Chapter 44

It had been two days since Comen settled into the castle.

Surprisingly, Comen and Eclipse’s servants had been getting along well since that day.

‘No, they were actually getting along perfectly.’

It seemed to be because they shared the same goal of making me stand out in the social season. Today’s enemy is tomorrow’s ally, they say.

Watching this scene reminded me of the chaos at Count Blueberry’s estate when I prepared for my debut as a debutante at fifteen.

‘That was truly hectic too.’

Seeing the preparations proceed with such commotion gave me a strange feeling.

When had I opened my heart enough that these people of Duke Eclipse’s household overlapped with those from Count Blueberry’s estate?

Even if the first impression wasn’t good, everyone was warm and kind. It felt natural that I had given my heart to this place.

Even though the atmosphere here that I had unknowingly melted into gave me strange sentiments, I didn’t feel bad about it.

‘I’ll miss this a lot when I return.’

When I return to Count Blueberry’s estate, there will be servants I’ve known for a long time, but even if they feel similar, they can’t be the same as these people.

Sometimes I felt like I would recall and miss these people.

Immersed in brief sentiments, I slowly headed to the drawing room.

After putting down administrative work, a new schedule had appeared in my days of passing time with nothing to do.

‘I wonder how long it will take.’

This rare schedule was trying on the basted clothes.

Today, the atelier Psyche contacted me, saying the basting of the social season clothes was finished, so I would also be matching the accessories purchased from the Ortrancia Trading Company.

And I wasn’t the only one who had new clothes made this time.

“Hello, Your Grace.”

I ran into Nine just as he was about to enter the drawing room.

I naturally greeted him, but internally I was quite flustered.

I knew that when I ordered my dress, Nine had also ordered clothes to wear to the social season together, but I never expected we would do the fitting together too.

Thinking about it, conducting the fitting together was also efficient for the atelier.

Since we’re a married couple, they might have thought it natural to share the schedule and not mentioned it.

Unlike me, who had all sorts of thoughts in such a short time, Nine seemed very composed, as if he had known in advance.

He nodded his head to accept my greeting as usual and opened the door for me to enter first.

Not yet accustomed to the consideration he showed me, my heart tickled at just this one act of opening the door.

“…Thank you.”

Reminding myself about three times that this was consideration for a pregnant woman, I entered the drawing room trying to appear nonchalant.

“Duchess! Your Grace has arrived too.”

Neruela, who had been checking the garments, turned her head at the sound of the door opening.

She couldn’t hide her haggard complexion, as if this schedule had been a bit difficult. Though as a master dominating the fashion world, she didn’t lose her elegant appearance and confidence.

Neruela guided us to partitions set up on both sides of the drawing room.

Inside the partition, designers from the atelier that Madam Neruela brought were waiting for me, holding the basted dresses.

Since dresses were difficult to wear alone, they dressed me themselves, but their touch was very careful, as if they were nervous.

Probably because I was the duchess.

“Speaking of the first dress, since it’s to be worn at the imperial banquet, it’s a newly designed dress that is splendid yet doesn’t lose its antiquity. If you touch it directly, the texture that clings to your hand… The luster shining under the light… The gold thread embroidery you see on the side was done by our atelier’s finest craftsman…”

Throughout putting on the clothes, Madam Neruela’s lengthy explanation continued from beyond the partition.

Actually, the content didn’t register well in my ears, but I could feel from each word how much she had deliberated over this one dress.

After putting on the dress, I was about to express my appreciation to Neruela.

“…”

Until I saw Nine.

Nine always wore dark colors with plain designs without a single flashy ornament. Even with such simple attire, he was always handsome and radiant.

But seeing Nine in dazzlingly splendid attire…

His handsomeness exploded!

“Wow…”

Small gasps of admiration could be heard here and there. I wasn’t confident that such a sound didn’t escape from my mouth either.

“As expected. My eye wasn’t wrong. People might think dark clothes suit Your Grace, but I saw it differently. So Your Grace’s clothes are…”

Except for Neruela, who was absorbed in explaining the clothes, everyone lost their senses and couldn’t take their eyes off Nine. Including me, of course.

The perfectly fitted white tailcoat accentuated his solid body. Nine’s features, far from being buried in the gorgeously ornate embroidery, actually shone.

The current Nine was handsome enough to naturally elicit the contradictory impressions of being both ascetic yet sexy, splendid yet elegant.

“Oh, both of you look absolutely wonderful.”

I was startled by the exclamation and came to my senses. I had almost continued to just stare in a daze.

But when I came to my senses, Nine also seemed a bit different from usual. His gaze fixed on me seemed somehow dazed.

‘Is there something wrong with the dress?’

I turned my head this way and that, checking the state of the dress.

Just then.

“It suits you well.”

Suddenly, I heard Nine’s voice complimenting me.

My body stiffened with a jolt.

‘I must have heard wrong, right?’

When I couldn’t respond immediately out of confusion, the atelier staff, perhaps sensing something strange about the atmosphere between us, stepped forward and eagerly seized upon Nine’s compliment.

Following the boss’s lead in sales, the staff were also remarkably skilled.

“Oh my~ Really!”

“Even though Your Grace isn’t even from the North, you have such fair and clear skin that even such a splendid dress suits you well! Hohoho!”

“It’s not easy for such a dress to suit someone!”

My face turned bright red from the bombardment of compliments from the atelier staff along with Nine’s praise.

I was even more embarrassed as the staff kept giving me looks as if telling me to compliment His Grace too.

In their eyes, we must look like a lovey-dovey newlywed couple, but…

‘That’s not it!’

Still, it didn’t seem proper to just keep my mouth tightly shut after receiving compliments.

Unable to ruin the atmosphere that was going so well, I eventually closed my eyes tightly and exclaimed.

“Y-Your Grace looks really wonderful too!”

If someone asked me alone to mutter compliments about that stunning appearance, I could recite them all day!

But in this situation, this one short phrase was the best I could do. Even while saying it, I was too embarrassed to even look at his face.

“…”

“…”

But somehow, as soon as I spoke, the surroundings became quiet.

When I cautiously opened my eyes and looked around, everyone’s gaze was directed at one place.

‘Why is everyone lost in a daze looking at Nine again?’

I followed them and looked at Nine, but I couldn’t see his face as he had turned his head in the opposite direction from me.

Was I mistaken? Nine’s ears seemed a bit red.

I wondered if he could possibly be embarrassed by my compliment.

‘With that appearance, this can’t be the first time he’s received such praise!’

I quickly refreshed the atmosphere in the drawing room with a bright voice.

“Shall we try on the next outfit? Since there are five outfits, we need to change diligently.”

“A-Ah! That’s right!”

At my one remark, everyone seemed to come to their senses and became busy in an instant.

The atelier staff quickly brought the next outfits to wear.

After that, things proceeded smoothly, and the fitting ended quickly.

It was a rather happy time, though I had to struggle not to lose my senses over Nine, who displayed different charms with each outfit he changed into.

***

Was it because I had put down my work? Time felt like it passed unusually quickly.

‘It’s already the social season.’

On the day of departure to the capital, the duke’s castle was busy from the morning.

Since Annie and Laura packed my luggage, normally I would have nothing to prepare, but this time I made thorough preparations too.

It was because my fake pregnancy, which I had been neglecting, had already entered its fourth month.

Like when I came to the North, I would ride in a separate carriage from Nine, but with a cautious heart, I received various advice from Tully and prepared not to be caught.

‘I plan to reveal everything before this social season ends, but…’

Revealing the truth and having a lie discovered were completely different matters, so I couldn’t let my guard down.

The period it takes to reach the capital is about a week.

Unlike my arrival in the North, I saw the servants and knight order who were truly and sincerely taking care of me, and I thought that if the misunderstanding was resolved well, I could part on good terms with the people of Duke Eclipse’s household.

However.

‘I was thinking too complacently.’