72: After Getting Sunburnt

I rushed back to the government residence as soon as work finished. I went back to being Ayesha-maria and Susan-obasan called out to me as I was being noisy, “Oh my, that’s a nice tan you have there.”

Ugh, her words prick me more…… I wanted to grip my chest, but instead, I forced a smile and brushed it off, “Ohoho,” before running to my room.

After that, I applied a wet handkerchief to my face. It did its job, but it wasn’t as effective as I thought it would be.

“I should only get red when I get sunburnt, but what should I do if I get tanned…”

I checked my complexion in my hand mirror. It wouldn’t do for a noble lady to get tanned.

Fortunately, my skin only turns red when I get sunburnt. Even so, I’ve never gotten this red before. I only went out to go home as soon as I finished work, so I’ve never been outside for this long before.

The salve made from the Chamaeleon plants contained alcohol so it was too dangerous to apply it on my face. I would probably get even redder.

(Can’t I do something about this?)

I can’t go into town and ask Ada-san about this.

Ah, Marietta-san or Harmie-san might know something. Natasha-san was out more since she’s a knight, but she didn’t seem like the type to care if she got sunburnt or not.

――― *KNOCK KNOCK*

I visited Hermie-san who was closest to my room.

“Y~es, who is it?”

“It’s Ayesha-marie. Mm, I want to ask you something.”

The door immediately opened.

“… Oh my? What happened to your face?” I immediately looked at the floor as soon as she asked me this. I slowly looked up and answered, “I got sunburnt… Do you know how to relieve it?”

Hermie-san laughed cutely and said, “It’ll be okay. Wait in your room for a bit, ok?” before leaving the room. I heard her run somewhere.

I waited in my room.

Harmie-san came back and knocked on my door; she was holding a syrupy pale green thing in a semi-circular bowl. She mixed the thing that had the viscosity of porridge with a spoon.

I invited Harmie-san in and she told me to sit on the chair, so I did. I don’t know what she was going to do to me.

“Now, close your eyes.”

“Okay.”

*SPREAD SPREAD*

The syrupy pale green thing was smeared on my face.

“Erm, mmm, this-.”

“Now, now. You can’t open your mouth, so close it.”

Harmie-san forcefully smeared the pale green stuff onto my face.

Ah, this smell. It’s cucumber. The vegetable of summer. Cucumber, A.k.a, cucumis sativus. It seemed that this syrupy texture was made by combining flour in the kitchen. It was an easy to make face pack mixed with flour and grated cucumbers. It has a cooling and soothing effect. Oh, this was the perfect thing for me right now.

“Stay like this for a while. You were raised in a good place as a noble after all. This is proof that you spend all your time inside. You don’t get sunburnt at all, that’s why you turned this red.”

(Yeah, I know. But it’s not like I spent a lot of time outside in this season by choice.)

I wiped the cucumber pack off after a while and put both hands to my cheeks. It isn’t warm like before. Well, I’m still a little red.

After that, I met up with Marietta-san and the three of us went to the dining hall.

Oh, helping each other out is a proof of friendship… It was terrible, but I guess it was also good in a way.

◊♦◊♦◊♦◊

The redness faded and my face returned to normal after a night.

I changed into Lady Ann and went to work like usual.

“It healed in one night? That’s good.”

I lowered my head in silence.

Roberto-sama, who was frank to me for better or for worse, was still going strong today. I know he doesn’t mean to offend me…… But, I want him to be careful of his words towards me like he was towards other noble children. Was he treating me like this because I’m a half-commoner…? No, I wouldn’t mind if he just ignored me either.

“Here, a present.”

His Highness Ludens gave me a lovely parasol made from light blue cloth with white ruffles on the edges. It wasn’t too flashy and the design matched with the eggplant coloured dress. Even so, I could tell that this was a luxury good.

“Thank you very much.”

I took it, but I guess this means that I’ll be going out more often now. Though, I did want to buy my own parasol.

After that, I went out to the Royal Capital once every few days. I always had a map with directions on it with me. And I had to submit something like a report when I returned.

I was running errands without visiting the places and spots that interested me. It was like it was becoming somewhat black… On top of that, my soles were wearing down.

Yes, I made up my mind to buy shoes next time.

I became familiar with the roads and shops since I walked around the Royal Capital a lot and I even heard rumours.

The latest rumour was 『There’s a handsome man who’s kind to everyone』. The person who I saw and thought was kind was actually him.

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