P. 64
……he loves me not…….
However many times she did this game, it was the same result.
Just then, a whimsical gust of wind came out of no where and blew off the hat off her head along with the flower in her hand.
“Are you Sara, the flower girl?”
Instead of thanking him, Sara’s eyes was preoccupied with examining this young man’s appearance which didn’t go along with this disorderly public market place.
On top of that, there was absolutely nothing to complain about each feature on his handsome face.
P. 65
“I hear that if one does a fortune telling game with one of your flowers, then it comes out a good outcome. Is that true?”
She hardly ever saw an upper cla.s.s visitor like him at the market during the day.
Did this man, who appeared when the sun hadn’t even set yet, come just to buy Sara’s flowers?
From who knows when, when people did a fortune telling with one of Sara’s flowers, the rumor spread that a good fortune would come to them. Because of that, many women and men who had love troubles came to buy her flowers. She was happy to get the business, so when she was asked if they would get a good outcome, then Sara decided not to particularly deny it.
“If it was you sir, then wouldn’t there be no use for you to try? I think if you would just show her your interest, then she’d be easy to catch.”
He grinned like a little prankster. His smile wasn’t one like the upper cla.s.smen’s daunting, hard to approach feeling and actually very warm and friendly.
“Is that because you have someone you fancy? You seemed to be playing the game quite seriously.”
“But you are a very charming young lady. And if you’re in a troublesome love, then wouldn’t you know? You can’t control someone else’s feelings.”
Even if it was someone as privileged as him, she felt a sense of affinity towards him who mulled over things just like her, and so she handed a bundle of margarets to him.
He gave a soft snicker, and took his flowers and handed her a copper coin.
“Sir, you’re quite the strange one. If you want your love to be returned, then shouldn’t you stop trying to put on a good face with every girl you meet?”
He left her with the last words like her words of advice didn’t work on him, and left. What a strange man, thought Sara, and because she was so occupied with that opinion of him, she forgot to hand him his change.
P. 67
I wonder who in the world he was.
“Oh, well. As long as I keep around the opera house, I’m bound to meet him again.”
“Edgar, what is the meaning of this!”
“Oh, h.e.l.lo, Lydia, your angry face is such a charming sight. By the way, what are you talking about?”
“Um-hmm, since you said that you wouldn’t go last week, I changed it to today.”
And besides, the reason he didn’t let her know until the last minute was so that he could force her to accompany him.
“I told you that I’m not comfortable in going to lavish places. If you want a woman to accompany you, then you should just invite an aristocrat’s daughter. There wouldn’t be a girl who would refuse your invitation.”
“Then, why is it that you don’t want to go?”
“It’s alright. It’s Rossini’s La Cenerentola. Although it’s in Italian, the story is Cinderella that you’re familiar with. And I’ll interpret it for you by your side, so I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”
A place like the opera house was a place where aristocrats would gather and introduce themselves to each other, might be a place that was too heavy a load on a country girl’s shoulders like hers.
Edgar Ashenbert had the t.i.tle of Earl of Ibrazel. In the current 19th century, it was rare for someone to believe that the earl actually had his estate in the land of the fairy world, but at least, faeries who accepted him as their new lord were living on his estate that was in England.
P. 69
It hadn’t been that long since her employment, but Lydia had been escorted by Edgar since then and has been introduced to several aristocrats.
And most of the people would look at her like they were looking at the rare sight of a fairy.
But Edgar still seemed like he was going to continue persuading Lydia who was shrinking away from the idea.
This man’s level of coaxing people by threatening or pretending to cry wasn’t the average level. Furthermore this man had the looks like a prince and made any women become his puppet.
P. 70
“Please don’t say you won’t go.”
“I won’t be able to act like a n.o.blewoman.”
“Harriett, wasn’t there a lime green dress that I had ordered. The color the same as Lydia’s eyes. It’s troublesome if she goes as the same color as a certain n.o.blewoman who dominates the ton, but we’ll be safe if we go with that.”
“Lydia, will that one be alright?”
Lydia was being dragged along with Edgar to different places, and told that this was part of her job, so she was supplied with dresses to go out as many as a lady. However, even after it had been a while, she suddenly worried about something.
P. 71
“The tailor’s wife had nearly the same stature and height as you.”
“And so, I asked them to shorten the breast and waist seven inches.”
“W-Why would you know something like that!”
One couldn’t normally guess that, somehow or other.
Lydia’s head felt dizzy from shock or maybe it was embarra.s.sment.
“Lord Edgar, you had forgotten this in the carriage.”
“Oh, yes. I had found a flower girl who was rumored at the Covent Garden whose flower game is said to have a great mark.”
“Yes, she surpa.s.sed the rumors.”
“No, the flower girl was black-haired and tender-hearted, and very cute.”
“But unfortunately, she already had someone she fancied.”
“Oh, well, I have you.”
“You’re cold as already. Then let’s try the flower game. To test if you will fall in love with me or not.”
As he alternately repeated ‘fall in love, not fall in love,’ she couldn’t help but be a little interested even though she thought lightly of this flower game.
Right in front of Lydia’s eyes, he plucked the last petal and gave her a winning smile.
“……It would never work.”
S-Snake!
P. 73
P. 74
Raven was swift to capture it, but Lydia’s legs were still wobbled.
“Why is there a snake in a place like this!”
She was about to lift her head, but seeing that Raven was still standing there with it in his hand, she swallowed down another scream.
“Lord Edgar, may I throw it out?”
“Hmmm, well, I’d like to stay like this a little longer,”
“Hurry up already-------!”
After breathing a sigh of relief, she rushed to left go and get away from him who she was gripping onto, but Edgar slipped his arm around her back as if reluctant to part from her and whispered to her:
P. 75
“Huh?”
Lydia whipped her hand out to slap him, but Edgar, who let go of her, was swift to evade her attack.
“Oi, Lydia, there’s something I spotted,” said the fairy cat Nico by her feet.
“What?”
“…..Did that fairy, perhaps, played the prank with that snake?”
Even if that were so, if it was a fairy that played a prank to that level, then it could just be a hobgoblin that lived around this area.
P. 76
“Nico, find that fairy and make sure to capture it.”
Even if he was her partner, he was this kind of character.
The capricious fairy cat said those last words and in a poof, he vanished.
In the end, Lydia didn’t have any time to spare for the fairy who released the snake.
She was escorted to a box seat along with him, and she found out that that was a special seat for the d.u.c.h.ess, Lady Masefield, of course, after she was escorted to that seat.
If there were going to join the graceful lady d.u.c.h.ess of the opera house, then they would draw the attention from the other seats.
P. 77
He is a calculating man to no ends.
But her tight nervousness soon unraveled. The d.u.c.h.ess was a polite and graceful lady and welcomed Lydia with a warm and friendly att.i.tude.
“Lydia, it seems the d.u.c.h.ess had witnessed a fairy before.”
“It isn’t like I saw it that clearly. Long ago, something unexplainable happened, so I was thinking that it might be because of a fairy, is all.”
He was a man that took any opportunity to speak sweet words to Lydia, and to top if off he would make people do as he says like that, so he was even more difficult to deal with.
P. 78
“Is it alright if I ask about what happened?”
Apparently, the d.u.c.h.ess had two suitors at that time. One of them was, of course, the current Duke of Masefield. Although he was only the second son in the aristocracy at that time. The other man was an officer that had just recently the military academy.
As she called out each man’s name one by one, she plucked a petal off one by one. And however many times she did that game, it always came out with the same result.
And then, the d.u.c.h.ess claimed that she had the faint feeling that something was trying to manipulate and change the number of petals during the middle of the game.
It’s definitely a fairy! thought Lydia.
“Do you think so? But it was so mysterious, I wonder if the fairy that decides the result of the flower game can see the future?”
As she was explaining, Lydia started to become worried if she wasn’t considerate by saying that a fairy was just playing a prank out of boredom for a fortune-telling that was going to decide one woman’s life decision.
“Um, but, even if it was a prank, the fairy really didn’t have any ill intent. It didn’t think that it was a fortune-telling game that was regarding your future, and because your grace had always left some milk, it might have wanted to tell you about itself, or so I believe.”
“I feel the love for fairies in you. You must really love the free and tiny, little souls that are free from the speculations of humans.”
Lydia was so happy, and she felt like she wasn’t a stranger anymore, and so Lydia was naturally able to smile along with the d.u.c.h.ess.
P. 80
“Yes, I was. I have to thank the fairy for that.”
Edgar must have quickly sensed that she was in a good mood now. And now he was joking around by bringing up the topic about the flower fortune-telling game that is famed for being on the mark.
“It looks like it’s about to begin.”
“Oh? What part?”
“Is he a promising youth in your eyes?”
“Then he’s sure to be promising.”
Momentarily, the curtains of the stage went up.
The audience was mesmerized by the warm, pleasing tenor of the actor who played the prince, and the ladies’ hearts beating at the destined meeting with Cinderella.
At that moment, she spotted something small unnaturally run across the stage.
When she looked through her opera gla.s.ses, there was indeed a fairy, small enough to fit in her hand. It had red hair and a hooked nose, and wore green colored clothing. Judging from those characteristics, she guessed that it was a pixie.
As her eyes followed it, the fairy approached the men in the chorus. And just when she thought that, the fae climbed up one of the men who was particularly tall among the group.
“Ah.”
His chorus members around him glared at him with threatening eyes, which made him rush to stand up straight.
What a pity. He isn’t to blame and yet he’s probably going to be yelled at later.
Maybe he was targeted because his body happened to be big and tall.
Just as she antic.i.p.ated, when the curtain came down, the d.u.c.h.ess let out a sigh.
The man Edgar was talking about was indeed the man who was being attacked by the fairy.
A prank by a fairy who had no ill-will, probably.
“Everyone has days they make mistakes.”
P. 83
While Lydia was thinking if she should say about the fairy, there was a voice that came out from behind the curtain.
He had a square-ish face, large eyes and nose and thick eyebrows which gave his face a frightening, fierce look.
“Your grace, thank you so much for coming to see our stage today.”
“It was a fabulous performance, I’m sure going to be able to enjoy it to the end.”
He slumped his shoulders apologetically, which showed that he didn’t come to say that.
“More than that, Hugh, don’t you have to get ready for the second act?”
“….Actually, I was removed from my part for today,”
“Was there a rat on the stage?” asked Edgar.
“The people from the audience who was able to realized your mistake probably doesn’t even add up to one hand’s worth of number. When this is praised on tomorrow’s Times Paper as usual, then everyone in the theater would forget about it.”
“Uh, have you recently stepped in a flower bed or planted shrubbery recently?”
“Lydia, are you perhaps saying that it was the work of a fairy?”
“If you step in a flower bed, do you get attacked by a fairy?”
Oh, my, oh, my, gasped the d.u.c.h.ess as she looked over to the singer.
P. 85
Being told about a fairy, it was unsure if he was able to accept it but he tried to reply in a somewhat baffled look because if he was asked by a d.u.c.h.ess, he would need to answer. He desperately tried to think of how to reply.
“If it’s that, then it’s unrelated. It would be a different case if you were to have stomped around in a flower bed, but just because you plucked and took a flower, fairies wouldn’t get angry with you.”
And she even had the rude opinion that Hugh didn’t look like the type at all to bring up the talk about flower fortune-telling.
Edgar b.u.t.ted himself into the man’s business out of complete curiosity. If it was fortune-telling, the main cause usually would be for love fortunete-lling. Edgar was devilishly asking that out of him because he must have had an interest in the woman that this young singer might have feelings for.
“You’re one-sided feelings?”
“And the result?”
“Shall I introduce you to an accurate flower girl?”
“Then putting aside the game, don’t you still think there’s a chance?”
“Oh, my, Hugh, you shouldn’t think like that. There are very many wonderful qualities about you,” encouraged the d.u.c.h.ess.
“But it is a problem not knowing who she is. It happened in the dark streets at night so you couldn’t have seen her face. The only definite thing I know is that it was a young woman,” mentioned the d.u.c.h.ess.
“He rescued a woman who was being tormented by a drunk. But alternately ended up being wounded in place… I was pa.s.sing by on my carriage but a crying young girl stopped the carriage. I was so surprised. Then I found him collapsed on the road and the girl disappeared without telling me her name.”
P. 87
“I vaguely remember that she tended my wounds. She used the ribbon that she wore and used it as gauze,” said Hugh and reached into his jacket with his hand that had a mark supposedly from that time and carefully took out a red ribbon.
Of course you would want to meet any woman. That’s the kind of man Edgar is.
“Do you have any other clues? I’ll be obliged to lend a hand out in this search,” offered Edgar.
The d.u.c.h.ess was pleased about Edgar’s help without any worry, but if she knew about the ulterior motive of this man and worried why he had so many relations.h.i.+ps with women then she wouldn’t ever dare leave him to search for the love of the one she had high hopes for. If he were to find her he’d be sure to make an approach at her from aside.
The possibility of it being the fault of fairies ended right there and didn’t come up again.
P. 88
By the time the show ended Lydia was whipped up in the heat of the curtain call and had forgotten about the fairy.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“Let’s come again,” said Edgar optimistic. And it was upsetting that she naturally replied ‘yes’ to his offer.
Because he was a man far from fidelity in regards to women, Lydia was determined to take caution and keep a distance from him, but because it was like this she couldn’t refuse strongly and probably ends up being dragged around to different places.
P. 89
“But I don’t like it being so sudden like today.”
I can’t believe a word of that, she thought to herself but then she looked up to notice the sight of the fairy from before on one of the carriage roofs that was lined up in front of the theater.
“That fairy.., it’s that pixie!”
She ran after in determined to capture it rus.h.i.+ng into the depths of an alleyway.
It would be next to impossible to try to find a tiny fairy in this crammed place. Just as she had given up and was about to turn back there was a young man that creeped out from between the crates.
“That really hurt, throwing that rock at me."
forehead.
P. 90
“Who else could have done it than you!”
“You got to pay for my doctor’s fee, young lady.”
“Who the b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l are you? Do you want a scar as well?” The man revealed a knife.
Edgar didn’t stop there, he reached for the man and twisted his wrist and captured the knife.
“How much do you want? I’ll be happy to raise your injuries to that amount.”
P. 91
P. 92
“I’m fine….” You must be the more dangerous one to look out for. She took his offer and used his hand to stand up.
“More importantly what happened? You just suddenly ran off like that.”
Now that she thought about it, Nico said that the snake from earlier appeared along with the presence of a fairy, which could mean that it was that pixie who could have done it.
“Pixie?”
“It must be. Even Hugh said he played the game with the Margaret he bought from the same flower girl. Which means that the flower girl whose always accurate must have the help of a fairy whose doing all this after-care.”
“It’s quite a forceful approach.”
But then why would it need to do that sort of thing to Hugh.
“I would never fall for you!”
Why? But then she noticed that the shoe Edgar picked up was hers. She realized that one of them must have slipped off when she tripped.
“Did you get cut by a rock? There’s blood.”
Paying no heed, he took her ankle into his palm and wrapped a handkerchief around the cut.
If he just wouldn’t say anything to tease others, and if he wasn’t a rake and woman chaser, she could honestly have thought him as attractive.
“This is like one of the scenes of Cinderella. The moment they find the owner of the shoe that was found.”
“You are the one, the princess I’ve been looking for.”
“You’re not going to play along.”
That kind of embarra.s.sing play was impossible for Lydia.
It was as if she really was a princess. The one he was looking at wasn’t her usual self, but felt as if it was a special girl under magic.
“There was no gla.s.s slipper or pumpkin carriage for the opera Cinderella,” said Lydia, somehow managing to fight off the giddy feeling.
That was a promise that came out on stage, that he would surely find Cinderella, no matter who she was, or what she looked like.
“It’s bad to be under the influence of magic. Wouldn’t you agree? I wouldn’t want my love to be toyed around by a fairy who’s playing pranks.” Her voice ended up being strong because she didn’t want to be swallowed up by the air around the two of them.
“So you’re going to ignore about us right now?”
But fairies are so fast, they wouldn’t be easy to capture.
P. 96
Edgar decided to give and stood up, then looked up as if he spotted something.
A gray colored cat was walking on his two back legs along the top of the brick wall. Usually when in open sight, he would pretend to be a regular domestic cat, but this happy gray feline must have been in the company of spirits, stopped in his tracks as he noticed the two of them and sat down on the wall and craftingly crossed his legs.
Even though he witnessed Nico walking on two feet he still just thought of him as a cat that plays tricks.
It must have only sounded like a cat meowing to Edgar, but Lydia breathed a heavy sigh at Nico for periodically forgetting to act like a cat.
Nico loved to drink and usually took caution in his appearances to look like a gentleman, but right now he only resembled an old man as he yawned and straightened his necktie.
P. 97
“Edgar, let’s go.”
“He’ll manage on his own.”
Lydia stopped dead in her tracks.
“Yup. According to the story of the hobgoblin at the pub, that fairy is in love with a flower girl. When a man who buys a flower from her and tries to woo her, it tries and sticks that man with another woman.”
If that was why Lydia ended up being the target then it was all because of Edgar.
“That one! Where did you see that fairy?”
“Lydia, where are you going?”
“If only you would spend half of the spirit you have for your work for me.”
“There it is.” They stopped in the alleyway leading out to the main street.
The flower girl had her basket of Margarets placed beside her, and it seemed she was playing the flower game as there was a small pile of white petals scattered around her feet.
Obviously she didn’t see the creature.
“That’s the girl who the popular flower game girl, right?”
“There is. It has feelings for her so it messes around with the results of the flower game for itself. But what I don’t know is why it would fool around with Hugh’s game and make the results come out as bad.”
“Eh? But then the girl that he’s in love with is…”
“Re-really? But he said he didn’t see her face. And why would you know that.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything about the ribbon to Hugh!”
….This man is unbelievable.
“It sounded like honesty to me.”
“No matter what, I figured that Hugh already knew it was her. He’s a singer you know. Even if he didn’t remember the face, wouldn’t he remember her voice? And remember he said that however many times he did the game it came out as love not. If it says he was dumped then doesn’t that mean he has playing the game with only one person in mind?”
“He’s afraid of her reaction. He seems to be aware that he doesn’t give a good impression to ladies, and the game always came out not in his favor, and so he has no courage.”
“It could be Hugh you know.”
But now that she thought about it, it wouldn’t be difficult to not fall in love with the one who helps a girl from a drunk without hesitating for their own safety.
“It’s just a speculation if they love each other, but I think that since he comes to buy flowers from her so often, she might have already figured it out that the man who helped her was actually Hugh. Because remember there was a wound on his hand made from that incident. It’s the wound that she wrapped her ribbon around, so she could have speculated the possibility already.”
If she didn’t have feelings for him at all, wouldn’t you want to make sure who it was who rescued you and say your thanks?
afraid.”
I see! Both of them are being interfered with the fairy and only don’t have enough confidence. Then as a Fairy Doctor Lydia must do something about this situation.
Lydia stepped out into the street and approached the flower girl. The pixie disappeared in a flash again but she didn’t bother and cautioned the girl.
“Fairy?” The girl eyed suspiciously to Lydia.
“….Who are you?”
“Fairy Doctor?”
“Ah, the sir from that morning…. Oh yeah, I forgot to hand you your change.”
The flower girl, whose name was apparently Sara, looked at Lydia curiously.
“Hey, I am not at all stupid! I just came to talk to you to help you. If it’s a pixie then there’s no trouble trying to scare it away. All you have to do is give it something that belongs to you.”
“I’m not, it’s the truth.”
“Wait, so you’re not going to find out his feelings and give up?” shouted Lydia grabbing onto Sara’s flower basket to not let her go.
“Oh so you’re really giving up. Then it would be alright if I asked you out?”
“Sir, didn’t you prefer this fairy something lady?”
“I will never be jealous!”
But Edgar didn’t stop, he lived up to his flirting character. “Sara, wouldn’t you like to dress up and go to the opera house and show him what a great a catch he missed.”
“Are you going to show her off in front of Mr. Hogart? That would only make things worse.”
“I am not!”
“You know that’s because of the fairy. And what help are you doing be draining away his confidence even more.”
“Hugh has no confidence not because of the fairy or me.”
“The Opera House? So I can go inside?” asked Sara eagerly.
“Then I wouldn’t mind going with you.”
Unbelievable! This is no longer about the problem of trying to stop the prank of a fairy.
Most likely Sara wanted to see Hugh’s performance just once.
P. 105
It was just around the time when the night was soaking in; Sara was standing under a street lamp watching a shadow come out from the back door of the Opera house.
Feeling her heart speed up to the usual voice, she turned around.
But he was cute when he smiled and his voice was soft and kind.
“Is that flower, for your lover?”
“Oh,…I see.”
“Well, goodnight…”
It was so sudden. Sara wondered for an instance if he wondered if there was a red ribbon under this hat.
He hadn’t noticed about Sara, and that she was the girl from that time, so there was nothing to worry about.
“My, my hair, I didn’t fix it.”
“It’s nothing, I’m not bothered.”
Goodnight. He said awkwardly and quickly walked off.
It won’t matter since she won’t see him anymore. In time she’d forget about him.
P. 107
It was sad to think that even though they thought for each other they have to keep it in their hearts and give up.
But then, what would make Hugh Hogarts not be deceived by what Edgar plans to do and make him want to tell his feelings to Sara.
At least if Hugh didn’t believe in the game that was being played by the fairy and could build his confidence.
Hugh came out in between his practices to meet Lydia, and she told him that there was a fairy that is on the flowers of the flower girl and that the fairy was the one playing with the game to make only the bad results end up as the last petal.
If she were to seriously try to give advice about fairies, people would think of her as a freak.
Whatever they thought of her, if it was necessary she would still tell them.
“I believe that you’re being too quick to decide that your love will never prosper. If you wouldn’t rely on the flower game…, no, if you are so worried about the flower game, then please try doing it with a different flower. If it’s a flower without the fairy with it, then there shouldn’t be bad results that come with it.”
“That’s right. I have one right here.”
He took the flower silently, and plucked out one petal, and started to chant love me, love me not.
“See, you shouldn’t be determined by the pranks of a fairy.”
“Do you know, my lady, that apparently most Margaret flowers have an odd number of petals. If you start with ‘loves me’ then most of the time it ends with same ‘loves me.’”
Sure enough, if the numbers of petals were an odd number then it would be ‘loves me not’ when you start with ‘loves me.’
P. 109
“That’s why I always start with ‘loves me not’… It isn’t the fairy’s fault that it comes out not in my favor. It could be that I just haven’t come across an odd numbered Margaret, and I’ve been selfishly thinking that it may somehow bring me luck just like a four-leafed clover.”
Being in the daily life of battling for a part as a singer would give no one time for love. On top of that it was unimaginable for him, as a man who was feared at first glance by women, to be the one to tell his feelings first.
She wondered if the fairy’s pranks harden his negative feelings even more.
“But even when you finally found an even numbered Margaret but she’s already gone, then wouldn’t be lucky at all…”
“Ah, nothing…. I meant in case.”
“Miss Carlton, is there anything wrong?”
“I happened to spot Hugh and you from the main street.”
And yet he still thinks that he would never catch his love. He’s become negative so much that he’s purposefully making bad results because of there being odd numbers in the flowers of a Margaret.
“One’s opportunity isn’t from a game or fairy or the words of others. In the end people can only act upon what they decide on.”
The d.u.c.h.ess looked out to the far skies.
“Eh…, is, is that true? Then why did you end up marrying the Duke?”
P. 111
One’s true feelings couldn’t be changed from your fortune told or by a fairy.
“I heard you say that the duty of a Fairy Doctor is to help those in trouble with fairies. Then Miss Carlton, there’s nothing for you to feel bad about, even if you couldn’t solve a couple’s quarrel. You just need to watch over them.”
The old n.o.blewoman chuckled softly.
Lydia didn’t have the experience