“It seemed the young lady quite liked that pink dress. Why don’t you purchase an additional one?”

“Since when did you become Lady Rischefeld’s butler?”

“Well, didn’t you tell me to keep a close eye on her, Master?”

“You’ve become quite the sly fox in your old age.”

Following Ilion, who laughed as if he couldn’t stand it, Sebastian looked at his master worriedly.

Despite having no interest in social circles, his master was used to being the subject of people’s gossip.

He had been constantly plagued by rumors since inheriting the Celestine house at the young age of twenty.

When the previous Duke of Celestine passed away and a young man who had just turned 20 became the next duke, the world created numerous rumors about his legitimacy.

It was because his appearance did not resemble his father or grandparents.

Black hair and red eyes were colors not found anywhere in the Celestine family, so Ilion was always followed by rumors about his mother along with the label of being an illegitimate child.

As Ilion’s abilities began to be recognized, such scandals gradually subsided, but the hyenas hiding their claws began to spread rumors about Ilion not getting married.

At first, it was just talk of marriage arrangements with certain families, but as he approached marriageable age without getting married, rumors inflated to say that the duke was homosexual or that he already had hidden children.

The rumors, which were thought to subside soon, were circulating among village women beyond the social circles, and Ilion, who could no longer just ignore it, finally chose to marry Ravenne.

Naturally, people’s attention turned to Ravenne, his fiancée. As soon as it became known that she was a poor noble lady, the world, without anyone’s prompting, created stories that the two were deeply in love with each other.

The reason why Ilion hadn’t married for a while and why he had refused marriage proposals were now neatly packaged as being for the sake of his beloved.

So Ravenne, the protagonist of this passionate romance and the Cinderella of the century, would receive even more attention than the host.

Because it was a noble society where even a dress or a hairstyle could be picked apart, he deliberately chose clothes that would attract as little attention as possible.

Of course, Sebastian, knowing his intention, was not criticizing his decision.

What he was worried about was Ilion.

Loveless marriages were common in the noble world. But even if it was a political marriage, Ravenne was still someone he would have to live with for the rest of his life.

For now, Ravenne might cling to Ilion with a smile even when pushed away, but how long would that last… There would come a time when they would need to rely on each other, so why did he keep pushing her away…

“And about the diamond set, I was thinking it might be better if you gave it to the young lady yourself. It is an engagement gift, after all.”

“I’m not sure if there’s a need to observe formalities for an engagement in name only.”

“Still, please give it to her yourself.”

“What’s the point?”

Sebastian sighed and said. He seemed to have been a bit cuter when he was younger…

“You might regret it later.”

“Nonsense…”

Ilion dismissed Sebastian’s words. Isn’t it obvious what expression she would make if he brought those jewels? She would probably shamelessly ask to be called a baby bird again. Why on earth would he need to go see that sight on purpose?

It was the same with Marchioness Lancel’s party. He initially refused to go, but he changed his decision because of Ravenne, which meant Ilion was being quite considerate of her circumstances in his own way.

He couldn’t understand why even Sebastian kept pestering him.

Regardless of his will, Ilion had been thinking about Ravenne since earlier, and he felt his head throbbing. Upon arriving at his office, Ilion finally sighed and gave permission to Sebastian.

“Buy that pink dress too.”

“Understood.”

Sebastian replied with a satisfied smile.

***

It’s the tenth day since I came to the mansion.

During that time, I had been constantly causing big and small incidents to irritate Ilion. Very diligently at that.

Small things included going to the study to disturb his work, throwing tantrums to increase my allowance, following him to the training ground to beg for sword lessons only to give up after three minutes and whine.

Bigger things included inviting a fortune teller to exorcise evil spirits and turning the whole house upside down, inviting a pseudo-religious cult to help with missionary activities in the mansion, and so on.

I had been causing trouble non-stop, to the point where I wondered if I had ever been this diligent in my entire life, but Ilion was still leaving me alone.

I wasn’t sure if his patience was at the level of a Golden Retriever, or if he had decided to give up on me.

Looking at his expression, it didn’t seem to be either…

As usual, I sat at the dining table, pondering what kind of trouble I should cause today. No useful plans came to mind. The only disappointing thing was that the desserts were inadequate.

For the very ordinary reason that Ilion didn’t like sweet things, the food was mostly composed of plain dishes, and even the cookies that occasionally appeared were severely lacking in sugar.

It was clear that my brain wasn’t working because of the lack of sugar.

After barely deciding on today’s task by wracking my brain, I immediately went to find Sebastian.

“Sebastian. Today, I’d like to go plant flowers on the land I bought.”

Having conveyed to Ilion my grand ambition to turn an entire rocky mountain into a flower garden, shouldn’t I put that crazy idea into practice?

“Is that so? I’ll prepare the carriage and servants. When do you plan to depart?”

“Since it’s a bit far, I’d like to leave in the morning. Please make the preparations.”

Impressed by Sebastian, who prepared everything with just a few words, I started to make my own preparations.

I deliberately prepared comfortable shoes with low heels, and wore pants and a shirt instead of a flowing dress.

Lily tried to stop me, saying that the servants would do all the work anyway, but that was because Lily didn’t understand.

A show is meant to be seen, and to do that, you need to dress the part from the start.

That way, Ilion would realize how serious I was about the flower garden.

Of course, I would pretend to be incompetent and step back at the right moment.

Lastly, I grabbed one of the colorful trowels that Lily had bought along with the book last time.

The trowel, which seemed to be made for the gardening hobby of nobles, had beautiful carvings on its handle. This tiny trowel probably couldn’t properly dig out even one rock from the rocky mountain, but that wasn’t the important part.

After finishing my preparations, I knocked on the door of Ilion’s office to mess it up again today.

“Duke, may I come in?”

When there was no response for a while, I knocked on the office door again with more force. The sound of knock-knock-knock filled the quiet corridor.

‘You’re not going to open even with this?’

Just as I was about to hit the door with my fist once more,

“…Come in.”

Permission was granted as if he had no choice. But a persistent and tactless lady doesn’t get discouraged by such things! I opened the door confidently and greeted Ilion.

“Good morning, Duke. I came to greet you before going to plant flowers today.”

“There’s no need to report such things to me, just go on your own.”

He was now looking at me with a truly tired face. Today’s start is good.

Ignoring his words lightly, I took out the trowel from the handbag I was carrying.

“And I wanted to show off this trowel to you, Duke. What do you think? Isn’t it pretty? If I plant flowers with this trowel, they’ll surely bloom beautifully.”

“…Sure, if that trowel survives until you actually plant flowers.”

Ilion was looking at my shiny trowel with disdain. Regardless, I continued speaking, immersed in my role.

“I’ve decided to name this trowel Daisy. It’s a really fitting name, don’t you think?”

Ilion, seemingly incredulous at the name Daisy, rested his chin on his hand and looked at me before bursting into a hollow laugh.

“Then I’ll go plant flowers with Daisy–. Make sure to eat well even when I’m not here.”

“Unnecessary worry.”

Right. You’re someone who eats and lives well even without me, why don’t you understand that?

There were many things I wanted to retort to his cold words, but seeing Ilion’s deeply furrowed brow, I decided to be satisfied with this much for today and left the office, heading towards the entrance.

Sebastian and Lily were waiting for me at the entrance.

“Oh my, the preparations are already complete?”

“Yes. The servants have loaded the luggage and are waiting in the rear carriage. Please board the front carriage.”

Before getting into the carriage, I showed Sebastian the trowel. And I asked him the same question I had asked Ilion.

“Sebastian, what do you think of this? Isn’t it pretty? If I plant flowers with this trowel, they’ll surely bloom beautifully, right?”

Hearing my words, Sebastian smiled and replied, ‘They certainly will, young lady.’

As expected, it’s Sebastian. If I have to leave this mansion, you’ll be the one I’ll miss the most. Healing my heart hurt by Ilion with Sebastian, I boarded the carriage.

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“I will be accompanying you.”

“What?”

Sebastian said as he followed me. Why are you coming along? What about the mansion? As I looked at Sebastian with a face full of questions, he smiled kindly and said.

“The master instructed me to accompany you out of concern.”

“……”

Ilion’s reaction earlier wasn’t like that though. Is this to keep an eye on me just in case? Right, Ilion could do that.

But what to do? I was really only going to plant flowers.

Happy to have gained additional labor thanks to this, I replied cheerfully.

“Oh my, to think the Duke is worried about me, I’m so happy. Alright. Sebastian, come along too. The more people there are, the merrier it is, after all.”