Chapter 14

“I’ll give you a living allowance. Tomorrow, I’ll buy you a dress and a set of jewelry.”

As Lexion fixed his gaze on Adelina’s face reflected in the window, their eyes met in the carriage window.  

“Make the jewelry a diamond set. Bracelet, necklace, ring, earrings, anklet.”

Adelina spoke shyly, still looking out the carriage window.  

‘What a materialistic daughter!’  

Stephan laughed heartily.

“As expected. My daughter has big demands. But what’s an anklet?”

“A necklace for the foot. Make sure it’s long enough to wrap around.”  

Adelina was about to say an anklet is a bracelet for the foot, but she quickly changed it to a necklace.  

‘Yes. Necklaces are longer than bracelets. More jewels can be embedded.’  

In her previous life, she was clumsy and got hit by every ball in dodgeball games. She discovered today that she was quick-witted.  

‘I’ll tell God and take all the jewels and dresses into the mirror!’  

Though she would live inside the mirror, sometimes living as a person wasn’t bad, so she decided to take as much as she could when offered.  

“My wife is materialistic.”  

“I’m not your wife yet, Your Grace.”

“We’ll have the wedding as soon as the coming-of-age ceremony is over.”  

“Sure.”  

Adelina answered primly, still looking out the window.  

Lexion kept gazing at her face reflected in the window throughout the carriage ride.  

+++

Adelina and her party entered the most expensive restaurant on Emerald Street and took a seat by the window on the second floor.  

People in the restaurant approached Lexion and Stephan to greet them and also greeted Adelina before returning to their tables.  

This restaurant was very exclusive, allowing only high-ranking nobles of Earl status or above to use the second floor. However, this exclusivity made it one of the few places where Lexion and Stephan could eat freely.  

Ironically, another such safe place was the imperial palace. Emperor Grain couldn’t kill Lexion and Stephan in the palace, making it a safe haven.

“Adelina. Can you eat all that?”  

Lexion watched in fascination as Adelina’s small lips kept consuming food, sipping his wine.  

“The food here is delicious. Please bring me often.”  

When bite-sized strawberry choux and macarons were served as dessert, Adelina’s eyes filled with happiness.  

The white cream and red strawberries, like someone’s lips, were neatly placed on a flower-shaped plate, inviting her to eat.  

‘These pretty things! In my previous life, I couldn’t eat them because I had no money!’

It wasn’t just these. Every food she tasted after coming out of the mirror, suspicious if they were poisoned, was new to her.  

‘I almost cried when I had to share that tender steak.’  

Adelina decided to eat as much of these delicious foods as she could before going back into the mirror.  

“Of course. The chef here is from the Imperial Palace, so he’s skilled.”  

“Imperial Palace…”  

The mint chocolate macaron heading for Adelina’s mouth paused momentarily at Lexion’s words.  

“Don’t worry and eat. I’m still alive, aren’t I?”  

When Lexion playfully tapped her lips with his finger, she narrowed her eyes and took a bite of the macaron.  

‘Ah! I guess I don’t like mint chocolate…’  

Adelina, after taking a bite, put the remaining macaron into Stephan’s mouth beside her.  

“Father, have some.”

“So this is what having a daughter is like…”  

Hearing Stephan’s emotional words, Adelina smiled bashfully and cut the strawberry choux in half with a fork. Feeling sorry for feeding him leftovers, she decided to give Stephan half of the strawberry choux.  

When Adelina perfectly halved the strawberry choux, Lexion slowly stood up and approached her.  

“This seems like a good time.”  

Watching Lexion’s sudden action, Adelina popped the half strawberry choux into her mouth.  

“For what?”  

“To gift an anklet.”  

Lexion knelt on one knee as if proposing and placed Adelina’s left foot on his knee.  

At Lexion’s action, people in the restaurant stopped eating and stared with wide eyes. The sound of murmuring and even a fork dropping in surprise could be heard.  

“D-Duke…”  

As people’s attention focused on them, Adelina pressed her foot on Lexion’s leg to signal him to stop.  

‘Hey! Stop! Don’t do it! Everyone is watching!’  

She wore 7 cm heels. She pressed the sharp part firmly.  

Lexion chuckled at her futile resistance and took out a small black box from his pocket.  

It contained the anklet from the diamond set he purchased at the jeweler before coming to the restaurant.  

-“Indeed, large and numerous stones are beautiful.”-  

Remembering Adelina pointing at the large diamonds at the jeweler, Lexion’s lips curled up more.  

“I’ll put the anklet on you, Adelina.”  

“Duke…”  

Adelina felt a chill from behind her ears, and goosebumps rose all over her body.  

‘Please! Don’t do it! Everyone is watching!’  

She hated events that drew people’s attention like this!  

Adelina pressed her high heel harder on Lexion’s knee.  

Seeing Adelina’s face turn red like a strawberry, Lexion took out the anklet adorned with small diamonds and gave it a little shake.  

‘Like a squirrel.’  

After seeing Adelina puff her cheeks and glare, he began to wrap the anklet around her ankle.  

Lexion’s right hand, which touched Adelina’s ankle, slid up her calf under the dress.

‘You crazy fool! What kind of indecent act is this here? What if people see!’  

As Lexion’s hand brushed the inside of Adelina’s thigh, she was so startled that she grasped his shoulders.  

Lexion fumbled along the inside of Adelina’s thigh to remove the telescope attached there and transferred it into his sleeve.  

Adelina’s grip on Lexion’s shoulders tightened.  

Adelina’s face, red as if it would explode, and Lexion’s face were so close that they could feel each other’s breath.  

Lexion slowly lowered his hand to touch her ankle again.  

“It suits you well.”  

Lexion touched the anklet again with his fingertips, gently placed Adelina’s foot back on the floor, and stood up.  

“Thank you, Duke…”  

Adelina gathered her scattered thoughts to respond.  

Her flushed face seemed to expand and contract at its own will. Every part of her where Lexion’s fingertips had touched felt so itchy that she wanted to scratch it hard.  

Lexion, with a full smile, extended his hand to Adelina.  

‘Yes. That’s how it should be. Only then will people believe you love me.’  

The more Adelina’s face reddened, the deeper his smile grew.  

“Let’s get up now.”  

“Yes.”  

Adelina fanned herself lightly with one hand while taking Lexion’s hand with the other.  

‘Is that… really my face?’  

Her face, still unfamiliar, was reflected in the restaurant window. Her ears were flushed red, and it didn’t seem like her own appearance.  

She couldn’t even remember how she descended the restaurant stairs.  

In the cool air outside, her flushed face returned to its usual pale color.  

While walking with Lexion, Adelina found herself in front of the Marquis’s carriage.  

“Duke, I might choke while eating. Give me a heads-up next time.”  

As Lexion opened the carriage door, Adelina glared at him and snapped.  

“That’s why I did it after you finished eating.”  

Huh! Is that even an excuse!  

“Th.ank. you. ve.ry. much.”  

As soon as Adelina got into the carriage, she slammed the door shut. Her heart was still pounding, and she felt like she might have a heart attack.  

“Puhahahaha.”  

It was Stephan. Whatever was so amusing, he laughed loudly again. He must be someone who laughs easily.  

‘Ah! I left half of the strawberry choux!’  

Only after the carriage started did she remember the half-cut strawberry choux waiting for her on the plate.  

“Young Miss, I’ll help you change clothes.”  

As soon as they arrived at the Marquis’s residence, the head maid and maids rushed to help her change clothes, thoroughly examining her body.  

‘You fools. Lexion is above you. He already took it.’  

Recalling the sensation of Lexion’s touch on her thigh, Adelina’s face turned strawberry-colored again.  

+++

The next afternoon, in front of the most famous atelier on Emerald Street, the carriages of the Duke of Ernst and the Marquis of Florin were parked.  

“I won’t wear a corset. Offer me another alternative.”  

Adelina repeated the same words while sitting in the VVIP room of the atelier, sipping on a cool lemonade with ice.  

Stephan, looking like someone who had fought a war all day, sat on the sofa with dark circles reaching his cheekbones.  

‘She did it.’  

Sitting across from them, Lexion flipped a page of the newspaper when he saw the anklet wrapped around Adelina’s slender ankle.  

Before coming here, they had already visited two ateliers.  

However, Adelina hadn’t purchased a dress for the next day. Not finding anything that perfectly suited her, she had only bought two everyday dresses.  

Even in her past life, Adelina didn’t particularly enjoy shopping, and she was starting to feel fatigued.  

Just like how one who eats meat knows how to eat it well, shopping was another form of labor for Adelina, who had never bought clothes in her past life.  

Even though Lexion told her not to worry about the cost and to buy freely, Adelina, still hesitant, couldn’t bring herself to splurge.  

“Can’t I just wear something simple?”  

“No.”  

“Alright.”  

To Adelina’s question, her father Stephan replied with a firm no. He didn’t want to see Adelina looking out of place at the banquet.  

On the other hand, Lexion seemed indifferent to what Adelina wore, focusing only on his newspaper.  

“Young Miss, here are some ready-to-wear dresses. Even if you don’t wear a corset, you must wear a petticoat.”  

The atelier owner finally decided to give up on the corset.  

“I don’t like petticoats either…”  

“You must wear it for the dress to look good. Without it, the dress will sag. Come and see. Duke and Marquis, please relax. I will find something suitable for the Young Miss.”  

The atelier owner let the two patrons relax on the sofa while gently coaxing Adelina into the room where ready-made dresses were displayed.  

The current trend in the Petrus Empire was bell-line dresses with very full skirts. Therefore, a wooden petticoat had to be worn underneath the dress. In short, wearing the dress made sitting difficult.  

“Hmm… these dresses are quite pretty.”  

Being a high-end atelier, even the ready-to-wear dresses were quite beautiful. Adelina’s expression brightened as she looked over the dresses.  

“These are made for young ladies like you who urgently need dresses.”  

“I see.”  

Perhaps because of that, the dress designs were quite modest. Unlike the ornate frills and jewel-encrusted dresses shown before, these appealed more to Adelina’s taste.  

“This one is…”