Chapter 48 – The Stranger (1)
On the way back from the city to the village, they rode the carriage. Lucia kept glancing at Mason while all she could hear was the clatter of her horse’s hooves.
“…”
Mason said nothing. He just looked outside through the window of the carriage as if lost in thought. Lucia frowned and glared at Mason when she realized that her gaze wasn’t directed at him.
Her sister said that from her first day she was constantly showing a look she couldn’t explain unless she said she looked bewildered. Sometimes when she talked to her, she was lost in her own thoughts and delayed her answer, or sometimes she couldn’t remember the question itself.
Of course, she knew what Isabella had done to Mason and what Cianna meant to him, so she didn’t understand Mason’s situation.
But, apart from that.
“… Get a little pissed off.”
After she muttered involuntarily, Lucia gasped in surprise and covered her mouth with her hand. She hurriedly turned her eyes to Mason, but her stupid sister was so distracted that she didn’t even notice that she had spoken.
I didn’t like the look of that older sister who couldn’t focus on herself and lost her mind.
Of course, it wasn’t that Lucia missed Mason’s affection. To her, her Mason was her blood relative, but it was only a family relationship, because she had already felt a deeper affection and stability for Isabella for a long time.
No, rather because she was feeling her affection for Isabella.
Isabella’s insatiable, stupid Becky, and she hates to admit it, but Cianna, the most beautiful person she’s ever seen in her life, and then her sister, who left her when she needed her most.
She hated the fact that she had to share her Isabella with them.
The other day, when she talked with Isabella, she thought she could share her Isabella with Mason. She says she can stand her, she just needs each other to remember that he is her first and Isabella’s counterpart.
Wrong. Lucia, she only knew now. It was her arrogance, she was sure, her overestimation of herself.
After acknowledging her feelings, she felt even more bitter towards the woman sitting across from her.
There were her daring, her devices prepared for her by herself, which allowed her to show her superior version of herself, and little by little she was stained with her feelings of inferiority and defeat. I missed you.
But Mason failed even to get her to the beginning of her prepared plan. She was very angry that her plans for today had been completely meaningless because she suddenly felt unwell.
No, but it didn’t look that hard this morning, did it? Wasn’t it pretty good until you tried it on at a perfume store?
By any chance, did something happen at her clothing store while she was also choosing her clothes?
She thought so too, but it was just a guess anyway, nothing she could have known. Even if I pry anyway, looking at Mason’s condition now, I thought she would get angry before I got her a proper answer.
Lucia thought of her Isabella, and she tried to control her slightly depressed mood. She clearly believed that she was different from Becky, that she would not be pathetic unlike Becky, that she could not compare herself to the stupid Becky.
I definitely wanted to show a better side of me than Becky.
Lucia bit her lip involuntarily. The sharp pain felt on the edge of her lips eased her sharp nerves a little.
After all, could I not be like Isabella?
She sighed and thought of Isabella. She had her poise, yet her splendid speech, her cleverness to bend the straightest of wicks like thin wire to her will.
Despite Lucia’s currently depressed mood, she couldn’t help but feel her heart pounding a little when she thought of Isabella.
That’s why Isabella was so special.
Because she deserved to be herself, and she deserved to be loved.
It seems like today has passed anyway, but the moment I think about going to see her Isabella later,
– Whoa Whoa!
With the call of her coachman her horses stopped, and her chariot was pushed forward slightly, waking her from her thoughts. Mason, perhaps awakened by the sudden stop, raised her head, gripping her window frame.
– Excuse me, but may I ask where you are going?
Outside, I heard someone asking the coachman. It was the voice of a young woman, but not a voice she knew.
Lucia looked out the front of her carriage through her window, but she couldn’t see the woman who had stopped the carriage. However, as she looked around, it seemed that the village was about thirty minutes away by carriage.
“… What’s the matter?”
At Mason’s question, she lost her temper for a moment, but she answered that she didn’t know, hiding her feelings, and listened to her conversation again. I couldn’t hear her coachman’s reply, but I could hear her words halfway through, perhaps because the woman’s voice was quite loud.
-Ah! Good for you. Coincidentally, I am also on my way there, so could I ride with you in the carriage?
Did the coachman say that there were passengers already on board, and if so, it would be all right if I asked her permission? I heard footsteps heading to the door, followed by a cheerful knock on the carriage door.
When Lucia cleared her expression and opened the door, there was a woman with a ragged appearance. Had she been on a long trip? There were some dirt and stains on her clothes, the cloak draped around her shoulders, and a bag and a pack lay at her feet.
Her face, as well as her clothes, bore the traces of her travels. She had a clean face, but unlike herself, she had no trace of makeup. It was a fact that everyone knew, at least she wasn’t the daughter of her nobles.
But even so, Lucia thought that her humble appearance could not cover her beauty. Her dark hair was tied back so as not to interfere with her movement, and the untidy hair naturally flowed down her ears.
Her skin was slightly tanned, a nice brownish color. Have you ever spent a long time in the sun? Likewise, under black brows, her sparkling golden eyes hurriedly hid behind a pleasing eye smile.
“Nice to meet you, ladies. I’m sorry to stop the carriage all of a sudden, but I’m a little tired from the long trip, so I’m asking you.”
His voice was cheerful and lively. It was the case that the voice suited the owner perfectly.
“I just asked the coachman of this carriage, and the destination I am heading to is exactly the same as the destination of the girls. If you’re not rude, would it be all right if I ride with you? I will cover any additional costs you may have to pay.”
Saying that, she removed her cloak and lifted the pockets of her waistband, looking at her Lucia.
“Yes, that is very rude.”
Lucia was like a chimney who wanted to say it, but she swallowed it hard and said it with a soft smile.
“Well, I guess I should discuss it with my sister. I think my sister is not feeling well right now. What do you think of Mason?”
“Oh, huh? That is…”
Mason hesitated for a moment, wondering if she was suddenly bewildered by the options she had been given to her, then she replied that she didn’t care. Her Lucia, who in her heart had hoped that she would reject her, felt her irritation towards her, which had been swallowed up inside her, grow even more.
“Really? Thank you! I’ll just load up and come inside.”
The woman outside the carriage smiled brightly at Lucia’s answer, thanked her, and closed the door.
While loads were being loaded on top of the wagon, there was silence again in the wagon. Lucia had to concentrate all her energy on suppressing her irritability, thinking that she had nothing on her own today.
Soon the carriage door opened, and the woman entered and sat down next to Mason. Lucia thought she was at least lucky. She would have had a hard time putting up with the intrusive planting if a nasty woman had sat next to her.
“Hey, I’m so glad I met these kind-hearted ladies!”
“Ah yes. I see.”
“Do you two live in the village?”
“Yes. So, why don’t you take the carriage and head for it now?”
Lucia responded with a reasonable distance and tried to cut off the conversation, but the other side of her was either nice or ignorant, and she continued to talk to her.
“You two are family… , Ah, did you say older sister? Sorry. I often forget this. Anyway, thank you both for your understanding.”
Please shut up
To make matters worse, Mason was not interested in conversation in the first place, so the woman continued to talk only to Lucia. Lucia suppressed her growing irritation and her desire to face her, and she responded appropriately as she looked out the window, thinking of somehow escaping the conversation.
Then, I saw Isabella’s mansion in the distance coming into one side of my field of vision.
Shall we just go see Isabella?
Isabella, distraught, hurriedly called her coachman and stopped her carriage.
“-Yeah, it was really dark in front of my eyes at that time. Oh, come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is… “
When Lucia called her coachman, the woman’s incessant talk stopped abruptly. Lucia rose from her seat, feeling a little relieved at the thought that she had finally shut her mouth. As she stood up, Mason, who had been staring blankly outside of her until now, hastily grabbed her arm.
“Uh, where are you going?”
“Oh, sister, she is not feeling well, so she rests at home. I’m going to see Bella for a while.”
When Lucia opened the door to get out of here as soon as possible, her grip on her wrist became stronger.
“Ah, it hurts sister!”
Her anger at Mason, and her irritation at the woman who was traveling with her, soared for a moment, and she hurriedly, without realizing it, shook her hand away, looking unkind. For a moment she realized she had made a mistake and looked at Mason’s complexion, but it seemed she cared more about something else than about how she shook her hand.
“Hey, Isabella? Can’t you just go home with me… ?”
Seeing her pitiful pleading, and the seemingly servile request of hers, Lucia felt a little relieved. Lucia wanted to see Mason like this. She sees her insecure, she sees herself, Becky, and Cianna as flustered as Isabella did.
But her mind was already full of the thought of seeing Isabella, so Lucia couldn’t hide her irritation in her voice for the first time today.
“Sister. Originally, we were going to spend time together today, but today, unnie is not feeling well, so she came back. I also had something I wanted to do during my vacation time. Of course, that includes meeting my friends. So you said you’re going to meet me now, why are you stopping me?”
“But, I don’t even know Isabella has returned yet-“
As Mason tried to answer, Lucia cut her off quickly.
She said, “She said earlier that when we met at the clothing store, she only bought clothes and went straight home. There is also a special wagon, so you must have arrived home by now.”
It was a lie. She hadn’t been told when she would be coming home, but until Isabella arrived, she hated to see the annoying tourist right now and her sister, who was now trying to be friendly with her.
It was only when she saw Mason’s eyes wandering like her little lost child that Lucia realized she had made a mistake. Lucia said in a soft voice, hastily softening her expression and her words.
“… Sister, you’re not feeling well right now. Hurry up and get some rest. I’ll come in before it’s too late.”
Mason hesitated for a moment before smiling at her. She saw her pale complexion and the quivering corners of her mouth, and Lucia recognized that it was her false smile.
“… Okay, see you later.”
And after a moment’s hesitation,
“Sorry.”
Lucia opened the door of her carriage and left, not hearing her apology. It was only after she had moved away from her carriage some time that she heard the sound of her hooves clattering again and the rolling of her wheels.
Lucia made sure that her carriage had gone far enough before she headed towards her mansion with light steps. She was looking forward to having a good time with Isabella, since the day was full of annoying things.
Because it was.
Lucia did not see the two golden eyes in her carriage that watched her all the way through her glass window.
