“Why haven’t you sold it yet?”

“I hesitated at first. Should I… sell this to cure the illness? It was something you gave me.”

“But the reason I gave it to you was!”

“I know! It was for Mother’s illness. That’s why I was going to sell it. But because Father has fallen into gambling and drinking, it wasn’t easy to sell it secretly and get money. So I waited until Father went to the gambling house.”

Lena took a deep breath in frustration. The fact that Roberto came with a bruise on his face meant that ultimately…

“You lost it.”

“……”

“Haah, really.”

“I’m sorry, Sis.”

Roberto fidgeted with his small hands.

“How is Mother?”

“She got hit while trying to stop Father from hitting me. So her condition… has gotten worse.”

In that moment, Lena felt as if the ground beneath her feet was swaying.

“How bad is it?”

“She hasn’t been able to open her eyes for two days.”

The ground finally collapsed.

Fear swept over her that Mother might die.

Lena stared at Roberto for a moment, then got up. She went to the dressing table and took out the most modest necklace.

Though it looked plain, it was more expensive than the ring.

Lena placed the necklace in Roberto’s hand.

“B-but Sis……”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll take care of myself. So go straight to a doctor. Give this to them and say it’s an advance payment.”

“S-Sis……”

Roberto’s hand, tightly gripping the jeweled necklace, trembled slightly.

Lena pushed his back, saying it was fine and to go quickly.

Roberto stuffed the necklace into his pocket, jumped out of the third-floor window, and climbed down the frozen vines.

Just like before, he left without looking back, but Lena didn’t doubt him.

The hand holding the jeweled necklace was clearly trembling with joy.

‘Now Mother will be alright.’

However, Lena didn’t realize that it wasn’t joy at being able to save their mother, but joy at finally having the jewel in his hand.

The next day, Penna, who was helping Lena with her accessories, tilted her head slightly.

‘Where did that necklace go?’

Though Lena didn’t know, Penna actually had memorized all of Lena’s accessories. It was a natural duty as a maid.

Penna glanced at Lena, who was uncomfortable with the large sapphire necklace.

If Lena had given it to someone, that was her choice. After all, everything in this room belonged to her.

‘But Miss isn’t the type to do that without reason.’

Even when the maids had subtly begged for jewels, she had been at a loss, not knowing what to do.

‘I’ll look for it again later.’

Thinking lightly of it, Penna wrapped the shawl that Delian had newly purchased and sent around Lena.

“It’s warm.”

“Isn’t it? It looks that way too. I heard it’s newly purchased.”

“Newly? By whom?”

“Huh? Ah… that… um… B-Butler Joshua.”

Though her master, Duke Northdelion, dressed Lena in whatever he wanted, he had given the strange order to never say that he had bought it.

Because of this, Penna sold out Butler Joshua’s name yet again, mentally adding an apology for the umpteenth time.

Lena stood before the camera with an embarrassed heart. Though it had become routine, she couldn’t help feeling shy.

“Smile a little more!”

“L-like this?”

Lena, who had her hands clasped together in front, smiled slightly. Penna squealed and pressed the shutter.

Click, click, click, click.

Lena felt dizzy from the relentless sounds. This scene had been repeating for days now.

How flustered she had been when Penna first pointed the camera at her.

When Penna said she needed to capture Lena’s beauty, Delian really bought her a camera.

And not just any camera—the latest model capable of continuous shooting.

On top of that, he had a darkroom built next to Penna’s room for developing photos. In the end, Lena’s photographer became Penna, not Delian.

This was thanks to Joshua, who had scolded him to be aware of his status as a duke, no matter how doting he was.

In the end, Delian agreed to display all the photos taken by Penna neatly in his room.

Penna was the first to see them, Delian kept them, but Orzena also claimed her fair share.

A few days ago, Lena was enjoying tea time with Orzena as usual.

At that time, Penna approached with an almost grave expression, hiding something behind her back. Then she placed a thick book on the table.

“What is this, Penna?”

“It’s a small token of my heart for the Grand Madame.”

Orzena opened the first page of the book and gasped.

“My goodness! Heavens!”

Curious about the book that had caused such a strong reaction from the Grand Madame, Lena turned her head slightly, only to have her face turn bright red.

The identity of the book was… a photo album of Lena’s pictures.

“Child, you’re truly so beautiful. Though these don’t do justice to the real thing! It would have been such a shame not to preserve these moments. Penna, you’re so clever.”

Orzena pushed away her tea and desserts, and began to earnestly appreciate the photo album.

With each page turned, Orzena and Penna let out countless exclamations of admiration.

Because of this, Lena had to worry that her body might turn red, cook, and burst.

After diligently smiling until Penna said it was enough, Lena let out a small sigh.

In this world that had changed as easily as flipping one’s palm, every day was new to her.

Today, she was invited to attend Orzena’s dessert party.

Though called a party, it was just spending time alone with Orzena, and she had been invited to a tea party just three days ago.

For today, Orzena had personally baked a cake and made jam days in advance.

Lena examined herself carefully in front of the mirror.

“Is this really okay? Isn’t it too much?”

Today she wore a rather subdued yellow dress that resembled the custard cream Orzena had made.

With that, she tied a bright orange ribbon like orange peel, and wore lace gloves densely woven in the shape of apples. It was an outfit that made Lena herself look like a refreshing dessert.

The shawl draped over her shoulders like sugar powder was made from the finest white alpaca fur, spread out like fox fur.

Though everything was a gift from Delian, Lena still believed that Joshua had purchased it all.

“Giving porridge to an old man who’s already full.”

This one line was Delian’s entire reaction.

By the way, Lena’s taste really was yellow.

‘I didn’t even know, how did the Duke know?’

Lena headed to the greenhouse where the Grand Madame’s dessert party was being held, accompanied by Penna.

When she opened the greenhouse door, a fragrant and sweet scent wafted toward her. As she walked, entranced by the scent, she heard voices from somewhere.

“I’m telling you, lemonade is too cold.”

“The greenhouse is warm, so it’ll be fine, okay? Dry food will choke her.”

“Lukewarm milk tea would be fine too.”

“What taste does milk tea have when it’s lukewarm?”

A man and a woman were bickering over a trivial matter.

‘Are there other guests too?’

Lena, who had never experienced a proper party, was secretly excited.

As Lena turned the corner, a rectangular dessert table covered with a white tablecloth greeted her.

Three-tier and five-tier trays displayed desserts with names she didn’t know, each shining and showing off their beautiful forms.

And the ones quarreling among those desserts were none other than the Northdelion mother and son.

“Duke?”

When Lena called out to the Duke with wide eyes, the two who were arguing over lemonade and lukewarm milk tea turned their heads simultaneously.

In that moment, she thought they looked so similar yet different.

“Ah, it’s you.”

“Welcome, Lena.”

Delian and Orzena quickly changed their expressions and welcomed her.

After curtsying, Lena slowly approached the Duke.

“What brings you here? You said you were busy.”

He had definitely said so at lunch.

“Just, bored.”

“Bored?”

When Lena’s eyes widened, Orzena burst into laughter.

‘Putting aside all his busy work and rushing here saying she shouldn’t get indigestion like last time, and now he’s acting cool in front of the woman he likes.’

Orzena found it hard to contain her laughter at her son’s pretense, which she had never seen before.

Delian, noticing his mother’s thoughts, glared at Orzena, but she was simply delighted by her son’s cute romance.

“Let’s just say he had time. He barged in without even being invited and has been meddling with everything.”

Orzena personally escorted Lena to her seat. As she sat down, she saw that Delian’s earlobes were slightly reddened.

“Anyway, I baked an orange chiffon cake today. Do you like it?”

“Ah, yes. Probably. Actually, I’ve never tried it before.”

Orzena looked at Lena for a moment, then quickly had the pastry chef apply orange cream.

“You’ll like it. You enjoy sweet things, and you like fruit too.”

Delian, who had somehow approached her side, said while propping one arm on the table.

“Dandel, how many times has this mother told you to maintain your dignity?”

Orzena scolded Delian for his improper posture.

However, he pretended not to hear and focused on replacing the lemonade Orzena had poured for Lena with lukewarm milk tea.

Lena was secretly curious about what lemonade would taste like, but she kept quiet at the sight of Delian kindly telling her he had added sugar three times.

‘Sweet milk tea is good too.’