He entered behind the curtain in the blink of an eye and ascended the platform with his back to the chandelier light.

“Excuse me.”

Edmond slowly opened his eyelids, revealing shadowed eyes. The shadows cast on his finely drawn features accentuated his cool beauty.

While I was flustered by the rapidly unfolding situation, he held up the brooch.

“Where should I pin it?”

“…You’re really going to pin it for me?”

“Where?”

His tone urged to finish quickly, and as I was about to answer immediately, I hesitated for a moment. Hmm, this won’t be easy. Feeling the oncoming tension and a strange trembling, I slowly tapped just below my cleavage.

“Here.”

Edmond’s eyes, which had been following my hand carelessly, suddenly widened.

“…”

Disturbed, he looked at me once with wavering eyes, then at the empty space, and then back at me.

Finally, he slowly rubbed his forehead with a troubled expression.

“Damn it…”

At last, a low-muttered curse was heard. It was a position where his hand could easily touch my chest if he made a wrong move. I felt embarrassed as well, heat rising to my face. I quickly turned my head and hastily extended my hand.

“Give it to me. I’ll do it myself.”

“No need, please stay still.”

“…I’ve been still this whole time, you know?”

“I meant keep your mouth shut.”

“…Understood.”

Hurt by his words, which he spat out fiercely as if growling, I pointedly pursed my lips.

This time, he closed his eyes and heaved a deep sigh as if suppressing his anger.

How much time had passed like this?

His hands, hurriedly trying to pin the brooch, fumbled several times. Thanks to this, my heart, which had been tense until he climbed onto the platform, began to find composure.

To think that a man as big as a bear would be flustered by a single cleavage.

At that moment, Edmond, who had been concentrating on pinning the brooch, glanced at me and gritted his teeth.

“…Don’t laugh.”

Oh my. He must have seen my twitching lips.

“I’m not laughing, Count.”

“Do you know how ill-tempered I am?”

“My, me? I’ve never heard such a thing before.”

Ugh, Edmond let out a pained groan and lowered his eyelids. Gradually, the nape of his neck became flushed as if it would burn.

But this is beyond my control.

Think about it. How could one not laugh at the sight of a man twice my size, a national hero said to vanquish monsters with a single thrust of his spear, getting flustered over a woman’s cleavage?

Moreover, in the original story, the person who coldly and ruthlessly killed me is now struggling before me. It’s not entirely my fault that I feel a mischievous urge to tease him.

As Edmond’s hands continued to fumble, he sighed and pulled them back.

“This won’t do. Please close your eyes.”

“My, what are you planning to do while my eyes are closed− Alright, alright. I was about to close them.”

I was about to tease Edmond when I sensed a threat to my life from his ominous gaze and closed my eyes.

Then I felt the ruffles greatly disturbed. As all my senses focused on his presence at such close proximity, tension returned once again.

My body stiffened at the sound of his low breathing falling over my head.

Each time his rough skin brushed my chest area, I shrank my shoulders, and he would withdraw his hand and move more carefully.

When I came to my senses, I realized I was clutching my dress tightly and even holding my breath.

It was an unbearable tension different from before.

“…Is it done?”

My voice trembled slightly at the end.

Without a response, I only heard the red curtain fluttering down.

As I slowly lowered my gaze, I looked around the empty room and then down. I couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the sight of the crookedly hanging brooch, evidence of his struggle.

‘I’m seeing such adorable sides that I never saw in the original story.’

And so, until another staff member entered, I spent a long time suppressing my laughter while gently tapping the brooch with my fingertips.

Edmond, who had fled the dressing room as if escaping, walked for a long time with his long legs striding.

When he suddenly came to his senses, he was in an unfamiliar place.

Edmond unbuttoned a couple of buttons on his shirt, but still feeling hot, he ran his hand through his hair.

His face felt flushed, perhaps because summer was approaching.

Sensing the glances of passersby, he stared at the window of a shop across the street.

In the hazy window, a man was frowning with his ear tips and nape unsightly reddened.

It was a face that would shock his subordinates if they saw it, one that even he had never seen before.

‘Damn it, why am I…’

Edmond roughly rubbed his face as if trying to erase his reflection in the window.

He didn’t like this situation. Why should he be flustered and have his face colored with shame in a situation where that woman seemed to be mocking him?

And to that brazen, shameless woman at that.

He was certainly not immune to women, but it wasn’t something he hadn’t experienced in the past 9 years.

The women he knew were either quiet and modest or timid like his sister.

He couldn’t understand why he was being swayed by a woman who was just being glib.

A woman’s body is just a little different. White skin, collarbones that could hold water, and below that…

Damn it. Edmond squeezed his eyes shut as he recalled the previous situation.

The heat rushing to his face must be due to the stress caused by Etricia.

It might also be because he had been sitting at his desk doing boring work lately, reducing his physical activity.

He should do some training for mental discipline.

That way, he won’t be played by that woman again.

Edmond irritably and roughly rubbed his flushed neck, then hurriedly left the place.

After changing her clothes, Etricia waited for Lilien for a long time. However, for some reason, Lilien didn’t come, so she pulled back the curtain and left the room to find her.

As Etricia was looking around the hall, her foot caught on something.

It was a mannequin with a male upper body attached to a thin metal rod.

‘Why is this here?’

It seems an employee must have dropped it and left.

Looking around with a troubled expression, Etricia picked up the mannequin and returned to the room.

She set it against the wall next to the entrance, dusted off her hands, and was about to return to the sofa when she paused.

The detailed muscle definition and smooth skin texture were as excellent as the mannequins from the world she used to live in.

As if enchanted, Etricia placed her hand on the cold, hard chest of the mannequin.

With a sudden thought, Etricia smiled knowingly and unconsciously caressed the mannequin’s chest.

‘If I get divorced, I can’t keep living idly. It might be good to start a knight-specific jewelry business with lebron?’

In the empire, it was believed that crafting lebron would negate its effects, so it was only distributed as crude ore. Knights had to inefficiently carry magic stones, and production had to be limited.

But contrary to popular belief, there was no problem with crafting it.

If the ore was refined and crafted, it would give opportunities to soldiers who had to give up due to high unit prices and foreign knights who had no chance to purchase.

In her previous life, she was an international student dreaming of launching her own brand as a jewelry designer.

Although her passion had faded over the decades, lingering attachments remained.

Perhaps she could finally fulfill that dream now.

Etricia smiled contentedly at the corners of her mouth at the win-win situation. At that moment, Lilien was hurriedly making her way behind the velvet curtain.

Lilien crossed the hall towards the room, lifting her dress slightly. She had intended to return right after escorting the staff, but it took longer than expected.

‘Lady Etricia must be waiting…’

Finally reaching the room, she smiled brightly as she began to draw the curtain, but then hesitated.

This was because Etricia was fondling the mannequin’s chest with a heated smile.

Surprised, Lilien calmly let go of the curtain and took a step back.

Question marks floated above her head. Blinking blankly, Lilien peered inside again.

Indeed.

Etricia was gazing at the mannequin ecstatically with her jade-colored eyes. While caressing its chest.

It was the first time seeing Etricia with such an excited expression. Moreover, she was smiling satisfactorily while touching the flat chest of a male figure.

Flustered, Lilien rolled her pearl-like eyes.

The mannequin, embodying the most ideal physique, revealed very firm and smooth lines of a beautiful form. Moreover, unlike this mannequin, Devon happened to have a skinny body.

In other words, touching the mannequin’s chest with satisfaction when no one was around could only be seen as vicarious satisfaction. Then Etricia…

‘Lady Etricia likes men’s chests…’

And so, Lilien reached her own conclusion.

Suddenly, she remembered how Mary, the maid, had excitedly talked with her coworker about how men’s thighs were the best part of their bodies, without Lilien knowing.

It was a bit surprising and embarrassing, but she said that women weren’t without preferences for male body parts either.

Lilien cupped her burning cheeks.

On the other hand, she felt psychologically closer to Etricia after learning about her secret preference.

Pressing down her unconsciously rising lips, Lilien decided not to show that she knew.

After a while, Lilien made a loud noise to signal her presence before entering the room.