episode_0071

[Episode 71] – Catherine’s Day (1)

“Sit down, Trisha.”

Trisha burst into the study with a forceful attitude that she would never normally show, but Catherine sat on the sofa as if nothing had happened and looked relaxed.

“shi, excuse me.”

Trisha tried to take the lead in the conversation by coming out strong from the beginning, but seeing Catherine looking relaxed despite coming out strong, Trisha ended up losing the momentum she had when she kicked the door open.

As Trisha sat down across from Catherine, Catherine straightened her posture, crossed her legs, and raised her head. Trisha felt even more intimidated by Catherine’s arrogant and bossy appearance.

“So? What do you want to talk about?”

“That, that. Um…”

Trisha flinched as Catherine asked her in a threatening tone. She had done nothing wrong, but she had received so much from Catherine that she could not stand up strongly in front of Catherine.

“Hey, where have you been? You’ve been away for a week…”

“It’s nothing. It’s been noisy lately with the prom and all. Because of that, the shop I run has been busy, and since there were so many orders, I had trouble getting the ingredients, so I went over there for a bit.”

“Where are you going?”

Did Catherine also run a store?

A shop run by a countess herself? I heard rumors that high-ranking noblewomen run businesses as a hobby. Is this similar to that? When Trisha looked surprised, Catherine snickered and continued talking.

“Yeah, a boutique. They sell dresses, jewelry, and stuff.”

“I see…”

“There’s a rumor going around that all the girls are getting new dresses for this ball. So much so that they have to go out and buy the fabric and materials themselves?”

“Bah, you must have been busy…”

“Really. Anyway, how desperate are they to catch the prince’s eye at least once? Does a pretty dress change a person’s personality? How many people say they’ll give you as much money as you want, but make a dress for their daughter first? Tsk.”

“Haha…”

Catherine frowned and let out a sigh mixed with irritation. A boutique, wouldn’t that be a store that suited Catherine? After all, Catherine was a well-known figure in high society.

Trisha recalled the high society of her memories, and the dress shop seemed like the perfect fit for Catherine, who had been a leading figure in high society fashion.

“Anyway… I was a little busy this week. I had to gather as much fabric as possible to make a dress.”

“I see… I guess Catherine could have just asked someone else to do it for her… Were there really not enough materials to the point where she had to do it herself?”

“That’s also true, and it’s because of the kids’ dresses.”

“Yes?”

As Trisha tilted her head, Catherine smiled and pulled a business card out of her pocket. It was a small card with a gold foil border. It had Catherine’s name and the name of the boutique on it.

“I’m going there tomorrow. I have to get the kids dresses.”

“…You’re tailoring children’s dresses?”

“Yeah.”

It wouldn’t have cost a lot to tailor a dress, but Trisha couldn’t hide her embarrassment at Catherine’s tone as if it were a given.

It’s not that the kids didn’t have dresses. They were out of style, but they still had at least one dress of their own. So they didn’t prepare any dresses to wear to this ball.

Even so, she couldn’t ask Catherine for help with the children’s dresses. Trisha handed Catherine the business card she had received. It was meant as a refusal, but Catherine didn’t accept the business card Trisha handed her.

“…I can’t even return what I’ve received so far, so I can’t accept the dress as well. It’s not like there aren’t any dresses for the kids, so there’s no need to go this far.”

“Don’t worry. I’m giving this as a gift to the kids who have been following the lessons well so far. And the dress I’m making this time is…”

Catherine glanced at Trisha, then chuckled and smiled sinisterly. Trisha couldn’t tell what kind of smile it was, but she could tell that it wasn’t just a smile of goodwill.

“Anyway, it’s okay to take it. You don’t have to feel burdened.”

“……At least, is there anything you’d like me to do? As much as I can… I’ll do my best.”

Trisha let out a deep sigh, realizing that further consideration was useless. She had to do something, at least to ease this burden.

“I told you not to worry.”

“How can you do that? Catherine has done so much for me so far. I feel like I need to do something to make myself feel better.”

Catherine leaned back slightly, her chin resting on her hand, and looked down at Trisha. Catherine tapped her thigh with her fingers, then released the hand that had been resting her chin as if her worries were over.

“Then, do you want to play a game with me?”

“Is it a game?”

Game? As Trisha’s eyes widened at the unexpected answer, Catherine got up from her seat and took something out from under the desk. A simple game that everyone knows, a long stick-shaped one.

“Is that… Jenga?”

“Yeah, Jenga.”

Trisha’s lips twitched upward. Could it be that the game she was talking about was Jenga? Trisha bit her lip and barely managed to suppress the laughter that threatened to escape her eyes as she watched Catherine set up Jenga on the table like a child.

“If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to.”

“I’ll do it. I have nothing to do today anyway.”

Today was the weekend, and the maids that Catherine had called had already done all the housework, so honestly, there was nothing to do. Trisha thought it would be nice to kill some time with Catherine, so she smirked and looked at Catherine.

“That’s unexpected. Catherine would suggest playing a game that only children would play.”

“Sometimes this is fun too, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Trisha nodded at Catherine’s words and held back the laughter that was threatening to overflow inside her. I felt sorry for Catherine, but I had no intention of losing at Jenga or anything like that. Board games like this were one of my strengths.

When I was living in an orphanage, I couldn’t use a computer, so board games were the basic way to entertain my younger siblings. In particular, I played Jenga so many times that I got sick of it, so I wasn’t very good at it.

By the way, in such an easy game to win, should I bet something? Trisha snickered, crossed her legs in the same pose as Catherine, and looked down at Catherine.

“This isn’t fun if we just do this… Should we make a bet or something?”

“Bet?”

“Yes, how about asking the loser one question each… something like that?”

Even if she was too scared to ask earlier, wouldn’t she be able to ask if it was a reward for the game? Trisha thought she was petty, but she couldn’t help it. The way to beat Catherine had come to her on its own, so she couldn’t help but use it.

“…Okay, fine. The loser asks each other one thing.”

“Huhhuh… won’t it be soft later?”

“You are the one.”

Aye! Trisha clenched her fists in her mind and rejoiced. Now, if she won the game, she could ask Catherine how Elise made her money and why she had this kind of lover’s day.

and.

I wonder what on earth Catherine was thinking helping herself.

Catherine’s help was, frankly, too much for Trisha’s sake alone. It was incomprehensible that a lord’s wife would abandon her husband, the lord, and live in this house.

‘So… let’s ask everyone after the game is over. What on earth is Catherine thinking? Now I need to know.’

Catherine asked the maid to make her a quick snack, then sat down and looked at Trisha. It was cute how she seemed to want to ask her something, whether it was obvious or not.

“Who wants to go first?”

“Okay, I’ll pick first.”

Trisha reached out to Jenga without hesitation. She tapped her fingertips, then quickly pulled out the loose part and placed it on top. Even though her body had changed, it felt like the feeling of playing Jenga hundreds of times was coming back to her.

“Catherine’s turn-”

“Okay, foul.”

“Yes?”

The moment she placed the block on top, Trisha’s eyes widened at Catherine’s declaration of foul play. Foul play? Foul play? Is there foul play in Jenga? As Trisha blankly stared at Catherine, Catherine chuckled and grabbed the block Trisha had placed.

Then he held out the bottom section of the block to Trisha.

“Okay, that’s foul play, right?”

“This, this, what, what is..?!”

Trisha, who read the small writing written under the block, looked back and forth between Catherine and the block with a dumbfounded expression. Jenga! Just Jenga!

To Trisha, who looked as if she was about to burst into tears at any moment, Catherine read the words written under the block directly. She spoke clearly, as if telling her to listen carefully.

“Climb on the person in front of you’s lap and hold them for 1 minute.”

“Ah, no..! Catherine..! You said Jenga..!”

“It’s Jenga, right? It’s called Lover’s Jenga, and it’s a game that one of our ‘Tea Party’ members made himself. As you can see, the rule is that you can’t move a block up unless you complete the mission below. If you don’t complete the mission, you lose by foul play.”

“Ah, ah…”

Catherine, with a sinister smile, uncrossed her legs and tapped her knee. Catherine tapped her knee as if calling her pet, telling her to hurry up and whispered in a low voice.

“Come up here, Trisha.”