15.
“Then I only need to come before evening, correct?”
The young ladies selected for today’s consultations.
Among them, the two who had been pushed to the later slots asked me side by side.
“That’s right. Please come whenever is convenient for you.”
There was already one person waiting inside.
At my answer, they gave a light nod and went outside.
‘Smooth sailing.’
Most consultations proceeded like this.
Since no one knew when the previous consultation would end, once they were called, it was like they went out to get a little fresh air for a while.
It was a fairly neat method that didn’t waste each other’s time.
‘Of course, Chloe waits out front every single time.’
Now that I think about it, that really is absurd.
Do you have that little to do?
In any case, today’s consultation schedule had all been set, so I went out to change the sign.
And then, something suddenly caught my eye.
A plain dress.
A woman wearing a hood was approaching this way.
‘Red hair?’
The hair peeking out from under her hood was a vivid red.
It was a color I hadn’t seen in quite a while.
Perhaps it was surprisingly rare, because I had never seen that color even once outside the Sinclair family.
The red-haired woman stared fixedly at me.
Standing as if nailed in place at the shop entrance, her gaze directed only at me.
‘What is this? Did she come for a consultation or something?’
We were already closed.
Just as I was about to open my mouth, wondering if I should say something.
Whoosh—
She turned around so sharply it was as if there should have been a sound effect.
Even so, at the very end, she only turned her head slightly to look at me.
Glare—
She shot me a sharp look and disappeared just like that.
‘…What was that?’
At that moment, a face came to mind.
Right after my possession.
A face that seemed unable to hide the irritation welling up just from looking at me.
‘Veronica?’
By the time the name came to mind, it was already too late.
She had disappeared beyond the back alley.
…Unbelievable.
If she was just going to glare and leave, why did she even come?
Just then, a voice came from inside.
“Teacher? Are you not ready yet~?”
A soft, leisurely urging.
The young ladies who had received a few consultations were mostly like this.
It was as if they were trying not to go against me.
Even when they made a request, it felt a bit more rounded.
“Yes, I’m coming!”
I turned my steps back inside.
‘……Well, if she doesn’t come, then that’s that.’
I don’t know why Veronica came all the way here.
But at the very least, I don’t have any business with her.
***
The next few days were no different from usual.
“This person, and this one, and lastly, this person.”
I picked three suitable people, hypnotized them, and gave them a little kneading.
However, one thing had changed.
Once the main customer base became noble young ladies, the stories I heard changed a lot as well.
In the case of maids, it was simple.
Work is hard.
The young lady is too capricious.
Marie talks too much.
Things like that were easy, since I just had to listen to their complaints and give them a brief time to rest.
But the young ladies were different.
Should I say it was closer to backbiting in high society?
The color of some young lady’s dress was tacky.
Someone’s pinky stuck out when she held her teacup.
Most of it was talk like that.
‘No, was the angle of a pinky finger really that important?’
While consulting with Lady Fleur, I couldn’t help but flinch.
No wonder Chloe had been so obsessed with teacup etiquette.
So that wasn’t nagging, but a warning?
Amid that, I heard a rather interesting story as well.
“Oh, right, did you know?”
Lady Fleur lightly folded her fan.
After briefly observing me with her prim eyes, she opened her mouth.
“They say Lady Sinclair left in the middle of the ball the other day.”
Sinclair.
Was she talking about Veronica?
When my gaze changed, her fan paused.
Her expression said she had caught me red-handed.
It seemed she had noticed that I, who had merely been listening appropriately, had shown interest.
But she did not continue right away and instead repeatedly urged me first.
“You must not mention this elsewhere….”
“Of course, it’s a secret. Keeping a client’s secrets is the basics for a counselor.”
I don’t know what actual counselors are like, but it’s probably something like that.
As if reassured by my answer, she lowered her voice and whispered.
It was a story that Lady Sinclair had left in anger while the ball was in full swing.
“They say she was quite angry at a nearby maid……”
The end of her sentence trailed off subtly.
A breath that broke once at “at.”
It seemed she hadn’t only been angry at the maid.
No, for that matter, I wasn’t even sure if that maid had really been a maid.
Lady Fleur’s gaze briefly wavered.
The tip of her fan was trembling, if only slightly.
She probably knew that it would be troublesome if she said any more at this point.
“She is not usually that sort of person, you see. I heard she has been sensitive lately because of headaches, so perhaps that was why….”
It was truly hard to react to that.
You mean she normally isn’t like that?
When she was like that to me?
Well, should I let that pass?
But leaving in the middle of a ball because her headache was severe.
When I recalled the Veronica I knew, it wasn’t something I could easily understand.
She was the kind of person who was always so concerned with other people’s gazes and dignity.
In a world where even the angle of a single pinky finger could invite gossip, she left midway?
Had there been something she truly couldn’t endure?
‘……Well, it has nothing to do with me.’
I put the thought away.
She isn’t my customer, so what does it matter to me?
***
Then, one day.
While checking the line, I saw something that bothered me.
Vivid red hair standing in a corner toward the back of the line.
Someone in a plain coat had her head lowered slightly.
As if she were trying to hide herself from everyone’s gazes.
…Looking at her, I was dumbfounded.
If she was standing in line, didn’t that mean she wanted a consultation, one way or another?
I’m the one who selects the customers, and she’s trying to hide from me?
What is that fool doing?
Fine, then I’ll pretend I didn’t see her too.
I picked three from the front and hung up the sign.
-Consultations Are Closed for Today-
The red hair in the distance disappeared while kicking a pebble.
The next day.
I saw red hair around the middle of the line.
Further forward than yesterday.
Had she come earlier?
Your efforts were in vain.
I picked three from the front and back of the line.
Judging by how the nearby maid was startled, it seemed she had said something quite harsh.
The next day.
This time, she was near the front of the line.
Almost in a position to make it into the top three.
At this point, there was no need to call her red hair.
Because anyone could see it was Veronica.
She was wearing a hood, but she seemed to have given up on the idea of hiding.
She wasn’t lowering her head either.
Rather, she was looking straight at me.
With an expression that seemed to be glaring.
I scanned the line.
One young lady right in front of Veronica.
One maid right behind her.
I moved my gaze as if I were choosing.
“This person, this person, and……”
My finger passed over the insolent redhead,
“The person behind you.”
And stopped in front of a maid I had seen recently.
She pointed at herself with startled eyes.
“M-Me?”
“Yes.”
I felt a strong gaze from Veronica.
A look from someone who had watched another maid be chosen instead of her, right under her nose.
There was no need to look anymore.
Because behind me, as I turned away, I heard undignified footsteps.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
As if she were taking out her unbearable irritation on the street.
The eldest daughter of a ducal family making footsteps like that?
If they had seen her in high society, it would not have ended as mere gossip.
‘Ohoho, you have no patience, Miss Veronica.’
I awakened the young lady within me and laughed at her to my heart’s content.
Miss Veronica, who had snorted at fifty silver coins.
Do you understand a little now how it feels to be ignored?
***
The next morning.
I woke up earlier than usual.
Something felt strange.
I drew back the curtain and looked down outside the window.
It was early, before the sun had risen.
Only an eerie atmosphere lingered in the dark alley.
There shouldn’t have been a single person in an alley like this, and yet….
‘What is that?’
When I lowered my gaze beneath the window, I saw someone standing in front of the door.
A plain coat.
A hood pulled low.
Red hair.
‘You again….’
I looked down for quite some time.
The shadow that was unmistakably Veronica did not budge from in front of the door.
Even though it was still before sunrise.
She remained, just like that, completely still.
‘……Ha.’
I scratched my head.
I had ignored her for several days.
Even when she came from the back of the line to the middle.
Even when she came from the middle to the front.
Last time, I had even pretended to choose her, only to pick another maid instead.
The eldest daughter of a ducal family, and my older sister, Veronica.
She was a person with such strong pride that I thought she would be disgusted by now and stop coming.
‘It was the exact opposite.’
She was waiting from the crack of dawn.
‘…Are her headaches that bad?’
Or was her pride even stronger than that?
Like, since she was blatantly ignored, she couldn’t be satisfied unless she was chosen no matter what.
……If it’s really that, that’s a little scary, isn’t it?
I roughly got dressed and went down to the first floor.
The moment I placed my hand on the doorknob, I paused briefly.
‘…Am I really going to open it?’
She was the person who had laughed at me when I desperately negotiated thirty silver coins into fifty.
If I thought about it, there was no reason to open the door for her.
Creeak—
Swallowing a sigh inwardly, I opened the door.
Because she herself must know that too.
And yet, if she came like this anyway, there had to be a reason.
My eyes met Veronica’s.
Bloodshot eyes.
Dark circles that even makeup could not fully hide.
How long had she been standing there?
How long had she been enduring the pain?
She narrowed her eyes and looked at me.
It seemed she was trying to glare as usual, but she couldn’t even do that properly.
Her pupils trembled with difficulty.
Far from her usual oppressive aura, it only made her look more pitiful.
Even then, she kept her lips tightly pressed together.
And when her mouth finally opened after a long while, what came out was this.
“……It does not seem there is a set time for standing in line.”
Her voice was cracked.
“Am I… correct…?”
A voice of someone who had not slept properly for days.
Even in that state, she held her head stiffly upright and looked at me.
‘……She really is stubborn.’
I do think she is an irritating person.
No matter what this possessed body did before, it was true that she laughed at me.
But even so, that face was.
‘Hard to pretend I didn’t see it.’
It felt like watching in real time how far a person could break down.
Like watching someone right before they reached their limit.
Our gazes met slowly.
I was the one who looked away first.
I turned around and went inside.
Then I hung a sign in front of the door.
Instead of the usual closing sign, it was a sign I had made to use someday on a day off.
-We Are Closed Today-
Her breathing grew ragged.
As if she were afraid I might simply close the door on her.
Yes, it can’t be helped.
If she is suffering that much, I have no choice but to lend a hand for a bit.
“Please come in.”
I said it without looking back.
I don’t know what kind of change the restorative effect of hypnosis will bring her.
Her headache might get better.
Or it might not.
Still, well.
It should be better than doing nothing.
More importantly….
‘She’s family, at least, so it won’t turn out like it did with Chloe, right?’