CH 14

“I see.”

Rashid seemed to already know as he raised the corner of his mouth.

“I said this because I am glad. You finally got to know a woman, so how can I not be happy as an older brother. I was always worried – you’re good at everything but aren’t you too cold sometimes?”

Rashid leaned his chin against Ian’s shoulder, as if he were joking.

“But now I’m relieved. Right, a man is born again in a woman’s arms.”

[T/N: It means if a man has had sex, he cannot go back to a time when he has not had sex (a virgin), and something in his mind would change.]

His serious gaze stared at me with a smirk on his lips.

“Then I’ll see you later today. I was going to see you alone, but it seems I took up to four hours for nothing.”

“No, Your Majesty. I’m sorry I didn’t do my best.”

“Haha, don’t use such a hard way of speaking. Aren’t we brothers?”

Rashid tapped Ian on the shoulder.

“Then see you again, brother.”

I secretly examined Ian’s complexion after seeing Rashid’s figure fade into the distance beyond the library.

He must feel very dirty; even I would feel that way. He’s probably barely holding back from wanting to destroy it all. Still, please don’t break my shoulder, which you’ve been holding for some time.

Surprisingly, Ian’s face had no emotion when I looked up at him.

“Let’s go back, Irene.”

I was embarrassed because he was so emotionless. Ian turned to me curiously and stared at me in silence.

“Aren’t you going?”

“No, that… um. I thought you weren’t going to release this.”

I pointed an awkward finger at my shoulder, which Ian still had an arm wrapped around.

“Ah.”

Ian released his arm as if he had just remembered something. Ian’s body temperature was surprisingly warm, contrary to his cold expression. Even after his skin had left mine, I was conscious of the residual heat for quite a while.

“That, hmm.”

I coughed to shake off the awkward feeling.

“But how did you know I was here?”

“Dame Joan told me that His Majesty was here.”

Ah. I express my deepest gratitude to Dame Joan. I should say thank you in person.

“By the way, what brought you to the library?”

He tossed a sharp question at me. I flinched for a moment and couldn’t help but laugh haha.

“As you know, I am a little short of common sense about the area because I am not from this Empire. They say books are a repository of knowledge and a window that shines on the world. So, I came to take a look at that window.”

“Hmm.”

Ian looked at me with suspicious eyes.

Oh no. Did I talk too much? From time immemorial, scammers have had loose tongues. I slowly turned my gaze to the front, reflecting on what I had done.

“It’s good to look out the window.”

Phew. My shoulders stiffened unconsciously in response to his cold, falling voice.

“Try to see it in broad daylight if at all possible. Suspicious beings are bound to roam at night, even inside a Cathedral .”

“…Yes, Sir Ian.”

“For example, a Saintess who likes looking out of the window.”

“……”

I shut my mouth and tilted my head slightly to look at Ian. As his gaze met mine, I quickly looked straight ahead again.

‘That damn window talk, why did I overdo it!’

As I walked to my room with Ian, I cursed myself. 

When we got to the entrance of the room, Ian looked around with his hawk eyes until I went inside. It was more like taking a lost child to a shelter than escorting a Lady like a knight.

──・・✧・・──

The next day, there was a guest who arrived to see me in the morning.

“It is Mercy from the Mercy Dress Shop!” Annette said excitedly.

I didn’t know her well, but she seemed to be a famous person.

‘Oh. Ian said I had to pick a dress for my Engagement Ceremony tomorrow.’

Come to think of it, it was a very demanding schedule. I couldn’t believe that I have to choose a dress today and have an Engagement Ceremony tomorrow. Thinking about the engagement ceremony tomorrow, made my stomach hurt from stress.  I shook my head and got up from my seat.

“Please tell her to see me now.”

“Yes!”

After a while, Mercy entered my room. With five employees and a huge rack of dresses. 

“Hello, Lady Irene. It is a great honor to meet Irene, whom I have only heard of through rumors.”

Mercy bowed politely with one hand on her chest. I smiled broadly, hiding my awkwardness.

“Nice to meet you, too. I look forward to your kind cooperation.”

“I was very surprised because it was the first time I received a request from Sir Ian. Furthermore, Sir Ian requested it on behalf of the Lady! I thought this Lady Irene must be very special to Sir Ian.”

“Haha. I see.”

I don’t think I’m special to him. He must be paying special attention to me as a person of interest.

As I sat on the sofa, Mercy showed me a large catalog.

“We’ve only picked the most recent ones for this season, only the highest quality has been selected. Originally, I would have liked to make an order that would suit your taste perfectly, but unfortunately I heard that time is short.”

Mercy’s words went in one ear and flowed out the other. I was distracted by looking through the catalog she had brought with her.

‘Crazy. Beautiful.’

Every time I turned the catalog page by page, I could only look on with admiration. 

Among them, there was a dress that particularly caught my attention. The pink fabric was as cute as cotton candy, and the lace was as delicate as a wedding veil. It was like a princess dress from a fairy tale book.

‘In an orphanage, someone would always tear the pages of a children’s book with a dress like this.’

My heart was pounding with the innocence of a child, which I had thought had died out. I quickly raised my head and exclaimed.

“Could I choose this?”

“Yes? That’s…”

Mercy expressed displeasure for the first time.

‘Ah. Is it too expensive?’

Well, it looked very expensive with lots of lace and jewelry on it. I was going back to looking through the catalog with slight remorse when Mercy spoke.

“It’s because the price is too low.”

“What?”

Did I hear something wrong? I was perplexed as I looked down at the catalogue. Obviously, the price tag under the dress had a lot of zeros.

“Sir Ian specifically warned me not to choose anything less than a certain amount.”

“…What?”

“If you really like the design, would you like to add more jewelry?”

This person was rather worried about me, saying that the goods she wanted to sell were inexpensive.

‘Not because it’s overpriced, but because it’s underpriced.’

A shock like a bell being struck rang in my head.

“Let’s see. I think we can meet the minimum price if we put diamonds here, here, here.”

“What is the minimum amount?”

“It’s ten thousand Mars”.

‘Oh My God.’

Are you really going to spend that much money on a dress? Even that’s a minimal amount of price?

‘I think I’m going to develop a messed up sense of money.’

“What would you like to do, Lady Irene? Do you want me to show you dresses that are more than 10,000 Mars or increase the price of this dress?”

“Hmm.”

I pondered vigorously for a while. Then the conclusion came quickly.

“Please add more jewelry to this dress.”

“It’s an excellent choice. It’s a basic, sophisticated design, so you won’t feel too much if you add jewelry.”

‘If you put more jewels on it, I can take it off later and use it as backup.’

Of course, Ian was going to put a large sum of money into my account, but he still doesn’t know about human affairs.

Since I never know when cash will run out of value, it seemed like a very good plan to prepare an emergency fund called jewels.

“Then, we will finish the work on our side and deliver it by tomorrow. Would you mind trying on the dresses we’ve brought? I want to know how Lady Irene feels.”

I tried on some of the dresses Mercy had brought, pretending not to win Mercy’s favor.

‘It’s not like it’s a fashion show.’

I opened my mouth wide every time I looked at myself in the mirror after slipping on a fancy dress. I never expected to wear dresses like this in my life.

“You are very beautiful, Lady Irene!”

The fitting show became increasingly enthusiastic thanks to Annette’s constant cheers.

──・・✧・・──

“Irene Grace, Irene Grace… Damn it! Why is her name this?”

The right hand man of the current emperor and the owner of this house, Duke Beyontin, slammed his desk.

“It’s such a common name! There must be a million people with the same name. Damn it!”

“Pl-please calm down. I’m still trying to sift through the hair color and other features, Duke”

“Her hair and eyes are both of a common color! What the heck, she’s so common that it’s unnatural. It is impossible for the past to be uncovered if we continue like this.”

“I think Ian is hiding it so well.”

“Even so, her face has already been revealed. Even if it is only one person, someone should know this girl!”

Duke Beyontin inevitably gritted his teeth. His aide put up his glasses.

“The fact that the past has been hidden up to this point implies that it is also intentionally covered up.”

“I think that’s probably right.”

Duke Beyontin slumped into his chair and raised the corners of his lips sullenly.

“Ha. Is it possible that the noble Commander of the Holy Knights has fallen in love with a crooked woman? Perhaps even her given name is a fictitious name.”

“There is a possibility. If it is a past that should never be revealed, it must have been covered up to this point.”

“I think so. Who knows, she might be a criminal or maybe a prostitute.”

Duke Beyontin gently stroked his chin. 

“Then you should try poking the beehive.”

“What are you saying?”

“Literally, you’ll be trying to poke it. You’ll attempt to light up the rabbit hole. Make that bunny jump out and run wild.”

“Irene Grace is currently inside of the cathedral, so there’s no way to meet her. But, tomorrow is the Engagement Ceremony. Commander Ian wouldn’t hide that woman, even at his Engagement Ceremony.”

“Okay. The Engagement Ceremony would have quite a lot of guests. It’s a perfect stage.”

Duke Beyontin’s low laughter echoed through the office.