The dress was from the Collegioni dressmaker and arrived in an unfinished state before the fitting. Instructions stated that it should be fitted to the recipient’s measurements to complete it.
Upon discovering the hundred red roses, Isabella assumed they were naturally a gift for her. Isabella often received presents from anonymous and named gentlemen.
It was just another ordinary day, and gentlemen’s gifts arriving at Cardinal De Mare’s residence were always for Isabella, so it was a reasonable assumption.
Isabella fanned herself with the fan in her hand as she gazed at the roses.
“Oh my, they’re so beautiful! Such refined taste too! Which gentleman sent these?”
Isabella asked as if it was a given, and the servant in charge of mail felt an ominous premonition as he cautiously replied.
“It is a gift from Count Cesare de Como.”
Isabella’s eyes widened.
“From Count Cesare? Oh my, why would he send me a gift? We haven’t had much interaction.”
“Well, that is…”
“Have the roses brought to my room. I must try on the dress right now. Would you mind scheduling a fitting appointment at Collegioni for me?”
In a good mood, Isabella gave orders to the servant in a suggestive form rather than the imperative for the first time in a while. However, that good mood was soon shattered to pieces. The mail servant cried out with his eyes tightly shut.
“I apologize for the audacity, elder lady. But this gift is for the second young lady.”
“What?!”
– Snap!
Isabella broke the fan she was holding in her hand.
[This is the timeline separator]The actual owner of the rose gift that shattered Isabella’s refreshing morning was not at all pleased to receive it.
“They sent this to me?”
“Yes, second young lady.”
It was the servant in charge of mail who had barely escaped Isabella’s tantrum and safely delivered the mail to Ariadne. However, despite his efforts, this gift that was so difficult to deliver did not please Ariadne at all.
“Red roses, Ariadne, right?”
“Yes, second young lady. Here is a letter from the sender.”
It was Cesare’s letterhead decorated with silver leaf. Opening the envelope sealed with red wax, a note written in very neat handwriting emerged.
“From your debutante partner.
It was an honor to share your life’s first waltz with you. Enclosed is an item befitting a beauty who resembles a red rose.
– Count Cesare.”
A hollow laugh escaped at the absurdity.
– “Lily of the valley resembles you. Obedient and known only to me, just like you.”
Those were the words Cesare had said while plucking a lily of the valley in the woods outside San Carlo and placing it in her ear.
A small white flower. A flower with a bowed head. A flower that blooms in the fields, plucked for free.
It felt like just yesterday when he treated people that way, and now his treatment changes so drastically because his circumstances have changed a bit? Ariadne was angry. It was a rage that disregarded the fact that Cesare of this life had not done anything yet.
The red roses were top-grade, lovingly grown in a flower garden. Gathering a hundred of them, a bouquet was made so heavy that it would be difficult for a woman to carry alone. A single bouquet would easily cost 50 florins (about 500,000 won) or more.
‘If you had paid even half as much attention to me in your previous life, I would have served and attended to you for the rest of my life.’
In fact, it was pointless to criticize Cesare for investing too little. In her previous life, all Cesare gave her were lily of the valley flowers blooming in the fields, but Ariadne of the previous life had faithfully served Cesare until the end.
Muttering to herself whether he had invested just the right amount for her worth, Ariadne looked at another gift sent by Count Cesare.
“What is that again?”
“It’s a dress. I heard it was sent from the Collegione dressmaker.”
The mail servant removed the cloth covering the mannequin wearing the garment. A evening gown made of blood-red crimson silk revealed itself.
Indeed, befitting the renowned name of the Collegione dressmaker, not a single stitch was done carelessly. It was a masterpiece that had been meticulously and thoroughly crafted, with careful thought put into making each and every lace pattern as visible as possible when moving.
The bodice of the crimson silk dress was made with three layers.
The outermost thick silk layer, then a thin silk layer arranged to overlap like a tulip bud inside it, and then another translucent organdy layer arranged to cover the skin inside that.
With this design, even if the stitches of the dress were to burst, the remaining two layers would provide coverage. It was a design that carefully considered preventing any accidental chest exposure.
“He put thought into it.”
But that was that, and this was this.
“Send it back.”
“Pardon?”
The mail servant stared at Ariadne with a dumbfounded expression. But Ariadne was resolute.
“He and I are nothing to each other. I cannot accept such an expensive item. Besides, I have an arrangement with the Ragione dressmaker, so I cannot wear dresses made elsewhere for the time being. Kindly explain to Count Cesare and return the flowers and dress.”
“But my lady! The roses are fresh flowers, so if we return them, they will all wither.”
The servant hastily added.
“It would be the same as sending garbage, my lady.”
The servant elaborated at length on why it would be rude. Outwardly, it was etiquette education, but internally, it was a plea of ‘Please don’t make me go to the de Como estate with flowers.’
Rejecting sent flowers was an act of publicly humiliating a gentleman, and Count de Como was known for his foul temper, and the servants of the count’s household were notorious for their roughness. Usually, when people could not retaliate against the master, they would vent their anger on the servant who acted as the messenger.
Considering the servant’s practical difficulties that he could not openly mention, Ariadne pondered the handling of the items for a moment but still shook her head.
“Alright, then just return the dress. The dress can be sent directly back to the Collegione dressmaker, so it will be less of a burden on you as well. Place the roses outside.”
“Not in the young lady’s room?”
“Yes, put them somewhere out of my sight.”
And Ariadne had more important business to attend to today. She had no time to spare for gifts sent by Cesare.
“Is the carriage ready?”
“Yes, my lady. Shall I inform the coachman that you are coming down now?”
“Good.”
Today was the day of the young ladies’ tea party hosted by Julia de Valdesar. Ariadne was as nervous as the day she went to San Ercole Cathedral to meet the Apostle of Aseretto. She secretly wiped the sweat on her palms on her dress.
[This is the timeline separator]“It is an honor to have you visit the Valdesar Marquis House, Lady de Mare.”
The Marquis House’s il domestico bowed deeply to her in greeting. Ariadne received the greeting with a smile that she tried to make appear graceful.
“Please come inside, Lady de Mare. Lady Julia is waiting in the drawing room.”
Today, Ariadne’s title was not ‘the little Lady de Mare.’ Since Isabella was not invited, there was only one Lady de Mare.
Ariadne wore a modest pale green dress for outings and a net veil adorned with tiny green topazes the size of a baby’s fingernail on her head.
It was a neat look carefully chosen to avoid being called shabby as the sole representative of the de Mare family.
As Ariadne in the green dress entered the drawing room of the Valdesar House, the gazes of the girls who had gathered earlier all focused on her at once.
Some were friendly, some were full of curiosity, and some looked her up and down as if evaluating her.
As if to block those gazes with her body, today’s hostess, Julia de Valdesar, stood up from her seat and approached Ariadne.
“Lady de Mare!”
Julia clasped Ariadne’s hands.
“I’m so glad you came. I was waiting for you.”
Ariadne responded to Julia’s kindness with a bright smile.
“Thank you for the invitation.”
“There may be some unfamiliar faces to you, Lady de Mare. Allow me to introduce you.”
There were four or five young ladies gathered at Julia de Valdesar’s tea party today.
The brown-haired Lady Rinaldi, filled with a sense of justice; Lady Dellatorre, whose family had a prosperous estate in northern Etrusca; and Lady Elba, whose father was a renowned lawyer, were relatively unfamiliar faces.
“No need, Lady Julia.”
Ariadne smiled brightly as she replied to Julia’s kindness.
“Lady Cornelia…”
Ariadne first looked at Lady Rinaldi and offered a handshake.
“And I believe I met Lady Gabrielle at the debutante ball before.”
The second greeting was to Lady Gabrielle Dellatorre. The two ladies were delighted that Ariadne, who had only met them once and was currently the hottest topic in San Carlo, remembered their names.
She exchanged introductions with the last one, Lady Elba, with Julia’s help, as they were truly meeting for the first time. There was also a slightly unexpected familiar face present. It was Camellia de Castiglione.
“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Lady de Mare.”
Strictly speaking, Camellia was Isabella’s friend, but she was sociable and good at agreeing with others, so she had a wide network and, above all, was well-informed about rumors, so she was regularly invited to other girls’ parties.
It seemed that even Julia, who was at odds with Isabella, had no intention of completely cutting people off just because they were close to Isabella.
Ariadne steeled herself against the feeling of disappointment welling up inside. Of course, it makes sense. I’m just being invited here for the first time today.
“It’s a pleasure, Lady Castiglione.”
Ariadne exchanged greetings with Camellia with a smiling face, showing no displeasure at all. The girls’ social circle was just beginning.
[This is the timeline separator]When a group of teenage girls gather, the topic of boys is an unavoidable subject of conversation.
“I heard Gabrielle received a marriage proposal this time!”
Lady Dellatorre smiled and spoke with modesty.
“A marriage proposal is an exaggeration. It’s just a suggestion for now. We’ll have to see if it goes through or not.”
“But I heard the gentleman is the eldest son of the Montefeltro Marquis House.”
The Montefeltro Marquis House was a very old and distinguished family and old nobility with a large estate in central Etrusca.
In Etrusca, where primogeniture was the principle, marrying the eldest son of the Montefeltro Marquis House meant becoming the Marchioness of Montefeltro if there were no major issues.
“It would be a blessed union between old noble families, as the Dellatorre Count House of Gabrielle is also a great noble family of the north.”
Julia, who had the sharpest political insight among the girls except for Ariadne, pointed out the degree of likelihood of the marriage’s success. When the rank and interests of the families aligned, marriage proposals usually smoothly led to marriage.
“I’m so envious.”
Lady Felicita Elba expressed her innocent envy towards Gabrielle.
Her father had risen to the capital with his own talents, although his inherited estate was unremarkable, so he was closer to a court noble than a feudal lord, strictly speaking. Naturally, she had admiration for the old nobility.
Marrying into the old nobility with a large estate and becoming the lady at the top of the existing order was a common dream for most daughters of the new nobility. However, Gabrielle Dellatorre smiled bitterly.
“Well, ruling over a grand estate may be a kind of happiness, but can it bring lasting happiness?”
Petruccio, the eldest son of the Marquis of Montefeltro, had a deceased wife. Already in his 30s, he had an eldest son who was not quite ten years old and even a young second daughter.
Petruccio de Montefeltro, known for his serious and thoughtful personality, was an ideal candidate for a husband, but there was a slight discrepancy in fitting into the happiness dreamed of by a girl in her late teens.
It was a sentiment that Julia de Valdesar fully agreed with. Does a man’s status have to be high? Can’t we just get along well with a handsome and honest partner?
However, she soon sighed and made a remark to keep both herself and Gabrielle in check.
“Love is just a fleeting, ephemeral joy.”
It was a mature remark delivered in a teenage-like decisive tone. However, Julia, who was about to continue, found herself at a loss for words.
Her mother used to talk about the happiness that blooms from the tranquility of everyday life and a harmonious family, rather than the burning fever of love, but for Julia, whose blood was still boiling at her age, such gentle stories did not resonate with her at all.
Fortunately, Felicita took over the rest of the story.
“Still, once you become the Marchioness and make your entrance at the ball in San Carlo, it will feel real, right? Everyone’s eyes will be on you, Gabrielle. I’m so jealous!”
“Indeed. I’m so envious that things are going smoothly for you.”
This time, it was Camellia who heaved a deep sigh.
“Why, Camellia? You have Sir Ottavio as your fiancé, so what’s troubling you?”
“Well, about that…”
[CODE BLOCK END]
__________
My Clingy Little Husband (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The male lead is initially an arrogant, noble, love-deprived brat, later a cute, clingy, scheming little jealous one.
Introduction:
One day, Lu Yuner’s soul transmigrates into a female-dominant world. She enters the Imperial Academy and takes up the position of a doctoral instructor, teaching classes and grading schoolwork.
One day, she encounters the young prince Su Qingwan secretly skipping class from the male academy.
As a result, Su Qingwan is punished.
From then on, Su Qingwan sees Lu Yuner as a “thorn in his side”.
But before long, this “thorn” becomes the person he cherishes most, and he goes to great lengths to win Lu Yuner’s affection.
Mini scene 1:
One day, the sun is high in the sky but Su Qingwan still hasn’t gotten up for class.
Servant Xiaoyuan: “Young prince, it’s time for class. You’ll be late otherwise.”
Su Qingwan says arrogantly: “I’m not going. I am the esteemed prince, my status is so noble, why should I suffer this hardship? Besides, isn’t learning all this just to please women? Hmph, they’re not worthy!”
Mini scene 2:
After Su Qingwan falls for someone, he completely changes. He no longer skips class and diligently learns how to be a good husband and father. But he discovers that Sister Yuner is always surrounded by admirers.
Drunk and overcome with jealousy one day, he clings to Lu Yuner, crying beautifully like a pear blossom in the rain.
Su Qingwan: “Qingwan likes Sister Yuner.”
Lu Yuner: “Young prince, you’re drunk.”
Su Qingwan: “Qingwan isn’t drunk. Qingwan likes Sister Yuner, likes you so much, likes you to bits…” Before he can finish, Lu Yuner’s eyes flash with emotion and she leans in closer.
[Reading Guide]
1. The female lead is gentle, gracious, humble and polite but not weak. The male lead is initially an arrogant, noble, love-deprived brat, later a cute, clingy, scheming little jealous one.
2. 1v1, a bit torturous in the beginning but definitely sweet later on.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
