“If, if that’s the case, for the tailcoat……”

Nicol hastily offered modifications in response to Aveline’s criticism. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he scrutinized even the slightest movement of her eyebrows.

Whenever there was a banquet she would attend with the Duke, Aveline always ordered extravagant matching outfits, as if they were a set. As if she couldn’t wait to show him off more.

“Since we have sapphires, we could add them between the embroidery……”

However, regardless of the circumstances, Nicol’s client was not the Duke but his fiancée, who was now arrogantly tilting her chin with apparent boredom.

Nicol carefully set aside his feelings of pity and wracked his brain for ideas to make the Duke an even more splendid spectacle.

“……so I thought we might revise the design like this, but……”

However, his voice, which had been somewhat confident, gradually became more subdued. He was intimidated by Aveline’s serene face.

With her chin resting on her hand, Aveline appeared to be listening attentively to Nicol.

But Nicol instinctively sensed that her silence—staring intently without blinking once—was an indication that she found his proposal unsatisfactory.

It was a sufficiently threatening atmosphere for the inherently timid Nicol. He suddenly shouted to his assistant.

“We, we still have other designs left. Hey, what are you doing! Hurry and bring the design sketches to the lady!”

“Ah, yes!”

Whenever Nicol received a commission from Aveline, he would prepare numerous design sketches in advance. Even if he presented dozens of pages only to be rejected, without them he felt he might be torn to shreds instead of the sketches.

Just as he was once again renewing his bold yet unrealizable resolution to refuse Aveline’s commissions next time—

“Eek!”

The assistant, who had been rushing over with the design sketches clutched to her chest, tripped over her own feet and fell flat.

Unfortunately, she seemed to have hit her head on the table, making an ominous thud.

“Are you alright?”

The startled maids hurriedly gathered around to help her up.

“Ugh……”

“Oh my, blood!”

The right side of her forehead had been cut by the edge, and blood was streaming down.

The maids exclaimed in shock and rushed to bring clean cloths to stop the bleeding. The timid Nicol, who feared blood, couldn’t even approach and kept muttering “Oh my goodness” repeatedly.

“We should have the wound examined immediately.”

“Let’s stop the bleeding first.”

“Ah, I……”

Amidst the commotion, the assistant, holding the cloth pressed against her forehead and responding dazedly, suddenly looked upward.

On the white marble floor where she had fallen, a small foot in a silk shoe remained perfectly still.

The assistant slowly raised her head as if entranced.

Golden eyes devoid of any emotion glanced at her. It was a nonchalant gaze, as if what lay at her feet was not an injured person but a bothersome pebble.

Just as her body began to freeze under that emotionless stare, Aveline’s eyes curved pleasantly.

As her head tilted slightly, her pale pink hair swayed gently. Like flower petals fluttering in the height of spring.

It was a beauty so stunning that it evoked admiration despite the inappropriate situation. The smile, shining like warm sunlight, momentarily blanked her mind.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Ah, well……”

Even her voice was clear and pretty, like a canary’s.

When she asked so gently with such a voice, relief flooded her heart. The kind question felt as noble as the breath of a deity soothing the wounds of a lowly creature.

However, her relief was premature.

“Surely……”

The voice that had been as warm as a spring breeze until just a moment ago instantly transformed into a dry desert gust.

The beautiful face, now devoid of any smile, was clean and merciless.

“You don’t dare hope that I would personally use my divine power for you, do you?”

Under the cold interrogation, her eyes, which had been frozen in confusion, gradually began to waver.

In truth, she had hoped that Aveline might use her divine power. Being Dione’s reincarnation with divine power specialized in healing, couldn’t she heal such a small wound in the blink of an eye?

Of course, she didn’t think Aveline was the type of person to feel compassion or sympathy.

Still, she believed that Aveline wouldn’t be cold-blooded enough to ignore someone bleeding right before her eyes, that she wouldn’t be that heartless……

“N-no, not at all! How could I possibly dare to expect divine power from you, my lady?”

Meeting those golden eyes that made no attempt to hide their contempt, she couldn’t help but realize how foolish her expectation had been.

The assistant bowed her head so low that she nearly hit the ground. She couldn’t move an inch, as if the air itself was weighing heavily on her entire body.

Blood dripped from her forehead onto the white marble floor. Despite this grim scene before her, Aveline didn’t even blink.

She briefly examined the crown of the head bowed at her feet with a snake-like gaze that seemed to probe into the other’s innermost thoughts, then lost interest and leaned back askew on the sofa.

The reception room was so quiet that the rustling sound of her dress fabric wrinkling was clearly audible. In the silence where even breathing loudly seemed forbidden, Aveline finally spoke.

“If you plan to come and go from this mansion in the future, you’d do well to remember this.”

The voice that flowed from lips as soft and supple as a ripe peach was bored and tedious, as if it had never been fierce.

“I may be able to kill you, but I’ll never save you.”

It lacked the gravity to be a warning, and it wasn’t threatening enough to be a threat.

It was just a monotonous tone, as if reciting an objective fact, which actually stimulated a more primal fear.

The assistant trembled and barely managed to nod her head that was still bowed to the floor. Everyone in the room held their breath.

Aveline showed not the slightest interest in any of them as she calmly savored her lemon tea.

In the reception room where everyone else remained frozen like statues, only she moved leisurely, like the sole living being with warmth.

Just like the woman she always was—consistently refined and elegant, and therefore all the more cruel.

*

“The clothes fit you well.”

Morris smiled contentedly as he held up the tailcoat. Kazerre put his arms through the coat with an annoyed expression. The deep navy coat gently wrapped around his broad, strong shoulders.

The servants attending to him stared as if entranced, never tiring of the sight. Some even let slip audible gasps of admiration without realizing it.

“Is there anything uncomfortable?”

At Morris’s question, Nicol, who had been standing nearby with his mouth agape, finally came to his senses and gathered his pins.

With only a few hours remaining until the banquet, they couldn’t waste a moment if alterations were needed.

As the dedicated tailor for the ducal household, he knew Kazerre’s measurements by heart, but it was still nerve-wracking to make clothes without a single fitting.

But there had been no choice. During his numerous visits to this residence to meet Aveline, Kazerre hadn’t shown even a shadow of himself, making it impossible to do a fitting or even make an estimate by eye.

‘How did it come to this? I was just a common citizen satisfied with three meals a day and a comfortable place to sleep……’

Nicol had lived contentedly with steady work even without fame.

But somehow, after catching Aveline’s eye, he had suddenly become a trendsetting master craftsman overnight. It was fame he had never desired.

“Well.”

As Kazerre muttered lowly, Nicol shrank back, feeling preemptively guilty.

Of course, he lacked the power to refuse Aveline’s commission. But he felt somewhat guilty for creating attire that was the exact opposite of Kazerre’s taste, despite knowing his preferences well.

“It doesn’t seem to need any alterations.”

“Ah, r-really?”

Morris informed Nicol in a calm voice. Unlike the thoroughly intimidated Nicol, the butler didn’t seem concerned about Kazerre’s reaction in the slightest.

Fortunately, no complaints came from Kazerre either. His face, dazzlingly beautiful as always, merely looked bored, with no trace of dissatisfaction to be found anywhere.

Nicol inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

If there was any consolation, it was that Kazerre was not at all a difficult customer. The taciturn and level-headed Duke was certainly more generous compared to other nobles.

“It suits you perfectly. The lady indeed has excellent taste.”

Morris subtly praised Aveline.

Though Kazerre’s consistently composed brow twitched slightly, the experienced butler, seasoned by years of service, skillfully pretended not to notice his lord’s displeasure.

Meanwhile, the servants who had been staring at him in a daze busily moved to help with the remaining preparations.

They neatly brushed back his hair to show his broad forehead, and carefully tucked the cravat straight inside the vest to ensure it stayed fixed in place. They didn’t forget to smooth out the coat to prevent any wrinkles.

Just as the preparations were nearly complete, a servant entered the room and announced:

“The carriage is ready.”

Kazerre nodded, made a final adjustment to his coat collar, and led the way out of the room.

Outside, the evening glow was painting the sky a reddish hue.

Kazerre, walking with his elongated shadow trailing at his feet, suddenly stopped.

At the end of his gaze stood only the large carriage emblazoned with the ducal crest and the coachman standing alone in front of it.

As if he understood, Kazerre let out a small sigh and approached the coachman to ask:

“How much time do we have left?”

“You need to depart now to arrive on time.”

Kazerre glanced briefly at the annex. It was in the direction of the second floor of the annex, where Aveline’s private spaces, including her bedroom, were located.

“I’ll be going then.”