“What are you doing right now?”

There was a man standing in Claude’s room, placing his hand on her waist.

Of course, he was teaching Claude to dance by tying a thick cloth around her waist and holding onto it to instruct her, as there was a class difference with the noble lady. But to Kaian’s eyes, it only looked like the scoundrel was wrapping himself around her slender body.

Disheveled red hair.

Forehead beaded with sweat.

Cheeks flushed as if heated.

“Huh? Haa… Haa…”

Claude was panting, her cheeks tinged pink, her lips parted as she repeatedly exhaled and inhaled rough breaths.

Moreover, she had unbuttoned three buttons of her northern-style dress that went up to her neck, exposing her collarbone!

“This man is…”

The man, who immediately lowered his eyes and bowed his head before the lord he was meeting for the first time, did not see Kaian glaring at him as if to kill him. It was fortunate for the rest of his life.

“Greetings, my lord. I am Vinson, instructing group dance for the autumn festival. It is an honor for my family to have this chance to directly express our loyalty to such a great lord…”

“I asked what you were doing?”

Unfortunately, the village dancer Vinson’s loyalty did not reach Kaian. The fact that he was too nervous to properly sense this was the second fortunate thing for the rest of his life.

“I was learning to dance.”

“In that state?”

As Kaian’s gaze fell on the unbuttoned area near her neck, Claude closed her clothes.

“It’s been so long since I moved my body, I got a bit hot.”

“You’ll get used to it as you practice, my lady.”

Vinson respectfully instructed dance to the lady from Beaumont, where everyone spits and curses that redheads should have died long ago, with respect for Kaian.

But the man’s attitude only appeared to Kaian as a wolf pup wagging its tail at Claude.

“Good work. We need to have a meal, so you may withdraw for today.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Butler, give this man a generous payment for today’s work.”

Vinson withdrew, moved by the lord’s words, not imagining that the generous payment included severance pay for just one day.

The short dance lesson, which a village dancer would proudly boast about for years – “I once taught dance to the lord’s lady” – had ended, and dishes for lunch were brought into the room.

“Haah.”

Claude was constantly fanning her flushed cheeks with her hand.

However, her breathing sounds made Kaian feel irritated, anxious, and annoyed.

“Pay attention to your appearance as befits a duchess.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just a bit hot from sweating.”

Indeed, Claude was wearing a northern-style dress that came up to her neck, and although it was made of thin velvet and not thick, it looked hot just by looking at it.

“Don’t you have any other clothes?”

“Pardon?”

“It’s Beaumont style, isn’t it?”

“Ah…”

Claude seemed to wonder what had made Kaian uncomfortable, and she shrank her shoulders while watching his expression, buttoning up her collar where sweat had not yet dried.

“I… didn’t bring many clothes.”

“All in Beaumont style?”

“…”

Kaian judged that the point of his current irritation was due to the dress she was wearing.

There was no room to refute the butler’s words; as he had said before, “Aren’t you only seeing the lady in the bedroom?”, he hadn’t seen Claude much outside of night, away from the bed.

And while he had been eating lunch in her room for a while now while treating her illness, Claude had only been wearing nightgowns with a light outer garment over them, so he hadn’t seen her in proper clothes.

‘Come to think of it, she was wearing that dress on the picnic day too.’

It seemed Hannah had done a good job washing the dress in which Claude had coughed up blood.

But on that day, he certainly hadn’t been so bothered by what Claude was wearing.

Today, just seeing the thin velvet dress suitable for a northern summer, with its short, soft fur, made him annoyed.

“Throw them all away.”

“Ri-right now?”

“I’ll have Rowen-style dresses procured for you. Buy a few urgently and have a seamstress make other necessary clothes.”

“Yes.”

As Claude meekly answered, Kaian’s annoyance finally subsided a bit.

“My lord… are you alright?”

“Huh?”

At her words, Kaian looked at the plate in front of him.

The meat dish placed on it had been cut into pieces to fit Claude’s mouth size, looking as if it had been minced.

“…”

Embarrassed, Kaian shouted at the butler standing by the door.

“After lunch, call for a seamstress immediately!”

However, when he saw Claude pick up a piece of the finely chopped-looking meat with her fork and pop it into her mouth, he sighed and felt his churning insides settle down.

The castle’s seamstress was an elderly, skinny man.

“How is it, my lady?”

Claude nonchalantly stood in front of the mirror, holding up the fabric the seamstress recommended against her body.

“The, the current fashion is two-tone, isn’t it?”

“Two-tone?”

When Claude asked, he quickly showed her several pieces of fabric.

“Yes. Look, if you put a dark fabric underneath and a lighter lace on top like this, the atmosphere changes completely.”

“I see.”

“Al-alternatively, you can also put dark lace on light-colored fabric.”

“Wow. That’s pretty.”

While Claude responded appropriately, the seamstress was sweating profusely and watching her reaction.

“If, if my lady has a color she prefers…”

“Gold.”

Hannah, who was standing nearby with her arms crossed glaring at the seamstress, interjected.

“…Except for the buttons with trim on the edges, my lady doesn’t hide anything.”

The reason for this tension, when they should be having a pleasant time trying on various clothes, was none other than this:

The resident castle seamstress who had come to fit clothes now had previously spread rumors that Claude had stolen decorations from the lord’s clothes, regarding the button bezel Kaian had given her.

However, the elderly seamstress who had worked in the castle for decades was not about to be provoked by a novice like Hannah.

“What! What’s the reason for bringing that up now! Are you looking for a fight?”

“What are you shouting about when you’ve done nothing right! Just getting old and spreading petty rumors to the castle maids.”

The seamstress, who had been staying in the castle and making clothes since the time of the previous duke and duchess, had as strong a loyalty to Temnes as he did an aversion to Beaumont.

Thinking that the lady’s maid, who was much younger than him, was picking a fight, he raised his voice in indignation.

“Did I say anything wrong?”

However, if he had thought of Claude as the lord’s lady he should serve, raising his voice like that in front of her was absolutely unacceptable behavior.

“What’s going on here?”

At that moment, Kaian entered the room.

“My lord, it’s…”

As the seamstress was about to appeal to the head of Temnes, seemingly wronged.

“My lord! That seamstress is the one who spread rumors that the lady stole decorations from clothes!”

Hannah’s clear voice was a step quicker.

“What?”

“This is perfect timing. Please quickly clear up the misunderstanding about the lady. Please?”

“Ah, no, what…”

As the seamstress who had been beaten to the punch was flustering.

“She didn’t steal it.”

“…Pardon?”

The seamstress opened his eyes wide.

He had been among those watching the commotion in front of Claude’s room door.

He had clearly heard what Kaian said!

‘There’s no way I would give such a thing as a gift.’

And then he even scolded them not to cause a disturbance, didn’t he? Everyone had been gleeful about it.

“I gave it to her. Understood?”

“But, but that…”

“I gave it to her because it was fascinating how it fit perfectly on her slender fingers when it fell off the clothes.”

Kaian’s glaring eyes conveyed a threat that if he dared to contradict, his life would not be comfortable.

Recognizing this, the seamstress swallowed his sense of injustice and quickly bowed his head.

“I, I have grown old and my eyes and ears have dimmed, causing me to be disrespectful. My lady, I am sorry for causing you harm.”

“I see. So you’ve already reached that age. It’s time for you to retire from castle duties.”

“My lord!”

“Butler, he has worked hard for a long time, so make sure his retirement is well taken care of.”

“My lord! Please listen to me for a moment!”

The seamstress looked back a few times, seemingly wronged, but was dragged out of Claude’s room by the stern butler’s arm.

In the awkward and cold atmosphere that followed, Kaian picked up a dress.

He had roughly ordered the seamstress to procure ones that would fit Claude.

“Try it on.”

“Now?”

“Then how long do you plan to keep wearing that Beaumont-style dress?”

When Kaian spoke in an angry tone, Claude went to the dressing room attached to the bedroom with Hannah to change clothes, drawing the curtain.

“Hehehe. It feels so satisfying.”

“Hannah.”

“As expected of our lord. Our lord is the best.”

Why is she acting like this where everyone can hear?

Claude was embarrassed, but she was quite surprised that Kaian had stepped forward to say he had given it to her.

She had been worried since he said he would call for a seamstress.

‘Did he care?’

Because she’s his wife?

“We’re done, my lady.”

Hannah adjusted Claude’s appearance here and there.

“If you’re done changing, come out and show me.”

“Yes, my lord. My lady, hurry, quickly.”

Hannah seemed more excited than Claude.

“Hmm. Not bad.”

“Isn’t she pretty? My lord? Our lady is so beautiful.”

“It’s better than when she was wearing that rustic Beaumont dress.”

It seemed that man was incapable of saying anything nice no matter what.

In Beaumont Castle, a cool chill flowed through the castle even in midsummer. That’s why even summer dresses were made of velvet with thin fur lining.

Rowen is warm year-round and especially hot in summer, so dresses made of thin white fabric with corsets to accentuate feminine curves, or lace dresses exposing the collarbone and shoulders, were common.

Until now, Claude hadn’t thought about changing her clothes because she had often felt cold even in Rowen’s daytime due to her illness.

However, as she recovered and started moving around, she had been troubled by constantly sweating, so she was grateful that Kaian had decided to have clothes made for her.

Even if it meant having clothes made by the seamstress who had caused her great embarrassment.

But Kaian had even chased that seamstress away right in front of her, so she felt her heart softening for no reason.

“Turn around once.”

As Claude slowly turned to show him, Kaian asked.

“Your neck looks empty.”

Indeed, as the dress was thin and light, with a low neckline, it looked bare along her long neck, unlike the Beaumont-style dresses buttoned up to just below the chin.

There was a reason why necklace designs in the southern region of Oberon were diverse and elaborate.

The lower neckline provided more opportunity to display jewelry brightly.

“If you have something that matches among what you own, try it on.”

Claude hesitated at Kaian’s words.

“I’ll try it on later. I’m tired from looking at clothes for so long.”

“I was short-sighted about the seamstress’s matter. I’ll hire another seamstress, so choose what you need here and discuss the rest with the new seamstress.”

“Thank you.”

He said to Hannah.

“There’s a share for you too, so pick out a few outfits.”

“Really? Thank you. Thank you, my lord.”

As the excited Hannah fussed over Claude, she smiled.

Seeing this, Kaian’s face instantly turned cold as he turned to leave.

“…Strange.”