Chapter 185: Chapter 185

“Oh, she is so adorable.”

Everyone wanted to stroke Gabriel’s head, but they couldn’t do that to the daughter of a count. In their eyes, Gabriel looked like a cute flower fairy who reincarnated into a mortal girl.

“Oh, right. We just got the first samples of rose candies. I heard you were here, so I brought some for you to taste.”

Ann was so astonished by Gabriel’s new loveliness and almost forgot why she was there, but she managed to come to her senses. A maid, who had come with her, opened the cover of the plate she was holding, and the scent of roses filled the room in no time.

It made them feel like they were in the middle of a rose garden. Gabriel picked up one of the candies and put it in her mouth. She rolled it with her tongue and immediately melted like snow. Instantly, she started to miss its taste. Thanks to her celebrity mother, she had been able to taste candies from various lands. She even found it pitiful that her own land didn’t have any delicious candy of its own, but today her wish was being fulfilled.

“Well, how is it?”

“It is the most delicious candy I’ve ever tasted!”

She shouted as she quickly put the second candy in her mouth. Steven wasn’t just a genius in making desserts. He was the god of desserts.

“Hmm, but I think it would be better to add a little salt to it.”

“Salt?”

“Yes, just a little bit of salt will bring out its sweetness even more.”

“Ann, please tell that to Steven.”

Then, Gabriel sat down and gave advice on how to wrap the candies for the queen.

“How about dividing them into small boxes instead of putting them all in one box so that the queen will be able to give them out? It would also be better to decorate the boxes with ribbons.”

It would promote the ribbons made with the machines the duke had invented. They could even be delivered to foreign kingdoms by ambassadors, and people who were always eager for pretty and good things were not going to stay still.

Rubica instantly found a box in the right size and started to tie a ribbon around it. The ribbon was in a different shape from the ones she had shown Gabriel earlier. The girl, in the meantime, looked at her hands carefully.

They were white and smooth, just like any other noble lady’s hands. However, they worked fast as if they had been the hands of a woman who had been a seamstress for at least 30 years.

‘Yes, she is Madam Berry.’

She was now almost fully sure of it.

Thinking of the advice she had given her and instructions she had given to Jennie, Gabriel was sure the duchess had been the person who transformed Elise.

“Gabriel, you should also take some rose candies when you go home.”

As the candies tasted so good, Gabriel didn’t refuse. She even looked at Rubica with some sort of admiration. She was Duchess Claymore, the second highest ranked lady in the kingdom right next to the queen, but Gabriel couldn’t help thinking she was too talented to not have even more than what she already had.

“Your Grace, I didn’t get to look around your garden during your tea meeting, so I’d like to see it now. Would that be okay?”

“I see. Would you like to go with Elise so that you won’t be bored?”

“Could you explain it to me yourself? I want to see the famous mana quartz sculptures garden. You must know this place better than anyone else.”

Gabriel was saying she wanted to talk to Rubica in private, so she thought about it and nodded.

“As the sun is still up, you will not be able to see the sculptures glow, but I can tell you their stories and the flowers.”

“Thank you.”

Therefore, they went to the garden. When they got there, Rubica’s maids slowly left. When Gabriel was sure she wouldn’t be heard by the others, she boldly asked, “Your Grace, you are Madam Berry, right?”

“Gabriel, I am the duchess. I cannot be Madam Berry.”

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“I know. That is why you used a fake name, right?”

Rubica smiled awkwardly. She had forgotten how clever the girl was. She even regretted tying the ribbons in front of her and showing her the accessories she was making, but it was too late.

If this was ever known, Claymore was going to be greatly humiliated. The family’s relatives were going to protest a lot more than when they did about the mana quartz.

‘I decided to not leave, and there comes something that could kick me out.’

Really, nothing followed her wishes. However, she couldn’t think this lovely girl with shining brown eyes would ever harm her.

“What do you want, Gabriel?”

“Hmm, I know the story of the ribbon, so I won’t need to hear about that, but I want to know why you chose Madam Berry as your art name. Also, how did you get the ideas about the dress I wore today and your various ribbons decorations, why you decided to work with Madam Khanna, and how you work together. Oh, and when you are going to present your rose candies to the queen and what is the planned production amount per year. And first of all, please give me some time to sketch the ribbon you are going to use to wrap the rose candy boxes!”

Gabriel said all that without breathing at all. Rubica could almost see the afterimage of her mouth moving. She just stared at the girl, slightly shocked.

“Gabriel, are you…”

“Yes. I am one of the founders of ‘The Little Bird’s News’.”

Gabriel didn’t just know everything about society’s gossips. She was the start of gossips, the creator of rumors, and the one who spread them to the whole kingdom.

“Oh, my.”

Rubica put a hand on her head. She could now see why people still didn’t know who wrote The Little Bird’s News even though it had so many stories and gossips in it. No one would have ever imagined a girl who hadn’t even had her debut was behind all that.

‘Of course, Countess Tangt must tell her everything. And, she always has Gabriel at her side, so she is always going to meetings with her.’

Almost everyone tended to lower their guard in front of a little girl. Most people probably didn’t even remember that Gabriel had been in front of them when they talked about rumors and gossips. Plus, she was short, so it was easy for her to go unnoticed.

“I want to introduce the dress I wore today and your tea meeting dresses as part of the Claymore Style. It will be of help to both Madam Khanna and Claymore. I promise, I will not say a word about who Madam Berry really is.”

The title of duchess came with great authority and wealth, but it also came with certain restrictions. Moreover, Gabriel understood that fact very well. She would easily get excited, but she wasn’t careless. If she had been careless, people would have already found out about her little magazine long ago.

“But I want to ask you something,” Gabriel said while grabbing Rubica’s hands tightly, “Please write a column for my magazine.”

“A column?”

Rubica hadn’t seen that coming and almost spoke out loud in surprise. Thankfully, her maids were talking to the gardener and weren’t even looking at her direction.

“Gabriel, I don’t understand why you are asking me this. I don’t know enough about society to write a column, and I’m not a good writer at all.”

“That is not the kind of column I’m asking for. It’s about tips for girls who want to be beautiful.”

Gabriel replied eagerly. Thanks to Rubica’s advice, she had gained what was far more important than beauty. It was freedom from beauty.

Thin waist, sculpture-like perfect body shape, small and round face, skin as white as marble, long eyelashes and huge eyes. She thought only girls who had all of that could be called beautiful. That was why she blamed herself, skipped meals, and punished her by pinching her cheeks looking into the mirror.

-You should make yourself fit the dress.

-You still haven’t lost any weight? Really you don’t have any willpower.

Clothes were meant to make people look good, but she thought it was all her fault that she couldn’t fit dresses that required a thin waist.

As she couldn’t meet the criteria, she thought she deserved all the criticisms she heard. She chased outer beauty like that, but then her insides started to get sick.

She was always scolded about her flaws that she stopped thinking about her strong points and, in the end, they all disappeared as if they had never existed.

Only her desire to be pretty and get attention remained, and it made her imitate others. But now, thanks to Rubica, she knew beauty stayed with her only when she was free from such obsessions. She had learned she had to love herself, and that was much more important than what the others thought of her.