Chapter 24

True to a young businessman, Ashton’s reception room was even larger and more beautiful than the one at the D’Vialis estate. It looked more like an exhibition hall than a sitting room. Marble floors, reliefs on white-painted walls, works of art standing here and there. Soft sunlight poured sweetly through large windows. Where the light slanted in, there was a small fountain, and within it swam several goldfish of various colors.

It was a place with a comfortable atmosphere that disarmed anyone who entered.

But even in such a place, Sabina wore a dissatisfied expression today. It hadn’t been long since he’d last seen her, yet Ashton noticed the change in her face and asked,

“Hmm. It doesn’t look like you came because of something pleasant?”

“No.”

Sabina sighed.

She didn’t beat around the bush. With matters like this, saying it quickly eased the worry.

“I need one more invitation. Helio wants to go to your party.”

“Helio?”

“The child you bought at the carnival and handed over to me.”

“No, I know which child you mean, but an invitation?”

Ashton looked puzzled.

“You could just bring him along, couldn’t you? As an attendant.”

“I don’t want to bring him as an attendant.”

Ashton glanced at her, gauging her mood. At his signal, a maid perceptively brought over a glass of water. He placed it in Sabina’s hand and probed lightly.

“He wants to come as an invited guest? That—Helio?”

“It’s not that. But, just…. I want to make it clear that he’s under the protection of the party’s host. There will be guests from Carnival there.”

The man crossed his arms, tilted his head, and closed his eyes. A shadow fell across his nicely tanned skin thanks to the straight bridge of his nose. With his eyes still closed, he asked,

“Well. Lady D’Vialis, you do realize you’re making a rather unreasonable request right now, don’t you?”

Inviting a slave boy as a formal guest to a party centered on nobles was strange. It was plainly an excessive request. Sabina was aware of that herself and could only sigh.

She fell silent for a long moment across from him. When Ashton cracked his eyes open slightly, she was staring at her fingernails, at a loss. Realizing that Ashton was looking at her, Sabina very carefully raised her gaze. Rarely, her brows drooped just a little.

“I’m sorry. But couldn’t we make it work somehow…?”

Her silvery eyes sparkled in the sunlight. They even looked as though they were brimming with moisture. At a loss, Ashton stared hard at Sabina’s face.

A moment later, Ashton was writing Helio’s name on a blank invitation.

***

“Um….”

Helio’s already small voice shrank further, crawling along like an ant. As his chin threatened to bury itself between his collar, Vicky barked at him.

“Chin up!”

Crushed by her force, Helio straightened his neck at once.

A very soft brush swept over the boy’s cheeks two or three times. Helio squeezed his eyes shut. A powdery scent—pleasant and yet slightly dull—brushed his nose.

“My goodness, no matter how much we feed you, how do your cheeks not plump up? This is the very last age when your cheeks can be round and rosy!”

Lamenting, Vicky shoved the brush back into her apron.

“Eat more, all right? Since you’re going to a party, make sure you grab lots of the delicious food there too. Oh, and you mustn’t drink alcohol. No matter how curious you are.”

“Hehe, Vicky. Even without all the warnings, Helio will do fine. He’s such a gentle, clever child.”

“So what, Julia? This child is stubborn as iron sinew.”

At the maids’ trivial bickering unfolding right before him, a shy flush spread beneath Helio’s softly pinkened cheeks. The fact that he was wearing makeup at all made him feel oddly embarrassed. A stranger wouldn’t even realize he had makeup on, but seeing his own cheeks in the mirror felt strangely unfamiliar.

“Helio’s just going to grow taller instead of gaining weight. My, he seems to be growing faster than even our Hazel.”

“He’s only just come here—how could he have grown so noticeably already? You’re imagining things, Julia.”

Vicky snapped back at Julia’s gentle fussing. Caught between the two women, Helio only darted his eyes around awkwardly.

“Anyway, I’m jealous you’re going to a party. And as a formally invited guest, no less. You know that’s an incredibly rare and special thing, right?”

“Be careful not to bring disgrace upon Lady Sabina’s honor!”

“If you just behave quietly as you always do, there shouldn’t be any problems. Lady Sabina will be right beside you.”

“That’s right. The Magic Research Results Briefing is in August, and it’s really just around the corner now, so there won’t be anyone who wants to get on Lady Sabina’s bad side.”

Helio, who didn’t know Sabina very well, couldn’t understand what connection there was between the Magic Research Results Briefing drawing near and people being wary of Sabina, but he nodded to show that he was listening carefully to what the two maids were telling him.

“Vicky’s right. And today, Lady Sabina is Mr. Bryant’s partner, you know. No one would dare treat badly a child brought by the host’s partner, right in front of the host.”

At the mention of Ashton’s name, Helio’s expression darkened slightly. Vicky and Julia dismissed that look as nothing more than the nerves of a pubescent boy attending a party for the first time, and pushed him out of the room.

Helio had asked to go to the party because there was something he wanted to ask Ashton directly. He could have told Sabina and arranged a separate meeting instead of attending the party, but then he wouldn’t be able to speak with Ashton alone. If Sabina were present for a three-way meeting, Ashton would surely play dumb.

And Helio himself would be painted as the only one being overly sensitive or strange.

But today, with so many people gathered, there might be a chance to speak with Ashton while Sabina’s attention was briefly elsewhere.

‘I don’t… like it.’

That aside, the fact that Sabina had become Ashton’s partner was displeasing in itself.

As he walked down the corridor, Sabina’s room stood open. Helio couldn’t bring himself to commit such an improper act as peeking into a lady’s room and stepped back, but Vicky and Julia, who normally attended to Sabina, were different. They entered the room without hesitation.

“Oh my goodness, Lady Sabina!”

The two exclaimed in unison, and Helio’s ears perked up.

From the unseen room came the sound of Sabina sighing.

“It’s too blue and too sparkly. Don’t you think it lacks dignity?”

“Not at all! If anything, Lady Sabina needs this kind of boldness. Everyone your age dresses like this these days. Trust me.”

“It doesn’t look too frivolous either.”

“Is that so. It feels a bit overwhelming….”

Sabina’s voice sounded vaguely unsettled. Unable to stand it, Vicky raised her voice.

“Helio! Come in and take a look. Let’s see what the most conservative one among us has to say.”

At Vicky’s call, Helio faltered and ended up pacing in place several times. No matter how much Vicky told him to come in, he couldn’t enter without permission from Sabina—or at the very least, from Mitchel, who ranked higher than Vicky.

“See? Such proper manners.”

Behind Vicky’s teasing laugh came Sabina’s dry, composed voice.

“Come in, Helio.”

Only then did Helio step forward.

The first thing he saw upon entering the room was Sabina’s back. Her hair, oiled and glossy, was twisted up and lavishly adorned with jewel-studded combs and hairpins. The dress—which, in Sabina’s own words, was ‘too blue and too sparkly’—flowed down, perfectly enveloping her small frame.

Sabina turned around to look at Helio. A single lock of hair, drawn out and lightly heat-curled, hung down over her chest.

Even to Helio’s eyes, the outfit was flashy. But the moment he met the gaze of his master—calm as ever—that impression vanished entirely.

“Pretty, isn’t it?”

Vicky asked insistently. Helio’s ears burned red as he only nodded.

“See? I told you it’s pretty.”

Sabina ignored the now-smug Vicky.

Just then, the sound of a carriage rolling in came from outside the window. Julia drew back the curtain and looked out, then nodded. When they went down to the entrance hall, Ashton was waiting.

Sabina walked toward Ashton, then came to an abrupt stop.

“…….”

“Good evening.”

Tonight, instead of a Gracie Rose, the man was holding a bouquet of lilies and smiling brightly.

When Helio saw Ashton over Sabina’s shoulder, he couldn’t hide his sigh and turned his head away.

Everything above the man’s neck was flawless. His hair, swept back to highlight his attractive eyes, was somehow shinier than usual. And, as always, his face was sleek and handsome. Helio thought, almost unconsciously, that if this man weren’t Ashton Bryant, he might even admire his looks.

But everything below the man’s neck was a disaster by Sabina and Helio’s standards. He was wearing a suit jacket made of black fabric, embroidered with enormous red roses here and there. The roses were so big that the background cloth was hardly visible. Of course, since the wearer had such perfect proportions and style, even the excessive flamboyance seemed intentional…

“I’m embarrassed. It’s shameful for others to see.”

Sabina spoke in her usual calm and composed tone, but was clearly shocked.

Ashton didn’t seem to care.

“It’s the fabric you picked out, you know? I wore it to look good for you—don’t you like it?”

“You’re impossible to talk to.”

Sabina gave up on the conversation early and walked out, gesturing to Helio. Helio followed, looking only at Sabina’s back.

Even after getting into the four-seater carriage, the topic of clothing continued.

“I assure you, we’re on the modest side.”

“That’s hard to believe.”

“You’ll have to see it to believe it.”

Helio just listened quietly as the two continued talking. It was nothing special, but Ashton kept teasing Sabina. What surprised the boy was that Sabina didn’t cut off the conversation, but kept responding to Ashton.

He didn’t know what he regretted, but he regretted something, just a little.