I don’t have fancy, pretty dresses in my wardrobe.

“What should I do?”

Although the dress my mother bought me caught my eye, it was too plain for the concert.

“I don’t want to, but I have no choice.”

Peeking into Silke’s room, I entered and scanned her wardrobe. As expected, it was filled with dresses that shimmered and were adorned with various decorations.

The problem was how to convince Silke.

“I’ll lend it to you.”

“……Silke, Felicia?”

Before my lips could part, a voice came from behind me.

“You came to borrow a dress, right? For the concert.”

“And that’s with Yurik Fenton.”

It wasn’t long after dawn, but those two seemed to have woken up early; their eyes were clear.

“How did you know?”

“I heard it from Mother last night. It’s your first concert, so she requested that we help you wear a pretty dress, not a weird one.”

“Your dresses are not rags, but they are a bit ordinary.”

Clearly, Silke had almost called them rags but changed her wording.

“……So what’s in those boxes?”

The boxes in the sisters’ hands made me uneasy. Actually, their more enthusiastic than usual voices were ominous from the start.

“Oh, this? It’s nothing.”

Felicia held up the box with a big grin.

“As you know, we only have Betty as a maid in the mansion right now. But Betty is ve—ry busy.”

“We could do our makeup at the salon, but it’s too early in the morning, and not many places are open.”

“So Silke and I specifically came today to get you ready.”

……Huh?

“Actually, I’ve always wanted to do this! Sister!”

“So have I!”

Felicia and Silke clapped and giggled. Since last night, they’d been eager to do my makeup.

“Why can’t I just do my own makeup? Do I really need to?”

As I took a step back, they grabbed my arms so I couldn’t escape.

“Not wearing makeup, are you kidding? Besides, you’re still young. Do you think you can do it well? Leave it to us.”

“Come on, Lise. Let’s go to the bathroom. We’ll take care of you, okay?”

Silke and Felicia pushed me towards the bathroom.

“……Um, is this for the cheeks?”

“Must be, right? But isn’t this the last thing you put on?”

“First you make the cheeks rosy, then it adds life when you do the makeup.”

“Really? Oh, I saw Julia mix colors! Let’s mix pink and that orange!”

The mirror was filled with cosmetics taken from the boxes. Excessive colors and glittery creams almost covered half the table, and Silke and Felicia were quite happy.

The problem was they didn’t know how to use them.

“What’s this?”

“Just put it on first.”

“And this?”

“Put that on first, too.”

Silke and Felicia dabbed blush onto my bare face. Naturally, my skin felt irritated.

I wished they’d taken care of my skin first.

Unfortunately, Silke and Felicia were interested in colorful eye and lip makeup, not my skin.

The richer the colors, the happier the sisters were, applying cosmetics straight onto my eyes. The result was predictable.

“…….”

“……Sorry.”

Even Felicia seemed to realize this was a mistake, starting with an apology.

“……I’m sorry, Lise.”

Silke admitted it too.

My reflection in the mirror was grotesque and frightening.

The eyes were dark, the cheeks looked like clowns’, and my lips clashed with my face so much that any movement looked ridiculous. If I met Roger like this, I might make him cry.

I silently got up and went to the bathroom to remove the makeup. My face turned red from scrubbing off the dark colors.

“Should we… call Betty?”

“Or go to the salon! They should have opened by… now?”

The sisters gauged my reaction. Betty would be busy, and it was already late for the salon.

“I don’t have to wear makeup.”

“What are you talking about! Lise, how can you go to a party without makeup?”

Silke exclaimed, forgetting it was a concert, not a party.

“Then I’ll do it myself.”

“You’re going to do it?”

I nodded at Felicia’s question.
Her skin was so flawless that she really didn’t need to apply anything. If she had to, light tones were best. It was better to avoid color, and her lips looked better with a nonred shade.

I checked the time, dried my wet hair, and put on the pale pink dress Silke had lent me.

The dress, which reached my ankles, fluttered like wings whenever I moved. Long ribbons adorned the sleeves, and jewels were intricately embedded on the chest.

After matching a choker and necklace to the dress, I tied my hair back with a ribbon.

“Wow, you look good!”

“You look much better than usual, Lise!”

I guess they couldn’t quite say I looked pretty.

“Thanks for lending me the dress, Silke.”

“Don’t mention it. If you need our help again, just say so, okay?”

“……I’ll be in my room for a while. Reflect on what you two have done wrong.”

I saw Roger’s violin occupying one side of the wall as I went into my room.

“Time to go to its owner.”

I cradled the violin in my arms.

Would Roger be surprised to see me? Angry? He hadn’t read the letter, so he didn’t know why I had broken our appointment…

What should I say to him first? What expression should I wear? Smiling would be inappropriate, but so would looking sad.