Next to a white table with various luxurious cotton fabrics, a red dress that fluttered like a pale veil with a plunging neckline hung on a mannequin.

The dress, resembling burning firewood, had no distinct pattern, but that made it even more eye-catching.

Around the waist, a jet-black band that looked like the black aurora spread at dawn was wrapped as an accent.

The dress, with its appropriate blend of black and red, reminded Gabriel of one man.

‘Dietrich!’

It’s a dress reminiscent of Dietrich, whom she had accidentally encountered on the streets of the capital.

Gabriel took her eyes off the dress and looked at the shopkeeper who was skillfully responding to Hariel’s words.

“How much is this dress?”

At Gabriel’s question, the shopkeeper rushed over to her.

“This is a custom-made piece for a regular customer coming today, so it’s not for sale.”

“……”

Gabriel absolutely could not give up on this dress that had caught her eye.

“Forget about custom-made clothes, I want this dress.”

“Young lady, this is not for sale. The customer will be visiting soon.”

“Then, how about selling me the boutique?”

Gabriel held out a blank check to the shopkeeper.

“Write down any price you want.”

The shopkeeper bit her lips.

“I can’t. Young lady, I can’t just hand over the boutique I’ve devoted my entire life to like this…”

“Then at least give me the dress. If the regular customer asks for the dress, tell them there was a problem with the making and it will take longer than expected.”

The shopkeeper was at her wit’s end.

Her regular customer, who was also the most demanding one, was about to come in, but suddenly this young lady appeared, waving a blank check and demanding the dress.

“You don’t have to give me the whole boutique, just give me the dress. I can afford whatever price you write.”

“I, I can’t. If the regular customer finds out, it will be a disaster. Please leave quickly.”

“Why? Who is this regular customer who ordered this dress that you’re acting like this?”

Ding-

The bell sound was heard just as the shopkeeper dropped the blank check on the floor.

A slender young lady wearing a snow-white bonnet entered the boutique with graceful steps.

As she removed the white bonnet, her hidden wavy pink hair fell in curls down her back, revealing her face.

The woman, with delicate features set in her fair skin, had a lovely face.

Under her fine eyelashes, blue eyes coldly gazed at Gabriel.

The shopkeeper approached her nervously.

“Lady Reina!”

Reina?

Gabriel’s eyes shook at those words.

Lady Reina was Ileon’s only younger sister.

She was also the one who had been harshly rejected after making advances on Dietrich at the imperial palace, having taken a liking to him.

“Reina Gredrik?”

Gabriel couldn’t believe her eyes and inadvertently spoke the woman’s full name.

Reina approached Gabriel and slapped her cheek hard.

Slap!

A sharp sound reverberated mercilessly through the boutique.

“Gabriel!”

A shocked Hariel stepped forward to shield Gabriel, who had been slapped.

Gabriel clutched her slapped left cheek with a trembling hand.

“The Eclaen’s standards have really fallen. Do you let just anyone in as a customer? How dare you casually call out a high noble’s name.”

A sarcastic voice flowed from Reina’s throat.

“I apologize. I misspoke. My lady.”

Gabriel quickly apologized with a bow. But Reina ignored the apology and tilted her chin up.

“If you’re truly sorry, get on your knees and beg.”

Hariel and Gabriel’s faces turned pale.

Reina sneered, twisting her lips.

“What? Can’t even do that? Shall I turn you over to the guards for the crime of contempt?”

“My daughter is entirely at fault. We’re sorry, my lady. Please forgive us just this once.”

Hariel knelt on the floor and begged profusely in Gabriel’s place.

Gabriel gritted her teeth inwardly.

To be born lucky as a lady, yet treat people like dogs.

Her pride was deeply wounded.

Seemingly satisfied with Hariel begging like a dog, Reina turned her gaze to the shopkeeper.

“Wasn’t it a rule to only accept reserved customers? Why are you doing something you don’t usually do and irritating me?”

“My lady, that’s not it, these people came in on their own…”

“Hah.”

Reina sighed.

Her blue eyes rolled slowly and fixed on one spot.

“Is this the dress?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm.”

Reina touched the red dress hanging on the mannequin.

Seemingly pleased with the feeling of the thin veil-like red dress wrapping around her hand, a satisfied smile spread across Reina’s lips.

“I like the dress, so I’ll let it slide just this once. If this happens again, I won’t be so lenient.”

“My lady. This will never happen again.”

The shopkeeper rubbed her hands together earnestly to appease Reina.

The shopkeeper put the dress in an elegant box and handed it to Reina.

Reina passed the box to the maid following her and turned her head slightly to ask the shopkeeper.

“By the way, what family are they from?”

“They said they’re from the Brillian family. You must have heard of them, my lady. The Angel of Brillian…”

“Hmph.”

Reina snorted and trampled the fallen blank check mercilessly with her shoe.

“As expected, an insignificant family.”

With those final words, Reina left the boutique.

“Please leave now. And don’t ever come here again.”

The shopkeeper chased Hariel and Gabriel out ruthlessly, as if shooing away flies.

They had been humiliated and had the dress taken away right before their eyes.

Gabriel vowed never to forget this humiliation.

Celiya changed into the satin dress Dietrich had given her.

The white satin dress that neither revealed her figure nor exposed her collarbone area was exactly to Celiya’s liking.

‘How strange that it’s the same white dress, yet it makes me feel respected as a person.’

Celiya looked down at the white mermaid dress she had taken off with a disgusted expression.

The reason she hadn’t been surprised to see Crown Prince Jeremy’s hideously distorted face was because she knew his inner self was even more twisted than his outward appearance.

How unpleasant it had been when he bit into her collarbone, lusting after her.

In contrast, when Dietrich suddenly buried his face in her collarbone, it was the opposite.

‘Is it possible to remove scars with ability?’

Celiya became genuinely curious.

What exactly was Dietrich’s identity?

Would the day ever come when she would fully know what he was hiding from her?

‘Seeing how he’s telling me bits and pieces, it seems Dietrich is opening up to me to some extent.’

Unable to probe into Dietrich’s inner thoughts, Celiya sighed in frustration.

She couldn’t forget that predatory gaze, fleeting though it was.

A man who erased the scar on her collarbone with eyes that looked as if he would devour her without leaving a single piece of flesh.

‘Strange person.’

Dietrich was strange.

He said she was bothersome, yet he was handling troublesome matters on her behalf.

−I’ll depose the Crown Prince.

Moreover, when Dietrich said it, it felt as if it would really happen.

“I hope joining hands with you was the right choice.”

Celiya murmured softly to herself.

The sunset light filtering through the high arched window gently enveloped Dietrich, who stood alone in the hallway.

Dietrich, standing in the hallway, remained motionless for a long time after hearing Celiya’s soft soliloquy from behind the closed door.

He only began to move when the sight of armored knights surrounding his mansion and appearing one after another entered his view.

Dietrich’s footsteps echoed quietly through the empty hallway.

He did not want to disappoint Celiya.

−Tell me. So I can help you.

Celiya, who had walked into his mansion of her own accord, knowing she might be used.

−Do you, like me, want the downfall of Abelon?

The voice that calmly asked with overflowing sincerity.

The voice that asked him directly, as if forgetting her previous behavior of hiding her intentions and acting foolishly.

It was unbearably annoying how she stole his lips, his breath, swallowed his saliva, and then arbitrarily broke away.

So he devoured her lips just as she had done.

He pushed Celiya, who was trying to break away while gasping for breath, again and again.

Celiya might have already noticed that he possessed healing abilities.

Even knowing that.

Celiya, whom he thought would feel disgust, instead said she would offer her ability whenever needed.

−So that’s why I became terminally ill.

Celiya’s face showed no self-pity as she said this.

Her upright gaze, the faint bite mark still visible on her collarbone, was maddeningly irritating.

Celiya, who had burst into refreshing laughter in the blood-soaked imperial bedchamber, seemed relieved as if she had shed all her burdens.

Perhaps it would have been right to kill her then.

If he hadn’t known that Celiya used the ability of hyacinth fragrance, he wouldn’t have let her into his mansion like this now.

Because that ability was…

Dietrich shook his head, dispelling the thought.

For now, it was more important to deal with those annoying things right in front of him.

“A mistress.”

Seeing them search his mansion just to catch Celiya, it seemed Jeremy was quite a despicable person.

He couldn’t let her become the mistress of such a lowly man when she had finally met a worthy master.

Dietrich grasped his sword. The sword in his hand glinted in the sunset light.

As he came out holding the sword, the knights were startled and stepped back.

“What business do you have at my mansion?”

The knights swallowed hard at Dietrich’s low voice and answered.

“His Highness the Crown Prince ordered us to bring Celiya Brillian. We heard she was at the Duke’s mansion.”

“She’s not here.”

“…Pardon?”

“I said she’s not here. Go and tell him there’s no one in my mansion.”

The knights looked at each other. One knight who had been moving his lips spoke up.

“Duke Gredrik said he saw Celiya Brillian heading towards Duke Calypso’s mansion.”

Dietrich brushed his messy hair upwards and wore a faint sneer on his lips.

“Duke Gredrik saw her, you say.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And so you came here.”

“…Yes, Your Grace.”

Dietrich carefully scanned the bewildered faces of the knights and said,

“Isn’t it strange to look for His Highness’s mistress in my mansion in the first place?”

“……”

“You should have confirmed she wasn’t here earlier. Yet you’re searching my mansion again now.”

The knights couldn’t give any answer to this perfectly logical statement.

“Go and tell His Highness. His mistress is not in my mansion.”