Jade asked about Rosana’s honest feelings.

“I heard your dress room emptied out considerably. So I allocated a more generous budget from the privy purse. But why didn’t you get new dresses?”

At Jade’s words, Rosana’s eyes briefly looked away like someone caught off guard.

“Th-that’s… if I buy too much…”

“You didn’t even buy anything?”

“…”

Rosana pressed her lips shut. She thought the dresses Jade prepared were sufficient.

“What if you don’t buy the clothes you need? Like the fur coats and cardigans essential for winter.”

She had picked out a few clothes considering the cold here and there.

“The dresses you choose have a clear common trait. They’re not fancy.”

Rosana drew a short breath. Was that wrong?

When she wore fancy clothes, she looked exactly like the Rosana Arcadi they talked about. So she intentionally avoided them.

The meaning of the word “fancy” was broad. Individual perspectives differed, and because Rosana’s standard for fanciness was extremely low, she was that desperate. She worried things might be fancy even when others called them ordinary.

Jade gestured toward Rosana with his chin. Venice watched quietly, then gently helped Rosana stand once the debate ended.

Jade lightly picked up the end of Rosana’s hair with his fingers.

“I want you to live as you wish. Haven’t you been pushed around enough until now? Did you forget the promise to be honest? I know what your actions mean. But who decides the standard for extravagance?”

Jade pulled Rosana’s body close and lifted her chin.

“I want to see you adorned in the beautiful dresses I bought you. I want to show you off to everyone. That this beautiful, wonderful woman is mine. It may be my greed. But I want to see it.”

“Jade…”

Jade was close enough for their breaths to touch. It was a familiar sensation. Rosana didn’t avoid Jade’s sharply watching eyes. Rather, they were eyes she missed.

It felt like the first time she faced him bare-faced.

That morning, she felt the teacup placed there, emitting the fragrant aroma brewed then.

“I’m waiting for you to bloom.”

Jade made a gentle eye-smile. Having finished speaking, Jade released Rosana’s chin and lightly pushed her back. Rosana stumbled forward. She looked back.

He always waited in the same place. Behind her, one step back.

Jade was trying to convey something to her. His eyes showed unwavering belief that she would realize it.

Rosana closed her eyes tightly and opened them again. It was to erase something blurring her vision.

Venice quietly guided her. Her steps were heavy. The conversation they’d shared swam through her mind, but she decided to forget the content.

Venice’s job was to prepare beautiful dresses as Jade commanded and make her into a more beautiful lady than anyone. The employees moved swiftly. Venice showed each one to Rosana while seeking her opinion.

“My lady, how about this one?”

“…It’s fine.”

However, things didn’t go smoothly. She mostly said “fine” or “not bad,” but never said she liked anything or tried anything on.

Jade merely sipped his tea leisurely. Though Rosana glanced at him sideways, whether intentional or not, their eyes never met. Rosana felt like closing her eyes right then.

“My lady. Don’t you like the dresses?”

Venice couldn’t get a read on Rosana’s cold response.

‘I do like them. I do, but…’

Rosana hesitated. Venice watched carefully. This dress wasn’t it either, apparently. She moved her hands to find another dress. Then she recalled the request written at the end of the letter.

‘Handle with care.’

She’d thought it meant to treat her respectfully because she would be empress. But it turned out the request had a different meaning. Venice quietly sighed.

Then Rosana spoke.

“I’ll take this dress.”

Venice smiled brightly. Progress appeared in a situation that had been stagnant.

Some nobles would buy tons of other dresses if you encouraged them even slightly, while others found even small interference burdensome and left without buying. Those nobles often lacked confidence.

“An excellent choice.”

Rosana let out a low sigh.

Venice watched Rosana’s actions. Someone hesitant to let even a finger touch the dresses. 

That this person before her was that “Rosana Arcadi”… 

She quietly hid her thoughts.

It was one of Venice’s own works with beautiful embroidery. The embroidery blooming on thin lace fabric showed the considerable effort and time invested.

Venice, growing tired of Rosana’s lukewarm response, hurried to move before Rosana’s hesitant attitude made her change her mind. With several people clinging to her, Rosana was swept into the dressing room like a wave. From afar, Jade’s chuckling laughter could be heard.

Contemplation floated across Rosana’s face.

‘He said he wanted to see me wearing a beautiful dress. He told me to be honest. Does he think I’m not being honest right now?’

Sorrow mixed with the sigh Rosana exhaled. Her worries tangled together, not easily unraveling.

Her heart was rotting away. She’d decided to be honest because she wanted to properly convey her thoughts to others. To show she wasn’t that “Rosana Arcadi.”

Rosana soothed her hollow feeling, like being left alone in a vast ocean.

Venice, who had finished the styling, let out an exclamation. Since Rosana was beautiful, wearing a dress befitting her made her features stand out even more.

“You’re beautiful!”

Venice clapped and spoke. Venice and the employees spared no praise to lift Rosana’s dark expression. However, Rosana smiled sadly. They couldn’t know the words hidden within.

Rosana slowly raised her head.

“My lady?”

‘Would it really just be beautiful?’ 

Her heart shrank and crumbled. Venice looked puzzled at Rosana with downcast eyes.

Then she looked at the full-length mirror in front. The dress draped on her body was beautiful. 

Embroidery carved in flower shapes and small jewels embedded accordingly. It was a dress beautiful enough in anyone’s eyes.

The hem was made with the lightest, most fluttering fabric possible for beauty when the dress swayed. It was luxurious, and the colors harmonized well.

The Astrot Empire was the only one that could produce this color. That’s why she chose it.

‘I chose it myself.’

Rosana said:

“It’s similar to an Astrot dress.”

“Yes. That’s right. After all, the beauty of dresses can’t match the Astrot Empire. I prefer beautiful dresses over stiff armor or men’s clothing without much embroidery.”

The reflection in the mirror was familiar. It was the appearance she’d always faced in the ducal household.

Rosana knew too. That it suited her. That it matched her taste. 

Though she’d turned away, she knew. When the maids held out sparkling accessories, her hand naturally reached out, and when they showed various dress designs, she thought they were pretty. 

But she refused. She deliberately kept all fancy things far away.

Because she didn’t want to become that Rosana Arcadi again.

But dressed up like this, it wasn’t awkward, and she liked her reflection in the mirror.

People’s perspectives differ yet don’t differ. There’s a universal standard of beauty. What the majority finds beautiful, Rosana also finds beautiful.

Beautiful dresses elicit admiration. They catch the eye. She was simply afraid and anxious about words like “extravagant” or “fancy” following. So she refused.

Rosana felt deflated.

“…Isn’t it fancy?”

Venice blinked blankly. Then she looked at the dress Rosana chose. It was a dress Venice had designed and embroidered with painstaking care. Since it was her own work, she’d used premium fabric too.

It was a fancy dress that appealed to nobles, and if asked whether it was fancy, it was. Venice calmly agreed.

“It’s fancy, yes?”

“…I see.”

But Rosana was originally a ducal lady, and furthermore, would become empress.

Venice asked:

“But isn’t that appropriate attire?”

“Pardon?”

With a thin smile, Venice lifted the hem of her dress with both hands, intending to show the dress she wore.

“Then what about the dress I’m wearing? Couldn’t you say it’s even fancier than the dress you’re wearing?”

Rosana’s eyes widened at Venice’s calm words, then returned to normal.

As someone selling dresses, promoting her own dresses was natural. Therefore, she wore the most expensive and fancy dress. She subtly showed that she designed and sold dresses of this caliber.

She was essentially a mannequin herself. Venice smiled and continued:

“You will become Her Majesty the Empress. You’re the face of the Diovaha Empire. What’s wrong with being fancy? You should show a confident appearance.”

Though some might think it is meddling, Venice answered honestly. She was prepared to accept any rebuke gracefully. However, no rebuke came. Rather, Rosana was smiling.

“Thank you. I never thought of it that way. I only thought I’d receive… criticism from people.”

Venice expressed doubt at Rosana’s words. Then she muttered like she herself felt bad.

“Then I, who love fancy things, must be a sinner. Loving fancy things isn’t a crime. Above all, there’s no way a dress I designed would be problematic.”

Her face showed pride in her own work. Her touch on the dress was full of affection. Venice, who had been adjusting the dress in the final stage, spoke:

“I was originally part of the Raven Knights.”

She’d roughly guessed from the earlier conversation with Jade. Even so, she couldn’t imagine it at all from her current appearance. Venice continued step by step:

“My father wanted to raise me as a strong knight. At first, I followed my father’s words too. With talent in swordsmanship and unusual strength, I wasn’t inferior to men. Ah, in Diovaha, women can fully become knights too.”

“Yes. I know.”

“Since I had talent, I didn’t resist. I adapted well enough. But gradually my interest went elsewhere.”

“Dresses?”

Venice nodded.

“Yes. That’s right. Swords are weapons that harm people. Even if the purpose is to save someone, it doesn’t change that a sword takes lives. So just when I was getting sick of it, I saw a dress. The moment I saw a dress sparkling in various colors with many jewels embedded, I knew I’d fallen in love. So when the war ended, I quit.”

“…”

“It’s the path I chose. No one can blame me. The same goes for you, my lady. Don’t be intimidated by people’s murmuring.”

Rosana swallowed a bitter smile. ‘Still not enough. I thought of only one thing and didn’t think of others.’

“Was Jade trying to tell me this… I pushed myself too hard.”

Rosana muttered quietly. She’d looked at only one thing. She’d forgotten that attire unsuited to one’s position could also be a flaw.

Rosana’s attire wasn’t particularly fancy alone. Though it varied by wealth, other nobles wore sufficiently fancy dresses too.

Thinking about it now, Amy hadn’t been wearing cheap dresses either. Though the number of jewels was small, embroidering elegant embroidery on thin fabric was no less extravagant.

It made no sense for the only ducal lady of the Astrot Empire to wear the same dresses as others. But all the criticism had fallen on Rosana alone.

Everyone pointed at Rosana and called her extravagant, so she naturally became intimidated.

In childhood, she’d been displeased by it, but she’d forgotten. There was a time when she expressed puzzlement at the criticism only she received when she was no different from others.