“I meet Your Highnesses. I am Viscountess Annege Osborne. I’m in charge of your attire during this Reconciliation period, so I’m just going to take a look. I will do my best not to harm the reputation of the noble Duchess.”
Since it has already been decided, Lily erased her embarrassed expression.
“I’m truly sorry. I heard of the Viscountess’ reputation within the imperial capital Excelsior, but thanks to Mrs. Maureen here, my turn came earlier. I can only hope that I hadn’t bothered you by hastily clearing your schedule.”
“Nonsense, it doesn’t matter. Besides…”
Madame Annege looked around and marveled.
“Excuse me, Your Highness, isn’t this the peacock silk from the East? My God, this is the first time I’ve ever seen so many Tottingel laces piled up.”
“You may use whatever you want here to match Their Highnesses outfits.”
“Oh my gosh.”
Madame Annege was impressed. To think that such a high quality material could be used casually. It was like a dream come true for a tailor like her.
“Then, Your Highness, let’s start right away!”
And so the doll play began.
All kinds of colorful and fine fabrics passed under Lilian’s chin several times. Madam Annege and Mrs. Maureen took out the jewels several times, matched the colors and discussed the design.
Damian just said, ‘Do what suits my wife the most.’
“Well, His Highness the Grand Duke will be fine wearing whatever he can.”
The unparalleled beauty, who didn’t even have to look for something to suit him, was alienated like that.
“Great! That was enough. Your Highness, you have worked hard.”
“Are you done now?”
“Yes. I’ll give you two really good looking clothes. It will be fitted tomorrow and the clothes will be finished in two days after that.”
“So fast?”
Madame Annege laughed.
“What do you think money is good for? I have a lot of seamstresses.”
Madame Annege went away with her rant.
***
The next day.
Damian received a notice from the Imperial family.
“On the opening day, take the knights and take charge of guarding the west side of the palace along with the palace knights.”
“So suddenly?”
“In any case, His Majesty must not trust me much. It’s a splendid celebration that was painstakingly prepared, but it seems that he’s anxious that I might plan a treason or an event equivalent to it.”
“But…that day is the first official event that Her Highness and you will attend after becoming husband and wife.”
Right. Is this person regretting it now?
Damian pricked up his ears like a rabbit keen on anticipation. But Lilian only said this as she was worried.
“If we don’t attend that day, there will be rumors of discord between us. Maybe that part is also included in their goal.”
“It should be.”
Of course.
Damian covered his mouth, pretending to touch it with his hand to hide his pouting face.
Unaware that her husband is upset, Lilian was lost in her thoughts.
“Ah.”
“?”
“I had a good idea. How about we do this?”
“If it’s a good idea…”
Damian pressed his ear close to Lilian with a mischievous face.
Thanks to periodic contact for the reason of donating mana every day, the distance between their bodies was drastically reduced. Every day they hang out like that, so there’s no reason to be surprised that the distance had narrowed in this way.
Lilian smiled freely and pretended to whisper in Damian’s ear.
A different color gradually emerged in Damian’s eyes, who enjoyed the feeling of his wife’s breath and laughter tickling his ears more than the content.
“Oh my.”
“…how about doing that?”
“You are ingenious and excellent. If my second brother knows about it, it’s really just my taste.”
Lilian was briefly surprised by Damian’s straightforward praise. Soon, her face slowly lit up.
“Really?”
“Really.”
As his wife’s face brightened, Damian smirked a little more greedily.
“Where in the world did this lady come from? You seem to be reading my mind.”
“Don’t make fun of me.”
Even when she told him not to tease her, Lilian couldn’t hide her smile. She was so happy.
Not to mention, this was the first time Lilian heard praise from Damian for doing something well.
No, rather, he was trying to take Lily’s pride and take away her job. Although he said it was for her health, so the shock she received then was not that great.
She had never thought of it like that before, but after that, she felt sad. Even though she was working hard, there were times when she suddenly felt depressed.
No matter how hard she tried, it didn’t seem to help him much.
Does it really have any meaning?
This is the only thing she’s good at, and she was disappointed that Damian didn’t seem to need her skill that much.
Maybe that’s why, when she was acknowledged like this, her heart thumped. She wanted to cry but also laugh.
“I’m glad to be of help to Your Highness. I mean it.”
A smile flashed across her blue, friendly eyes. She seemed really happy, even shy. Even so, her voice was trembling and her eyes were slightly moist.
That expression broke into Damian’s heart without warning. It struck Damian right in the heart like a giant hammer.
At that moment, Damian was convinced.
‘I love this person.’
If he lose this love, he will die.
It was a stronger conviction than ever before.
***
The present Grand Duchess of Rupenwein, Lily Islar, who had a small reputation as the most beloved younger sister of the Elector of Turin in her childhood, got married before she even made her debut and enjoyed the luxury of being featured in the imperial media.
Everyone assumed that the Grand Duchess would carry out her first official event by attending the opening ceremony of this Reconciliation.
Before the opening of the Reconciliation, everyone was focused on preparations, so social gatherings and parties seemed to be in a drought, and among them, there was no meeting of high quality enough to handle the unprecedented situation of ‘debut of a Grand Duchess’.
It will be a very promising event in many ways, including the enormous amount of money that Claude I is pouring relentlessly as if painting his face with gold.
While everyone was thinking that way, the new move of the Grand Ducal couple became known.
“You said that His Highness the Grand Duke and Duchess of Rupenwein had decided to visit the Elehan Church as their first official schedule?”
“If it’s Elehan, isn’t that the place where His Majesty the Sun Emperor is resting?”
“The first official schedule is to visit the grave…”
“They say they plan to hold a small memorial service after visiting Elehan with close relatives.”
Holding a small meeting with an official move. It was a debut procedure worthy of a hostess of a family.
“Well, it’s a bit much to debut while wearing a white dress and dancing among unmarried ladies when you’re already a Grand Duchess.”
“But this Reconciliation is a very important event to commemorate the 7th anniversary of His Majesty Claude I, and not making a debut there is a bit…”
Everyone shared a bewildered reaction. It wasn’t because the meaning was ambiguous.
Rather, it was a problem because it was so obvious that it’s too blatant.
It’s the Grand Duke who is protecting the Crown Prince. And the Grand Duchess is a Turinian who lost her father shortly after Claude I ascended the throne.
That hard-headed stubborn Turinian.
Seeing their determination to kick off the event that Claude put all his heart and soul into and have a quiet time to commemorate the late Emperor…
“It’s really embarrassing to say this, but it seems that Her Highness the Grand Duchess is also an unstoppable Turin idiot.”
“She must have been waiting for a way to get the ball rolling. Is this the first thing she punched?”
“That’s what I mean. Thanks to them, it will be exciting after a long time.”
Of course, the person who was most surprised by the Grand Duchess’ super tough move was Prince Matteo.
“You said you found me, Your Highness.”
It had been a while since she had become the Grand Duchess, and Lily had hardly been seen sitting on the floor with a blanket spread out in the corner of the library.
‘Of course this person will still be easygoing…’
Still, if she looked like a nerd back then, now, sitting in the Grand Duchess’ study as the owner, she looked like in a tailored suit.
“I heard that you decided to visit Elehan, Your Grace.”
It was not unwelcome to hear the news that Mrs. Maureen gave while wiping away her tears.
“For Her Highness to think of His Majesty the Sun Emperor like this… After all, Her Ladyship’s father died while supporting the Emperor.”
It was sympathy. But it was also true that he was worried.
This will definitely go against Claude and Rachel’s intention. Claude would be mindful of Lilian, who had splashed cold water ahead of the event he had been looking forward to, and Rachel as well, for kicking out the banquet she prepared.
She probably didn’t expect such a situation, but Lilian remained calm.
“Yes, that’s right. I told His Highness to go to Elehan first.”
Leave a Reply