CH 81

Hestia was surrounded by boys. On her desk was a mountain of flower bouquets and letters, and there were so many boys surrounding her that I was having difficulty getting close to her. It was, honestly, an incredible amount of popularity.

I stretched my arm towards Hestia to pass her my notes, but was shoved away by one of Hestia’s followers.

I ended up taking a few steps back, and the boy who shoved me back just stared down at me without a single apology. He muttered, “Who’s this squid?” as he diverted his attention from me back to Hestia to gain her attention.

Hestia calmly continued reading her book as she ignored the boys. Thanks to the necklace that I charmed with a silence spell, Hestia could continue to read her books amidst the crowd of boys trying to ask her out.

Hestia looked at me and gave me a thumbs up. She mouthed, ‘This works super well.’ and thanked me. I gave her a thumbs up back.

Aaah. But this was kind of sad. I wanted to dance with a partner, just like in a romance fantasy novel. I had danced a lot while I worked as at an amusement park, but I’d never really danced in high society before. I was kind of bad at it. I thought about dancing with Karim, but learned that first years weren’t allowed to participate in the party so I gave up on that. And my brother probably wouldn’t participate in a junior party.

I sighed as I left the yellow classroom to head to the restroom.

“……?”

When I headed out of the room, there were three very familiar male students leaning on the wall as they sat on the floor.

Cory, Hylli, and Swanhaden all looked uncomfortable with each other as they sat outside. Hylli was curled up on the floor while Cory and Swan were sitting on the floor, legs stretched out.

I didn’t really get what the situation was, but all three of them looked pretty troubled.

Each of them held a bouquet in their hand. Hylli had a rose bouquet, Cory had a candy flower bouquet, and Swan had a giant rose bouquet that was almost double his size.

I looked at the flowers and assumed that they came to ask someone to be their partner.

Thinking back, all of them had told me that they were interested in Hestia. Swan had shown it with his actions. Even if their interest in her had waned quite a bit, they probably still wanted to go with Hestia now that they needed to find a partner.

I was worried when I saw that their expressions looked pretty grim. They must’ve given up after seeing Hestia’s massive popularity.

You guys are the main characters. Why are you so pitiful? You poor things.

When I came outside, Cory turned his head to look at me.

Cory dragged me towards them as I stared at all three of them. I ended up joining the very uncomfortable looking three boys.

As soon as I took my seat next to Cory, he began to speak.

“Shushu, there’s a serious problem.”

I stared at Cory as he began to talk, voice serious. I tilted my head slightly.

“What’s the problem?”

I asked as I took one of Hylli’s roses and put it behind his ear. Swanhaden just stared blankly at his giant bouquet without a word.

“……….so here’s the problem.”

It was just about when Cory was beginning to explain.

From far away, Yves was walking towards our class. There was a golden rose in his front shirt pocket. Yves waved away his juniors’ greetings and looked around as if looking for someone.

Yves found me sitting on the floor and helped me up with a small smile on his face.

As Yves helped me up, the three boys sitting next to me stared intensely at him. Yves dismissed the stares as me began to speak to me.

“Shushu, I’ll be your part…..”

But that was when Yves stopped speaking.

Swanhaden and Hylli threw their flowers at Yves. When Swanhaden swung his giant bouquet at Yves, Yves fell back a few steps from the weight. Cory stood up from his seat and shoved a candy flower in his mouth. It was meant for him to shut up.

“Hyung, it looks like you have a lot of time on your hands. Seniors don’t have to go to junior parties, right?”

And just like that, Swanhaden crushed Yves’ rose with one hand. Yves mumbled around the candy in his mouth before speaking.

“But Shushu is……..”

This time, Cory made sure that Yves couldn’t continue speaking. Cory scratched the back of his head as he spelled Yves’ mouth shut.

Then, Hylli moved last. Yves’ face showed that he had expected this as Hylli approached him and held him up. And like that, Yves was forced outside just like that. When I waved goodbye towards Yves, Yves waved the candy he was eating.

When I turned away from them, I saw that the entire floor was covered by the flowers that Swan had dropped earlier.

I walked over the rose carpet to head to the bathroom.

I ended up going to the party alone.

It was something I had expected, so it was okay. I was just slightly peeved at how Isabel knew that I hadn’t gotten a single request and had joked about it. When I cracked my neck a few times in front of her, she stopped.

All of the girls were busy going to the beauty salon and purchasing dresses before the party, so I was the only one with time to spare.

I took out makeup that my mom had sent me. It was completely unopened. I just put on some white powder and put some red stuff on my lips. I didn’t know how to put on eye makeup so I just let it be.

I checked to see if I had any dresses, but I had more swordsmanship outfits than dresses. I rummaged through my dresser and found only a few of them. There was a orange one and a neon dress, but the brighter the better, right? So I went with the neon dress.

It was cold, so I just put on a simple brown jacket on top. Oh, I needed to take my green scarf that my maid, Leda, knitted for me. I was getting cold, so I put on some gloves too. It was weird wearing a dress other than the uniform, but it was only for a while.

It was the first time I dressed up like this alone, so I didn’t know if I wore everything properly or not. When I was at home, my mother and my maid Emily would dress me up accordingly. Well, it was going to be okay, probably. It wasn’t that weird, right?

I stared at my reflection on the mirror. I had on a green knitted scarf and a brown jacket, and under all of that, a neon dress. The shoes were our uniform shoes. This was okay. The only weird part of it all was my red lips amongst my white face. But it was probably because I wasn’t used to makeup at all. I was weird to begin with.

I checked to see the time. It was already the start of the party. Most of the girls probably had already headed over to the party. Nobody was waiting for me so I took my time.

I promised to myself that I would eat a bunch as I made my way out.

“Shushu………..?”

If it wasn’t for Hazel, who was just coming out of the restroom after her shower, that is.

“Oh my god……..”

Hazel ran towards me and grabbed me by my shoulders. She stared at me as she spoke, voice shaking.

“Are you serious…….”

“……..?”

“Did you dress up like this to make me laugh?”

“Nope.”

“I know there’s a party…….. But that makeup and that fashion……….. Are you really going to go like this?”

“……yes.”

Hazel shot me a deadly glare.

“…..no.”

Hazel wrapped up her hair with a towel and stared at me, flabbergasted.

“A green scarf and a neon dress…… School dress shoes…. Messy red lips and your neck and face being two different shades…..”

Hazel scanned me with confused eyes.

Why, what was wrong? This was normal, right?

I was getting kind of scared of Hazel as she laughed quietly to herself. Why was she doing this?

Hazel’s expression suddenly morphed into a scary smile.

“If you really left like this, I would’ve hit your butt.”

“….I think it’s ok…..”

“………..”

“Sorry.”

Hazel undressed every single thoughtful piece of clothing that I had put on. Then, she put on a liquid to remove makeup on a napkin and carefully wiped everything off with a confident look on her face.

“Let me show you the skills of someone running a beauty salon.”

Hazel put a giant box in front of me. When she opened it, it was filled with different kinds of makeup. There wasn’t a single kind of beauty product missing in that box of hers, and there were even brushes of different shapes of sizes.

Hazel began to fix my makeup with precision and efficiency for me, who was already late to the party. She wanted to give me one of her dresses, but most of her dresses were sexy and revealing and none of them fit my chest. Moreover, I was short and smaller so the dresses were too big.

Hazel looked through my drawers and found the orange dress. The orange dress was the one that my mother had bought me last time. There were jewels on the skirt, and it just felt so fancy that I didn’t want to wear it. It was too shiny. But my mother had thought of me as she bought it, so I didn’t take care of it like the other excessive products that I had taken care of. She had put in a lot of thought as she bought it, so I didn’t feel up to it. Even if the price of this particular dress was exorbitant.

“Why did you wear that neon dress when you had something as gorgeous as this?”

“Isn’t it nicer if it’s brighter?”

“…..I’ll respect your tastes. But this is a public event, so let’s follow the taste of the masses this time.”

Hazel was so terrifying that I hurriedly put on the dress. She clapped as she saw me, telling me that I was beautiful. Apparently my clothes shone whenever I moved, just like a fairy. And that my body was fit and clothes just looked better on me. I checked the calendar to see if it was my birthday at the influx of compliments coming my way.

Hazel began to touch up my hair. My orange hair became a lot more manageable than before. Hazel continued to check my appearance and even lent me some accessories of her own. Within that, there was one circlet-looking hair piece that had some orange jewels. Hazel told me to put that on. I quietly put it on my head because I didn’t want more nagging.

Hazel looked at me after she finished dressing me up before gasping excitedly.

“Oh my god…..you really look like you just came out of a dream! Your sambaekan really puts everything together!”

I looked at my reflection at Hazel’s words.

I definitely looked better than before, but I was kind of cold. I tried to put my hand on my green scarf before Hazel slapped it away. I wanted to put on the brown jacket from earlier as well, but Hazel’s smile was so threatening that I gave up.

Hazel hugged me tight, face bright with excitement.

“I knew that Shushu would look just like a fairy if she dolled herself up just a little bit!”

“I’m. So thankful. Thank you.”

After responding to Hazel with as soulless of a response that I could give her, I stared at the clock. It was a bit late. A ton of snacks had probably already been devoured. I needed to hurry.