episode_0086

[Episode 86] – What I expected

In the end, I had no choice but to spend the first day of the weekend in bed.

The first day of the weekend was spent in the bedroom, as Catherine insisted that the children’s dress fitting appointment could be postponed until the next day.

There was a moment when I thought I might die from exhaustion because Catherine had not let me out of the bedroom for almost 12 hours since dawn.

When you’re too tired and exhausted, you can smell something in your mouth. Thanks to Catherine, I learned that even if you have sex for a long time, your mouth can smell something. I didn’t want to know this.

Rattling.

Inside the carriage heading to the meeting place, Trisha frowned slightly and rubbed her aching waist. Her waist, which had been shaking all day, screamed along with the shaking of the carriage.

Lily was worried about Trisha, and Sylvia kept quiet after noticing what had happened between Trisha and Catherine yesterday.

Catherine, the culprit in this situation, was looking out the window and laughing, while Elise was staring at Vivi, who was sitting on Trisha’s lap.

The joints in her back, which had been overworked the night before, cracked and cracked, and Trisha twisted her back and did some light stretching, thinking she might need a massage.

As Trisha did some light stretching, Vivi, who was sitting on Trisha’s lap, twisted her body as if she was uncomfortable. Vivi whispered softly, “Why me…” and sighed.

“Vivi, are you uncomfortable?”

“Yes! Can you please give me a lift?!”

“But the seat…”

“I’m okay sitting on the floor! Seriously!”

Vivi, sitting on Trisha’s lap, almost begged. Trisha’s lap was comfortable for Vivi, who was small in stature, but the gaze fixed on her was not comfortable.

In particular, Elise’s gaze was not kind. Vivi didn’t know where to look and just kept her head down because of the gaze that seemed as if it would throw her out of the moving carriage at any moment.

Whether she knew Vivi’s feelings or not, Trisha looked down at Vivi, who was sitting on her lap, with her arms around her waist. A small child with gray hair.

For Trisha, who had been exhausted from being treated so badly by the kids and Catherine, the cute little maid Vivi was one of the few people in the mansion who could heal her.

To take Vivi down from her lap and sit her on the floor of the carriage. That kind of child abuse, no, that kind of healing was absolutely unacceptable to Trisha.

Vivi tried to sit up on the floor, but Trisha grabbed her waist and pulled her into an embrace. Vivi quickly returned to her original position and felt the gazes on her, and her face started to tear up.

Trisha asked Catherine, stroking Vivi’s head, oblivious to the fact that Vivi looked as if she might burst into tears on her lap at any moment.

“By the way, why are you taking Vivi with you? Vivi seems to be very uncomfortable…”

Catherine, who was looking out the window, turned her head and looked at Vivi, who was crying. Vivi, with her face wrinkled and her cheeks puffed out, was glaring at her with a look of pity.

Regardless, when Catherine poked Vivi’s puffy cheeks with her fingers, a cute, “Push” sound came out of Vivi’s mouth.

“Vivi’s twin brother works there. I thought it would be a good idea to have a family reunion after a long time.”

“Really? That’s good. Vivi.”

“I… don’t want to meet you…”

Vivi turned her head away as if she really didn’t want to. When she turned her head, she saw a familiar scenery outside the window. Vivi shuddered at the thought that it wouldn’t be long before she reached the store.

“Excuse me, can you wait in the carriage instead of going into the store? Okay? I’ll just wait here quietly.”

Vivi clasped her hands together and begged desperately, but Catherine firmly refused. Trisha tilted her head as she listened to the conversation between Catherine and Vivi, wondering why she was so reluctant to meet her brother.

“No. The store is busy so we don’t have enough people to measure the children’s sizes.”

“You have a brother!”

“Your brother is busy too. And your brother also does all the designer work.”

“Are you a designer?”

Trisha, surprised by the word designer, asked Catherine.

Vivi’s age is probably not even 10 years old at most, but her twin brother is taking on the job of a designer. I thought, isn’t he too young to be working?

“He’s still an assistant, but he’s still good enough. The store’s head designer is busy preparing for the ball right now, so he can’t help me.”

“Oh, no. That’s not what I meant when I asked. I was just curious about the fact that you’ve been working as a designer since you were 10…”

Trisha’s eyes widened and she waved her hand. It was a wave that came out as if she was complaining about the dress, which was already a great help during this busy time.

As I was waving my hand like that, the carriage came to a halt with a thud. Vivi’s face turned pale, as if telling me that she had arrived at the store.

With the sound of the coachman’s arrival, Trisha and the children got out of the carriage and looked toward Catherine’s shop. It was not a large shop, but it had a nice atmosphere on the outskirts of town.

Even the stores on the outskirts of town were crowded with people trying to buy prom dresses. As Trisha watched the crowds of people crowding into the stores and raising their voices, she realized that the prom was just around the corner.

“There are too many people. Let’s go through the back door.”

“Oh, yes.”

Catherine avoided such crowds as if she was used to them and headed towards the back door of the store. As she entered the store through the back door, a young child with a familiar face was standing there quietly, as if he had been waiting for her.

A young child with gray hair just like Vivi.

The only difference between them was that Vivi was wearing a skirt and the boy was wearing pants. But since they were twins, their faces were so similar that it would have been hard to tell them apart if it weren’t for the difference in their clothes.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Catherine.”

“Yeah, sorry I’m busy. Instead, I brought your younger sibling as promised.”

“Huh?! A promise?! Catherine?!”

Vivi jumped up and down at the word promise, shouting, “Catherine sold me out!” The boy ignored Vivi and approached Trisha and the children, bowing and greeting them politely, which was unusual for a child.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Trisha. My name is Bobby. I’m the twin brother of your goofy sister over there. I also work as a designer in this store.”

“..? Barbie?”

“..? Yes, my name is Barbie.”

Who on earth named them Vivi and Bobby? Trisha tilted her head in confusion, responded to Bobby’s greeting, and introduced the children who were hesitating beside her.

“This is the eldest daughter, Sylvia, the second daughter, Lily, and the youngest, Elise. Please take good care of me this time. Cute designer.”

““Please take care of me.””

As the children greeted Barbie, a tiny doubt crossed Trisha’s mind. The story of Catherine’s ‘magic’ that she had told herself the other day, but never told her what it was.

‘Magic, pumpkin carriage, Vivi, Barbie, and… Cinderella?’

As if putting words together, a word flashed through Trisha’s head. A spell that anyone who had seen Cinderella as a child would know.

‘Bibbidi bobbidi boo..? Isn’t this the fairy grandmother’s spell..?’

Trisha glanced over at Catherine, who was reporting the store’s status to the staff. All the orders that came to mind were related to Catherine.

‘Hey, no way. The fairy in Cinderella is Grandma.’

Trisha shook her head, trying to erase the words that had come to mind. In the first place, the role of the Fairy Godmother was to help poor Cinderella, who was being abused by her stepmother, not to help the stepmother herself.

After the greetings, the children followed Barbie’s directions and headed inside the store. Barbie added that today was just the day to measure the dress, and that the finished dress would be sent to the mansion before the ball.

*

As the kids followed the staff to measure their numbers, it was soon clear why Vivi hated coming to this store. Vivi, who was being scolded by her twin brother, Bobby, hung her head like a sullen puppy and made a sad face.

“Why are your maid uniforms so dirty? Even though they’re work uniforms, I told you to change into new clothes every two days. If they’re dirty, I told you to change them at least once a day. Why on earth are you…”

“Ah, stop! It’s been 30 minutes already! Stop it! Stop it!!”

Starting with questions like, “Are you eating properly these days?” and going on to ask why your work clothes are so dirty, Bibi shouted as if she couldn’t stand to hear any more.

“I really hate you, oppa!!”

“Bibi!”

Bibi, who was running away with her hands covering her ears, ran into the room where the children were measuring their numbers to prevent Babi from chasing her. Isn’t that her mother-in-law, not her brother?

As Vivi entered the room at the back of the store, Elise walked out as if to replace Vivi who had entered the room. Elise approached Trisha as if she was really tired and collapsed on the sofa.

Elise, sitting next to Trisha, tilted her upper body forward and laid down on the sofa, using Trisha’s lap as a pillow. As if she was jealous of Vivi sitting on Trisha’s lap in the carriage earlier.

Trisha sat on the sofa and looked down at Elise, who was lying on her lap as a pillow. Normally, she would have scolded her for being rude, but since the reception room inside the store was occupied only by people she knew, she didn’t bother to get angry.

“Are you done?”

“Yes… Sister Lily has it in stock right now…”

The two chatted quietly, and Trisha stroked Elise’s head as if she were petting a cat on her lap, running her hand through her golden hair.

Just as it started to feel like Elise was really purring like a cat, Elise, who was lying on Trisha’s lap, slowly turned her head and looked up at Trisha and asked.

“Doesn’t your mother make new dresses?”

“What kind of dress would I need? You’re the ones dancing at the ball, not me.”

There were already dresses in abundance. It was necessary to have several dresses to go around the social circle. Many of them were out of style, but they were still wearable enough.

And making a new dress was more expensive than you might imagine. Since all dresses of this era were basically handcrafted, making one dress took a lot of money and time.

So Catherine was truly grateful. Now that the demand for dresses was skyrocketing, there were even rumors going around that it would take an entire mansion to make just one dress.

Trisha looked down at Elise lying on her lap and smiled.

“I can’t wait for you to go to the ball in your beautiful new dresses.”

Elise’s shoulders shook slightly at Trisha’s words. For Elise, the ball was not a topic of particular interest. No, it was clear that not only herself, but also her sisters and Catherine were all like that.

Elise smiled awkwardly and asked Trisha to change the subject.

“Oh, Mom, what kind of dresses do you want us to wear? I heard that designers take our opinions into account when making clothes. I don’t know much about dresses…”

“I think anything would suit you. You guys are good at originals, aren’t you? Don’t worry about what other people think, just tell me what design you want to wear.”

“But isn’t there a dress you really want us to wear?”

“Well..? If you wear it, it’s a dress…”

Trisha rested her chin lightly on her hand and pondered. Surely any dress would suit children. Princess dresses, glamorous dresses, anything. Of all the dresses she wanted children to wear…

Trisha closed her eyes and imagined the children in dresses, and at some point a certain dress came to mind. The most beautiful and shining dress in the world.

However, I felt that I would never see the children wearing the dress I had imagined. I felt that the children who had said they would be by my side and that they would be happier living by my side than getting married would never wear this dress.

Trisha imagined again, her beloved standing where the children had passed, dressed in the most beautiful dresses in the world, in flowing white dresses, and receiving blessings from countless people.

And I see myself blessing the children while looking at that sight.

The most anticipated moment in Trisha’s life.

“…wedding dress.”

“…Huh?”

Trisha smiled bitterly as she looked at Elise, who was blankly looking up at her. She couldn’t help it. Where in the world would there be a parent who wouldn’t want to see their daughter in a wedding dress?

“Don’t worry about it, it’s natural for parents to want to see their daughter’s wedding dress at least once.”

“…Yes, Mother.”