For once, I woke up feeling refreshed. Clemens did a final check of the guest list for the upcoming banquet at the duke’s mansion.

Normally, Clemens’ expression was usually bright. However, to Gordon, his personal attendant who was always by his side, it looked subtly different today.

“Young master, did something good happen?”

“Oh, does it show?”

“Yes.”

At Gordon’s reply, Clemens’ lips curved into a gentle smile once again.

Clemens recalled what had happened yesterday in his mind.

The image of Diane tightly grasping his hand when Madam knelt down yesterday.

It was the first time Diane had approached him on her own. It was also the first time she had taken his hand first.

Seeing Diane like that, Clemens was flustered and his whole body stiffened. Naturally, the anger that had risen to the top of his head instantly lost its power.

In fact, it was solely because of that that Madam Vasily, who had been rude to Diane, was able to keep her life.

The fact that Diane had approached Clemens first. Although it was vexing that Madam had been rude to Diane, it unintentionally created a scene where he saved the child.

‘She must be punished.’

He would not forget and would repay Vasily for the wrong she had done to Diane.

However, the immediate reason he let Madam Vasily go was because Diane had liked the clothes he designed.

‘I promised to buy them for Diane.’

Although he didn’t care much for the child, thinking about it now, it was the child’s first gift.

‘It’s not bad if she likes it, since I’m giving it anyway.’

Gordon, unaware of these circumstances, simply thought that the young master was in a good mood because a banquet was being held at the duke’s mansion for once.

“I’ve checked. We can proceed as planned.”

As Clemens flipped through the list, Gordon expressed his doubt.

“Young master, I noticed that Lord Oliver is not on the guest list for this banquet. I wonder if you might have overlooked him?”

He was a lord who had always been invited whenever a banquet was held.

Although it didn’t appear so on the surface, to others, Young Master Clemens and Lord Oliver were considered quite close friends.

So, naturally thinking it was an oversight, he asked, but an unexpected answer came back.

“I’m not planning to invite him this time, so proceed as it is.”

“Ah, did you two perhaps have a fight…”

“A fight? No matter how informal we are, that’s not possible. He’s practically royalty from another country, you know.”

If it wasn’t a fight, then what could be the reason? Moreover, the lord’s family and the duke’s family had deep ties.

Even if the young master and the lord weren’t on good terms, considering the future relationship between the families, it wasn’t an issue that could be easily dismissed.

As Gordon was leaving the room worrying, he happened to run into Philen in the hallway.

“Lord Philen, I have something to discuss with you.”

He reported in detail what had just happened in the young master’s room.

Philen, who had much more experience than Gordon, listened to the story with a serious expression.

After explaining everything, Gordon cautiously voiced his thoughts.

“Shouldn’t we at least inform the master and invite him again?”

“Hmm? No, no. There’s no need for that. The master has agreed to this as well.”

However, an unexpected answer came from Philen as well. To the confused Gordon who didn’t understand the situation, Philen explained concisely.

“The master also said he would cut ties with that family from now on, so don’t worry and proceed as planned!”

* * *

Two days had passed since Madam Vasily’s visit. When the first dress arrived today, Sophia and Delma excitedly examined it.

“So this is the pink diamond they were talking about? My goodness, I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“I’ve only seen it once before. It was on the twin young masters’ toys a long time ago.”

“Young miss! Young miss, come here and look at this! The dress is so, so pretty!”

Despite Delma’s words, I didn’t leave the bed. Or to be more precise, I couldn’t leave it.

‘If I go out, they’ll definitely ask me to try it on!’

As if on cue, just as I thought that, Delma excitedly said,

“Come out quickly, young miss! You should try it on!”

I was terrified at those words.

‘How expensive is that thing to be worn so carelessly!’

Even though Clemens bought the dress for me, to someone like me who had only worn ready-made clothes all my life, it looked like something that should be carefully preserved. What if I try it on and damage the dress?

‘He probably won’t let it slide.’

I worried out of habit, but I actually knew. That all of Clemens’ behavior towards me yesterday was sincere.

‘Take your hands off my sister right now.’

Clemens’ words were still vivid in my mind.

‘He said I’m his sister.’

Without realizing it, my face relaxed into a smile.

“Young miss, hurry up!”

At that moment, Delma came to pull off the blanket, so I buried my face in the pillow.

“I’m sleepy, I want to take a nap.”

“Already? But it’s not even nap time yet…”

Delma was puzzled, but she didn’t push me any further. I could hear rustling sounds from behind, probably her tidying up the clothes.

The truth is, I wasn’t being careful just because of the dress’s price.

‘The duke didn’t seem too pleased about it either…’

Yesterday, after Clemens bought me the dress, he insisted on escorting me back to my room.

But I too was feeling less guarded towards Clemens than usual.

If before, my image of Clemens was that of an unconditional villain-to-be, now it had changed to more of a villain who could potentially become good.

It was then, as we were walking together, that we encountered the duke.

‘He bought you clothes?’

‘Yes.’

The duke asked briefly and then passed by us with a cold expression.

It would have been fine if that was all I saw – after all, the duke always had that expression – but after I came up to my room, I ended up witnessing that scene.

‘The duke called Vasily back.’

I saw Philen urgently stopping Vasily, who was about to leave in her carriage, and Vasily following Philen with trembling steps.

Seeing that scene, I spent all night tossing and turning, wondering why Vasily had been called back.

Finally, this morning, I came to a conclusion.

‘He must have said he would return all the clothes that were bought for me.’

Clemens hadn’t told me how much the clothes cost.

Even with my rough estimation, I could be certain that each dress would easily cost more than one or two mansions.

‘It was quite an excessive expenditure.’

Clemens did seem to be in an especially good mood that day. It seemed he had a habit of overspending when he was in a good mood.

I should have stopped him, being right there beside him, and I felt guilty for not doing so.

‘But they probably won’t scold me too much?’

Clemens, being the duke’s beloved son, was unlikely to be scolded, and I had only watched from the side as Clemens made the purchases.

And since the duke had immediately called Vasily back yesterday to get a refund, if all the expenditures were cancelled, there shouldn’t be much of a problem.

‘They’ll probably come to take back that dress today.’

I didn’t want to try on a dress that would be taken back anyway, risking even the slightest damage.

“Young miss, are you in there?”

‘As expected!’

Speak of the devil, soon after, Philen came looking for my room.

I abruptly sat up in bed and jumped out.

“Oh, young miss, you weren’t sleeping!”

“No, I wasn’t sleeping!”

Seeing my behavior, Delma exclaimed as if wronged. I ran to the door and opened it.

“Oh, young miss?”

“I knew you’d come!”

I was just happy that my prediction was right, but Philen seemed to interpret it differently.

“Young miss, to welcome me like this…”

Philen was all smiles. It was a complete misunderstanding, but I decided to let it be without correcting it.

Behind Philen, I could see several servants lined up.

‘Do they need that many people to take back one dress?’

It was puzzling, but if I thought about it a little, it wasn’t completely incomprehensible.

‘The price is astronomical after all.’

Pink diamonds, they said. The other dresses must be expensive too, but this one would probably be the most expensive.

“Young miss…”

“Yes, I didn’t try it on. It’s completely new.”

I said proudly. I shuddered to think how I would have felt if I had tried on that dress even once.

But I had never worn that dress. Knowing they would come to take it back like this!

‘Thank goodness.’

“Dress? What dress are you talking about?”

“The dress Clemens bought yesterday, the one that came earlier. I didn’t wear it. I didn’t even touch it or go near it.”

Philen tilted his head, then spoke with a look of realization.

“Ah, you mean the dress from Vasily’s shop. Well, you don’t have to try it on if you don’t want to. You can wear it whenever you like, young miss.”

Philen casually nodded towards the inside of the room. Then the servants standing behind him filed into the room.

Each of them was carrying a box covered in black velvet.

Seeing that, I felt nervous for some reason. The boxes all looked very luxurious.

Following Philen’s instructions, the servants who had entered lined up and placed the boxes they had brought on the table.

‘Necklaces, rings, bracelets… They’re all accessories?’

A sense of unease washed over me belatedly. Somehow, they all looked familiar.

“What is all this?”

As I stood there with my mouth open, not understanding the situation at all, Sophia asked what I wanted to ask.

“These are the young miss’s accessories. The master ordered them yesterday and we received the ones that were already made. In ten days, we’ll receive the custom-made accessories.”

At Philen’s answer, my jaw dropped as low as it could go. Why? Why did the duke…?

I thought I should ask for the reason right away, but it seemed the others didn’t think so.

“Oh my, is that so! It seems the master wanted to give a gift to the young miss.”

“Then these must be accessories from Vasily’s shop, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct. He ordered everything while he was there yesterday.”

Philen replied as if it were obvious. I quickly raised both hands to block Philen.

“Wait, wait a minute! Why did he buy so many of these?”

“According to Madam, the young miss said they were all pretty? So the master ordered all of them.”

Hearing those words, I stared blankly at Philen. Then I realized.

‘So the reason they called Vasily back yesterday wasn’t to return the clothes?’

Receiving such an unbelievably extravagant gift, I felt more bewildered than happy.

Moreover, there was another question.

‘When did I say they were all pretty?’

Surely the audacious Vasily wasn’t trying to pull a scam?

Then suddenly, a memory flashed through my mind.

‘This is all! They’re all so pretty! It was hard to choose because they’re all so pretty!’

‘Could it be because of those words…?’