“You greedy girl! You’re blinded by money! So vulgar!”
“It’s not about money.”
“Then it must be about a man! I know very well what young girls like you think. You’re finally admitting that you plan to use your looks to seduce Lord Cesare!”
Adele remained silent for a moment before speaking.
“So, you think I’m pretty, Madam. Thank you. But I do have my own preferences.”
“What…!”
Madam Flavia clutched the back of her neck in shock.
What on earth did this shoeshine eat growing up to have such a positive outlook?
Adele continued calmly.
“I simply enjoy the meals here.”
“…What?”
“The chef here is very skilled, Madam. Have you tasted the food?”
“I’ve eaten here hundreds of times more than you!”
“Did you like it?”
“Of course! If Buonaparte’s food isn’t the best, there wouldn’t be anything called food in all of Santenare!”
“Ah.”
Adele smiled slightly, as if proud. For the first time, a hint of liveliness appeared on her otherwise expressionless face.
Surprisingly, that small smile completely transformed Adele’s demeanor.
Although she was pretty, her previously stiff and uncharismatic face now looked as charming as a shy angel.
“Indeed. No wonder… It really is delicious.”
“…”
Madam Flavia was at a loss for words at the drastic change.
‘Is this the same stiff and indifferent shoeshine from before?’
Adele, with a faint smile still lingering, spoke quietly in place of the speechless Flavia.
“Madam. Money, future, and love are luxuries to me. I don’t dream of such things.”
“Did you hear what I said? So, you won’t accept the Loredan’s…”
“No, Madam.”
Adele shook her head.
“For those who must work today to eat tomorrow, promises of future rewards are mere illusions. What matters is a warm meal today.”
Flavia was stunned. She finally realized what Adele had been thinking about when she smelled the butter earlier. It was such a straightforward thought.
“Are you bragging about having a beastly logic driven by hunger? That’s not human!”
The remark was close to an insult, but Adele didn’t even lose her slight smile and asked.
“Madam, have you ever been hungry?”
“…What?”
Madam Flavia dumbly asked back.
Adele said with a friendly smile on her face.
“Have you ever been unable to sleep because of hunger? Have you ever lived on one hard barley bread a day for a month?”
“Do you think I’ve lived such a lowly life?”
“No. Your gestures and speech are filled with the richness of life. You must have been well-educated and lived a life of plenty in a wealthy family.”
Madam Flavia’s eyes trembled. Her hand, holding the stick, shook with humiliation.
“You… Are you saying that if I were in your position, I would be no different?”
As Adele smiled quietly without answering, Flavia couldn’t hold back and slapped Adele’s cheek.
With a crack, Adele’s head turned.
“Are you trying to drag me down to your level?”
As Madam Flavia yelled, Adele cautiously touched her cheek. Surprisingly, she neither groaned nor showed a single sign of pain.
As if she was very accustomed to it.
“That’s right.”
Adele’s smile gradually faded, replaced by a slight shadow of weary sadness.
“I’ve only lived such a life. In an uncertain world where there is no guarantee that I’ll have something to eat tomorrow just because I have something to eat today.”
For a moment, Madam Flavia was at a loss for words.
In that time, Adele slightly bent her knees. It was the noble greeting Madam Flavia had taught her today.
“So, no matter how much you order, Madam, I will not leave Buonaparte. I’m sorry.”
*** *** *** *** ***
Madam Flavia sat in the chair in a daze. She was alone in the gallery. Epony had come to announce mealtime and guessed that something had happened, taking Adele away.
Madam Flavia, still holding her stick, took deep breaths for a long time. Her eyes were tightly shut.
‘…This is difficult.’
The image of the shoeshine bowing to her lingered like an afterimage.
Perfect… No, there was a slight awkwardness, but even that had a fresh charm, making her look elegant.
And that was after just half a day’s education.
Madam Flavia had taught many young ladies, but none of them had shown such a demeanor on the first day of lessons.
‘Even with those ill-fitting shoes.’
She remembered that Adele had walked gracefully even when leaving, just as she had been taught.
Persistent, tough, exceptional.
But what she desired was only a meal she could immediately get her hands on. She wouldn’t let go of that.
“…What a disaster.”
It would have been easier if she desired money or aimed to climb the social ladder by relying on her looks. But someone like this…
“…”
Madam Flavia’s face grew serious. Her woman’s intuition began to sketch a fate that intertwined Adele and Cesare.
It seemed impossible, but even so.
Flavia shuddered with an uneasy premonition, clutching her stick tightly.
“I need to find another way…”
*** *** *** *** ***
The next day, Madam Flavia carried on with the lessons as if nothing had happened.
Adele also acted as if the events of the previous day had never occurred.
“The host announces the start of the ball. It begins with the grand march, moving in straight lines, curves, and circles around the ballroom to a 2/4 beat.”
Madam Flavia walked back and forth in front of Adele, wearing a canary-yellow dress with fluttering sleeves and a light sky-blue fichu with a pearl trim draped over her shoulders.
“The first dance is traditionally with an escort, and you must wear gloves when dancing. Reject any dance requests from men you haven’t been introduced to…”
Adele stood with her back straight, as Flavia had taught her the previous day, listening to her teachings.
She still wore the too-small shoes, and the pain had intensified overnight.
Used to enduring pain, any ordinary person would have long since kicked off the shoes and struck Madam Flavia with them.
‘At least it’s better than Kimora.’
Adele recalled when she transitioned from “Kimora’s beggar” to “Kimora’s shoeshine.”
It began with a hazing ceremony, where she was dragged into an alley, doused in filthy water, and beaten with a leather belt.
Compared to that, having her feet crushed by too-small shoes seemed like a refined and cute punishment.
“Are you listening?”
“You said the order is polonaise, waltz, pas de quatre, quadrille, bolero, mazurka, and cotillion, Madam.”
“…Tsk!”
Madame Flavia clicked her tongue.
“Your expression is so dead and pigeon-like, I can’t tell what you’re thinking!”
Even in the face of this obvious insult, Adele nodded indifferently.
‘Birds have no meat. They’re not worth eating.’
Flavia shook her head as if tired of Adele’s expressionless face. She tapped her stick on her palm.
“The first dance at a ball is usually not very important as it’s with an escort. The waltz is the most popular, and mazurka is danced with someone you have feelings for.”
Despite her strictness, she was an excellent teacher. She was thorough even though she wanted to drive Adele away.
“Do you understand?”
“You said the mazurka is danced with someone you have feelings for.”
“Damned girl.”
Madam Flavia finally cursed, poking Adele’s shoulder with the stick.
“It means you have to dance the mazurka with Sir Ezra Della Valle.”
“I understand, Madam.”
“Behave properly. It’s difficult for Della Valle to reject you because of the agreement.”
“Yes.”
“But you were not originally part of the social circle. Della Valle might use that as an excuse to delay the agreement.”
Adele paused at Madam Flavia’s words, a sudden curiosity arising.
“Madam, may I ask a question?”
“Stop with that formal tone!”
Madam Flavia snapped irritably, motioning with her chin as if to recite.
Adele bent her knees in gratitude and spoke.
“I understand my brother doesn’t want to marry into the Della Valle family. So if they delay the agreement as you said, wouldn’t that be fine?”
She meant to say that she didn’t necessarily need to win Ezra Della Valle’s favor.
If Ezra rejected Adele, Cesare could claim, ‘It was your refusal,’ giving him a reason to reject Lucrezia.
But Madam Flavia scoffed.
“Your question shows your selfish nature perfectly.”
“…”
“Can you do such a thing? Can you burden your descendants with such an unreasonable promise? You’ve lived off the glory built by your ancestors, so how can you pass on the responsibility to future generations?”
I see. I didn’t know because I received nothing from my ancestors.
Adele nodded indifferently.
“I’m sorry, Madam.”
“Is that a sorry face?”
“I’m sorry for even that, Madam.”
“…Ugh. Ugh!”
Madam Flavia began to thump her chest in frustration.
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