Chapter 4

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“Of course, Edwin, because your taste is reliable.”

I raised my thumb at the shy Edwin. It’s from the original. Edwin is better than anyone else when it comes to choosing clothes and accessories.

Calix, the male lead, was indifferent and cold, and did not know much about details. On the contrary, the meticulous Edwin had a personality that did not miss even a small thing.

So Ariel of the original novel secretly grabbed Edwin to go out for the Crown Prince’s Birthday banquet she was supposed to attend. I just copied it, too.

Of course, it was quite embarrassing to refuse Austin when he offered to call a designer home to order a necklace.

Well, it wasn’t in the original! Whenever I do this, I think positively that I did the right thing. I was glad to be the heroine of the novel.

However, what was difficult about staying here as Ariel for about three weeks was to talk freely with the people around me.

Like Ariel, without any awkwardness. How hard I’ve been working every day to be like her. There were several times when I bit my tongue to stop the honorifics that sometimes popped out. Since I said it was a joke, Austin just said I was cute and moved on.

However, I thought that if I repeated it a few times, they would definitely be suspicious. So I tried hard to talk comfortably! No one in the Delis family will know that I greet and speak informally to my pillow late at night.

So now I have developed enough to be able to come out with Edwin like Ariel.

No one, including Austin, Edwin, and Calix, doubted my identity so what I was doing must be right. It would be weird to see Ariel’s body and insist that it’s not Ariel.

Edwin carefully escorted me with a nod to my answer.

I felt sorry for the kindness I felt in his touch. I’m not really Ariel, I’m just deceiving him. Plus I know Edwin’s sad ending.

We arrived at Madame Shell’s accessory shop, a designer’s luxury shop that is very much loved among aristocratic youngsters these days.

We went inside without hesitation because it was a place where Lady Ariel and Young Lord Edwin would confidently enter.

“Oh, welcome!”

“Hey, I’d like to see some necklaces.”

“Yes, yes, this way!”

Designer Shell immediately took Edwin and I to the side where the necklaces were displayed, and my eyes widened.

Why are the jewels so big? My eyes widened slightly without realizing it because it was so dazzling how colorful it was. This will make my eyes less painful.

The designer Shell quickly took out a handkerchief and wiped off the sweat flowing through her forehead. She seemed to watch me and Edwin.

“Edwin, what do you think would suit me?”

“Hmm, wait a minute.”

I looked at Edwin, who was looking at the necklaces more carefully than anyone else, and I also turned to the necklace. Everything looks pretty……?

“Ariel.”

“What?”

Edwin called me and pointed to the necklaces he chose with a refreshing face as if his worries were over. It’s pretty, but why did he choose so many?

Shell’s mouth, which had been wiping away her sweat earlier, was wide enough to reach his ears, and Edwin continued to pick. Then I was handed an elegant necklace with a brilliant blue emerald from Shell.

A clear, transparent jewel caught my eye. I was staring at the smooth surface without any flaws. Around it were glittering little jewels.

This necklace didn’t feel awkward. I could quickly recall the contents of the original.

How could this happen, I let out a small breath of surprise.

“There…”

Edwin, who blushed his cheeks to say what he was going to say, called me carefully.

“Yeah, what’s wrong?”

“…this necklace. Ariel, I think it’ll look best on you.”

Let’s see. Edwin. As he said, the jewel was similar to the color of my eyes, and Ariel, a beautiful woman, with the necklace is a match made in heaven. That’s why he gave this necklace to her, the heroine in the original. I remember this necklace from the novel. Edwin gave it to me as a gift, I didn’t know that. I kept nodding to mean I was listening. Edwin, who took courage from that, said.

“So, I want you to wear this necklace at the banquet. Of course it’s up to you, but…….”

“All right.”

“…What?”

“I like it, I like it, too.”

At first, I blinked my eyes to see Edwin staring blankly at me, wondering if he could believe my answer.

Then Edwin’s expression brightened in an instant, and a smile more dazzling than the sun poured on me. Oh, it’s so bright. Stop it!

I was able to speak informally and talk naturally now, but this was what I was not used to yet. I haven’t adapted to the beauty of the men here yet.

“The claim is for the Marquis of Cliff.”

“Yes, sir!”

“What, what? Edwin, wait. This is what I….”

Suddenly Edwin told Shell to charge the necklace to him, and when I called him in a hurry, Edwin looked at me and lightly raised his lips.

“It’s in return for doing me a favor, Ariel.”

I’ll have to wear this necklace no matter what happens at the banquet. I thought.

Because I was going to wear it like it was from the original anyway.

Edwin was smiling, unaware of my thoughts. I felt sorry for him, but as long as I am Ariel, the heroine, there was nothing I could do. I’m a coward who fears big changes.

* * *

Edwin paid for the necklace and other accessories, and Edwin and I were currently searching for a restaurant instead of going home.

Edwin struggled to send me home, but he couldn’t resist my stubbornness and kept glancing at me with an anxious face. I was hungry, and I got a present from Edwin, but I couldn’t let it go.

So the place I’m going now was a restaurant that Austin recommended to visit with me a few days ago because it was known to serve delicious food. I kept wondering how delicious it was to be praised so much.

It didn’t come out of the original, but this should be fine. What’s gonna happen? And if that had happened, it couldn’t have been written in the original.

But as we got closer to this restaurant, Edwin’s face turned pale.

What’s wrong, don’t you like this restaurant? I was about to ask Edwin.

“……?”

“……!”

I saw a man and a woman. They weren’t too far away, so I could see their faces well. A cold-looking handsome man with black hair was a man I knew. The male protagonist, the man who will be intertwined with me from the upcoming banquet.

In front of him was a cute but ordinary-looking woman with plain brown hair and a big smile.

Calix was frowning with some uncomfortable expression, but the woman kept talking to him with a smile as if she were ignoring such an expression.

Who the hell is that?

A male protagonist who says he doesn’t care about anyone but the heroine. He doesn’t mix unnecessary words with other women…….

Of course, Calix from the original would have talked to other women before the original started. But I was worried that someone else might try to twist the original.

Is she the one, Lady Linda?

As I kept staring at Calix, Edwin, who was hesitating from the side, started talking.

“…I’m sorry I didn’t tell you in advance.”

“What?”

“You know, Calix.”

“…Who is that?”

Edwin, who spoke to my question, rolled his eyes. Edwin carefully said what he tried to avoid somehow, but couldn’t come up with a way.

“There’s a young lady who follows Calix these days…….”

As expected, Lady Linda? I gulped down my dry saliva from the tension.

“She’s Lady Dana of Baron Astor, and she’s following Calix around as a friend these days. Calix told me not to tell you…….”

Edwin, who broke his promise with a friend, was drooping like a dog in the rain, but I focused on the name Dana.

Who’s that? I turned my head in a hurry. However, I understand that there was no such name in the original.

…just, like, a little episode before the start of the original? The original work hasn’t even started yet, so I can’t help but not know what happened in this world.

I would have felt more comfortable if I had known the story before the start of the original. First of all, I decided to think of it as a small episode featuring Lady Dana.

I came to a conclusion and nodded to myself, and Calix must have found Edwin with me and quickly approached us with his long legs. Lady Dana, who often follows after him, is a bonus.