ITTWACP • NACP

Chapter 33

-Chapter 33-

"What are you going to do, Edith?"

I looked up, startled by the Duchess' voice, and all eyes were on me.

"Oh, I- I'm going to embroider a handkerchief." I stammered.

The plain handkerchief I held up felt too small.

Again, scornful stares were directed at me.

"I was thinking of making a few to sell......" I timidly assured them I'd make several, but it made no difference.

Only the Duchess responded kindly, saying, "It must be beautiful."

'Is this not going to sell any?'

I had hoped that the Duchess would secretly buy one, for the sake of the family's honor, but if that didn't work, I'd have to get Anna to do it.

I stayed out of the other ladies' conversations and flipped through the embroidery design book.

'Hmm? This would be pretty.'

I spotted a new design tucked away amongst all the colorful designs.

It didn't look difficult, and it didn't look too childish.

I decided to embroider a little bird with a single laurel leaf in its beak, and carefully traced the design on my handkerchief.

It was a little embarrassing to embroider just that one, so I added a laurel wreath around the handkerchief.

While I was working hard on the design, the lady who had been giving me the cold shoulder earlier sneaked up on me.

She said, "Oh, that design is similar to the one my daughter did last year. It's very pretty when you finish it."

I flashed her a smile. "Isn't it? I think this design is cute too......"

"I remember the handkerchief Miss Larissa made two years ago, but how old is Miss Larissa this year?" asked the lady sitting next to her, pretending to know nothing.

"She's seventeen already."

"So she was fifteen when she made that handkerchief? She was just a little girl, and now she's all grown up, time flies."

"It does, hohoho!"

They laughed happily and moved on to other topics of conversation, but I understood very well what they wanted to say.

'They're saying that my skills are at the level of a fifteen-year-old.'

Again, they took advantage of a moment when the Duchess was busy looking at other people's work.

'Isn't that lady secretly friendly with the Countess of Sinclair, too? Why is she criticizing me and not Lizé?'

Right, she would get into trouble if she criticized Lizé whom the Duchess loved like a daughter of her own.

'This is going to be an eventful day.'

I was a little annoyed, but I didn't need the attention of people who didn't matter anyway.

I braced myself and focused my attention on my embroidery.

But despite the Duchess' consideration, I became increasingly isolated at each embroidery gathering.

One lady in particular, who was close to the Countess of Sinclair, led the bullying, secretly comparing me to Lizé.

'No wonder Edith is so jealous of Lizé in the original story.'