Ersia would likely feel the same way.

“No, that’s not it…!”

But before she could make excuses, Baroness Dupont spoke first.

“That’s right. Yet she’s so shameless, which is quite troublesome.”

At that moment, the woman who had been quiet among the three opened her mouth.

“Then was it for that reason she tried to slap Madam Rose’s face earlier?”

“Indeed. If not for that reason… the situation wouldn’t make sense.”

The mounting pressure made Ersia’s face turn pale. Even if she didn’t know who these three women were, she had undeniably attempted to harm me, the head of Black Rose.

Soon enough, a frightened voice flowed from between her lips.

“Rose? I can’t believe it. Are you saying this woman is really the head of the trading company?”

Her disbelief was understandable. The contract with models had always been handled by Baroness Dupont, and I rarely appeared in public, even with a mask. Especially not at gatherings with nobles like Ersia who didn’t know my face or voice.

That’s why I wasn’t speaking now. Baroness Dupont, familiar with such situations, could handle things well just by reading my eyes.

“……”

No one answered Ersia’s question. They simply stared at the noisy woman with strange looks. Silence sometimes serves as affirmation, and soon Ersia’s eyes began to shake violently as if severely shocked.

“No way……”

“Why wouldn’t she be?”

But no one in this room wanted to show mercy to her. Especially Baroness Dupont with her strong pride in her clothes. She deeply resented Ersia’s harsh criticism of her designs.

Seizing the opportunity, she quickly retorted. Unlike the Baroness who looked quite pleased, Ersia’s face grew increasingly pale.

After looking back and forth between me and the four women in disbelief, Ersia finally burst out.

“This is absurd! This is fraud! You hypocrite! You should have told me from the beginning. What model would refuse if the company head wanted to wear the clothes?”

“……”

“And strictly speaking, I didn’t say I wouldn’t wear it… I suggested a negotiation.”

‘Huh?’

Seeing Ersia still making excuses, I almost laughed out loud.

‘Should I just step in?’

My social activities had overlapped with hers for exactly one year. That one year before my marriage. But even though we had crossed paths several times, we never even exchanged simple greetings.

I worried she might have heard my voice from afar, given my objective fame, but…

‘That’s probably an unnecessary concern.’

Thinking again, even close friends forget voices over time, let alone someone who heard it a few times from a distance. Perhaps I was…

‘Just being too self-conscious.’

I made my decision quickly.

“You have quite a talent for twisting words, Lady.”

A raspy voice soon flowed from between my lips. Baroness Dupont’s words weren’t entirely wrong—supervising the event had indeed strained my voice.

At my words, Ersia, Baroness Dupont, and finally the three visitors all turned their gazes toward me.

“My throat is quite damaged, and my doctor advised against speaking, but I can’t let Baroness Dupont suffer such injustice.”

“…What?”

She was visibly flustered when I directly intervened. She probably hadn’t expected me to know all the circumstances.

‘She’d fall backward if she knew I witnessed her badmouthing Black Rose.’

“What are you saying…?”

Sure enough, her voice sounded weakened as she asked. A typical display of strong-weak-weak-strong behavior. She had ignored Baroness Dupont, a baroness, when she spoke, but couldn’t move an inch when I spoke.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know? About everything that happened.”

“Everything that happened…?”

“You demanded unreasonable modifications to the dress from Baroness Dupont.”

“……!”

Her eyes widened at my words.

“T-that’s……”

Though I felt somewhat sorry for her inability to continue speaking, backing down would only make her look down on me more. I deliberately continued in a calm voice.

“The Baroness is deeply attached to her clothes as a designer. Making requests to have it modified is a great discourtesy in itself.”

“I, I just… gave a personal opinion……”

“Moreover, I heard you threatened not to walk the runway if the modifications weren’t made?”

“……”

At my words, Ersia’s face turned as red as a ripe persimmon. It was like having her bare face exposed in front of everyone, and her embarrassment must have been indescribable.

“Is that correct?”

At my question, Ersia stared at me blankly without answering, then finally spoke in a tearful tone.

“That’s true, but……”

“Didn’t you just call it a negotiation? Perhaps the meaning of the word ‘negotiation’ has changed without my knowledge?”

“……”

Having said everything I wanted to say, I felt relieved. Baroness Dupont seemed to feel the same way, looking at me with an expression of catharsis.

Ersia, thoroughly defeated by my words, couldn’t rebut further and lowered her head.

Phew, finally game over.

“Now for an apology……”

—or so I thought.

“Then I’d like to ask one thing too.”

Ersia’s sudden voice carried subtle venom. I wasn’t the only one surprised and looking up. Everyone stared at Ersia with bewildered expressions.

“What question do you want to ask?”

At my question, Ersia smiled sweetly. Her face was naturally pretty, and someone unaware of the situation might have found it cute, but everyone here, including me, knew.

That smile had a barb to it.

‘What is she plotting?’ My question was soon answered.

“What is your social status, Madam Rose?”

“…Pardon?”

“Your accusatory attitude about my threats might be acceptable from a noble, but from a commoner, it seems unacceptable.”

“What are you……”

A dangerous statement. She was essentially saying that apologies aren’t necessary between people of different social classes.

“Among equals, matters can be resolved amicably, but for someone beneath me to demand an apology for alleged threats… that seems wrong. Imperial law surely includes penalties for insulting nobility.”

She was clearly clinging to the slim possibility that I might be a commoner.

It wasn’t incomprehensible. The Ricardo Empire was a status-based society with distinct noble and commoner classes.

Although recently, with the increase of wealthy commoner trading company owners, the absoluteness of status was gradually fading…

Paradoxically, its power remained absolute.

Absolute enough for laws like the “insulting nobility” offense Ersia mentioned to exist.

As someone who had benefited from the class system, I couldn’t say much, but I newly felt its irrationality.

Was it just a feeling?

“Lady Ersia, do you have any idea who this person is……”

Just as Baroness Dupont, who knew my status, tried to speak, I placed my hand on her shoulder to stop her. In this situation where I couldn’t reveal my status, the privileges I had enjoyed as a noble would only work against me.

‘What should I do?’

Meeting the Baroness’s confused face, I realized how cornered I was.

Seeming to realize this, a relaxed smile spread across Ersia’s lips.

“I guess I never needed to speak formally to you in the first place?”

Soon she strode forward to stand before me. About a hand span shorter than me, she looked up with her chin raised high. The distance was excessively close, and when I flinched back from her glaring gaze, she sneered and said:

“You should be selective about playing righteous, shouldn’t you? Rose?”

It was absurd. Just moments ago she had turned pale upon learning I was Black Rose’s head…

Now she was exploiting the possibility that I might be a commoner, becoming not just aggressive but brazenly impudent.

Could there be a better example of the pot calling the kettle black?

“If I act like this, you can’t even make a peep.”

Saying this, Ersia closed the distance between us. As our shoes nearly touched and an ominous feeling rose within me,

“Isn’t that right?”

With a slight chuckle, her delicate hand rose high as if to slap my cheek.

“……!”

Honestly, I had the strength to grab her hand and stop her. But…

Wait. Thinking about it…

‘This isn’t such a bad deal.’

Having made my decision, I quickly glanced at the three women standing beside me. Seeing their shocked expressions actually refreshed me.

With a mindset of “go ahead and slap me,” I turned my gaze back to Ersia. Fortunately, she hadn’t noticed anything strange and proceeded with her action.

Slap!

“You lowly commoner!”

Soon a stinging sensation flew to my cheek. It hurt. It also stung as if scratched by fingernails, but I simply smiled freshly.

Though I appeared helplessly flustered, in reality, this situation was my winning game.

And just as I was about to turn my head to check the results,

“What exactly are you doing?”

An unexpected variable, you might say.

…Coincidentally at that moment, a low, sharp voice echoed through the room.

That sharp voice was very familiar to me. Could it be that man…?

‘He has no reason to be here.’

But when I looked up in surprise, I realized my prediction was correct.

“I asked what you’re doing. To Rose.”

It was Assel Esteban.

As his fierce voice echoed again, Ersia turned her head. Her pupils dilated as she met his gaze, as fierce as his voice.

“……!”

Ersia wasn’t the only one surprised. I too was quite shocked by this development.

As far as I knew, he had no interest in fashion shows. Though La Fleur under Diamond Trading Company was a fashion brand, he was merely a figurehead.

He wasn’t idle enough to involve himself in businesses with separate managers.

Therefore, his interest in fashion shows was minimal. Yet he had come here.

‘Could it be because of me…?’

But that didn’t make sense. Although we had kissed, I thought that was just a momentary attraction and a mistake…

But before I could think deeper about these questions, a cold voice brushed my cheek.

“Did you slap that woman’s face?”

❀❀❀

Ersia couldn’t understand the current situation.

‘Why is Duke Esteban here?’

He rarely showed his face in society, but when he did appear, his impact was so great that people would talk about him for weeks.

He was the Emperor’s brother and a war hero, as well as a powerful figure who simultaneously possessed enormous wealth and beauty.

Among the ladies, there was a joke that any woman who married him must have saved about ten countries in her previous life.

But he was extremely indifferent to women. Because of this, despite many ladies, including Ersia, sending him love letters, he would return them all.

If anything, this only deepened his mysteriousness.

Such a veiled figure, Duke Esteban, had now appeared, which was surprising enough.

“Did you slap that woman’s face?”

And now he was angry with her. With such a fierce look that suggested he might twist her neck if she didn’t answer immediately.

“I, I……”

Despite clearly having done nothing wrong, words failed her. Not just words, but breath as well.

Duke Esteban continued to stare at Ersia with consistently cold, frozen eyes.

For a moment, she considered backing down and leaving, but Ersia quickly dismissed that thought.

‘I can’t back down here!’

Hadn’t she heard the Duke had a righteous character? He must be misunderstanding the woman before him.

Rather, she was the victim and needed to assert this boldly.

And at the same time, a hope suddenly sprouted in Ersia’s heart that she might be able to win his heart through this opportunity.

‘I might be lucky. To have the chance to see Duke Esteban this close!’

She was confident in her appearance. That’s why she had been selected as Black Velvet’s model, and until now, there hadn’t been a man she couldn’t charm.

‘He may act aloof, but His Grace is still a man.’

The Duke before her, though beautiful himself, would surely open his heart if an equally beautiful woman like her approached him kindly first.

With such expectations, Ersia began to speak.

“Your Grace seems to be misunderstanding something……”

But before she could finish even half her sentence, the Duke suddenly turned his head. His gaze was directed at the woman wearing a mask covering her eyes and a wig.

The Duke approached that woman and then made a serious expression while looking at her cheek.

“Does it hurt?”

Unlike his tone with her, his voice was incredibly gentle. Ersia sensed something was going wrong.

But outwardly, she maintained her composure.

“You seem to be misunderstanding something, Your Grace.”

Ersia spoke politely in a deliberately slightly raised voice to capture his attention.

But his gaze remained fixed on the masked woman.

“……”

The woman didn’t even respond to the Duke’s words. Instead, she only removed his wrist from caressing her cheek.

They were undoubtedly quite close, regardless.

‘Since that woman is the head of the trading company, are they closely intertwined in business?’

But why did she feel they were more than just business partners? There was clearly something in the Duke’s attitude toward that woman.

Something beyond business partners. At least Ersia’s instinct told her so.

An unpleasant feeling surged at that moment.

‘But why? Why her of all people?’

Though her eyes were covered by a mask, one could tell she had quite a pretty face. Could she have seduced the Duke with that appearance?

‘Then perhaps Black Rose wasn’t built by that woman, but with the Duke’s help.’

A woman who couldn’t do anything on her own but used her appearance as a weapon to exploit men.

She had her reasons for drawing such a conclusion.

Earlier, when she had challenged the woman using social status as leverage, the woman hadn’t made a sound. Moreover, she had remained still when slapped.

Unless she was a fool, no one would just take such treatment. Anyone would question how such a woman had built this trading company.

She suddenly felt pity for the Duke who had fallen for such a woman.

‘I must save the Duke.’

But just as she firmed her resolve and was about to speak, the Duke’s cold eyes turned toward her.

“Did you do this to her, Lady?”

It was a cold voice devoid of any emotional fluctuation. But she wasn’t intimidated.

Earlier she had hesitated only out of surprise; she was confident.

“Yes, I did.”

At her confident answer, the Duke let out an astonished laugh.

“Why on earth……”

“Because she disrespected someone of higher status than herself.”

Ersia answered while glancing at the masked woman. If the Duke hadn’t been present, she would have laughed scornfully.

A woman caught stealing, and of all times, in front of her lover.

‘Serves her right.’

This is why people should live honestly. Living while coveting things beyond one’s station will eventually cause indigestion.

Just like that dress, that man were beyond that woman’s station.

For a while, the Duke looked at Ersia with surprised eyes. Judging by his inability to speak, he seemed unable to believe his lover had moral defects.

‘You should find a woman of your own class.’

Somehow, she felt smug.

The Duke would probably ask the woman if it was true?

Then the woman would be flustered, unable to say anything, and burst into tears. That’s when she would step in.

She would say it’s okay and offer a handkerchief, and the Duke would fall for her character.

Just as she was admiring her perfect scenario,

“Are you asking me to believe that?”

The Duke asked with an incredulous look.