Whitney made the excuse of wanting to read a book and struggled to leave the Duke’s mansion. As she rode out in the Duke’s carriage, her mother, seemingly concerned about prying eyes, assigned a knight to accompany her.

The problem was that this knight had absolutely no respect for his master. She deliberately ignored the knight’s blatant stares.

Her position in the Duke’s mansion was no different from that of the maids, so it was obvious what the knight thought of her.

‘To assign such a knight… It’s as if someone wants a scandal to occur.’

Whitney looked out the window. In this confined space, provoking the knight would not lead to anything beneficial for her.

So it was better to quickly arrive at her destination and be in a place where others could see her.

The carriage door opened as it stopped on Poltoli Street in the city. The knight naturally got out and extended his hand to escort Whitney.

Not wanting to take his hand, she ignored it and tried to get out of the carriage, but the knight, his pride hurt, forcibly grabbed Whitney’s hand.

“Refusing an escort? A lady should rightfully accept a man’s assistance. In fact, who else would escort you if not me?”

Snicker.

Whitney felt humiliated by the knight’s vulgar laugh. She tried to pull her hand away, but his touch, kneading the back of her hand, made her entire body stiffen.

“Ugh!”

Whitney felt the knight’s hand holding hers suddenly let go and turned her head. The knight was lying face down on the ground, groaning.

“Get out of the way if you’re blocking the front.”

“…Ah! I’m sorry.”

Whitney realized she was blocking the entrance to the bookstore and stepped aside. The hand that the knight had grabbed was throbbing, so she cradled it with her other hand.

A man with his face hidden under a cloak tried to enter the bookstore as if nothing had happened.

“Hey! If you knock someone down, shouldn’t you apologize?!”

The man’s footsteps abruptly stopped at the knight’s voice. He tried to open the bookstore door without replying.

“Can’t you hear me?! Do you think you’ll be safe after messing with a knight of the Duke’s house?!”

“Stop it. If you cause a commotion in the city, your mother will punish you.”

“You think I’ll be punished? Won’t they blame the young lady who caused the disturbance?”

Whitney sighed deeply at the knight’s sarcastic words.

“You should be ashamed. Such a disgraceful display in front of others. Are you trying to lower the prestige of the House of Orlean?”

The knight’s eyes bulged as if he was about to draw his sword.

‘Is he going to duel with that man?’

Whitney was anxious. If this continued and she was forbidden from going out, it would be troublesome. Moreover, in that brief moment, she had seen the cloaked man trip the knight.

The man criticized the knight in a monotone voice.

“Blame your weak legs. For a knight to have such weak legs, it seems the knights of House Orlean aren’t much after all.”

“Are you tarnishing a knight’s honor?! Stop hiding your face cowardly and reveal your identity!”

As if he hadn’t heard Whitney’s words, the knight was fuming. His heavy breathing made Whitney feel embarrassed.

‘How on earth did they appoint such a person as a knight?’

The thought of others seeing this and gossiping made her head throb. It seemed quicker to stop the cloaked man rather than the knight. So she grabbed the man’s hand and pulled him.

“I’m sorry. It seems easier to reason with you. You were trying to enter the bookstore, right? Let’s go in.”

“Young lady. Are you taking the side of someone who insulted our house instead of the knight?! I will report everything to the Duchess.”

To think the word ‘young lady’ would come from the knight’s mouth. Whitney snorted and glared at him.

At the knight’s voice, Whitney turned her head and gave a final warning.

“Listen. If you make a noisy scene one more time, I’ll stake everything I have to strip you of your knighthood.”

Though she knew it would have no impact, there was nothing he could do outside where others were watching. At Whitney’s words, the knight glared.

“You’ll regret this. You’ll definitely regret treating me like this!”

The knight said, grinding his teeth.

“Go back to the Duke’s mansion first. I’ll return on my own.”

Whitney frowned at her throbbing head and entered the bookstore with the man.

“I’m sorry for involving you in this unnecessary trouble. And thank you for helping.”

“I didn’t help. I just moved what was in the way.”

The man passed by Whitney’s side and headed deeper into the bookstore. For a moment, a scent carried by the wind entered her nostrils. Whitney’s head turned towards the man involuntarily.

‘No, it can’t be.’

What reason would His Highness the Prince have to come to an old bookstore?

She shook her head, picked up a random book, and headed to the counter. There were many wrapped books placed on the counter. When she looked towards the door, the knight seemed to have already returned to the Duke’s mansion.

‘That’s rather fortunate. It’ll be easier to move around now.’

After confirming that the Duke’s carriage had disappeared, she left the bookstore with the wrapped book.

Arriving at the small Lucia Salon located in an alley, she carefully entered. There wasn’t even a staff member to greet customers.

“I told you the store’s not for sale!”

As she entered the store with the clear sound of a bell, a man came out yelling, his eyes widening when he saw her.

“…I came to have a dress made, but it seems I’ve come at a bad time.”

“No, no! Please, come this way.”

The salon’s Monsieur Leverom approached Whitney, his eyes twinkling.

“What kind of dress do you want? Just tell me.”

“I don’t have much money. But I have good fabric and would like to have that dress reformed.”

The owner nodded at Whitney’s words. Asking her to wait a moment, he brought some paper and began drawing the dress while listening to Whitney’s explanation.

“Is this design correct?”

Whitney nodded lightly.

“I’ll send the dress here tomorrow. I can give you plenty of time, but I’d like you to do your best. This dress will be a good opportunity for both me and you. I’d like the sleeves to be long…”

“Leave it to me.”

Although she had come here because she didn’t have much money, she had a good feeling about it. Whitney nodded lightly and asked him,

“I’d like you to call a carriage for me.”

“Of course. I’ll call one right away.”

Whitney took a public carriage back to the Duke’s mansion. As much as she wanted to go home, she had no choice.

The carriage quickly arrived and stopped in front of the Duke’s mansion. She took out coins from her bosom, paid the driver, and stared blankly at the mansion.

‘It hasn’t been long since I got better, but I’ll be wounded again.’

Whitney lightly stroked her arm and entered the mansion. A maid who usually didn’t care when she returned from outside suddenly shouted,

“Madam! She’s back!”

At those words, hurried footsteps were heard coming down from the second floor, and her stepmother was standing in front of her.

For a moment, she saw a hand raised high. Whitney instinctively bent down, pretending to dust off her skirt.

“Aah!”

With a thud, she saw her stepmother sprawled on the floor.

“…Are you alright?”

Whitney pretended to be surprised, covering her mouth, and spoke to the maid.

“You, you!”

“Why aren’t you helping her up? Mother doesn’t like me touching her.”

“Ma-Madam! Are you alright?!”

“Aah! My back, my back!”

At her stepmother’s painful scream, even Melissa rushed out of her room. Everyone in the Duke’s mansion made a fuss as they carefully moved her stepmother to her room.

“Mom! What on earth happened?!”

Melissa glared at Whitney. She put on a face of genuine ignorance and said,

“I don’t know either. I thought there was dirt on my skirt, so I bent down to dust it off… Then I heard a thud and saw that mother had fallen.”

“You there! Explain what happened!”

Melissa asked the maid, fuming. She bowed her head and explained the situation.

“…The Madam came down when she heard that the young lady had arrived, and she was about to punish her, but the young lady bent down, causing the Madam to swing her hand in the air, lose her balance, and fall to the floor.”

“What?!”

Melissa glared at her with eyes like axes, as if she would devour her. Whitney bowed her head deeply, putting on a face as if she would cry at any moment, and said,

“I really didn’t know. I didn’t know mother was going to slap me. If I had known, I would have obediently accepted it. I’ve always accepted punishment willingly.”

“…Ha! Just you wait. If anything happens to mom, I won’t let you off easy.”

“Instead of being angry at me, shouldn’t you quickly call a doctor? If her back is sprained, she’ll be in considerable pain.”

“What are you all standing around for?! Find the best doctor on the continent! Hurry!”

“Yes, yes!”

At Melissa’s words, everyone quickly dispersed.

“Sister, I’m sure you don’t want to see me, so I’ll go up to the attic now.”

Whitney left the busy scene behind and calmly ascended to the attic.