“That’s being a playboy…”

“No, I’m–”

“…Pfft.”

Finally, Saena burst out laughing. Quite loudly at that.

“Ha, you were teasing me.”

Her clear laughter echoed through Rohaton Street, drawing attention.

“I didn’t expect you to do that, Miss. You got me.”

“Heh. About that issue… I’ll let you know after discussing it. But are you sure you want to follow me? It’s far.”

“Yes. I’m just doing my job. Distance isn’t an issue.”

“Thank you. For that sentiment.”

“It’s my job, I tell you.”

I mean that I feel your consideration for me beyond just duty.

She wondered why she had only seen guard knights as surveillants in her past life.

“When Smila comes back, please explain to her. She must be worried looking for a handkerchief that doesn’t exist.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go in.”

Saena moved forward.

“Lady Debov.”

An employee at the entrance recognized and greeted her.

“Oh my, oh my. Who do we have here~ Welcome~ Lady Debov!”

Following the employee’s guidance inside, Madame Charlize came out with an affected voice to greet her before they even reached the reception room.

“Have you been well?”

“Yes.”

“I’m so happy you’ve entrusted your wedding dress to our boutique. We won’t disappoint you.”

“I came because I trust the Madame’s skills.”

Though the Madame’s vastly different attitude from last time was somewhat amusing, it was also completely natural in a way, so Saena responded simply.

“What are you doing, hurry and bring tea! The finest! I’ll escort Lady this way.”

Madame even personally guided Saena. And not to the regular reception room from last time, but to the VIP reception room inside.

‘…The Kramer name is quite something indeed.’

The VIP reception room was definitely different. It was twice as large as the previous room and filled with obviously expensive furniture and accessories.

And it was empty. Since she had left early to visit the bookstore first, her friends hadn’t arrived yet.

As soon as Saena sat down, an employee entered and set up tea.

“This is Rosedale highland tea. Though you must have tried it before, my lady, we only recently managed to acquire it with great difficulty. Hoho. Please try it.”

Wow. Even the tea served in the VIP reception room is different.

Rosedale highland tea was a variety that could only be grown in certain highland areas in the eastern part of Rosedale territory. Due to its limited quantity, it was quite expensive.

“Mm. It’s good.”

Though Kalua was delicious too, people who don’t like floral flavors would probably prefer this highland tea.

“Hoho. I’m glad it suits your taste.”

As Saena quietly set down her teacup, the Madame continued speaking.

“By the way… do you have any design in mind already?”

Wedding dress design? Hmm… not really…

‘Though I definitely know what designs I don’t want.’

Naturally, unpleasant memories from the past surfaced.

In her previous life, Elizabeth had helped her choose her wedding dress.

‘It’s the day when the bride should be most beautiful! Of course it needs to be this extravagant!’

That’s what Elizabeth had said when Saena expressed concern about too many jewels and excessive ornamentation.

Though she hadn’t liked it, she wasn’t getting married in a good mood anyway and lacked motivation, so she went along with whatever Elizabeth wanted. But on the wedding day, her overly ornate wedding dress clashed terribly with the groom’s simple attire.

It didn’t even suit Saena. Besides being too flashy, the design revealed too much skin, making her feel like she was attending a ball alone.

The dress’s extravagance overshadowed both bride and groom. Only the dress caught people’s attention.

Seeing this, George Hollander had thrown a fit, ranting about how her noble family wanted to flaunt their wealth over his family from the wedding day itself. Though after making such a fuss, he took the wedding dress away as soon as the ceremony ended.

He probably took it apart completely and sold every piece.

‘…Come to think of it, that’s strange.’

At the time, since George Hollander had such a strange personality of throwing fits over nothing, she only tried to quickly smooth over the situation and hadn’t thought about how odd the dress was.

Like before, Elizabeth had quite refined aesthetic sense and usually spent a lot of time researching and considering such matters.

‘But why that dress specifically?’

While the dress itself wasn’t bad, it terribly mismatched both Saena and the situation at the time. After returning, there were quite a few unsettling things about Elizabeth.

With this in mind, Saena asked.

“Lady Valdez visited, right? I received the bill.”

She wanted to know the atmosphere at the time, whether Elizabeth had tried to spite her or not. But as soon as Saena spoke, Madame Charlize sighed.

“Haah…. Since you brought it up, Duchess. Please consider my position too.”

Before she could correct the premature title of duchess, Madame rapidly launched into complaints.

“You know our boutique. We have many demanding clients and noble visitors, so we’re careful about everything… but last time Lady Valdez kept approaching other customers… This isn’t a social venue. Actually, besides being your acquaintance, that lady and our boutique…”

“……”

“You understand what I mean?”

What on earth is this about?

So Elizabeth came to get dresses fitted and tried to socialize with every customer who came in?

“…Are you very close friends?”

Seeing Saena’s silent response, perhaps thinking she had offended her, the Madame double-checked the extent of Saena and Elizabeth’s friendship.

“I didn’t even know Lady Valdez would get dresses here. And five dresses at that.”

I thought she’d just buy something slightly more expensive to replace her ruined dress. Who would have thought she’d get five dresses from Charlize’s Boutique?

“You might think it’s fine since House Debov is covering the payment and we earned money… but sometimes money isn’t everything. I have my reputation to consider…”

House Debov is covering the payment?

The previous dress was charged to my personal seal card, so there was no need to explain it at the family level — something seemed off.

“I didn’t stop her thinking it was just for the debutante, but if this continues… it’s actually very troublesome. Please consider my position too, Duchess.”

Seeing how she switched from perfect hospitality to pouring out complaints, this matter must be quite important to the Madame.

“…First of all, I’m not a duchess yet.”

“With only a month left, it’s practically the same!”

“Still, I’m not yet… so please refrain from using that title.”

“Alright, my lady.”

“I understand what you’re saying. But there’s no need to worry. I don’t plan to give her my seal card anymore.”

Though I’m not certain, Count Valdez would not allow Elizabeth to get dresses from Charlize’s Boutique.

So Elizabeth won’t have reason to come to this boutique anymore.

“I know that. The seal card isn’t the issue…”

Of course the personal seal card isn’t the issue since it’s one-time use and must be returned when sending the bill.

Yet the Madame kept asking strange questions.

“So does this mean House Debov won’t pay anymore?”

“…Pardon? Of course payment must be made for purchased dresses?”

Why wouldn’t we pay? What do you take our family for…

“So you’ll continue paying Lady Valdez’s share like before? That’s exactly the problem I’m…”

“What?”

Wait, what is this about?

Are you saying House Debov has been paying for Elizabeth’s dresses all this time?

‘But why?’

I couldn’t help but wonder why?

Knock knock.

The knock at the door stopped her half-opened mouth.

“Excuse me. Lady Debov’s friends have arrived. May I show them in?”

It seems her friends had arrived.

When Saena nodded, Madame Charlize also stopped her previous conversation and gave instructions.

“Bring them in quickly. And bring fresh tea.”

“Yes, Madame.”

I should ask Uz first. After finding out what this is about…

“Madame.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“I understand what you mean. This is all I can say. You don’t have to accept customers you don’t want.”

“…Is that really alright?”

Madame Charlize’s reputation rested not only on her excellent dress designs but also on exclusivity and prestige. And the foundation of that exclusivity and prestige was social status and wealth.

She could understand Madame’s request.

“Yes. It’s not my business to interfere with.”

Elizabeth isn’t my dearest friend that I’d die for, so it doesn’t matter to me.

“I’m so grateful for your understanding! Hoho.”

The Madame rose with a bright smile, looking relieved. She went to greet the new guests.

“Saya!”

“What on earth is going on!”

“Seriously! Getting married so suddenly!”

Kirsten, Evian, and Floria filed in while examining Saena. The Madame’s eyes widened seeing such distinguished ladies entering one after another, but quickly turned into a smile.

“Hoho. Welcome, ladies.”

“Welcome, everyone.”

Saena smiled, greeting her friends warmly.

“You must tell us what happened right now!”

“Really. Who would have thought Saya would be the first among us to get married. You never know what life brings.”

“Are you really going through with it?”

The impatient Kirsten hurried to sit next to Saena while pressing for answers. Evian and Floria sat across from them.

“Well… it just happened that way.”

“So exactly how did it ‘just happen’?”

“When did you receive the proposal?”

With questions firing from all directions, Saena couldn’t even suggest discussing it later.

“Well, on the last day of the Week of Protection…”

“Gasp! What happened while you were out treasure hunting!”

“…Did you find the treasure?”