“Seiyard.”

At Kisa’s call, Seiyard nodded.

“Yes, leave the guest reception to me and go ahead.”

“I’m counting on you. See you later.”

As she needed to change quickly before the ceremony began, Kisa hurried out of the banquet hall with Lily.

One outfit for greeting guests before the engagement ceremony, one for during the ceremony, and one for the reception afterwards.

This was Kisa’s plan to change into the three dresses she had prepared for the engagement ceremony.

It would be a shame not to showcase all the dresses obtained from the haughty dress shop with Seiyard’s help.

Soon after, the two arrived at the guest room where Kisa was staying.

Since they had decided to use a guest room, Seiyard had given her the room closest to the banquet hall to minimize the trouble of going back and forth.

Thanks to that consideration, Kisa was able to return to the banquet hall in less than twenty minutes after leaving, having changed into her second dress with Lily’s help.

As she entered the banquet hall, Kisa could feel the gaze of numerous people on her skin.

This was not just because Kisa, the woman who had recently become the center of attention in the kingdom and the protagonist of the engagement ceremony, had appeared.

“Wow! You were always beautiful, but in this dress, you seem to shine!”

This was what Lily had exclaimed just minutes ago when she saw Kisa who had just changed her clothes.

What had sounded merely embarrassing to Kisa was proven to be more than mere flattery by the look in people’s eyes now.

Unlike the first dress, which had been relatively modest, the blue dress that boldly revealed the wearer’s figure while still being elegant caught people’s eyes at first glance.

Moreover, it visually harmonized with the decorations of the banquet hall, which were of a similar color, further emphasizing its beauty.

Kisa looked around at the faces of those staring at her in awe.

Among them were clearly those who had not been fond of her before.

Outward beauty. In fact, the objective fact that her beauty was exceptional did not bring much joy to Kisa.

It hadn’t always been that way. Kisa had been an ordinary girl who secretly delighted in others’ praise, favor, and envious glances.

Her father, who was stingy with compliments, acknowledged his daughter’s beauty, and even Daniel, who found his fiancée bothersome, was strangely more lenient with Kisa compared to other girls, while Melissa openly boasted about her pretty friend. Kisa had liked that.

But perhaps due to the fickleness of human hearts, at some point, Kisa had gradually become numb to what her beauty brought her.

No matter how much recognition she received for her appearance from many people, Kisa’s life was not particularly happy.

Because of that beauty, the Count increasingly wanted more from his daughter.

It was a markedly different attitude from how he treated his son, who was left alone as long as he stayed quiet.

Daniel seemed to subtly look down on Kisa for cultivating her beauty through his words and actions.

Yet, when appearing in public with a fully dressed-up Kisa, he seemed quite pleased, making it difficult to know which tune to dance to.

Melissa still appreciated Kisa’s beauty, but she didn’t like Kisa’s shy personality.

Gradually, the friend’s attempts to introduce her to new people became burdensome.

If the three most important people in Kisa’s life were like this, how much worse would others be?

Before long, compliments on her appearance became something so obvious and sometimes tiresome to Kisa that she would let them in one ear and out the other.

Since everyone, including the Count, demanded it of her, she paid as much attention as she could, but the sincere longing she once had was rarely felt anymore.

But not now.

At this moment, Kisa deeply hoped that she looked beautiful.

To others. And to Seiyard.

The person who told her she wasn’t stupid.

The person who helped her escape from Daniel.

The person who understood her feelings that she herself didn’t know.

The only thing Kisa had done so far for this person who had bestowed so many favors upon her was to play the role of fiancée.

If so, at the very least, she wanted to look beautiful.

She wanted the people who saw today’s engagement ceremony to say that she was indeed a beauty worthy of Duke Hillan’s desire, unable to hide their envy.

She wanted to be the best ornament that would make Seiyard Hillan’s name shine even brighter.

That was all Kisa could do for him.

Would he be pleased?

“Seiyard.”

Unable to hide her anticipation, she approached the man standing in the same place as before.

“Kisa.”

Seiyard also moved a few steps towards her.

Then, before Kisa could say anything, he took her hand and kissed the back of it.

It was a gesture so full of affection that to others’ eyes, he looked like a man completely smitten with his fiancée.

He was truly an excellent actor, to the point where even Kisa, who knew the circumstances, was confused.

“Why so suddenly…?”

“I just felt like it.”

Seiyard, who answered so boldly that it was almost shameless, led Kisa to the center of the banquet hall.

Almost simultaneously, the servants closed the wide-open doors of the banquet hall.

The engagement ceremony had begun.

“But aren’t you cold?”

As they walked down the path cleared by people, Seiyard whispered in Kisa’s ear.

“Especially your shoulders look cold.”

The second dress was designed to expose Kisa’s bare shoulders.

Kisa chuckled, conscious of his hand touching her shoulder.

“Didn’t you ask the same thing last time?”

When they went to fit the dresses, Kisa had worn a prototype of the same design as this dress.

Like the other two dresses, Seiyard had said it was beautiful, but immediately followed up with a question about whether she would be cold.

It was a somewhat odd question.

The season was already late spring, approaching summer, and the engagement ceremony was being held indoors, so how cold could she be just from exposing her shoulders?

She had answered just like that, and Seiyard had simply nodded without further comment.

But thinking about it now, maybe that was his own way of expressing embarrassment.

Having grown up in a monastery, a place forbidden to women, he might not be used to exposure.

Of course, he could have gone outside the monastery, but it didn’t seem likely that such attire would be common in the relatively remote Bonzmos.

Dresses with this level of exposure were mainly seen at banquet halls.

‘How cute.’

At that moment, Kisa felt a sentiment she had never experienced before when looking at Seiyard.

The thought that the great Seiyard could feel embarrassed by such minor exposure made her laugh involuntarily. He wasn’t a pubescent boy, after all.

Somehow, a corner of her heart tickled.

“It’s okay. I’m not cold at all.”

To Kisa’s answer tinged with laughter, he replied in a slightly sheepish tone that it was good then.

The two arrived at the podium at the center of the banquet hall, exchanging whispers like this.

“We express our gratitude to all who have come to this place to celebrate our union.”

Seiyard delivered a simple greeting to the audience.

After his words, Kisa also spoke similar words.

In fact, whether it was an engagement or a wedding, since it was a union of two families, it was customary for the heads of each family to announce the start of the ceremony with lengthy speeches on such occasions.

However, the two had discussed beforehand and decided to simplify the procedure by excluding all such processes.

There was also the meaning of not exhausting themselves in advance since they would be getting married in a few months anyway, and there was concern that the picture might look a bit odd.

Seiyard, having lost both parents and his brother, and not on good terms with his relatives due to inheritance issues, had no blood relatives to invite to the engagement ceremony.

This meant there was no suitable elder figure to take on the role of the family head.

Of course, he was clearly the head of the Hillan family, so he could have appeared alongside Count Vanspelt, but it wouldn’t have been balanced.

Therefore, Kisa and Seiyard broke with convention and left only the exchange of engagement gifts among the existing engagement ceremony procedures.

Originally, this banquet was planned to celebrate Seiyard’s succession to his title, but it had somehow turned into an engagement ceremony.

So Kisa argued that they should put more effort into the banquet that would follow rather than the engagement ceremony, and Seiyard willingly agreed to her wishes. Saying this:

“I’m pleased by your thoughtfulness towards me.”

He had noticed Kisa’s inner desire for him not to feel the absence of family even a little.

Although Seiyard didn’t seem to mind much, it had been weighing on Kisa’s mind all along.

He had clearly described himself as emotionally dull before.

Even if he wasn’t aware of it himself, there could be old wounds beneath that perfect appearance.

Anyway, as the greetings quickly ended, it was time to exchange engagement gifts.

Since they would exchange rings at the wedding, they decided on different gifts for the engagement ceremony.

First, Seiyard placed a bracelet made of pure white diamonds around Kisa’s wrist, and then Kisa attached black diamond cufflinks to his sleeve.

There was no law saying they had to prepare the same kind of gift, so each chose what they wanted to give to the other.

Afterwards, the two faced each other for a while.

It was the moment they officially became each other’s fiancé.