Actually, Daisy was a bit mistaken.
Ye Tang did not possess any so-called “talent”—if she had outstanding talent, the Black-hearted System would not have selected her as a professional stepping-stone villainess across worlds. Instead, she would have been chosen as the transmigrator protagonist, enjoying the perks of a wide-open golden finger.
All of Ye Tang’s abilities and foresight had been honed bit by bit through her long transmigration life. Even her temperament was the same.
That said, Ye Tang’s heart and soul had not grown old or rigid with the passage of time. A steady temperament and rigid thinking were two different things.
……
Lately, Cinderella always felt like someone was watching her. But whenever she turned around, she saw no suspicious figures.
This left Cinderella quite panicked for a while.
Hope and Fian, the ones caught by Ye Tang tailing Cinderella, had been caught—one clutched his head where Ye Tang had thumped a bump, grimacing in pain, while the other whimpered and confessed honestly: “B-because sometimes a strange aura drifts from Cinderella…”
“A strange aura?”
Ye Tang raised an eyebrow at that.
Indeed, she had sensed that Cinderella had some split personality. But that was just her personal impression.
Fian, the Pigeon Spirit, was different. As a magical creature, he did not judge Cinderella by logic or ethics. His judgment relied on magical forces that Ye Tang could not grasp.
From a certain perspective, Fian’s senses might have been more accurate than Ye Tang’s inferences based on the original fairy tale.
“What was Cinderella doing or saying when she emitted that strange aura?”
“Um…”
Fian pouted his little mouth: “Let me think…”
Hope let out a long sigh and explained for his dazed brother: “Last time was when Cinderella overheard Miss Dia and Miss Lia talking about history. She said, ‘Why read so many books? You’ll never need them after you get married anyway.'”
Recalling Cinderella’s arrogant expression at the time, Hope fumed: “…Those words weren’t something Cinderella would say at all! Ivy taught Cinderella honesty and kindness—she never taught her to look down on others! Or to hurt people with words!”
Slow on the uptake, Fian suddenly exclaimed “Ah!”: “I remember now. The first time I sensed that misty, prickly thing like needles from Cinderella was when she questioned why Madam wouldn’t buy her a corset—”
Oh? So her feeling back then had not been an illusion.
Ye Tang narrowed her eyes slightly.
She had seen all sorts of transmigrators and reincarnators, even those with system golden fingers.
At first, she wondered if Cinderella was a reincarnator—because of her reincarnation, Cinderella knew she would be bullied by her stepmother and wicked stepsisters, and that she would become a princess, so she carried the arrogance of a life winner.
But Hope and Fian’s words proved that Cinderella’s strange behavior came in bursts… as if two incompatible souls were stuffed into one body.
If that was the case, whose soul was the other one in Cinderella’s body? Was it related to Cinderella? Would Cinderella be willing to expel the other soul? And would removing it harm Cinderella?
Rash action might hurt Cinderella, so Ye Tang could only choose to continue observing for now. Fortunately, she had these two Pigeon Spirits in front of her.
“Can you devour people’s souls?”
Ye Tang’s question made Hope bristle: “We’re not crows raised by hellish demons! How could we do something so cruel!? Pigeons are symbols of peace!”
Mm-hmm, this symbol of peace had pecked out Cinderella’s two wicked stepsisters’ eyes in the original tale.
Ye Tang thought absentmindedly, then noticed something.
“Have you two… grown taller?”
When Ye Tang had caught these two bread thieves, they were still soft and glutinous little buns. To make their footman uniforms last longer, the tailor had made them oversized.
But now, Hope and Fian’s pant legs were short. Their wrists stuck out from the sleeves.
Fian chuckled foolishly twice: “As the saying goes, kids who eat a lot grow fast—”
Ye Tang was somewhat convinced by Fian’s words.
Hope and Fian’s appetites far exceeded those of ordinary adult men. If not for her developing the courier business with Daisy’s support, and the new shop about to open and turn a profit, she might really have been eaten bankrupt by these two Pigeon Spirits.
“Eating a lot is fine, but you’d better control your growth speed. Otherwise, I won’t be able to pass you off. You don’t want to be caught for human… no, pigeon body experiments, do you?”
Ye Tang’s words made Fian and Hope shudder. The two Pigeon Spirits finally gained a bit of crisis awareness.
Ian, just returning from the kitchen to the living room, looked up and spotted Ye Tang and the Pigeon Spirit Brothers on the second-floor corridor.
This made him pull back the foot he had almost set on the stairs, abandoning his plan to rest in the second-floor servants’ quarters.
Whom the madam favored, liked to talk to, or trusted among the servants was not something he could control. Besides, the madam was not his true master, and he was not a real footman.
But… this peaceful life, free from schemes and intrigues, was too comfortable. It occasionally made him forget his past and truly feel like a little footman in Hedelin House.
As a little footman, he too wanted to be trusted by his employer, liked by his employer.
…Perhaps, as his brother said, he was just an immature boy still smelling of mother’s milk, yearning for his mother.
……
In January, amid biting cold, goose-feather snow fell rustling down, turning Capital Vitril everywhere into a scene of gray and white. Only nobles’ and tycoons’ homes remained warm as spring.
“Oh my God! Mrs. Clement, you look like the Goddess of Spring today!”
“Yes! I thought Venus had descended to earth!”
“Mrs. Clement, you are my Aphrodite! The eternal goddess of love and beauty!”
As Daisy descended the spiral staircase, the salon erupted in unprecedented clamor. Countless nobles swarmed to her, begging for the chance to kiss her hand.
Daisy held a scented fan, dressed in a gown of lace and silk, her figure graceful and full of allure.
Because of her, people finally remembered that the curves of a woman’s body were soft, flowing in smooth arcs rather than sharp angles.
Also because of her, people recalled that even statues of Venus and Aphrodite had cute little bellies, arms not so thin they seemed ready to snap.
Amid the chorus of praise, countless noblewomen stared at Daisy dumbfounded. Those who had prided themselves on keeping up with Mrs. Clement’s fashion suddenly realized their own dresses were outdated relics.
Only lines as soft and beautiful as the Goddess of Spring’s could make one the next center of attention!
Damn it! That vixen Clement was too cunning! Too sly! She had quietly made new dresses without a word! Hogging all the attention! Infuriating!
Ye Tang stood outside the crowd with the three girls from home, holding a tall-stemmed glass. She had cut her hair short, tying a long silk scarf—originally a muffler—as a head decoration.
Once sparse and thin, her hair had thickened, and gold gradually returned to her once-white strands. Now Ye Tang’s hair was pale gold, nearing platinum under the noon sun.
In this era where nearly every woman had long hair, Ye Tang’s short cut drew many gazes. Her gown, styled like ancient Greek fashion rather than current trends, had sparked whispers before Daisy came down.
But who could mess with Ye Tang’s intimidating face? No one dared point fingers to her face.
High nose, thin lips, upturned eye corners. Shedding her sharp-tongued image, Ye Tang now exuded elegant poise, aloof nobility like clouds in the sky or moon above. Distant and cold, yet ever more worthy of admiration.
Influenced by their mother, Claudia and Gloria surpassed ordinary minor nobles in poise, their eyes bright with light, carrying a confidence uncommon in women—greater knowledge reserves indeed bolstered Claudia and Gloria’s self-assurance.
Cinderella did not bloom as boldly as her sisters, like roses or briars. She was a lily of the valley, graceful and pure in quiet beauty. She was still gathering strength to bloom.
Of course, provided Kim Hora did not emerge.
Kim Hora had behaved for a while. More precisely, she had been forced to.
As winter grew colder, Ye Tang no longer allowed the girls outdoors. She also intended to keep Cinderella under observation, so Kim Hora faced only Ye Tang, Claudia, and Gloria daily.
Kim Hora had sneakily gotten a maid to deliver a letter to Hans. But the maid handed it straight to Ye Tang.
She had considered sneaking out incognito, but the walls were too cold and freezing, so Kim Hora retreated to her warm room.
Dragged down by Kim Hora, Cinderella caught colds and fevers repeatedly. Each time, Hope and Fian took turns caring for her.
Even when feverish and handing her body to Cinderella, some of Cinderella’s pain transmitted to Kim Hora. Unable to stand the constant aches, and Cinderella not improving from a few scoldings, Kim Hora finally toned it down after several ordeals.
Now she stuck to one word: wait!
Wait for the prince’s ball! Wait for the chance to become princess!
—In the end, no matter the process, no matter how much the stepmother and wicked stepsisters shone, the winner was the one who became princess, right?
Just endure until the ball! Just meet the prince! Then stepmother and stepsisters would be out!
“Oh, Anna, there you are.”
Daisy came over, hugged Ye Tang, and air-kissed her cheeks twice.
Ye Tang, glancing at Cinderella from the corner of her eye, smiled and hugged back, air-kissing her twice.
Without Daisy introducing her, their dresses and intimate interaction told everyone present: the woman beside Mrs. Clement was her new close friend!
The women’s gazes toward Ye Tang shifted, and the men could not stop eyeing Ye Tang, Claudia, Gloria, and Cinderella beside her.
“How is Charlotte?”
Hearing Ye Tang whisper the question only she could hear, Daisy warmed inside, her long lashes fluttering like butterfly wings.
“The doctor says she’ll be out of bed soon.”
Ye Tang smiled at that and said loudly: “Congratulations!”
What was she congratulating Mrs. Clement for? The crowd was baffled.
Ye Tang whispered in Daisy’s ear: “Congratulations to Charlotte.”
Daisy chuckled at Ye Tang’s little scheme and said loudly: “I want to congratulate you too, my Anna!”
“Our clothing shop has gotten permission to open on Queen Road! By March, our clothing shop will officially open!”
After brief thought, the women present finally realized what Mrs. Clement’s show was about—
That vixen was creating and promoting her own fashion trend!!
Her dress was promotion, hype, blatant advertising! Her goal was money! Money! Money!!
——So since Mrs. Clement’s goal was to make money, why was her clothing store only opening in March?
They wanted to buy the same style dresses she was wearing right now!!
The frenzy for trends, the enthusiasm for fashion, the love for new things. Pushing aside the men, the women all came forward to chat with Daisy and Ye Tang. The three girls from Hedelin House, who had been isolated before, were also surrounded by people.