There were two reasons why the man entered the boutique with an uneasy look.

The first was because of the nightmares he had started having from a certain day, and the second was because the woman in those nightmares was his wife, Lysith Gronevelt.

A black carriage carried the man with an extremely tired face through the streets. The aide sitting across from him also looked tired, but due to most of the work being finished, he had a better complexion than the man.

As he leaned his head back and closed his eyes to catch even a moment of sleep, the contents of the nightmare clung to his mind, refusing to let go, as if a ghost had attached itself.

White hair, red eyes, and broken…

Recalling the nightmare, he pressed his furrowed brow and aching temples, then lifted his heavy eyelids and glanced at the window where his gaze happened to fall.

Among the passing street scenery, he saw a familiar figure.

“Stop the carriage.”

“Pardon?”

“I said stop the carriage.”

The carriage quickly came to a halt at Dietrich’s words, but the place he had seen while passing by was already quite far behind.

Jumping out before the carriage had fully stopped, he quickly walked back the way they had come and realized that what he had seen was correct. The elegant carriage parked in front of the boutique clearly bore the engraved emblem of the Gronevelt ducal family.

Behind him, he could hear the voice of his aide calling out in surprise as he ran over, but Dietrich ignored the panicked voice and headed towards the boutique. And his unhindered steps were stopped by the boutique’s staff.

“Y-Your Highness the Grand Duke. W-We apologize, but inside there’s a guest…”

“The lady is there. I know.”

“……”

“I need to go in.”

Everyone knew about their relationship. If it had been in the past, they would have just let him in, but now everyone believed that the ducal lady of Gronevelt had ended her unrequited love for this man.

With even the Tower Master involved now, their relationship had become something difficult to define, along with the Grand Duke acting strangely. As an employee, it was only natural to be at a loss.

For now, given his status, they couldn’t stop him from entering. Strictly speaking, his rank was even higher than the guest inside. Eventually, after entering the boutique, he scanned the surroundings once.

Seemingly sensing the commotion of the flustered staff receiving his cold gaze, the lady who had been choosing items inside finally revealed herself. And when the Grand Duke’s eyes met with the woman’s, he appeared somehow uneasy.

Despite seeing the man’s noticeably anxious eyes, Lysith reluctantly offered a graceful greeting without showing the slightest interest.

“…I greet Your Highness, the Grand Duke.”

“……”

“Seeing as you’ve entered despite the staff surely informing you of my presence inside, it seems you wished to meet me. May I ask the reason?”

…Reason? There never was one from the start. From telling the carriage to stop, to jumping out of it, to pushing past the staff who were trying to stop him and barging into the boutique, everything.

It was all impulse.

It seemed like he had many things he wanted to ask, but when he actually faced her, he couldn’t ask anything. His mind was in such a jumble that he couldn’t figure out what exactly had made him like this.

“……”

Dietrich remained silent as if glue had sealed his lips, even in response to Lysith’s question. Sighing softly at his deep silence, Lysith gave a perfunctory nod as though to say she would be leaving now, and then calmly addressed the madame who had come out with her.

“Madame, I’d rather like to place an order for something to be made.”

“Oh, my. You mean the cufflinks… right? In that case, since we’ll need examples, it would be better to look in the hall.”

As if to show that not just anyone could run a boutique, her skill in naturally picking up on Lysith’s cue was impressive.

Madame Rouarte, who had guided her to a waiting staff member, turned her gaze to the Grand Duke and offered an elegant greeting. Since it was her first time seeing the man in person, her eyes sparkled at the sight of the Grand Duke she had only heard rumors about. But as if he couldn’t even see the Madam’s sparkling eyes, Dietrich examined Lysith’s side profile as she followed the staff member.

“Is there perhaps something specific you’re looking for?”

“…A handkerchief.”

“For something like that…”

Everyone in the boutique knew that his excuse was hastily made up. Whether it was an excuse or real, only one person didn’t care either way.

The boutique was frequented by various nobles, and naturally, rumors spread quickly. And since this situation was ultimately created by Lysith, it was essentially the same as Lysith openly telling the Madame to spread rumors. For the Madame, it was enough to make her want to hum with excitement internally.

The rumors in high society had stopped at ‘The Duchess has ended her unrequited love.’ Some people had speculated that the Grand Duke might now be falling for the Duchess, but hardly anyone believed it. However, once today’s events spread far and wide, it was obvious that no one would be able to help but believe.

The Madame introduced beautifully embroidered handkerchiefs to Dietrich while constantly observing his gaze. While pretending to choose handkerchiefs, he kept glancing at Lysith in the distance, like he was drawn by a magnet.

Seeing this, the Madame thought: My, this is going to be huge.

Meanwhile, Lysith was in the midst of a struggle with the system while pretending to examine the catalog.

[Passive: The Melancholy Of A Divorced Woman (ON)]
[Passive: The Melancholy Of A Divorced Woman (OFF)]
[Passive: The Melancholy Of A Divorced Woman (ON)]
[Passive: The Melancholy Of A Divorced Woman (OFF)]
[Passive: The Melancholy Of A Divorced Woman (ON)]

‘This damn…! Turn off!’

Due to the strengthening of the melancholy passive skill obtained as a reward for completing Level 4, the passive kept acting up. It kept turning on and off repeatedly even though it wasn’t a situation where it needed to be on, causing the expression of the staff member in front of her to gradually fill with sympathy.

‘That’s not it!’

Due to the passive turning on and off, her face, expression, and atmosphere seemed to look like someone trying hard to act nonchalant upon meeting their ex-husband. The staff member’s movements in selecting products became even more enthusiastic.

Gritting her teeth, she opened the detailed description window and finally saw the contents of the passive skill enhancement.

[Detailed Description]
[Emanate the melancholy that only you possess!]
[Then… someone might fall for it?!]
[When this passive is on, the probability of people around you looking at you with pity increases.]
[Can be turned ON/OFF.]
[Enhancement Effect – Melancholy strengthened when ex-husband is within 50m radius]

If it should only be strengthened when turned on, why on earth was it acting up on its own without even being turned on? If only she could hit the system, she’d like to give it just one smack.

[Ex-husband detected within 50m radius.]
[Passive will be automatically activated.]
[…..]
[Repeated passive OFF confirmed.]
[Would you like to turn off passive auto-activation mode?]

‘Please turn off!’

Only after the system heard her inner thoughts and finally turned off the passive could she find peace of mind. At last, she shifted her gaze back to the cufflinks. Though her cheek kept tingling as if some dark man kept staring at her, she roughly ignored it and examined the products the staff member had brought out.

Normally, cufflinks have the same gemstones on both sides as standard, so it seemed Ashites’ would have to be ordered separately, and for Penchev’s, it was difficult to find good quality gray gemstones.

With no other choice, she tilted her head, resting her chin on her hand, wondering if she’d have to place orders for both of them.

And there was a man staring at her troubled face so intensely it was worrying if his eyes might bore holes.

Unlike before, she had become a woman who was not timid, who asserted her own will and made her voice heard. Anyone would say that ten out of ten, she looked better now.

Her face seemed much more at ease than when she had been in an unrequited love with him.

…But Dietrich found that he didn’t like it much. Despite her looking comfortable. Because now, when she looked at him, those blue eyes that used to be affectionate and those pretty eye corners instantly took on a cold light.

Why did that gaze make his mood sink?

Until not too long ago, that dreamlike gaze and expression he had received had found a new owner. He still sometimes thinks of that day. Even the sound he only heard when he touched the terrace door handle.

After investigating later, he could understand. It seemed like that man wanted to vent his irritation on Dietrich. It was a high-level magic among sound-blocking spells, with only a few casters capable of using it. To go to such lengths to…

…What kind of feeling did he want to give him?

Dietrich lightly furrowed his brow. He couldn’t clearly define any of the emotions related to her. He wondered if it was a sense of loss, but he had no reason to feel loss towards her, and if it was a sense of defeat, he had no reason to feel defeated by the Tower Master in that situation.

Just as he was about to continue his train of thought, the woman’s thin voice pierced his ear.

“Hmm, it doesn’t seem like there are any with two different colored gems. So for that, I’ll have to order…”

“I understand. By the way, I heard from the Madame that you’re good at embroidery.”

“It’s a bit awkward to say it myself, but I suppose I am.”

“If you don’t mind, how about a handkerchief you could embroider…”

Embroidery. Handkerchief. Those two words particularly stuck in his ear.

Certainly, when they were married, she had given him a gift, saying she had embroidered it herself.

Recalling the events from a few months ago and slightly furrowing his brow, Dietrich snapped back to attention at the sound of Lysith’s voice again.

“Well, alright then. I haven’t had much occasion to embroider lately, so I’m not sure how my skills are…”