“The fragrance is especially nice today.”

“I bought them specially for this day.”

“Did you go to the town?”

“Yes. While you were busy reading novels, I went out and bought them.”

Feeling guilty for lounging around while Lily was so enthusiastic, I tried to make an excuse.

“You should have taken me with you. Why did you go alone?”

“Well, when you go to town, you only get interested in strange things!”

Suddenly, Lily’s hands washing my hair became more forceful.

“Inviting cult members to the house, getting fixated on weird fortune-tellers and asking them to exorcise evil spirits! I can’t face Butler Sebastian!”

So that’s why her hair-washing seemed so emotionally charged… It was because of that.

“That was all part of the plan…”

“Yes, yes, I understand, now close your eyes. I’m going to rinse.”

Seeing Lily who seemed to have a lot pent up, I quietly closed my mouth. Since she seemed angry, I decided to do as she said for now.

“This updo hairstyle is trendy these days. I had to work hard to learn how to do it.”

Lily chattered non-stop, like she was bursting with words she had been holding back. Half-dazed, I nodded along to Lily’s chatter, and before I knew it, both my makeup and hair were done.

When I changed clothes and looked in the mirror, a different woman from the usual Ravenne was facing me.

“Wow, Lily… This is amazing.”

While Ravenne was originally pretty, when she’s all dressed up like this, she really looked like an elegant noble. Unfortunately, her character was far from elegant…

Amazed at how different I looked, I praised Lily extravagantly.

“Lily, you should open a shop. No, when I leave here later, I’ll set one up for you! We could be business partners!”

“Where would you go, young lady? This is your home.”

Hearing my words, Lily narrowed her eyes and looked at me as if wondering what strange scheme I was up to now.

“Ah, no. I just meant hypothetically.”

“Oh, you need to wear this too.”

While I was awkwardly smiling, Lily brought a box. When I opened it, there was jewelry made of diamonds inside. It must be what Sebastian had prepared.

“Should I wear this too?”

After putting on the necklace and earrings, I asked about the ring stuck in one corner of the box, and Lily answered.

“Yes. Wear it over your gloves.”

The ring with a diamond slightly larger than my pinky nail set right in the middle looked incredibly expensive to anyone who saw it. As expected of a Duke’s family, they don’t use just anything.

When I put the ring on over the glove, it became quite a stylish decoration.

Hmm, but it still feels lacking.

For someone who’s going to be the wife of the Empire’s highest-ranking family, shouldn’t all ten fingers be adorned with rings of different colors? There are so many beautiful and glamorous gems like sapphires, rubies, and emeralds!

I should have made a fuss and asked for more back then…

“It’s time to leave, young lady.”

“What about breakfast?”

“We just tightened your dress, what breakfast? You’ll eat plenty of delicious food at the Marquis’ house anyway, so just go.”

“But I need to eat breakfast…”

Regardless of my breakfast mantra, Lily firmly pulled my arm.

To say it now, Lily was really strong, and with Ravenne’s leaf-like body, being dragged along was all I could manage.

I tried to resist somehow, but in the end, this is how I ended up being dragged away. Regretting my decision from a week ago was pointless now; I could only feel it acutely.

When we went down to the hall, Ilion was already prepared and waiting for me. The navy suit that seemed to match the color of my dress accentuated his broad shoulders and long legs even more.

I thought he looked handsome even in his usual buttoned-up shirt and vest, but properly dressed up like this, he exuded a strangely ascetic yet dangerous aura.

And that handsome face somehow looked a bit more displeased than usual.

Although I hadn’t done anything yet, the reason for Ilion’s anger was usually me, so the cause of that furrowed brow was probably me with high probability.

“Lily, are we very late?”

When I whispered in Lily’s ear, covering my mouth with my hand, Lily nodded. He’s going to say something again. I put on a brazen face and smiled as I went down the stairs.

“Oh my, Duke, have you been waiting long?”

“I believe I said to come down by 10 o’clock, is there no clock in your room?”

The Duke said, turning his head from looking at the main entrance with his arms crossed.

Who asked to go together? You insisted on coming along when I said I’d go alone.

There was a mountain of things I wanted to say today too, but I forced a smile while desperately suppressing my true feelings.

I wonder if I’ll end up with stomach ulcers at this rate.

“I was just trying to look pretty for you, Duke, that’s why I’m a bit late.”

“……”

Right, now it seems you’re too annoyed to even speak.

A fleeting, unreadable emotion crossed Ilion’s face as he silently stared at me. I wondered if he was surprised by how pretty I had become, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

I’m incredibly good at catching when he’s angry or disgusted with me, but other emotions are a bit difficult to read.

As I was pondering what that fleeting expression might have been while heading towards the carriage, for some reason, neither Lily nor Sebastian seemed to be following.

“Isn’t Sebastian coming with us?”

“No.”

“…Pardon?”

What? Why? Why aren’t they coming?

I looked at Sebastian with wide eyes. He smiled with the wisdom of years and said,

“The two of you should go and have a cozy time together.”

Cozy? Was that even an applicable word for the two of us?

More importantly, Sebastian! Are you trying to kill me by putting me in that vacuum-like carriage to die from lack of oxygen?

But no matter how desperately I looked at him, Sebastian showed no signs of changing his mind.

With no other choice, I pitifully called out to Lily, my last hope.

“L-Lily. Won’t you come with us?”

“I’m supposed to help with the mansion work today. Have a good trip, young lady.”

Lily waved at me with a very refreshed face.

Even you, Lily…

Holding back the urge to cry, I turned my reluctant feet towards Ilion. He was still waiting for me in front of the carriage with a cold expression.

Ah, I’d rather faint.

Lily let out a long sigh as she watched the carriage moving away. After all the bustle since morning, fatigue seemed to hit her all at once.

“It’s really fortunate that the Duke is going with her. If the young lady and I had gone…”

Lily couldn’t finish her sentence.

Judging by Ravenne’s recent eccentric behavior, if the two of them had attended the party alone, it might have made headlines in the next day’s newspaper.

No, it would have definitely made headlines. Ravenne lacked even the slightest awareness of becoming a Duchess.

And if she offended some of the more spirited young ladies… Lily shook her head vigorously, shaking off the terrifying imagination.

“It’s the opposite.”

“…Pardon?”

“It’s fortunate that the young lady is going with the Duke.”

Lily tilted her head at Sebastian’s puzzling words. No way. That couldn’t be.

“Um, Sebastian, I’m not sure if I should say this, but it seems like you’ve been having the hardest time recently because of the young lady.”

But Sebastian shook his head and smiled.

“Hard time? I haven’t had such enjoyable days at work in a long time.”

‘Like master, like butler… This level of workaholism is severe.’

Feeling a surge of sympathy for Sebastian, Lily prayed inwardly. Please, just for today, let Ravenne return safely without causing any incidents.

It was truly fortunate that I didn’t eat breakfast. If I had, I would have thrown up in the carriage right away in this suffocating atmosphere. Perhaps because I was so tense in front of Ilion, my motion sickness had completely disappeared.

“How long until we reach Marquis Lancel’s house?”

“About an hour.”

“……”

To endure another hour… If I could, I wanted to open the carriage door and jump out. I should have fainted earlier after all!

We’ve already talked about the weather as soon as the carriage departed, discussed the dress earlier, talked about the scenery…

What should I talk about now? As I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how to continue the conversation, I noticed the ring on the Duke’s hand.

“I see you’re wearing the same ring as me.”

I spoke up, showing the Duke the ring on my hand. I thought he would say something about the rings being deliberately matched as a set, but an unexpected word came out of Ilion’s mouth.

“Of course, it’s an engagement ring.”

“…Yes?”

That’s right, it has to be a matching set. Haha, did I hear that correctly?

“An engagement ring?”

“Yes. Since we’re going to be seen by people, it’s better to wear engagement rings.”

No matter how you look at it, isn’t this going too far? Ravenne’s twisted personality might partly be your fault too.

The world believed that following the Duke’s family tradition, the engagement ceremony was held quietly with only family members present.

Half right, half wrong. First, it was true that the engagement ceremony wasn’t very grand as per the Duke’s family tradition.

Being such a renowned and influential family, there would be too many people wanting to attend even from the engagement ceremony.

So for several generations, the Duke’s family had made it a principle to keep engagement ceremonies simple and wedding ceremonies grand.

The other half that the world misunderstood was that the Duke and I didn’t even have that simple engagement ceremony.

The Duke’s parents and grandparents had already passed away. And Ravenne’s family had sent their daughter to the Duke’s mansion as if selling her off.

In other words, not only were there no family members to attend the engagement ceremony, but I had come to live at the Duke’s mansion before the wedding without even exchanging rings as was customary.

And yet that ring had sneakily made its way among the accessories!

I took off the ring I was wearing and handed it to the Duke.

“Duke!”

When I called him in a high-pitched voice, the workaholic who was still reviewing documents in the carriage looked up at me. He seemed annoyed at being called repeatedly. But who am I? I’m a clueless, pure-hearted young lady.

Pretending not to notice, I smiled and said,

“Please put it on for me.”