“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Just as Dalia was about to leave, thinking she had finished modifying the design, a woman who had been watching Dalia and Louise from one side of the dress shop stepped forward.

“You’re the Duchess of Sayer, aren’t you?”

The woman with dark brown hair braided and draped over her shoulder had sparkling blue eyes.

‘Who is she?’

The woman, who appeared to be around Dalia’s age, seemed to be a noble like herself, but there was no way Dalia could recognize who she was.

However, it wouldn’t be right to bluntly ask who she was to someone who seemed to know her. As Dalia was wondering how to respond, the woman spoke again.

“Ah, I’m late with my introduction. It’s nice to meet you. My name is Rachel. Duke Roman is my father.”

‘Rachel? Wait, if it’s Rachel…’

Rachel Roman.

She was from one of only five ducal families in the empire. And more important than the fact that she was a young lady from a prestigious family was that…

‘If it’s Rachel, isn’t she the one who later provides the cause for the female lead to meet the male lead when she runs away?!’

In the original story, she first met the female lead when Rachel was married off to Duke Chaser.

While living there as a duchess, she discovered the female lead hiding in the territory and, taking pity on the female lead living alone without a husband, gave her a lot of help.

And she brought the female lead in as a wet nurse for her newborn daughter.

Thanks to that, the female lead, who was staying at the duke’s mansion, happened to meet the male lead who was visiting there, which was the flow of the original story.

‘To think I’d meet Rachel now?’

And to think it was during the time when Rachel was still the daughter of Duke Roman, before becoming the Duchess of Chaser.

It was perplexing, and on the other hand, it was also unsettling that developments different from the original kept popping up.

Of course, she wasn’t a villain, as she was friendly to the female lead and would be of great help later. So, Dalia greeted her in a calm voice.

“Yes. Nice to meet you, Lady Roman. Are you also ordering a dress?”

“Yes. It’s soon to be His Majesty the Emperor’s birthday, isn’t it? More than that, I overheard your conversation with Madam Louise earlier. Actually, I’ve also been thinking that the dresses so far have been a bit stifling.”

Rachel replied with a wink. Come to think of it, Rachel’s attire was a bit different. It had a simpler feel compared to the outerwear often seen at social gatherings.

Just as Dalia was thinking it was the nicest outfit among the outerwear she had seen so far, Rachel made a suggestion to her.

“Isn’t it a bit strange that the Duchess of Sayer and I were thinking the same thing? So, would you like to have a cup of tea with me?”

“…”

“There’s a new tea house that opened near the river. Drinking tea by the riverside as the sun sets is the latest trend in social circles.”

“I see…”

Ah, how bothersome.

It’s already been four hours since I left home.

For someone like me who finds it difficult to be out for more than two hours, this was too much of an ordeal.

‘What should I do?’

I had originally planned to go see a doctor right away.

But seeing Rachel’s sparkling eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to refuse.

‘Well, whether we become close now or later doesn’t really matter.’

Thinking that this too would help in living a comfortable life in the future, I smiled brightly.

“Alright. Let’s go together.”

Rachel’s words about drinking tea at a newly opened cafe by the riverside being the latest trend were not just empty talk.

With its sophisticated interior and the magnificent scenery spread out before them, along with the sweet scent tickling their noses, it was a place that had everything a woman would like.

“What do you think? Isn’t the atmosphere just lovely?”

“It really is. It’s so pretty.”

“The sunset view from here is so beautiful. You should definitely come here with the Duke later.”

Ugh, that’s a bit…

“Yes, it would be nice to come with the Duke. But about the seats…”

Hiding her true thoughts, Dalia responded appropriately to Rachel’s words and was looking around for empty seats when suddenly:

“Oh my, Duchess Sayer?”

A surprised voice called out to Dalia.

‘Ah, who is it now?’

Before Dalia could even hide her annoyed expression, Rachel, who was beside her, reacted first.

“Marchioness Borsen?”

“Oh my, Lady Roman of the Duke’s family is here too?”

As if she had just noticed Rachel next to Dalia, the Marchioness Borsen fluttered her fan.

‘If it’s the Marchioness Borsen…’

She was one of the minor villains who appeared a few times in the original story to torment the female lead.

She was a woman who was jealous that the bullied daughter from a baronial family she had always looked down upon had married Duke Sayer and become higher in status than herself.

‘That’s why she picked fights with the female lead at every turn.’

Later, when she found out that the male lead had a mistress, she was overjoyed, wasn’t she?

She wrongly provoked the female lead who had returned as a duchess, and when the male lead learned that she had also bullied the female lead in the past, her family’s business was ruined, leading to her lonely exit.

Anyway, that would happen later. The most important thing now was that this woman was hostile towards her.

And sure enough.

The Marchioness Borsen, who had quickly approached, began to provoke me.

“I heard our Duchess has been going out frequently these days, and here you are in a place like this. You’ve changed a lot while I was away from the capital, haven’t you?”

It was a sarcastic remark about Dalia’s recent active participation in social activities.

Although there was a clear wall of status between a marchioness and a duchess, the marchioness dared to be so insolent to the duchess, knowing that Dalia wouldn’t raise any objections.

“And to be with Lady Roman of the Duke’s family. They say birds of a feather flock together, don’t they? I’m glad to see you two get along so well.”

It meant that the combination of two people who were on the fringes of high society suited each other well.

After being invited to the Landrofil Marquis’s garden party, people’s gazes towards Dalia had softened somewhat, but there were still those who didn’t look at her kindly.

It’s just that Dalia didn’t care about it at all.

But the Marchioness, unaware of Dalia’s feelings, had her nose up in the air, thinking she had once again put Dalia in her place.

“Since we’ve met like this, why don’t we have tea together?”

“No, we…”

“Oh my. Look, a terrace seat has just opened up.”

Rachel tried to decline the Marchioness’s suggestion to join them, but it was useless. The Marchioness went to the terrace regardless and gestured for the two to come quickly.

This too was a way of disrespecting Dalia, who was a duchess, and Rachel, who was a duke’s daughter.

Sigh.

‘I have a feeling I’m going to get involved in another troublesome situation.’

Glancing at Rachel, her expression didn’t look good either, as if she found this situation uncomfortable.

“Come on, sit down.”

And regardless of whether the two were uncomfortable or not, the Marchioness sat in the best seat at the table and gestured.

‘See what I mean?’

Even when sitting, it’s proper to sit according to rank. It was exasperating to see a woman who was lower in status than herself, a duchess, arbitrarily taking the best seat.

‘I may have only been possessed for a short time, but as someone with 17 years of experience in romance fantasy novels, I can clearly see how rudely this so-called Marchioness is behaving.’

But it would be bothersome to pick a fight here. I thought I’d just go along with it for now and then go home. But then.

“Huh?”

Dalia suddenly noticed an insect clinging to her arm and flinched.

With many legs and about the size of a thumb, it seemed to have fallen from the large tree in front of the cafe.

‘I should quickly remove it before anyone sees.’

Worried that the Marchioness might make a fuss if she saw it, Dalia lightly flicked it with her finger.

Oh no.

The insect ended up sticking to the head of the Marchioness who was sitting in her seat.

Dalia, who had momentarily frozen in shock, turned her head after some deliberation.

‘Let’s, let’s pretend I didn’t see it.’

Although she felt sorry for the insect struggling in the hair, what could she do?

Even though she wasn’t afraid of insects, she didn’t want to catch it by rummaging through someone else’s hair.

Because of this, Dalia sat down awkwardly across from the Marchioness Borsen.

As if on cue, a maid placed the tea they had ordered on the table.

The Marchioness Borsen picked up the teacup in front of her and savored the aroma.

“The fragrance of the black tea here is particularly aromatic. We use tea leaves produced in our Borsen territory. I brought some to the Duchess’s tea party last time, do you remember? Oh, that’s right. Come to think of it, you couldn’t drink the tea because you were crying, weren’t you?”

Laughter that seemed to mock the past Dalia echoed across the table.

But regardless, Dalia’s only concern was the insect on top of the Marchioness’s head.

The insect that had been safely perched on the crown of her head until just a moment ago was now precariously hanging, about to fall.

And finally.

“I still feel heartbroken when I recall the Duchess’s tearful appearance that day. On the one hand, I’m also worried. Although you’re from a humble family, you’re now a Duchess, so in front of people, you should maintain your dignity…”

Plop−.

The moment the Marchioness lifted her teacup to drink, the insect that had been hanging at the end of her hair plunged into the teacup.