Chapter 179. Kidnapping, Part XV
Translator: Khan
Editor: Aelryinth
Simone had barely calmed herself at Maribel’s words, and went into the room. She’d already heard about Julietta’s condition, but seeing how she was actually messed up, her heart was pounding and she was ready to faint. She had heard there was nothing worse than being hit, but she couldn’t calm her nerves.
Simone looked closely at Julietta and then Maribel. Maribel shook her head at Simone and held her finger to her mouth. It seemed that nothing had happened and she should not dig for details.
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Julietta sat in the chair in front of the dressing table, led there by Maribel. "Amelie has mended the dress you wore."
"What about the bruises on my face? Is it okay if I go back to the mansion like this?"
At Julietta’s concern, Sophie put the small bag on the table. "The troupe leader brought this bag as soon as she heard me. I was in a hurry, and I thought she took a small thing, but she brought it for this."
The small bag contained a theater makeup kit.
"You’ll have to keep applying it until your bruises are gone." Sophie mixed white powder and juice into an empty bin and began applying it to Julietta’s face. "It’s night now, so they won’t see anything, but you’ll have to wear make-up during bright days. And stay away from the shop until you’re safe."
Sophie meticulously applied a coating of the powder to the bruises and sores on her face, neck, shoulders and arms. When all the wounds were finally covered, she took the makeup kit, put it in the bag, and gave it to Julietta.
"Will the injury last long?" Julietta sighed, since she had to stay in the mansion for a while, with so much work to do.
"We get into trouble if we don’t call a doctor for fear of rumors. Do you think she will have scars?" Simone asked Sophie, looking anxiously at her torn lip.
"Since she was young, she has had delicate skin. It’s not a very deep wound, so it’ll heal soon."
Fortunately, the white powder on her face was not harmful to her injuries, as it was powder from the dried petals of the metum. Metum was a rose-like flower widely used as a makeup material, and came in three kinds: white, red, and pink. After drying the petals into powder, they would be applied to the skin, cheeks, and lips according to each color.
In addition, the brownish metum fruit was used to produce a darker skin color with juice, and the dark brown roots were used to draw eyebrows after being grilled over a fire. Metum left nothing to throw away, as even it’s stem was good for treating inflammation and was good for pain, so it was consumed by drinking tea, or by steaming and drying it with powder.
Amelie took out the stem of the metum, a household medicine for Phoebe, and put it in the bag that Julietta was holding. "Drink a glass every day until your wound is healed. The wound will heal quickly."
While looking at the people around her gratefully, Julietta found Phoebe outside the circle, who was looking eagerly to help.
"I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to the shop for a while. Can I take Manny to the mansion of the Duke?" Julietta looked at Simone for permission.
Simone nodded as if she didn’t care, and Phoebe answered quickly, "I’ll go get Manny."
"Please, Phoebe."
"I’ll go with her. I’ll have to pack Manny’s luggage, too."
As Amelie went out with Phoebe, Simone, watched her go and asked, "Is she an employee of the shop, too? I’ve never seen her before, and I am anxious if she knows everything about this."
"It’s Phoebe. I happened to meet her on the street, and she’s been staying in the dressing shop."
Simone frowned at the words of Julietta. "Then you don’t know who she is, and you have just shown everything in front of someone you met on the street like this? Why are you so careless?"
Maribel stepped in when Julietta was about to open her mouth, making an excuse for the upset Simone. "Madame, calm down. First of all, Phoebe is a reliable child. She feels indebted to Julietta and she’s trying to help her somehow. Now that it’s happened, it’s better to talk openly. Sophie, can you leave us for a minute?"
Maribel told Julietta after Sophie left, "Did I previously tell you that Duke Kiellini was trying to kill his sister, Mrs. Raban, and everyone who knows about this?"
Julietta looked at Simone, then nodded yes.
"I and the Marquise thought we would not be beaten by the Duke of Kiellini like that. That’s why we decided to make you a real princess and confront the Duke."
Maribel looked at Simone. "Phoebe was the one I brought from the brothel in Lebatum to be disguised as Julietta’s body."
"The dead body?" As Simone opened her eyes wide, Julietta’s startled voice rang out in the room.
"Yes. I needed a body to be seen by Marquise Anais. That’s why I went to Lebatum and bought Phoebe, who was waiting to die after not being treated for her broken leg."
"How could you do such a cruel thing? What the hell did you do?"
When Julietta turned pale and got angry when she heard the story, Simone intervened. "She couldn’t help it as Maribel. If you made your debut as things were, she couldn’t overcome the suspicion of Marquise Anais. My brother expected that and gave Maribel an order to do that."
"What a cruel man he is!" Not wanting to believe it, Julietta just shook her head unwillingly.
"He is the one who tried to get rid of his sister, me, so that was a small thing for him. But how did such a person end up here?"
"On the appointed day, the Duke sent poison with his servant. The servant went back after confirming that Phoebe was dead after drinking the poison."
At Maribel’s words, Julietta rubbed her arms with goosebumps. He bought a person to substitute for her death, and even tried to kill her!
"The poison Phoebe said she drank was what she drank then." When she had said her hair color had become lighter after drinking the poison, Julietta had never imagined it was related to herself. Julietta was terrified when she realized that one person nearly died because of a role-playing job she had only thought concerned herself.
Maribel looked anxiously at Julietta and continued to speak. "Unfortunately, Phoebe came back to life after throwing up the poison. I thought it was her fate to survive, so I treated her leg, and then I sent her out of the theater to escape the Duke’s eyes. I think she met Julietta after that."
"Why is her hair color like that? If she was to replace Julietta, she would have been blonde."
"I don’t know. When she was released from the theater, Phoebe’s hair was blonde. But when I saw Phoebe’s hair, I remembered what I had heard in the past. I wanted to see the Marquise to ask about it. It’s about the late Duchess of Kiellini."
At Maribel’s words, Simone’s expression became serious. "Do you think poison caused her hair to turn white before Katarina died?"
"Isn’t it too strange to be a coincidence? It’s strange for her hair to turn white. I’ve never actually heard or seen it anywhere else except the Duchess of Kiellini and Phoebe."
At Maribel’s words, Simone had a bad complexion. "... then my brother did it?"
"Have you heard anything? What happened between the Duke and his Duchess?"
"At the time, I couldn’t afford to care about my family’s affairs, since my husband just died. I also heard from Regina later that Katarina’s hair turned white before she died. Regina thought it might be a hereditary disease, so she would wake up every morning and check her hair color. So, you’re saying that the death of Katarina was also the work of my brother? Why the hell?"
Julietta hesitated on seeing Simone shaking her head in disbelief, and then opened her mouth. "We’d better talk to the doctor who treated Phoebe and listen to him. I think he knows something."
Maribel answered at the words of Julietta. "Yes, I heard from Phoebe at the opening party day. He said the reason her hair turned white must be because of the poison. I was just trying to find out about the poison, so I’ll have to see the doctor."
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