'Why is Lizé suddenly doing this, and does it really have anything to do with me meeting the second exception condition?'
While I was thinking about this, Cliff said something out of the blue.
"Oh! Do you happen to know a maid named Sabina?"
"Who?"
"Sabina."
"No, I don't. I've never heard that name before. What does she look like?"
"......she's a slightly skinny maid with a mix of blond and chestnut-colored hair. She mostly carried laundry."
"Hmm...... I'm sorry, I don't remember much about her, as Anna or Sophia took care of all the laundry that went in or out of my room. But what's with the maid, is something wrong?"
Cliff smiled slightly when I asked. Something about it felt off.
"Oh, I see. I wish I had known."
"What?"
"Ah, I was thinking of giving her a promotion if she has a good reputation."
"I see. I'm sorry, I haven't gotten to know all the maids' names yet."
"Well, that's okay."
Cliff finished his tea with an odd smile.
"Anyway, what I said, don't forget to give it a try. If it works out, it'll be good for you and good for me, right?"
"Ha...... do you think so?"
I'm not looking forward to it. I'm just worried I might be stirring up Killian's memories of when he was with Lizé.
But there isn't much time left until the episode where my head is beheaded.
I have to try everything I can.
***
"Look at that, Killian! So cute!"
Lizé, who hadn't been out together in a while, smiled as she pointed to the window of a common haberdashery shop on Le Belle-Marie Street.
There were music boxes and glass artifacts that were said to be imported from abroad.
"They are cute. Do you want me to buy one?"
In Killian's eyes, they are overpriced and pretty trash, but if Lizé says they are pretty and cute, then they are.
"No, I'm just saying they're cute."
But Killian took Lizé inside to buy the things she pointed out.
A music box made by one of the world's top three craftsmen costs 200,000 sennas, and a bunny-shaped glass ornament imported from a famous glass producer costs 18,000 sennas.
"I'm really fine......"
Lizé, who had been flustered the entire time Killian was paying for it, raised her eyebrows at the gift.
"I just bought it for you because I wanted to. There aren't many days left when I can get you something like this."
"What? Killian, where are you going?"
"I'm going down to the Ryzen estate."
"Uh, when are you going?"
"Well...... maybe early next year?"
Killian gave a small laugh at the way Lizé seemed to be mourning his departure.
"Is Edith coming with you?"
Her question was a little odd.
Not only was she asking the obvious, but there was a tone of disbelief in her question.
"Isn't that obvious? Of course Edith will miss life in the capital, but the lord's wife has no choice but to follow suit."
"T- that's right......"
"What's wrong?"
"Because I will miss her, I suppose. She's one of the few friends I have......"
The weirdness quickly dissipated.
Killian remembered that Lizé didn't have many friends her age, and thought she had every right to feel sad.
As they chatted, they soon reached their destination.
"Ah, here we are."
The two walked into a high-end shoe store together.
"Welcome– ah, you're coming for your shoes!"
"Yes."
The store owner quickly remembered the two dazzlingly gorgeous people.
He pulled out one of the boxes on the shelf and opened it in front of them.
"These are in great shape. Try them on."
Lizé smiled shyly, sat down, and held out her dainty feet.
The shoes are cream-colored satin, with ribbons and diamond buckles on the instep.
Killian vividly remembered the day she'd been fitted for these shoes.
It was a few days before the fake document leak incident.
Edith had stepped up to console Lizé, who smiled sadly, saying she was so much smarter and better at her job than her uneducated self.
I think it was that day that Edith also said she was taking her maid out.
"Good shoes will take you to good places," Killian said.
It was meant to comfort Lizé, but it was also meant to say goodbye to her.
Originally, he wanted to be the "good place" for her, but he was saddened by the fact that he could no longer hold her in his arms.
But the human heart is deceitful.
What had felt like heartbreak to him then, felt like nothing at all now.
'Maybe I was pushed away easily by Cliff because my love is only this much.'
Come to think of it, Cliff centered his entire being around Lizé.
It was scary sometimes.
Maybe even letting Killian fall in love with her was a smokescreen to slowly make her his.
"Things will get better, Killian. I think you and Edith are a good match."
He remembered his mother's words, which had once angered him.
At the time, I thought it would never happen, but now it only confirms that she wasn't wrong.
'I wonder what Edith is doing today......'
The image of Edith standing in front of the carriage with only her maid for company kept coming back to him.
'I'll have to get some more of Edith's shoes and boots fitted before we go down to the estate. Now that I think about it, I don't have much time, do I?'
He couldn't even remember what shoes she wore.
Chastising himself for his indifference, Killian said to the shoemaker, who was singing his praises to Lizé.
"I'll drop by with my wife sometime soon. I think we'll have to order two or three pairs of shoes and boots each. How long do you think it will take to make them?"
"I- if it's two or three pairs each for the two of you, um...... I'd say it'll take three months at the very least, because we'll be getting a lot of winter shoe orders soon."
"I see. I'll have to get here as soon as possible."
He nodded, but Lizé was looking up at him with a strange look on her face.
"What's wrong, Lizé?"
"Oh, nothing, but I was wondering if you might want to consider...... Edith's preferences."
"Edith's preferences?"
"You know, she likes things a little more glamorous."
Killian smirked at that. "I thought so too, but her preferences seem to have changed a lot since we got married. I didn't realize she was such a pragmatist."
"Oh, really?"
"She'd probably complain that the shoes here are too fancy and expensive."
"Really? All her dresses are fancy, and from what I've heard, she likes to be fancy, so I guess I misunderstood, but Edith looks great in them though......"
"That's right, and the dress she wore on our wedding day, well, it was a little unconventional, but it did look good on her."
It was a little embarrassing to even think about the dress, which showed off her cleavage, but he found himself wanting Edith to try it on again in front of him.
'Though I'd probably take it off quickly.'
Killian tried to control the smile that kept spreading across his face.
They left the shoes they'd packed at the shoe store with a servant who followed them, and decided to explore Le Belle-Marie Street again.
Just as they were about to walk away, Killian turned sideways at an unfamiliar sensation on his forearm.
"Hm? Why?"
Lizé was holding onto his arm.
She had never done this before.
"Oh, no...... nothing."
Killian was a little surprised, but it was nothing to get offended about, so he left it at that.
'Lizé must be in a good mood.'
He was glad.
This could be his last day out with her.
As he and Lizé walked down the street, which was full of cute shops and young ladies in pretty dresses, he suddenly remembered the street he and Edith had walked down after the opera.
It was connected to Darsus Street, but it was a little shabbier.
A street with cheap candy sellers, a girl selling wildflowers, and a clown who couldn't get more than a few coins for his tricks.
It was a place he would have never visited if he hadn't chosen to go out the back door because of the crowds at the front door of the opera house.
It was not a place he thought Edith would like.
But for someone born and raised in a noble family, Edith had no problem interacting with the commoners.
In addition, she smiled happily even after receiving shabby things.
'Come to think of it, there's nothing left of what I bought her back then......'
The candy was eaten before they returned, and the flowers probably wilted in less than two days. Even the juggling balls show had nothing of physical value left.
'Maybe I should have gotten her something.'
I wish I'd gotten Edith something to remind her of that day every time she saw it.
"Hey, Killian. Look at that, it looks like a new store."
"Ah......!"
Killian, engrossed in thoughts of Edith, was startled by Lizé and turned his gaze in the direction she pointed.
The store was so full of pink that it was hard to walk past.
He didn't want to go in there, as he was already getting stares from passersby, but Lizé seemed to want to check it out.
'I guess since we're out here, let's take a look at everything she wants to see.'
Killian followed Lizé into the pink bustling store.
It turned out to be an accessories store, selling things like ribbons, headbands, corsages, and lace.