Chapter 54
The festival was quite big.
The fancy festive music was played everywhere, and there were beaded lines that were hung connected to each stall’s tent.
Even though it was just starting, it was crowded with people. In fact, everyone was wearing a mask.
Dalia looked to see if there were any masks that were cuter than her. Fortunately, there were a few.
‘After all it’s during festivals that everyone dresses up a little more than usual.’
Only then did she feel relieved.
Count Williams, the host of the festival, went up to the podium to give his greetings.
He looks a little thinner than before. It seems that he had not yet recovered from the shock of the young Viscount Arthur Pendleton leaving with the church children overnight.
To deceive such an innocent man, Meldon was so in the wrong.
‘But still, now that he’s been stabbed in the back, the Count will understand the reality now.’
With those cruel thoughts, Dalia looked for ingredients for Hikan’s cookies.
The first thing that she saw was a stall with a banner saying ‘It’s really spicy! Vesta Spicy Pepper!’.
‘Why the hell are they selling that at the festival stall?’
Eventhough they said to put unusually unique ingredient in cookies……? But isn’t that too spicy?
Dalia looked at the stall next to it. They were selling mustard seeds.
‘…….’
Now Dalia seemed to know what this festival’s cookie gift meant. It was an event designed with the purpose to annoy the recipient.
‘It seems fun.’
Dalia’s eyes sparkled.
Adrisha had an interesting look on her face as she happened to see the same thing.
“Do you want to make cookies together?”
“Yes, I’m going to make Adrisha’s too, so keep that in mind.”
“I’m going to make Dalia’s first.”
The two giggled and walked toward the stalls displaying various ingredients.
As she was contemplating on what to put in the cookies while looking around at all kinds of exotic flavors and ingredients from foreign countries, Dalia saw a stall crowded with people at the end of the alley.
The stall had a large banner hanging on it.
[Magic Materials]
[Make cookies that make you become younger when you eat them]
[Duration: One day]
It was a phrase that anyone could not help but be tempted by.
She could see why it was so crowded in front of the stall, since everyone had the same thought.
Dalia imagined Hikan becoming younger than her. Hikan, who can’t even climb on his chair, grunts, and is much smaller than her, so she can hold him up.
‘It will be so cute!’
She has to buy this.
The sound of Dalia’s wallet opening can be heard. Adrisha’s eyes were wide as she saw the same place.
“Gosh, they sell things like that too.”
“Yeah. Let’s go see……”
Then Dalia’s gaze fell on the stall. At the same time, her mouth snapped shut.
‘……Huh?’
Dalia rubbed her eyes just in case she saw it wrong.
No, even if she looked again, she was right.
‘No, why are you here?’
A handsome young man with a wild beauty that cannot be hidden even under the shadow of the tent.
Black hair, olive skin, tall, broad shoulders. It was Meldon who was not in disguise as he was last time.
‘You said you were going home!’
He was selling unidentified powder to people with a smile on his face.
She felt a bit sorry to see him doing that by himself, it seems like he really sent the children back home.
‘No, that’s not it.’
Dalia quickly looked at Adrisha.
Fortunately, she didn’t seem to have noticed who the street vendor was yet.
What if Meldon runs into Adrisha?
She deliberately told him to go somewhere else to avoid that, but they really ran into each other. Dalia recalled how their reunion proceeded in the original story.
‘……it was definitely very bad.’
It was like sprinkling salt on the emotional gap between the two of them.
Meldon scoffs and Adrisha retorts. In the Meldon route, the emotional goal between the two was the biggest reason why Meldon became obsessed with Adrisha.
They should never reunite.
‘No.’
Dalia made up her mind.
“A, Adrisha!”
“Yes?”
Adrisha turned to her. Dalia said, pointing to any stall that she could see.
“Can you get me the ‘hottest powder in the world’?” There are so many people over there that I don’t think I can get in.”
Adrisha turned her gaze along Dalia’s finger. Unfortunately, the stall happened to only have flies flying around without a single customer.
Adrisha furrowed her eyebrows as if she didn’t understand.
But there is no time to seek for understanding here. She had to turn Adrisha’s eyes away for a moment and kick that Meldon out of here.
“Q, quickly! People are coming soon! I’m sure!”
Dalia pushed Adrisha’s back.
Adrisha had a puzzled expression on her face, but quietly went to buy the world’s hottest powder, as Dalia told her to.
‘Whose cookie is she going to put that in?’
That thought crossed her mind for a moment, but she didn’t have enough time for this.
Dalia quickly made her way to Meldon’s stall.
She avoided Adrisha’s eyes and went to the front of Meldon stall. And using her small stature, she quickly penetrated through the crowds and approached the stall.
It was just when another madam was placing an order.
“Give me one. How much is it?”
“It’s 50 dillons.”
It is about 100,000 won if converted to the currency of her previous life. Considering the promotional text of being young for 24 hours, it was a cheap price.
However, considering Meldon’s previous fraudulent history, the authenticity of the powder to become young was also questionable.
In her past life, she has been deceived several times by bizarre health foods that can make you look 10 years younger if you take them for a month.
The tragic memory of going to a refund believing that it would be a full refund since it didn’t work, and only hearing nonsense such as ‘how are you going to prove it doesn’t work?’ or ‘you don’t know from the outside that you’re getting younger’……
Dalia trembled with anger as she recalled her past as a pushover.
Meldon raised his head as she was standing there without ordering anything.
He was speechless as soon as he saw Dalia’s face.
“……Miss……Dalia?
This time, he called her ‘Miss’ instead of ‘Lady’ like last time. (*t/n: actually the term he called her here is ‘아가씨’ which can be translated as ‘young lady/miss’, and before that he called her with ‘양’ which also translated to ‘miss’, the difference between this two term is ‘양’ usually used in formal setting. Since it’s hard to show the difference in english I just used the word ‘lady’ here for ‘양’)
‘Lady’ is commonly used by nobles to nobles, but ‘Miss’ was used by quasi-noble and commoners. To swindle here again meant that he gave up.
‘Well, what kind of young Viscount would sell magic powder at a stall ?’
Meldon’s face showed an expression that he was busted.
He seemed to think that Dalia was trembling because of him. (Technically, it wasn’t entirely wrong.)
Dalia leaned over to the stand and whispered, lowering her voice.
“What the hell are you doing here when you said that you were leaving?”
“That’s…….”
“Don’t try to fool me again. What’s this powder?”
“This is real. I’ll just give it to you.”
“What kind of bribe is this? I’m not taking it.”
While saying so, Dalia took the pocket that Meldon had offered her and put it in her bag. It was her principle to never refuse what people give.
She took what she received, but Dalia did not forget her business.
She leaned over the stand as if to grab Meldon by the collar.
“Hey, unknown Viscount. Now is not the time to do this, let’s get out of here and leave……”
At that moment, a familiar hand grabbed Dalia’s shoulder.
“Dalia, you were here? I didn’t know where you went, so I looked for you for a while.”
“…….”
“I bought the hottest powder. I guess it’s a spice from a foreign country. You’re not gonna put it in mine, are you?”
That bright voice that seemed to know nothing was Adrisha even if she didn’t look back.
‘I’m screwed.’
In fact, Dalia’s plans were ruined so often that it was too late to even say that each and every one of them was ruined.
‘It’s enough to say that I’m unlucky…….’
Dalia looked back.
As expected, Adrisha’s gaze was already on Meldon rather than Dalia.
She stood stiff with her hands in her riding jacket’s pocket, looking quite shocked.
“…….”
Meldon’s gaze also reached Adrisha. At the same time, the corners of his lips rose with a sneer.
“This is…… a first.”
‘This crazy.’
She knows of Meldon’s impudence in the original, but this was a bit harsh.
They are not strangers at all. As evidence, Adrisha’s expression was rotting in real time.
One of the waiting customers from behind shouted at Adrisha.
“Hey, Miss. Stay in line. Is it okay for you to cut in line just because there’s someone you know?”
Adrisha simply turned around and looked at the man without saying a word.
Once he saw the glint in her dark blue eyes, the man immediately lowered his tail.
“Ah, th, that was possible. Yes.”
He flinched and immediately disappeared from his place.
Soon after, the customers who had gathered there seemed to have sensed the unusual atmosphere and dispersed in an instant.
“The business is ruined now.”
Meldon murmured cynically.
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