In the end, without getting back the embroidery that had been snatched from me, the day the guests were scheduled to visit arrived.
Which meant that even I, who had been spending my days in my room with nothing to do but obsessively practice embroidery, finally had a task.
“Don’t we have another kkaekki skirt similar to this? Something thinner!”
“Did all the foxes who went to fetch the cosmetic oil die or what?”
“Bring every bit of rouge we have!”
Being dressed up with utmost effort as the public face of the estate.
So much so that I didn’t utter a single one of the whiny complaints I would normally have made the whole time, like, “Isn’t this enough already?”
Right now, I was being dressed up very diligently.
Even if I couldn’t be of help to the people working hard, I couldn’t get in their way.
“…The skirt waist won’t tighten all the way?”
“That’s how it is if it isn’t custom-made. Tie it as best you can and hide it.”
“My goodness.”
…Should I complain a little?
This is sexual harassment, dear maids. It’s not okay just because you’re not touching me directly.
It was already an awkward area I couldn’t help being conscious of. I was experiencing in real time what people meant when they said they could feel someone’s gaze.
On top of that, every outfit they brought had something off about it.
Some were thinner than the light jeoksam I wore as sleepwear, making everything underneath plainly visible.
Others were so short they fully exposed the breast covering, or clung to the body to a bizarre degree.
Even from my perspective as someone who had transmigrated and was relatively open-minded about exposure, they were indecent enough to make me wonder if these were really clothes meant to be worn.
Why on earth did see-through breast coverings, or breast coverings embroidered with lavish patterns, even exist?
It was clothing that wasn’t even supposed to be seen, so why decorate it so extravagantly? It was strange.
Of course, I could imagine the reason, but still, it was strange.
“Bring a longer jeogori.”
“This length has to be at least this short to match the current trend, though?”
“Oh, for—prepare things like that when the two of you go moon-viewing. Bring me a long one.”
The only relief was that they seemed to have brought those outfits merely to check the colors and silhouette, and didn’t truly intend to make me wear them.
And the problem was that they really were clothes prepared for me to wear.
Please, just put them in the wardrobe and never take them out again.
“My lady, we’re almost done. Please bear with it just a little longer.”
“Hwaya… That’s the third time you’ve said that.”
Hwaya spoke up, trying to soothe me as I shuddered for a different reason.
But her words were no comfort at all when she was already changing my hairstyle for the third time.
***
Even though an enormous amount of time had been poured into dressing me up, my appearance after all that was far from flashy.
The jeogori and skirt were mostly calm shades of blue, and I had hardly any makeup on, only a faint rouge on my lips and a little cosmetic oil on my face.
If they were going to dress me up like an elegant young lady in the end, what had been the point of the dozens of outfits I had tried on since morning?
It made me wonder if, since I had stayed quiet, they had taken the opportunity to make me try on every outfit they hadn’t been able to put me in before.
“My lady. You mustn’t touch it.”
“The binyeo keeps touching my ear.”
I knew I shouldn’t touch my hair after they had worked so hard to arrange it.
But every time I walked, the ornament stuck in my hair brushed against my ear, so my hand kept going to it without me realizing.
“The binyeo…? Ah. If you mean the hair ornament, I’ll adjust it for you.”
I had thought every ornament stuck into the hair was called a binyeo, but there were many kinds of accessories, apparently.
I had no idea what the difference was.
“I’m still a little nervous.”
“You prepared so hard. There’s nothing for you to worry about.”
I had thought of it as merely killing time in my room.
But still, as the mistress of the household, I would be receiving guests, so I hadn’t truly spent all my time playing around and doing embroidery.
I had plenty of time, so of course I had learned simple etiquette and the basic information about the expected visitors from Hwaya.
But the more Hwaya and I walked toward the estate’s main gate, the more the reality approached that I would have to face people whose thoughts about me I could not know.
Everyone inside the estate knew that my memories were not intact, and all of them were far kinder to me than I deserved.
But the tiger beastfolk visiting as guests this time only knew that I had suffered from a brief illness, and they had no reason to be excessively kind to me.
They would treat me according to past connections I knew nothing of, or according to my official position.
Aside from my appearance, I was a completely different person. Would I really be able to do this well?
“My lady. Don’t worry too much. Just act as you normally do.”
“I don’t know what my normal is.”
“I mean, act as you are now.”
Hwaya had noticed I was nervous, and I could see she was trying to help me relax.
Yesterday, Sohwi had also told me not to worry too much, since I only needed to show my face.
But in this situation, wouldn’t it be stranger not to be nervous?
“My lady.”
As I walked, fervently repeating the few things I had learned, I saw Sohwi already finished with his preparations and waiting at the main gate.
“I’m a little late, aren’t I?”
“I did wait a bit.”
I knew it. Getting dressed up takes too long. Just like last time, he was waiting first again.
Wouldn’t most people at least say I wasn’t late, even as an empty courtesy?
Of course, from his expression, I could immediately tell he had only said it to tease me again.
“When I’m meeting my lady, I need to wait a little.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I need time to prepare my heart. It tingles and rings.”
As expected, Sohwi toyed with my hair as usual and uttered words embarrassing enough for anyone to hear.
Here I was, worrying because of him, yet he was smiling and joking. It was annoying, so I lightly punched his arm.
My fist touched Sohwi’s durumagi with a soft poof.
“Haha. How is it? Do you feel a little more at ease?”
“If you’re trying to ease my nerves, then please just return the embroidery you took.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The moment I mentioned the embroidery, he took his hand from my hair and played innocent. It was maddeningly cheeky.
“…A bit of a shame.”
But Sohwi’s hand, the one that had been touching my hair, kept clenching and unclenching as he murmured softly.
“If it’s a shame, you can touch it more.”
“That is not what I meant, so it is all right.”
Then what was a shame?
“Besides, if I touch it any more, I feel Hwaya will not let me be.”
“Surely not.”
Just as we were exchanging such idle jokes and my tension was starting to ease a little,
from outside the gate came the clattering sound of many horse hooves.
“They’ve arrived.”
As the sound slowly drew closer, various noises mixed together and grew louder.
The sheer presence was so large that I could tell from the sound alone that there were far more than just one or two guests.
And as if all the joking I had done with Sohwi to relax had been for nothing, my neck stiffened.
I was nervous after all.
Is my expression all right?
Is my posture strange?
And also…
“Ah.”
Just as my nervousness was about to make my thoughts run wild, Sohwi took my clenched hand.
“There you go again. My lady always thinks too much.”
At Sohwi’s words that I thought too much, I remembered that day when he had comforted me while my eyes were covered.
The day I had agonized alone until my head hurt, only to be comforted in the end.
Right. What was the point of thinking so complicatedly?
I didn’t know anything anyway, so I probably wouldn’t come up with any good ideas. If I just stood beside Sohwi and smiled brightly, I would at least make it halfway.
Comforted by the warmth I felt from our joined hands, I took one deep breath.
Then I slowly lifted the corners of my mouth and looked up at Sohwi.
“There you go.”
At the sight of him giving a small nod, as if to say I had done well, I found just the tiniest bit of courage.
I hadn’t done anything wrong, so let’s not be scared.
Even if I had done something wrong, the person who would solve it was holding my hand.
So let’s not worry too much.
“As expected of my clever wife.”
The moment I steeled my heart like that, the estate gate opened, and the guests began to cross the threshold one by one.
The first thing that caught my eye was their distinctive hair color.
Their hair, ranging from orange to a yellow close to gold, was marked here and there with black and white stripes in unique patterns.
Even from a distance, anyone would be able to tell they were tiger beastfolk.
“You must have had a difficult journey coming all this way.”
“Hoho. It was hardly difficult. We came quite happily.”
Sohwi greeted an old man with a full white beard by lowering his head slightly.
“I thought we would see you sooner, but I am glad to see you now, at least.”
“Is it not thanks to everyone’s concern?”
Though the old man was deeply wrinkled, his bearing went beyond healthy and seemed strong.
Even Sohwi was on the tall side, yet the old man was tall enough to look down at him.
For me to see the old man’s face, I had to lift my head until my neck nearly gave out.
And it wasn’t just the old man before me. All the tiger beastfolk who had come with him had excellent physiques.
I had heard they were people devoted to metallurgy and crafts, and indeed, they were full of muscles that made me wonder if all they did after eating was pound metal.
“It is good to see that Madam Ho seems to be recovering as well.”
“Y-yes. It is thanks to everyone’s concern.”
“Hoho. If so, then that is fortunate. I look forward to the meal.”
Though I stammered, it must not have seemed strange, for the old man merely laughed and continued speaking without any particular reaction.
But then, I suddenly felt as though someone was looking me up and down.
It was a nasty gaze, sticky and damp, somehow lewd.
—Tap.
Thinking I might be able to find the owner of that gaze, I was slowly looking over the tiger beastfolk.
Then I heard light, brisk footsteps from somewhere.
“Sister Sua!”
At the same time, something pure white darted out swiftly, cutting through the people.
The instant I realized what was running toward me,
“I was so worried!”
it flung itself into my arms in an instant.
The little thing clutched tightly at my skirt hem with small hands and lifted its face to look up at me.
A tiger girl with sparkling blue eyes and snow-white hair marked with black stripes.
“I missed you!”
She gave me a bright smile, then buried her face in my skirt hem again.