[R1999] Short Stories' Collection

Sotheby & Forget Me Not: Mister! Tell me more about how this world operates! (5)

Mirror, mirror on the wall (3)

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"This one's for Mr. Orion, this one's for Lady Catherine, and this one's for..."

After finishing another fascinating lesson with Ms. Moissan, in which Sotheby seemed to tell about her stories and hypotheses a bit more than the actual lesson (of course, with the permission of the teacher herself from day one), the little lady was announced about the arrival of her goods.

"Oh? I don't remember taking this mirror..."

While searching for her surprise presents from wooden boxes which were sent to her mansion one hour ago, she found an oval-shaped mirror that had a rather plain appearance among other "outstanding" objects.

It was definitely the thing that she wouldn't bat an eye on when shopping, as in Sotheby's mansion, there were already many mirrors with different exquisite frames. Some of them even had historical value due to their previous owners that played important roles in history, some couldn't even be priced.

"Well, maybe the shop owner also makes mistakes sometimes."

Miss Sotheby quickly came to the conclusion and put the mirror which was about two thirds of her body aside.

It wasn't that this mirror didn't have any special trait to attract the little girl's attention. 

For example, when she lifted it up, its real weight was just a half of what its size showed. Or when she first saw it, the mirror was carefully covered by a purple velvet with shimmering gold trim inside a separate wooden box, while other items were simply wrapped by old newspapers or cardboard boxes with tape.

However, to Sotheby, it was not different from a normal mirror that had a normal reflecting ability. That's all.

If a scary-looking creature suddenly appeared or some terrifying sound effects came out from the mirror, the little lady would have more interest in it.

"Hurray! Sotheby's all done!"

Sotheby wiped off the sweat on her forehead, standing up with a proud expression.

The sorting process did take her more than an hour, yet when imagining people's reactions towards the gifts, it was all worth her sweat and effort! 

Knock, knock

"May I come in, my lady?"

The familiar voice of her butler appearing behind the closing door made Sotheby almost reply like usual, but luckily, she managed to stop just in time.

"Please wait for a minute, Mister Lawrence!"

She quickly changed the position of some items and checked if this position was too visible to be found out before giving a certain answer to the person who was patiently waiting for her.