Tartie gave her a puzzled look at the question, but soon started pointing out dresses one by one and answering. The expression on Hailey’s face as she looked at the clothes, however, was stranger than Tartie’s. They all felt excessively flashy and somehow immodest.

Did she wear things like this even when she was a noble? Is this one actually off the shoulder? Wait, and the back too…?

Hailey looked the clothes over from every angle and thought for a moment, then opened her mouth as calmly as she could manage.

“From here to here, I’ll donate all of it. Do you happen to know a charity nearby?”

The word ‘charity’ made Tartie spin around with a startled expression.

“Are you… still not feeling well? Why are you doing something you’ve never done before?”

Tartie pressed her hand to Hailey’s forehead and asked with a thoroughly worried look and tone.

Well, that was fair. Where did ‘charity’ come from all of a sudden?

“No. I’m having new dresses made, so I need to clear out the ones I don’t need.”

“Money? Do you have money?”

If money was needed, there was one way.

‘Anyway, right now the most urgent thing is becoming a lady-in-waiting and finding a way to get back to my original body, so I need to clear out the wardrobe and have a new dress made.’

“Let’s go to the dressmaker’s at the far end of the capital.”

“Oh! ‘Madame de Dubois’? Sure.”

Given the state of her purse, she couldn’t afford to be greedy about expensive dresses. That place would let her have one made at a reasonable price.

***

Meanwhile, in the royal palace of Onyx, there was one person in a thoroughly foul mood. It was Ephnic, left unsettled after meeting Hailey in Marianne’s body the night before. He spent half the day shut inside his office, chewing his lip and glaring at the compass sitting on his desk.

From his perspective, a strange woman seemed to be in possession of something precious to him, so his mood was understandable. But it wasn’t precious simply because it bore the kingdom’s crest. For Ephnic, it held a meaning beyond that. His secretary, watching him for quite some time, finally let out a long, exasperated sigh and dropped a stack of documents on the desk with a thud.

“Your Highness, how long are you going to keep this up?”

Not knowing the truth, Ephnic didn’t even hear his secretary’s words.

‘Why did a pink-haired commoner have this compass? And claim it was hers, no less?’

The certainty with which he snatched it away, convinced it was a lie, was nowhere to be found now. Ephnic couldn’t shake a nagging, unsettled feeling.

“Excuse me, Your Highness?”

“Lian, Hailey would have gone to Luns County by now, wouldn’t she?”

“…Most likely. She usually vacationed in a warmer region around this time of year. She’s probably enjoying herself with family.”

“Right, right.”

“If you wish, I can send someone to Luns County to bring Miss Hailey here.”

“Oh?”

“Should I actually call for her? For real?”

Ephnic stared blankly at the compass, and it was only after he heard Lian’s irritated voice that he actually looked at his expression. The secretary who rarely let anything ruffle him was staring back with a face twisted in frustration…? Only then did Ephnic wave a hand as though nothing happened and put the compass in the drawer.

“Call for who? Can you pick up where you left off earlier?”

“Were you listening?”

“You said the flow of goods was off.”

Ephnic cleared his throat a couple of times and answered Lian as though nothing was the matter. Lian, unable to stay angry any longer, let out a slow breath and calmly continued, saying it was an important matter.

“Ha… take a look here. The data between the processing stage and the shipping stage is off by small amounts. There’s no impact on the volume going to the port.”

He passed the relevant documents to Ephnic and added more detail.

“Here are the related families and the production process. You’re already familiar with this, but I’ve compiled it once more.”

“Is this data from before the Schrant County fell, or is the current count…”

“Your Highness!”

Just then, a thin voice came through faintly and cut their meeting short.

“Your Highness! May I come in? It’s Hailey!”

The moment both men heard the name ‘Hailey,’ they looked at each other with puzzled expressions. Almost simultaneously, both furrowed their brows and turned their heads toward the door the voice came from. The sound came from the corridor outside the office.

“Is it only my ears hearing that?”

“No. I hear it too.”

“Your Highness! Your Highneeess!”

Under normal circumstances, Ephnic and Lian would have gone about their work regardless of any commotion. But the moment they heard the name ‘Hailey,’ a name that had no business being here, Ephnic shot to his feet.

‘Hailey?’

He quickened his pace and stepped out the door, and the moment he spotted a woman being blocked by a guard, he tilted his head.

“……?!”

It really is Hailey. Why is Hailey here? But… why is she showing up in a dress covered in that much lace?

“Move aside! I’m a Lady! Do you know who I am? Do you think you can lay hands on a Lady and get away with it?! I said move!”

Hailey hadn’t noticed that Ephnic and Lian were watching, and was flailing about in all directions, unable to contain her anger. The sight was rather comical.

“Your Highness, isn’t that Miss Hailey of the Hersen ducal family?”

“…That’s right, isn’t it? That’s how she looks to you too?”

He stood at a distance for quite a while, watching the scene with a puzzled mind. The events from before last night’s ceremony drifted into Ephnic’s thoughts on their own.

‘Your Highness! May I join the ceremony this year too? I’m the kingdom’s only lady, after all.’

Right. It was true that an invitation always went to Hailey. If someone had to stand beside the Crown Prince, who was yet to take a royal bride, no one had a more fitting rank, age, or connection than Hailey. She was the daughter of a great noble house and the kingdom’s one and only Lady.

Yet Hailey always declined that spot with gracious refusals. Her meaning was that it was better to leave it open for the young lady who would one day stand as Crown Princess.

Hailey, who only ever attended events in the capacity of the princess’s lady-in-waiting. What wind blew her into the ceremony yesterday, and what brought her all the way here today… Ephnic’s mind filled steadily with question marks.

“Oh my, Your Highness! It’s me! Me! Hailey!”

At that moment, Hailey spotted Ephnic and began waving her hand. A bright smile came along with it, like she was seeing a dear friend. Ephnic, however, heard none of that booming voice, sinking deeper and deeper into thought.

At a glance, she was unmistakably the Hailey he knew on the outside. Lemon-gold hair, eyes the same color as her hair, a small mouth, long hair gathered up in a single tie. No matter how he looked at it, it was Hailey.

But the extreme cold always swept through the capital right after the Shuesturnah period ended. During this time, the Hersen ducal family always went to vacation in the warm Luns County. Not once had they missed it, not since she was a child. It was only natural that questions rose in him, knowing that better than anyone.

Lian, standing steadily at Ephnic’s side, also opened his mouth with care. As his secretary, there was no way he didn’t know Hailey was supposed to be in Luns County.

“She seems a little different from usual.”

“She does, doesn’t she? She was always a bit of an airhead, but today she seems even more so.”

“Ahem, ‘airhead’ is not my opinion.”

Lian quickly stepped back and distanced himself from Ephnic’s teasing remark. Even after he finished speaking, Ephnic stood for a moment with his chin resting in his hand, then gradually began walking toward Hailey. The moment Hailey spotted him approaching, she swayed even more like a sheet of paper and stretched her hands out in every direction.

“Your Highness! Your Highness?”

“……”

Ephnic watched her with a blank expression, waved a hand, and dismissed the guards blocking her. From that point on, Hailey began carrying herself with a triumphant air, like she was something important.

“Hmph! See, I told you to move! Your Highness, please punish these ruffians! With those terrifyingly big hands of theirs, they were grabbing me like this! And like that!”

Then she turned on him a pair of eyes brimming with tears, acting out every manner of grievance like being stopped was the greatest injustice ever done to her.

“…Hailey.”

“You’ll punish them, won’t you? Right?”

“Are you… all right?”

Ephnic, who was practically like a brother to Hailey, was thoroughly flustered.

“Right. What brings you here? I thought you’d already be in Luns County.”

“Hmm… I had something more important to take care of than going there. Something to do with you, Your Highness.”

She almost never used the title ‘Your Highness’… The face and voice are exactly the same, yet why does everything she does feel so unfamiliar?

“Something to take care of? With me?”

Hailey nodded slowly and bit her lip, looking up at Ephnic.

“Yes, Your Highness. There was something I wanted to confirm with you.”

In that instant, Ephnic and Lian startled at the same time.

‘Is, is she trying to charm me right now? The blunt Hailey?’

“What’s gotten into you? Are you feeling unwell?”

“Hmm, you disappeared after the ceremony yesterday without a word. So I was wondering how you were, and also whether maybe you and I… um, well…”