IWBQ 20

IWBQ

Posted by Fahad, Released on August 29, 2025

Chapter 20 . The Enchantress

2023.08.20.

Ellis, having made up her mind, picked up her pen. The letter quickly filled a page.

Meanwhile, the owl, having emptied the snack jar, was playfully pacing around her feet.

Ellis scooped up the large owl into her arms.

The owl welcomed her touch.

It seemed to know Ellis cherished it. She smoothed its feathers, then slipped the letter into a small satchel.

“Take good care of this.”

At midnight, the black owl soared from Ellis’s window.

Blending seamlessly into the dark, unseen by anyone.

Distinguished guests were arriving one after another in Bedroca’s capital.

Because of that, news from Chase had become sparse—no doubt he was busy entertaining them.

In the past, with me at his side helping, things would’ve been far easier. Now that he’s on his own, his head must ache.

The thought of Chase struggling amused Ellis and lifted her mood.

“Regina, help me get ready to go out.”

“You’re going out? If the master finds out, he’ll be furious.”

“He and my sister have gone to the palace. He won’t have the time to care about me.”

Though Chase had ordered her confined, there were no guards or attendants posted outside her door.

He said it and forgot. That means I’m worth no more attention than that.

“Where are we going, my lady?”

“To see Jasmine.”

Ellis needed to meet Jasmine before the ball. Conveniently, just two days earlier, while debating whether to reach out to her, Jasmine’s invitation had arrived.

“Understood, my lady. I’ll have the carriage ready.”

Not long after, Ellis and Regina boarded the carriage headed to the house of Baron Orléans.

To reach it, they had to pass through the city center.

As their carriage rolled past the fountain in the plaza, Regina murmured:

“My lady still needs a dress…”

Her eyes had wandered to the carriages queued outside a dress shop.

During the New Year’s season, dressmakers, shoemakers, jewelers, and bag shops were flooded with customers.

The wealthy nobility hired experts to their homes well in advance, but lesser nobles crowded boutiques hoping to snatch up samples or canceled orders.

Until last year, Ellis too had been part of that scramble.

Viscount Wharton had begrudged every coin spent on her. So, if she wanted something decent with little money, she had no choice but to fight for it.

‘We’ll need to tailor something for Iris. There won’t be money to spare for yours,’ Beilnira had told her. Did that wound her at the time? She couldn’t recall. But Regina, it seemed, had taken it to heart.

Truth is, I could’ve bought my own. The business under Chase’s name was thriving. But all the money I earned went into Chase’s clothes, meals, and indulgences.

That business would continue to line Chase’s pockets long after she was gone.

It stung, but she decided to consider it her “farewell severance.”

“You can just wear last year’s.”

“No young lady wears the same dress twice in a row.”

“Then wear the one from the year before.”

“But still…”

Though Regina pouted, this was one matter Ellis couldn’t fix for her.

She could only promise one thing.

“You’ll never look shabby. Not that night.”

After all, it wasn’t only the dress that mattered.

The thought quickened her heart. She rapped on the carriage window to the driver.

“Make haste.”

The carriage sped up, the noise of the bustling preparations for the New Year’s festival fading behind them.

“We’ve arrived, my lady.”

Thanks to her urging, the carriage reached the Orléans estate at the perfect hour for tea.

As Ellis stepped down, the baron’s butler greeted her.

“Lady Jasmine is waiting. This way, please.”

It seemed Jasmine had given instructions—the butler treated Ellis with the utmost courtesy.

Ellis followed him inside, glancing around at the residence, which bore the taste of Baroness Orléans.

He led her to Jasmine’s private sitting room.

Though smaller than the main salon, it was adorned with many charming ornaments, pleasing to the eye.

“Welcome, Ellis.”

Jasmine greeted her warmly.

“I didn’t think you’d actually accept my invitation.”

Her shy smile suggested she still couldn’t quite believe Ellis was here.

“Why ever not? I always thought of us as friends.”

Jasmine’s eyes flickered.

“Friends… yes, you did say that.”

She murmured softly, then suddenly grasped Ellis’s hand.

“It must have been hard for you, wasn’t it?”

The words lacked subject or context, leaving Ellis a bit puzzled.

“What would’ve been hard…?”

“The… scandal.”

Jasmine lowered her voice.

Ah. She means the business with Karan.

Even without listening, Ellis could guess what society whispered about her.

Though much of the gossip had shifted toward Iris and Chase, the rumors about Karan and Ellis hadn’t disappeared.

If anything, being forbidden from speaking openly had only driven them underground, where they spread more insidiously.

“The barbarian’s seductress,” perhaps—that sort of talk.

And yet she still invited me, risking being tainted by association.

Ellis felt sincerely grateful.

“Oh my, what am I doing letting you stand there? Please, sit. I’ve prepared some fine tea. I wanted to get coffee as well—the kind you served me—but I simply couldn’t find any that good.”

Naturally not. That coffee had been from green beans she herself roasted.

Coffee wasn’t widely available yet.

So Jasmine had treasured Ellis’s coffee as something rare and precious—and now felt almost guilty for being unable to offer the same in return.

“This tea is exquisite.”

And it truly was.

“I’m glad it suits your taste.”

They exchanged pleasantries, asking after each other. But the conversation soon ran dry.

Jasmine, lacking many friends, had little news to share, while Ellis hesitated to bring up anything that might worry her.

As silence fell, Ellis pointed toward Jasmine’s hair ornament.

“That’s lovely. Looks practical, too. I haven’t seen such a thing before—where did you get it?”

She knew full well Jasmine had made it herself, but asked anyway with feigned curiosity.

“This? Would you like to see?”

At Ellis’s interest, Jasmine’s face lit up.

She quickly pulled it out. Her thick locks tumbled down in a shimmering cascade.

“It’s shaped like a clamp…”

Ellis took the ornament and examined it.

Shaped like a row of animal ribs, the pin neatly held up hair with little effort.

“Yes. I simply call it a claw clip.”

Ellis turned it over and over in her hands. Even in her past life she had thought it ingenious.

In Bedroca, unmarried ladies usually wore their hair loose except for balls or special occasions.

Long, flowing locks were the symbol of beauty.

But in daily life, loose hair was a nuisance—while eating, writing, reading, even closing doors.

Chewing on one’s hair in company was a humiliation, albeit a common one.

Yet pinning up such long hair required countless pins.

And when you let it down again, the marks always showed.

This clip, however, held it up quickly, and left no trace afterward.

That convenience had caught Ellis’s eye before. Yet the claw clip had never become a trend—because it lacked a model to popularize it.

“Could I have one? It looks so convenient.”

“My own clip?”

“Of course, I’ll pay you for it.”

“No, no! I’ll give it to you. One—no, two—three even!”

Jasmine darted into the adjoining room.

She returned shortly with an armful of clips.

“They’re all slightly different in size, since I carve them from water buffalo horn myself.”

She laid them carefully on a cloth atop the table, as if they were precious creations.

Arranged like that, they looked almost like fashionable accessories.

Still, they lacked the dazzle to truly catch a noble’s eye.

If only they were more decorative…

Then Ellis noticed Jasmine’s nails. They glittered with tiny gems.

“Jasmine, what’s that on your nails?”

“This… oh.”

Jasmine, embarrassed, curled her fist.

Ellis waited patiently. Finally, Jasmine sighed.

“I’d been working with some materials, and they stuck to my nails. My hands are ugly enough already, and now they’re messy as well. Forgive me for showing you such untidy hands.”

She pulled out a handkerchief, trying to rub them off.

“No, don’t! They’re beautiful. The sparkle makes your hands look lovely.”

She meant it. The little stones caught the light and made even Jasmine’s plain hands look graceful.

“Pretty? Not dirty?”

Jasmine looked at her uncertainly. When Ellis nodded, a smile slowly spread across her face.

Suddenly Ellis clapped her hands. She had a brilliant idea—how to turn these simple clips into dazzling accessories.

“No! Truly, it’s wonderful. And your hands are not ugly. They’re beautiful—hands that create such pretty things can’t be anything else. And those gems on your nails draw the eye. It looks intentional. Tell me—do you have more of those little gems? If we put them on the clips, they’d be stunning.”

Overwhelmed by the praise, Jasmine looked flustered.

“I do have some, but…”

“Then, Jasmine, let’s try it. Make jeweled clips for me. I’ll buy them—all of them. You will sell them to me, won’t you?”

Jasmine blinked, still dazed. “I-I could just give them—”

“No. You must sell them. And please, can you make as many as possible before the New Year’s ball? Stay up all night if you have to. I beg you.”

“How many is ‘as many as possible’?”

“As many as you can. Truly. The more, the better.”

“But… I wouldn’t know what to do with so many.”

“Not at all, Jasmine. People will line up to buy them. I’ll make sure of it.”

Jasmine nodded—not because she believed it, but because Ellis shone so brightly, so confidently, that she couldn’t refuse.

Jasmine adored all things pretty and cute—and Ellis, radiant as she was, was not just pretty or cute, but dazzlingly admirable.

To Jasmine, Ellis was an enchantress.