I was shuddering at the thought of what the man in front of me might do, but I answered.

“Ian. My escort.”

In truth, I hadn’t asked Raeyan to be my partner yet, but I had faith he would accept my invitation.

Besides, no matter what Jansi did, Raeyan would be strong enough to handle it. Regressors are not to be trifled with!

“Lili, you seem unusually close to that mercenary.”

Just in case Jansi misunderstood Raeyan, I actively defended him.

“He’s surprisingly easy to talk to.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. We joke around sometimes, and it’s funny.”

“Really?”

But for some reason, the more I talked, the colder the room seemed to get.

‘Why does Jansi hate Raeyan so much?’

Talking about Raeyan seemed like a bad choice, so I quickly changed the subject.

“We could have communicated through the magical communicator.”

I was hoping my cleverly devised plan would work.

“Of course, it would be more convenient that way, but I just don’t feel like it.”

Could it be that this person pursued analog sensibilities?

“Why?”

I asked, scratching my head, and Jansi narrowed his eyes and smiled sweetly.

“I can’t meet my lovely little sister that way.”

Oh, my. His words sent shivers of cringe down my spine.

How could they say such a cheesy line without even batting an eye? I wanted to learn that incredible acting skill.

“Of course, I was thinking of contacting you to hear your voice. Preferably, I’d like you to come into the mansion, Lili, but that would be difficult, wouldn’t it?”

Is their purpose to keep me close, be cautious, and observe?

“Haha… I feel more comfortable here.”

I maintained my habitual defensive stance and took a step back from Jansi. At that moment, Jansi’s expression hardened.

‘Did I make a mistake?’

I attempted to apologize, but Jansi was quicker, and his face went back to being expressionless.

“You rarely show a gap, my cute little sister.”

“I don’t know what you mean by gap.”

“It’s cute how you pretend to be innocent and tremble.”

Poking me in the cheek with his finger, he retreated casually.

“Well then, see you later, Lili.”

“…….Yes.”

As I watched Jansi walk away, I furrowed my brows.

‘What does he want from me?’

***

I had two communication devices. One was a special magic tool gifted to me by the magic tower master, Isis, and the other was a regular magic tool given to me as a present by Adenmir.

The special tool was meant for only Isis and Raeyan, as showing it would be like advertising “I am Lili Arcel”.

Therefore, I used the magic tool Adenmir gave me to communicate with other people.

Each magic tool had a unique number, and if you knew the number, you could contact them.

It was an idea I proposed to Isis, modeled after the concept of using a mobile phone from my past life.

I took out the special magic tool and connected it to Raeyan.

It didn’t take more than a second of ringing, and then the connection was established.

“Aah, Raeyan?”

[Yes, I’m listening. Go ahead.]

I never expected to receive such a quick response. It seemed like Raeyan was doing something with the magic tool at that moment.

“To get to the point, can you attend the Foundation Day Ball as my partner?”

[Yes.]

“Uh, mmh…….”

I was speechless at such a fast and strong yes. I had expected Raeyan to grant my request, but I hadn’t expected him to respond so quickly.

“That’s it.”

[……Ah.]

“We’ll talk about the details tomorrow.”

I tried to end the communication, but I couldn’t. Because Raeyan called out to me.

[Lili, wait.]

“Mmh? Do you have something to say?”

[…… that.]

Raeyan seemed hesitant for some reason. I patiently waited, thinking it must be something difficult to say, but then another magic tool started ringing.

“Wait, Raeyan. I have another call coming in.”

[I’ll wait.]

“I’ll be right back.”

I connected the regular magic tool that was ringing, and a familiar voice immediately came through.

[Lady Lily.]

It was Adenmir, the one who gave me this magic tool. Ironically, even though he gave it to me, this was the first time he had contacted me using the communication magic tool.

“What can I do for you, Your Highness?”

[I have heard that Beltran is troubling you.]

“Ah, that.”

[Just ignore him.]

“I would do that even without your advice.”

He was bothersome, but as long as I didn’t have to meet him, I could simply ignore him unilaterally.

There’s no need to reply, as I will secretly burn the letters when the butler is not looking.

‘His Majesty had said I can just ignore it if the second prince causes a ruckus. ‘

It was the permission to ignore the second prince given directly by the emperor.

[I thought you might be in a difficult position, but I underestimated you.]

“It’s okay, I don’t want you to give me too much credit.”

[The empress hasn’t called again, has she?]

“Not yet.”

[If she does, let me know. I’ll accompany you.]

“Your Highness doesn’t have to be so concerned.”

[That would put my mind at ease……]

The conversation with Adenmir continued, and just then, Raeyan called out to me.

[Lili.]

He had been silent all along, but he suddenly called my name.

At the same time, Adenmir’s voice abruptly stopped. There was an unexpected silence.

Adenmir was the one who broke it.

[…… There was someone else with you.]

He didn’t seem to notice that Raeyan was also speaking through a tool.

“Is there anything else you want to say?”

[None. If you’ll excuse me, then.]

With that, Adenmir ended the communication. Shortly after, Raeyan’s voice came through the special magic tool.

[I’m sorry, did I cause you any trouble?] 

“No, it’s fine. It’s not like the first prince doesn’t know that you’re my escort.”

He probably assumed he was here with me, anyway.

Brushing it off, I returned to my conversation with Raeyan.

“So why did you call my name out of the blue during my call with the first prince? What was it that you wanted to talk about earlier?”

[…….]

“Raeyan?”

I looked at the tool, thinking we’d lost communication, but it was still resonating. After a moment, Raeyan replied.

[I forgot what I wanted to say.]

I wondered what he had forgotten. Forgetting something could happen, but it was an uncharacteristic response from Raeyan.

“Sure, you might have forgotten.”

While I answered like that, a suspicion crept into my mind. Perhaps it wasn’t just an overactive self-consciousness, but could it be…

‘Jealousy?’

***

I sat down at my desk to complete one of my regular tasks: making the emperor’s antidote.

“Miss. The madam is here.”

The Duchess of Perdia was visiting the annex after a long time. I quickly hid the poison I was working on, just in case I might be exposed.

A few moments later, the duchess entered my room.

“What were you doing?”

“I was thinking of writing a reply to an invitation.”

“You’re not going to reply to every single one, are you?”

“What? If I don’t reply, the prestige of Perdia will be……. Doesn’t the duchess reply?”

“Why bother doing something so tedious?”

I was shocked.

‘The butler said I must reply!’

But when I thought about it carefully, I didn’t think anyone in Perdia, except Jansi, would bother sending individual replies to the invitations.

Perdia’s kindness was laughable.

It felt like the butler was taking advantage of me to salvage our image, since talking to the other members of the family wouldn’t work.

‘I won’t write the replies now.’

I paused, remembering the butler who had deceived me, then locked eyes with the duchess.

“Come in, please. We can have tea together-“

“No, no,” she refused.

“Huh?”

“Elodie. Are you free today?”

“Yes.”

I still needed to make the antidote, but it wasn’t urgent. It was also a free day with nothing else on the agenda.

She smiled at me, as if she were pleased, and asked, “Would you like to go get a dress for the Founding Festival? It’s better to go together, just the two of us.”

“With me?”

“Who else is here besides you and me?”

Though there was Greed here, it was soundly sleeping in my bed, whether a guest was present or not.

It was surprising to be asked by the duchess to go out with her.

I had no reason to refuse, so I nodded eagerly.

The duchess took me to La Berusique Dress Shop on the Toinette Street. 

The La Berusique Dress Shop, which is also my go-to dressing room for extravagant times, was so popular that it was difficult to make a reservation. Not to mention, the price of a single dress was exorbitant.

However, when we arrived, there were no other customers in the shop.

“I rented the entire place for today. It would be bothersome if others were bustling around, wouldn’t it?”

“Wow…. Yes.”

As expected, I was still a step behind. I hadn’t even considered renting the whole place.

‘I’ll keep this in mind for next month’s allowance.’

After all, the duchess is a wonderful adult with a lot to teach me.

By then, I was quite excited. I had no idea how I would turn out after a few hours……

As I changed into yet another dress for what must have been the umpteenth time, I looked at her expression.

“You don’t like this dress either……?”

“This color is ruining you Elodie. I think you need something bright and not too flashy, with a sophisticated color palette.”

“Ahaha…….”

That’s how it was. I became a prisoner in the dressing room, turned into a mannequin under the duchess and Madame La Berusique’s eyes!

“Well, can you show us another design?” Themis demanded.

“Yes, Madam. How about this style? It’s the most recent sketch I made.”

“I don’t quite like the shoulder slit here.”

“Oh, I can make adjustments. If we want to reveal the Young Miss’s delicate neckline, perhaps this part should be done differently.”

“As expected, Madame has an excellent eye.”

My founding Festival dress was left forgotten, as the Madame and the duchess began a heated discussion.

If only Greed had accompanied me, I could have engaged in idle chatter. But the fellow was still happily sleeping in my bed.

After a while, I finally heard words of praise.

“It suits you well.”

“I’m glad to hear that………. Mother.”

I addressed her somewhat awkwardly, following the unspoken rule of calling her mother in front of other people.

She looked satisfied as she observed me and then closed her fan.

“It seems you should come out more often.”

“Doesn’t Mother have to look for a dress as well?”

“I already had mine fitted, my dear.”

Momentarily at a loss for words, I pursed my lips. Was she saying that today’s outing was purely to get my dress fitted?

“Then let’s go look for matching shoes.”

“……Yes.”

I had no say in the matter.

As I followed the Duchess, swaying like a paper doll, the estate’s footman came rushing over.

“Ma-Madam!”

“What’s the matter?”

“It seems the madam must return home at once!”

“Why?”

The footman gasped for air and blurted out, “Y-young Master Carlot is in critical condition!”

“……!”

It was truly shocking news, like a bolt from the blue.

[sc name=”add_image” image_url=” https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AIL4fc9KGM768eVhV47XAf1pha80ASfV4tuUt5Yhpt3gdd5qo1LbGNppYQOydDDR-45tkSgwEhfd6bprSKlL0vqfa5oQXRzl_aVoya5iW2spmoeR4sFMxOQ=w2400″][/sc]