Chapter 10

Must I wear a dress to do this job?

"Um, what kind of job is it...?"

Feeling a bit uneasy, I timidly asked, and Lady Dianne laughed heartily, saying, "Don't worry so much."

"Actually, this house is cursed," she said.

"Really...?"

"Have you heard of the curse of the Calens family?"

When she said that, I remembered a story I had heard from my late grandfather.

About 130 years ago.

The king adored his fiancée, the daughter of the Calens family, and had a hundred dresses made for her. However, a girl from another family, who coveted the position of queen, approached the king and spread malicious rumors about the Calens daughter, inciting the king against her. The king accused the Calens family of a crime and had the entire family, including the daughter, executed. After that, the king married the girl from the other family and had many children, but the children died one after another under mysterious circumstances. In the end, the queen also died, driven mad by the fear of seeing the ghost of the Calens daughter. The house where the Calens daughter had lived was given to the queen's parents, but they also died of exhaustion, claiming they were being killed by the ghost.

That's the story.

It's not recorded in any books because it touches on the sins of the royal family. It has only been passed down orally in the noble families that have served the royal family for generations.

"That's right. But there's more to the story."

The continuation that Lady Dianne told was this:

"Even though the king took a new queen, all the male heirs died young."

Desperate, the king consulted a fortune-teller.

"The fortune-teller said, 'To break the curse, a girl of the same age as the cursed prince must live in the Calens family's house and wear the dresses the king once gave, until the prince reaches adulthood. Only by having someone else wear them can the curse be purified and lifted.'"

Since then, whenever a cursed prince is born, a girl is placed in this house and made to take the name of the Calens family until the prince turns eighteen.

I looked down at the dress I was wearing.

So, this dress is one of them.

In other words, the second prince is not really sick, but is bedridden due to the curse. Lady Dianne is living in this house to break the curse.

So, that's why the king was kind to Lady Dianne. She has been living here in this old dress for the sake of the second prince.

"Then, my job is..."

"To keep me company until the second prince's birthday, which is just a month away. You have to make sure I don't get bored and run away. It's an important job, isn't it?"

Lady Dianne smiled mischievously.

If that's the case...

My job is to take care of Lady Dianne, who is fulfilling an important mission for the second prince.

Just one month. I'll think of it as my last duty as a noble.

"I understand. If you don't mind, I would like to assist you, Lady Dianne."

"Great! Then, please call me 'Dianne.' We're 'best friends' from today."

"Really...?"

And so, I gained a "best friend" in a rather unusual way.