After that night with the full moon, Vivianne regained her strength.

She spent several nights in Kian’s bed without being intimate with him. Each time she closed and opened her eyes, the moon had waned. And each time, Kian was awake.

She worried that he might not be sleeping because of her, but still. She wanted to be a little spoiled under the excuse of being sick.

“Vivianne, you don’t have any other symptoms now, right?”

Despite the doctor’s daily visits, Matilda kept asking about her condition, unable to feel at ease.

“Of course not.”

Since she truly felt better, Vivianne nodded willingly.

“That’s a relief. Then we can go out together today, right?”

“Go out?”

“Yes. You’ve been confined to the bedroom for days, so I thought you might feel cooped up.”

Matilda’s gaze was filled with concern.

Right. She had used feeling cooped up as an excuse for going into the sea that night.

Having been sick for days, she must have worried Matilda. She seemed to be trying to prevent another incident.

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going to a dressmaker’s shop.”

“A dressmaker’s shop?”

“Yes. The master instructed me to buy you some clothes.”

“But I… I already have plenty of clothes.”

“The clothes we got in a hurry are limited in variety, and you end up wearing similar outfits. That must have bothered him.”

She had enough clothes hanging in her wardrobe to choose from. Since mermaids didn’t particularly need to wear clothes, she thought having options was sufficient.

But perhaps Kian thought differently?

“He wants to gift you prettier clothes. You don’t need to feel sorry about it. Just accept it gratefully.”

“…Yes.”

Vivianne answered, feeling somewhat dazed.

Was it because she had already received so many gifts? Strangely, she didn’t feel as happy as before.

“How do we get to the dressmaker’s shop?”

“It’s quite a distance from here, so we’ll take a carriage.”

“A carriage? The one Kian uses?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Is Kian coming too? It’s his carriage!”

She only remembered watching the driveway from the window, waiting for Kian.

And now she would ride in it herself.

Unlike her lack of excitement earlier, her heart started racing.

“No, the master has a prior engagement.”

“…I see.”

Seeing her immediately become dejected, a gentle smile spread across Matilda’s face.

“Still, he’s commissioned a famous dressmaker, so let’s buy many pretty clothes. When you wear beautiful clothes and show him, the master will be delighted.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Of course.”

Matilda nodded, seemingly surprised that she would even ask such an obvious question.

* * *

Vivianne hung by the glass window, watching the passing scenery.

The carriage she had only viewed with longing before now offered her a whole new world.

“Are you enjoying it, Vivianne?”

“Yes!”

With the carriage moving, it looked like the trees were walking backward. The people they passed quickly shrank to dots, and she couldn’t take her eyes off them.

There were many fascinating things, but she worried that talking too much about them might reveal she wasn’t from this place. So she deliberately bit her lower lip. She forcibly calmed her excited heart and tore her gaze from the window.

“Thanks to you, I’m enjoying the fresh air after a long time. It would be nice to go out together like this more often.”

“Yes, I’d love that!”

She smiled and agreed enthusiastically, but Theodore sitting across from her had no expression.

Could something be bothering him?

Vivianne closed her mouth and observed Theodore cautiously.

Suddenly, she remembered how Kian had threatened to punish Matilda and Theodore if anything happened to her. Feeling she might have been insensitively excited, she became more subdued.

“…Um, I’m sorry. I caused trouble by going out on my own that night.”

“That’s right. You were quite reckless, Vivianne. We were so shocked and worried.”

Even though Matilda, who was sitting beside her teased with a smile, Theodore remained silent.

“Theo.”

“……”

He stared blankly, not responding.

“Hey, Theo. Vivianne is calling you.”

“Ah…, yes?”

“This boy. What are you thinking about so intently?”

He seemed flustered and hastily blurted out an apology, sounding somewhat distracted.

“Ah, I was lost in thought. I’m sorry.”

As the carriage reached the building, Matilda got out first, saying she would check the reservation, and entered the dressmaker’s shop. Soon, only Theodore and Vivianne remained in the carriage.

An awkward atmosphere settled between them.

“Theo. I’m sorry. Because of me… did Kian give you a hard time?”

“If you want to go swimming in the future…”

He paused briefly while speaking and stared into Vivianne’s eyes.

“It’s dangerous alone, so tell me in advance. I am your guard, after all.”

* * *

The dressmaker’s shop was a different world. There were so many types of dresses. Vivianne, who tried on everything recommended to her, felt dizzy.

Each time she came out wearing a new dress, Matilda clapped her hands, saying how beautiful she looked. Meanwhile, Theodore remained silent. His habit of glancing at her and then avoiding her eyes kept bothering her.

She understood. The person who must have had the most trouble due to her late-night excursion was undoubtedly her guard.

Should she be honest next time something like this happens?

But she couldn’t tell him everything, especially about being a mermaid.

Her thoughts became complicated.

“I’ll prepare the next dress. Would you mind waiting a moment?”

The designer spoke politely to Vivianne, who sat exhausted in the changing room chair.

As she sat vacantly in front of the mirror, looking at her reflection, an unexpected figure appeared behind her.

“It’s been a while. Have you been well?”

Standing before her was Kian’s fiancée, Penelope Steward, whom she had met in the rose greenhouse. Of all places to meet, she never imagined it would be here.

The color drained from Vivianne’s face.

“Ah, hello.”

“Did I startle you by barging in suddenly? I apologize for my rudeness.”

She apologized casually and sat in the chair beside her. Vivianne’s shoulders stiffened from the sudden intrusion.

“I dropped by to get a dress made on a whim, and heard a familiar person was here. I wanted to say hello. Vivianne, was it?”

“…Yes.”

Though Kian said his goal was to break off the engagement, Vivianne still felt indebted to his fiancée.

Facing someone she had tried hard to ignore, she couldn’t look her straight in the eye, feeling guilty.

“Why can’t you look me in the eye? Afraid of being caught?”

“……”

“There’s no need to hide it innocently. I already know everything.”

For a moment, Vivianne’s eyes widened. After confirming the bewilderment on her face, Penelope smirked and added:

“Actually, I knew from the first day we met. That you would become Kian’s woman.”

“What… do you mean?”

“I could tell at a glance. You might not know, but nobles aren’t the type to speak their minds so directly.”

“……”

Since what she was doing wasn’t honorable, she couldn’t hold her head high.

“You were wearing shoes that were excessively luxurious compared to your clothes. You were clumsy at serving tea. Why would he present you before me? When I thought about it, there was only one answer.”

So she had seen through everything from that day. Had she been too naive? That was the day she had agonized over whether to return the shoes after learning about the fiancée.

“Do you know how Kian looked to me that day? Just like a child showing off a new toy.”

Penelope casually lifted Vivianne’s chin. When their eyes met directly—her clear green eyes—Vivianne’s lips froze even more.

“It was like he was announcing, ‘I’m going to play with this now.'”

Unlike Vivianne, who kept lowering her gaze, Penelope didn’t blink once.

She said exactly what the cleaning maids had been snickering about while Vivianne was sleeping in Kian’s bed.

“I think I know what Kian told you. He said he would break off the engagement, right?”

That wasn’t wrong. It was true that because Kian had mentioned breaking the engagement, she had been able to ignore the conscience she had kept in a corner of her heart.

It was cowardly, but that statement had given her the courage to allow herself to be cowardly.

“And unlike his fiancée, he told you he was physically attracted to you.”

This was also correct. How could she say such self-deprecating things so casually? She thought the situation wasn’t normal.

Above all, she wondered what the purpose of saying these things was.

Feeling it would be rude to ask, she bit her lip and remained silent. Penelope let out a hollow laugh.

“You’re wondering why I’m saying these things? It’s because a woman like you could never threaten my position.”

A woman like you.

Her heart grew heavy at those words, which were emphasized with particular force.