers reached the tip of my nose and filled my arms with the scent of flowers. Of course, it didn’t seem to be as rare as the items given to Sianna, but I never thought that such luxury items would be distributed in a place that was just a big town until she left.
“If you want to buy something later, or if there is a scent you are looking for, let me know!”
Leaving behind the aggressive clerk who shook her hand in the distance, Lucia began explaining to Mason, who was still in her bewilderment.
“You know Mr. Gordon has a wool business, right?”
“Uh, yes. Business is going well-“
At her words, Lucia laughed at her nonsense and she gave her a slight push on the shoulder.
“Is business going well? Sister, I’m ashamed to express it in such words. Uncle Gordon-“
Lucia glanced around her, then covered her mouth with her hand and whispered in her ear.
“It’s a level that can’t be explained other than to say that it really hit the jackpot. I bought this street with the money I earned from the wool business, and made this street with many famous seamstresses and technicians in the capital.”
Lucia said that and gestured around her. Mason looked around her more closely. Everywhere she was, she was filled with beautiful clothing stores, cafes selling exotic desserts and food, and stores selling all sorts of luxuries and novelties.
“Would you like to try the dessert that was popular in the capital?!”
“Customize a beautiful dress at the best clothing store here! It is run by the apprentice of the city’s top seamstress!”
As he paid more attention to the solicitation, Mason began to realize little by little. Not only the dialect of her hometown, but also dialects from various regions, or words with foreign pronunciations could be heard.
“They say that starting with this city, we will create many tourist resources and bring about a lot of development, including the city. Isn’t it great Of course, it was Isabella who told you about this idea.”
“Isabella… ?”
Mason had to work hard to hide his discomfort at hearing the name again. Fortunately, however, Lucia did not seem to notice her change of heart.
“Huh! You knew you were smart from a really young age, but you didn’t know you were this smart? What’s different, right? Thanks to that, I also got a job early on working at a dressmaker- Ah!”
Lucia pulled Mason by the arm and pointed at one. She made it to one of the most spectacular and massive stores in the area.
“Hey sister! It’s not where I work, but it’s a dressmaker that Mr. Gordon started running as a wool business!”
Mason felt a little dizzy. She obviously felt her discomfort with her Isabella, and wanted to escape a little from her unexplained reluctance felt in her, but it seemed impossible for her to get out of the shadow of the local big campaign.
Unable to understand her mind, Lucia grabbed and dragged Mason with her brisk steps. After passing through the ornate door, they were greeted by the interior decorated as gorgeously as the exterior. The clerk, who was standing against the background of the wide, straight and open interior, the beautiful silk and fabrics on display here and there, and the clothes made with the sweat and efforts of countless seamstresses, saw the two of them and came over with a smile and greeted them. It was a female clerk wearing a white shirt and a vest made of dark green fabric, with her hair neatly tied back.
“Hello. My name is Sarah. Welcome to our store. Do you have any clothes that feel like you want?”
“Uh… Um, yes?”
Mason smiled broadly and she hesitated, not knowing what to say to the clerk who approached her. The unfamiliar environment she had never experienced was enough to take her soul out of it.
Suddenly, she remembered that she didn’t fit in very well with this place. The store was full of customers, dressed up like ladies and men in the middle of the season. However, Mason was crude enough to contrast with them.
She was dressed in coarse yellow woolen clothes, and had no make-up on her face, and no beauty in her hair. Like a crow among white swans, she was a angular stone sticking out among round pebbles.
Suddenly, she felt her face heat up and her hands started to sweat.
“No. Because we are the first Do you have any clothes you would recommend for me and my older sister?”
The one who saved Mason was Lucia, who had many years of experience dealing with people. She introduced herself as Sera, and the clerk smiled at her and started a conversation with Lucia.
Mason felt relieved that she had escaped the clerk’s attention, but only for a moment. She tells Lucia that her determination to fill her void over the years is overshadowed, and for a moment she seems to have shown herself to be pathetic.
Obviously, everyone in the store was busy with their own interests, but Mason seemed to have all their glares directed at her shabby woman.
Feeling infinitely small and alone, Mason lowered his reddened head involuntarily and grabbed the hem of her dress.
