The startled maid of Dalina came out and bowed politely to Philip and me. At the same time, Dalina, who brought her hands neatly forward, approached us to greet us.

“Oh, Count.”

She looked utterly nonchalant. Knowing where she had just come from, I was quite taken aback.

‘She looks quite bold, making eye contact with me?’

However, Philip turned his head towards me instead of addressing it.

Dalina’s negligee was not thin enough to see through or expose anything, yet he desperately acted as if he couldn’t see it.

Besides, he even cautiously noticed my reaction, it was ridiculous.

‘Why is this happening?’

Could it be that he instinctively knows that Dalina is his destined partner and is shy about it?

“Ahem, young lady, why are you here?”

Philip, who asked without facing Dalina, even slightly furrowed his brows.

‘Philip, it’s not the time to ask such a thing. Didn’t you see Dalina coming out of my room?’

From Philip’s atmosphere, it seemed the latter. He was shy.

I eventually gave up asking Dalina what she had done in my room after a moment’s consideration.

‘Whether I’m astonished by the room issue or angry, what’s the point? They’re going to get married anyway.’

There’s nothing significant in my room. All the jewelry is in the dressing room.

“It seemed the negligee party was around here somewhere. I must have lost my mind. I was confused about the place and looking for it.”

She approached us, specifically Philip, with a calm smile.

“Would you mind guiding me?”

Philip, surprised, stepped back a few steps before answering.

“Of course.”

‘If it’s obvious, why are you backing away?’

“My lady, you will guide her……. ”

“Me?”

The place of the negligee party is next to the room Philip is going to, and they want me to watch them getting closer?

I have no complaints if it goes according to the original, but I’d rather not see it in front of me.

Philip sighed as if he was not pleased.

“Ah…… You were about to rest, my lady.”

“Yes, since you’re going in the same direction, you can guide her.”

“Understood.”

Philip kissed the tip of my hand with a regretful expression.

It seems he’s faithfully playing the role of a husband since people are watching.

“Then have a good night, my lady.”

He didn’t forget to show a charming smile.

‘There’s no need to go to great lengths to demonstrate the appearance of a window couple…… Dalina is your future wife after all?’

But since the current legal spouse is me, and it’s not something to say openly about the future, I just waved with a smile.

“See you tomorrow.”

Philip turned his head with a nod.

“Let’s go, young lady. The gathering place is on the first floor.”

His tone was dry. He didn’t even look at Dalina as he began to retrace the way he had come.

Dalina followed her maid and Philip and glanced back at me.

“……?”

Was Dalina’s gaze a bit sharp, or was it just my imagination?

(This is a time separator.)

“Sigh……. ”

Feeling like things were continuously going wrong, Philip swallowed another sigh. He had lost count of how many sighs he had taken today.

He also felt repeatedly cruel to Ellen.

The first time he felt cruel was Ellen’s midnight stroll.

He wanted to follow Ellen’s walk, but he couldn’t ignore the guests who had collapsed, claiming to be drunk.

That’s why he missed Ellen. He just didn’t feel right going into the party room.

Philip made the excuse of catching some air at the mansion’s entrance, waiting and waiting for Ellen to finish her stroll and come back.

Like a dog, eagerly waiting for its owner to return.

The joy of meeting Ellen after waiting was shortlived.

‘My lady, why did you bring such a doll?’

When he saw the traces of gardener Heyde in Ellen’s hand, Philip felt a pang in his heart.

Heyde’s knitting skills were famous among the mansion’s servants.

Many maids, charmed by his skill, had asked him to knit dolls that looked like them, offering to buy them.

But Heyde had refused them all.
Someone resembling a doll would not be knitted, that was his declaration.

Yet as if he never said such a thing, he made a doll resembling Ellen and presented it as a gift.

‘The suspicious look in his eyes when he looked at my wife before…’

Of course, there wasn’t much Heide could do about it.

Heide, with his coppercolored skin, might be handsome and particularly broadchested, but he was merely a gardener.

Being of low status, he was nothing but a loyal hound that obeyed whatever his master told him to do, and it was difficult for him to exert any real influence over Countess Ellen.

So Philip tried to be generous, even if he didn’t like Heide.

But after seeing the doll, his thoughts changed. Heide’s existence became unbearably irritating.

‘That he could give that today means he must have been knitting it from long ago.’

Considering that Ellen accepted the crochet doll filled with loving care, one stitch at a time, the gardener must now be ecstatic.

Imagining Heide’s floating appearance, Philip felt Ellen had been cruel again.