Hello, Readers! I am celebrating my birthday with extra chapter updates, so please enjoy this special chapter release of 4 bonus chapters! 🥳

(Lurelia’s Birthday Bonus – Update 1/4 🎉)

♡ To all readers who purchased these chapters before my Birthday: I can’t express this enough – Thank you for your support. (*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

Soon, conscious of her wavering gaze, she gave up. Instead, she tried to maintain a serious atmosphere.

“Stop joking. I’m not in a good mood right now.”

“I’m not joking.”

“……”

Even when she asked seriously, Ariel answered confidently as if stating a fact.

That’s a lie. She was wearing a dress and high heels.

‘And her voice… well, the voice was somewhat androgynous. She couldn’t see her face clearly, but still, she was a woman… right?’

She had naturally thought the instructor is a very attractive woman. So maybe Ariel was just teasing her again.

But who was Ariel’s brother? None other than the famous Tower Master.

Strange things often happened around Ariel. Now that she thought about it, she had many times felt something odd about the dance instructor.

‘Come to think of it, Ariel was rather wary of the dance instructor. It didn’t feel like he saw her as a woman.’

He even specifically called her ‘that dance instructor fellow.’

All the strange things she had noticed were starting to make sense.

Merrien felt a slight thrill, similar to when she had discovered that Ariel’s brother was the Tower Master.

‘But then wouldn’t it be better if Ariel taught dance himself?’

Just as she was feeling proud of her deduction and wondering why they needed a dance instructor at all…

“…It’s hard.”

“Huh?”

Suddenly, Ariel slumped down on the edge of the bed.

Perhaps the brief dancing had been too much for his body, as he was breathing heavily with labored breaths.

“Do that thing.”

“What?”

“That.”

Despite his face turning pale from pain, Ariel boldly pointed to his heart.

Forget teaching dance himself. Healing was the urgent priority.

‘How do you expect to dance at the banquet in this condition!’

Swallowing her lecture, she started healing without a word. By now, she could ignore the strange sounds Ariel made.

“It’s still not easy.”

“I knew from the moment you started using magic and making a fuss about dancing.”

The sound from the magical audio device must have been from him secretly using magic too.

“I wasn’t making that much of a fuss.”

“Sigh.”

Seeing him act like a thoughtless child, Merrien almost smacked his back.

She almost impulsively told him not to go to the banquet but stopped herself. They had already decided to go, and Ariel was the type to follow through once he decided something.

She had to go for her own purposes too. All she could do was heal him to ensure his condition would be okay.

“Ah, the banquet dress and accessories will arrive soon.”

Seeing her stern face, he must have thought she was going to lecture him. Ariel quickly found something to say.

Merrien, having already sorted out her thoughts, decided to look forward to the banquet dress.

And the next day, she was shocked by the dress and accessories that arrived.

***

“The clothes have arrived from Elpine Salon. I will prepare the accessories you ordered as well.”

When the butler’s announcement was followed by servants flooding in with formal wear and accessories, Merrien was left speechless.

No wonder everything had been going so smoothly.

Only after seeing not just the banquet dress but dozens of other outfits that had been ordered together did she finally manage to speak.

“…So this is what you meant when you said you’d already ordered your clothes?”

“Yes.”

Asking was just a waste of breath. The answer was already predetermined anyway.

Though she narrowed her brows in disbelief, Ariel was confident.

He smiled with satisfaction as he alternately looked at the neatly arranged formal suit and dress.

“Hah.”

Unlike him, who was already fiddling with the clothes, Merrien remained motionless on the sofa, holding her forehead.

She should have been suspicious when Ariel visited the salon but didn’t get his clothes fitted. And when he recommended the sky-blue dress to her without any hesitation!

“……”

Following his satisfied gaze, Merrien turned her head again.

The sky-blue banquet dress was completed even more beautifully than what she had seen in the pamphlet.

While emphasizing the waistline, it had frills at the hem that perfectly matched Merrien’s cute impression.

The problem was Ariel’s formal attire.

Not only had he matched his outfit to the exact same color as Merrien’s dress, but he had even chosen accessories with identical designs.

It was such an obvious statement that anyone would think they were engaged to be married.

As Merrien’s expression progressively hardened, the perceptive butler signaled the servants with his eyes to leave.

“Please look everything over and let us know if there are any issues. We’ll request changes if needed. We’ll take our leave now.”

Then he bowed politely and closed the door behind them.

In fact, the butler had anticipated this situation since their visit to the salon.

Finally, in the room filled with piles of clothes and accessories, only Merrien and Ariel remained, and a chilly atmosphere instantly settled in.

Despite dozens of outfits being laid out, Merrien’s eyes could only see the sky-blue banquet dress and formal attire.

In the already quiet room, only Merrien’s sighs could be heard.

Ariel carefully approached her.

Even his voice trembled like someone who couldn’t stay still.

“Merri, what’s wrong? You said it was pretty before. Don’t you like it?”

“No, it’s too pretty. Much more than when I saw it in the pamphlet.”

“Then why that expression?”

…Are you really asking because you don’t know? Yeah, you must really not know.

Merrien turned her head in disbelief, then lost even the will to glare at him.

Ariel’s eyes drooped at the corners as he made his characteristic gloomy expression.

This wasn’t something that could be glossed over today. Merrien struck her chest in frustration.

“It’s not that I don’t like it, but are you planning to spread rumors all over town that we’re dating?”

“Yeah. Aren’t we dating?”

“…?”

What was he saying now?

It was enough to drive her crazy.

What kind of joke was he trying to play by casually throwing out such comments?

His answer came without a moment’s hesitation, making Merrien freeze and blink slowly.

Then Ariel lowered his eyes with a melancholic air. For a moment, he became the most wistful person in the world.

As the thoroughly confused Merrien rolled her eyes around trying to avoid his gaze, he suddenly grabbed her hand.

“!!!”

“Before, in front of His Highness the Second Prince, you held my hand tightly saying we were in love.”

“Hey, that was…”

That was to deceive Forcite.

She moved her lips to answer immediately, but somehow those words wouldn’t come out.

While she was foolishly opening and closing her mouth, Ariel cut in.

“At the banquet, there will be unfavorable gazes. More than you think.”

His voice, when he spoke again, held no trace of playfulness.

“Huh?”

“I mean the rumors about us are extremely unfavorable.”

Merrien became cautious in response to his suddenly serious demeanor.

‘What kind of rumors could there be?’

The sickly Duke who never went out, shrouded in mystery. And she, who until recently was the Empire’s only Saint.

She had expected some strange rumors since they were staying together at the Hartez mansion, but how bad could they be for him to speak so seriously?

“If you want to become friends with other noble ladies, I’m sorry, but it’s best to close your ears when you go.”

“…No, I had no such intentions. Though I would like to talk with the new Saint.”

“……”

As soon as she mentioned the ‘new Saint,’ Ariel’s eyes became strangely sharp. By now, it wasn’t just her imagination that he became sensitive whenever others were mentioned.

Soon erasing the fierce emotion, Ariel pointed to something.

“Anyway. It would be better to act like we’re truly in love, not just under contract. Like we’re about to be engaged or married.”

What his finger pointed to was the sky-blue formal wear that Merrien had been frowning at.

After thinking for a moment, Merrien finally understood Ariel’s intention and asked for confirmation.

“So… you ordered the clothes deliberately?”

“That’s right.”

Ariel applauded, pleased that she had grasped his meaning perfectly.

The matching colored outfits were for pretending they were dating, which meant his earlier question about whether they were dating was just a joke.

Of course, she had been fooled again.