Moira also questioned the sudden pregnancy of the Princess Haint. She suspected that the Duke and the princess had used the poor Count to refuse the hand of Prince Francis.

"Today I was preparing to attend a party at the mansion of Count Dario. You know how busy I am, but you made me walk all the way to the Eileen Theater in vain. You're so cruel, Your Highness."

Oswald had been trying to coax Count Derio, who was not part of any faction, trying to pull the Duke of Haint toward Killian. At Killian's sudden call, however, he gave up attending the party but what was waiting for Oswald at the theater, where he was not dressed properly, was an empty box without a note.

Killian frowned at Oswald, who was very angry. From the look on his face, he seemed to suffer for a while.

"Your Highness! Look at my figure. Do you know how urgently I ran to the place?"

Killian glanced down at the doc.u.ments, but looked up again to see Oswald's appearance, but he couldn't figure out where he was odd. His silver eyes shook with embarra.s.sment and fell again.

"Your Highness, don't avoid me. This Oswald's been wandering through the street of Eloz with this kind of appearance, but you're telling me I don't matter that much."

Killian decided to be honest with him because he had no idea what was wrong with him, although he was even more likely to get angry.

"Well, Oswald. I'm sorry to come back to the castle without waiting, but something important happened. But I don't know where you look wrong, and why you are so angry."

Oswald's face flushed at Killian's confession.

"Your Highness, I feel so sorry. Look at my hair now. I didn't curl properly, so it is messy."

Killian looked again at Oswald's head. The s.h.i.+ny fine hair was flowing around his neck, looking good, so he had no idea why he was so angry. But thinking he might have to listen to complaints all evening if he said he didn't know again, Killian intentionally froze his face.

"That's not what matters now, Oswald. Don't you wonder why I called you all of a sudden?"

Oswald poked his mouth up, tapping at the tips of his drooping hair. "Well, did you see Julietta?"

Knowing that it couldn't be true, he was ill-tempered and made invidious remarks, but Killian replied, "Oswald, you're different from Adam, too. You noticed right away."

Oswald was genuinely surprised when Killian raised his voice in an unusually upbeat tone, and asked back, "Did you really see Julietta?"

"Yes, I saw her on the street of Eloz. She disappeared in the blink of an eye, but it was definitely Julietta."

Killian's mouth crept up. Oswald looked at the smile, and shuddered. "I haven't seen you so happy in a long time."

Killian's expression instantly hardened when Oswald gave up his drooping hair and sat down on an office couch.

"Don't talk nonsense, and send someone to the Eileen Theater tomorrow. It's something the owner of the theater allowed, so as to get to know everything about Julietta. It's okay to find out very slowly. When they are busy, he will help out with theater work."

"Oh, did the troupe leader allow it? I'll have to go there myself. I'm thinking about taking over a theater, so it's okay to go and see what happens behind the colorful stage."

"I don't know how she's involved in Julietta's affairs, but I smell something. My visit today seemed quite embarra.s.sing to her. Who the h.e.l.l is up to this? Why?"

Killian concluded that there must be some conspiracy behind Julietta's disappearance. Whoever brought Julietta to the capital he was in was making a mistake. Now that he knew she was here, he would find her!

Oswald quickly felt better about the Prince's increasingly interesting love affair, and made a noisy gesture to bring tea.

----------

A few days later, Julietta again visited the dressing shop, disguised with a brick-red wig and gla.s.ses. Today Gibson was out with Simone, so she moved about in a business carriage by herself.

Not even dreaming of Killian finding her, Julietta got out of the carriage and looked up at the ivory building three stories high. On the front porch of the restored building was a sign with a dress, shoes, and a hat, along with the words "Chartreu's Dressing Shop." Under the bright pink sign on the ivory building, a gla.s.s-lined porch was visible.

Julietta stood in front of the wide-open door showing a transparent gla.s.s window, holding her throbbing heart. After months of hard work as a subst.i.tute, she would finally be able to continue her future in this dressing shop.

She opened the gla.s.s door and entered, going across the hall, which was still empty, and to the door on her right. Inside the large room, which used to be a family drawing room, were Amelie and Sophie, who were busy making clothes starting early in the morning.

"Julietta, come on."

"Don't you feel uncomfortable working here?"

Julietta said so and looked around the studio.

A large workbench for the foundation was placed in the middle, and various fabrics were piled up in one corner in a renovated main drawing room of the mansion. A small table and chair were placed on the back terrace heading toward the annex, serving as a place to rest when they were exhausted from working. From the terrace, she could see the annex and the garden on either side of the road.