"That's a very good idea. I don't know if Lillian will accept it."

"She will accept it. If she hears what I'm talking about. Be sure to let her know that it can bring a new hope to actresses."

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A few days after meeting with the new manager, she heard the good news through Ullio, who had finally come to work officially. In other words, Oswald had persuaded the hesitant Lillian to sign the contract.

"Then we can hire the rest of the staff. I'll trust Mr. Ullio's eye. I want you to hire the staff of both stores within two weeks. You can use the office in there as your private office. Sophie will guide you through the inside of the main building. Take your time looking around and there are things that require attention that I want you to take care of for the new staff. The building behind the main building is a separate house for Amelie and Sophie, so be sure to keep their access restriction in mind."

Julieta finished speaking and stood up. "I'll go back early today because my manager will take good care of the dressing shop. I'm afraid I won't be able to come often for a while, so please take good care of it."

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After returning to the mansion of Duke Kiellini, Julietta deliberately went up to her bedroom while coughing. She changed into an indoor dress and went to see Simone, as she had planned a few days ago.

"I have to go down to Tilia in two weeks, but I'm really worried about Lady Christine, who visited here."

At Julietta's words, Simone picked up a light lemon-colored invitation letter from the silver tray on the table and held it out to Julietta. "As a matter of fact, Lady Christine sent you an invitation to a tea party at the mansion of Marquis Anais."

Julietta opened the invitation with the emblem of the family of Marquis Anais, examined the contents, closed it right away, and put it down on the table. "I think I have a cold. I should refrain from going out for a while. Of course, I won't be able to receive visitors for a while."

The invitation said that Prince Francis had returned to Dublin after a long time and would like to meet Princess Kiellini, so could she please attend? Ordinary ladies would be glad to attend, thinking it was an honor, but Julietta obviously didn't want to go because she felt Christine's ulterior motive. Though she had not seen Prince Francis in person, she was hostile to him since she had worked as Killian's maid, and she felt repelled.

"Yes, you've come to Dublin all of a sudden, having a debut party and spending a hectic time meeting strangers, so I'm sure you've gotten sick."

Simone was going to tell her not to visit the dressing shop as Prince Killian had already said, but when Julietta said it in advance, Simone thought she must have heard something from the Prince.

Julietta was slightly embarra.s.sed when Simone readily gave her permission, even before she could persuade her with an excuse about Francis.

"Vera, you don't have to wait on me for a while. I won't let anyone approach the floor where your bedroom is. Vera, you don't have to worry about me, but just concentrate on Iris's nursing care. Mary, Luna, come here."

Two maids she had seen for the first time came out of the inner bedroom at Simone's call and approached politely. "They are new maids. For the time being, let Vera take charge of Iris alone, and let Mary and Luna wait on me. Vera will have to get in and out of the dressing shop on Iris' errands, so I will have Gibson on standby all the time. You are surely going to be worried about the dressing shop."

Simone finished and lowered her gaze to the list she held, as if she was done with her work. She was picking up the maids and servants to make the Dublin mansion her own. Starting with the recruitment of Mary and Luna, she was busy trying to cut off the unimportant workers and fill them with new people she had picked, and wrote something with a pen.

Julietta got up after a moment of wondering over Simone's promise to keep people out of her bedroom floor. She had dressed up as a maid before, so Simone seemed to think she'd do it again this time.

These days, Simone hadn't said much about what Julietta did. Rather, it was like she was trying to encourage her to do what she wanted. Simone acted like Julietta was the real daughter of the family of Kiellini.

Julietta was thinking over how to accept this, bowed politely to Simone who was seriously looking into the papers, and stepped away. She figured she could stop worrying because she didn't have much time before getting out of this subst.i.tute's role anyway. Maybe Simone also felt like this.

Julietta informed the mansion that she had a cold and went to bed early. As Lady Iris had gone to Tilia Territory since she was sick in her childhood and returned to the mansion only two months ago, but was sick again, the mansion of the Duke was tension-ridden.

When Mrs. Raban did not let anyone linger about the princess's bedroom, the employees' behavior became as cautious as walking on thin ice. Up on the quiet third floor, with n.o.body allowed to bother her, Julietta was finally able to enjoy days in comfort.

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