The Noble Girl Living in Debt Chapter 27

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Bernard walked down the gloomy townscape, slightly depressed.
It couldn't be helped.
He was clearly told that it would be difficult to find a woman of his preference.
When he thought about it, as far as he remembered, the women around him were strong-willed and very self-a.s.sertive.
Just the thought of adding one more woman who was like Gigille or his mother in his house gave him chills.
He must choose his marriage partner carefully.
In this world, there were women who appeared to be cute like a kitten before marriage, and showed their terrible true nature after marriage.
He had heard that men who married such women would spend less time in their house.
They would be tired of work and didn't have time to relax at home, it would be a tiresome life. There were a lot of that kind of married men.
As he heard his senior knights complained, the young Bernard wondered that it would be better if he didn't marry.
But he understood it once he got older.
A knight must be a role model of the people.
And one of the ideals was to get married and live while protecting his family to gain honor.
No one said it explicitly.
However, in reality, an unmarried knight who was already past 30, couldn't hold their head high.
They usually couldn't walk down the road to success.
Bernard dropped his shoulder, thinking that he would become one too.

Dragging the heavy atmosphere with him, he rode the carriage and went home.

“Welcome home, Master.”

It was Gigille who greeted him. He sighed without replying.

“Did something happen?”
“. . . . .It's nothing.”

Gigille tilted her head while she saw her master's back walking towards his office wearily.

After dinner, someone visited his room with a cheerful knock on his door.
It was probably only Carol and Celia, he replied monotonously.
The twins appeared before Bernard in the new outfits they ordered.

“Master, the uniforms were finished!”
“Thank you for buying it for us!”

He dealt the excited twins by turning them away out of his room.

“Agnes-san will visit too later.”
“She wants to thank you for the uniform.”
“Yeah…..”

Though he felt it didn't matter, he still needed to check her disguise.
He ordered them to have her come right away.

After three minutes, there was a small knock on the door. He replied to come in.

“Excuse me.”
“Come in.”

Agnes, who came into the room, was blus.h.i.+ng and tried to endure her embarra.s.sment.
Bernard wondered, what's wrong with her. He thought she might be embarra.s.sed of either wearing an old fas.h.i.+oned dress that only old women would wear, or her braided pigtail hair that was usually donned by a young teenager. As he checked her from top to down, he finally stopped at one part.

“---Nn?”

Bernard strained his eyes and looked at that part.
Agnes noticed that she was being watched and unbearably covered her face with both hands.

“Y-you--”
“I, I'm sorry!”

Agnes apologized before he pointed it out. She knelt on the ground and put her hands in front of her chest like she was praying.

“Since a servant doesn't wear a corset, you made a n-new uniform for me. Thank you, very much. B, but, th-this kind of exposed appearance is--”
“You, when you said you're fat, oh, I see. You've been covering your chest until now?”
“.....Yes, I'm sorry.”

The outfit which was made to fit her figure, clearly showed her upper body shape without being tightened with a corset.
She was not fat, it's just her chest was bigger than most of the girls out there.

“.....Well, I don't know what to say.”

He wasn't sure if he should be surprised at Agnes's seductive figure, or if he should be sorry for her who was hiding that big breast everyday.
She appeared to be ashamed of herself, but nothing really changed beside her breast.
Bernard thought that he wouldn't understand the beauty standard and the ideal body shape of a woman in his life.

More than that, he noticed there was another problem.
A maid with innocent like braids but generous body shape.
The childlike appearance somehow had the charm of an adult woman's body. She was wearing a plain clothes but it just made her s.e.x appeal stood out.

“--How can this be!”

He screamed while holding his head. His strategy failed miserably.
The result was more likely to attract more attention than her previous livery.

“Oi.”
“Ye, yes.”
“Sit down for a bit.”
“.....Yes.”

Agnes was deeply depressed.
First of all, he thought that he must cleared up the misunderstanding.

“You think that you are fat right?”
“Yes.”

Agnes was dejected. Her usual straight back was completely down.
He said disappointingly about how come she got so depressed just by talking about her figure.

“Well, what's with that. . . . . .From where I see it, you are not fat at all.”
“Eh?”
“That's why, stop being depressed by something meaningless.”
“I am not, fat…..? Me?”
“That's right. Therefore, stand tall. On the contrary, if you are nervous, you will attract more attention.”
“Ye, yes. Thank you very much.”

Agnes appeared to be bewildered. Just to be sure, he told her to ask Gigille too.

“There is one more thing I want you to hear.”

He had been hesitant to ask it.
That was about the blister on her palm.
He noticed it when she was nursing him, but since he was embarra.s.sed that he hold her hand without her permission, he couldn't say it until now.
He thought this was a good chance to ask about it.

When she was asked what happened, she said it just appeared without her noticing.
He asked if it's because Gigille gave her so many tasks to do, but she just shook her head.

“You don't know what caused it?”
“Yes. I only do little ch.o.r.es.”
“For example, what did you do?”
“Sweeping the entrance with a broom, or brus.h.i.+ng the floor.”
“Isn't that the only cause for it.”
“Ri, right…..”

She was holding the broom's handle too hard and the blister formed.
Bernard advised that cleaning is not something you need to put all your strength into.

“Did Gigille teach you to clean forcefully?”
“No, that's not it. I am the one who's at fault.”
“?”

She was so nervous that he hurried her to say her reason.
Agnes said with remorse.

“I can't, properly see, that must be why I put on so much strength while cleaning.”
“Ah, so that's why.”

Agnes, whose eyes were bad, must've couldn't see the dust and dirt on the floor. So, since she didn't know if it was already clean or not, she unconsciously strengthened her hold on the broom or brush because she was insecure.

“Alright.”
“Yes?”
“You, wear eyegla.s.ses.”
“Eh!?”

Agnes's shortsightedness was a hindrance for her living style. Bernard said if she left it as is, it would also hinder her work.

“Bu, but, gla.s.ses are very expensive for me.”
“Then, I'll lend you the money.”

Bernard recommended for Agnes to pay him back little by little.

“Then, can I take on your kind offer?”
“I don't really mind. Besides, gla.s.ses can be used as a disguise too.”

Speaking of which, Agnes now was determined to buy gla.s.ses.
The problem was, how to make the gla.s.ses.
Door-to-door sales only came to an honored customers. They didn't just come to anyone.

“We should talk about it to Eric or Gigille.”
“Yes. Thank you.”

Anyway, they've set the next move for now.

***

Bernard submitted some doc.u.ments requested by Lazare to the secretariat, as he was going back, he found a clerk wearing gla.s.ses and called her out.

“I have something I want to ask--”
“Yes?”

He asked where he could buy gla.s.ses.

“Oh, this? It's from a shop called Rainbow Hall downtown.”
“There is a gla.s.ses shop downtown?”
“Yes. It seems that the rent in the central area is doubled from there.”
“I see.”

Because of that, the item's price was not too high. There were also optical shops owned by n.o.bles around the central area, but he was told that the price was twice as high.
The gla.s.ses from Rainbow Hall cost from one to five gold coins. It was said to differ from each model.

“The eyegla.s.ses you put on your nose are cheap, but can be quite a burden if you put it for too long. That's why I use this one.”

The clerk took off her gla.s.ses and showed it to him, it had arms that could be put on the ears. The price was about three gold coins.

Agnes's monthly salary was one gold coin. He thought it would take some time before she could repay him.

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Regarding the gla.s.ses, the cheap one was called pince-nez. It pinch on your nose when you wear it. While the other one is the gla.s.ses you can find nowadays.

Alright, now onto a more serious talk. So, I'm thinking of translating more series (one or two more), you can make a request for it with the link I post on my home page (I finally made one! Yay!)

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