After the dance, I walked to the sofa again and leaned back as if I was sprawling, but then I sat back down at Sicar’s glare.

“From tomorrow, we will repeat the same dance every day for a while. And before sunset, correct that innocent look and learn the manners of the nobility.”

So does his words mean that I should always wear the same expressionless face as him?

“First, tell Andrea now to plant roses so that when you open your window, you can easily see the bright red roses.”

“In this deep winter?”

“If you use the holy water sold in the temple, it grows well without any problem.”

“Why roses….”

“You don’t have thorns. So there are many gaps to break in anytime. Every morning, open the window and look at the bright red roses and learn. Even if it’s beautiful, if there are thorns, no one can easily approach. Of course, even if you have thorns, they will be soft thorns. But I will watch. I will see what kind of thorns you will have.”

“I’ll try to have big thorns enough to sting you.”

“Don’t expect too much.”

Under Sicar’s watchful eyes, I called Andrea and told her to plant roses.

It was a message that Andrea could deliver, but in order to adapt to directing people as the mistress of the house, she had me do all these things.

“You’re too kind to the servants.”

“I hate bullying, that’s why. Oh, so if you ask what bullying is….”

“I know. You must be talking about the things you’ve been suffered by the rich people countless times.”

“That’s right. So I want to be a good person to the servants. They are the people who work for me.”

“It’s pointless.”

Looking at him, it seemed okay. Sicar never ignored or disrespected the servants he had.

I didn’t have time to connect deeply with Kian, I learned every day how to become a real noble, and Kian also learned the manners that the children of the nobility learn from Bica.

As Sicar said, repeating the same behavior and tone every day, I could feel myself gradually changing.

Unfortunately, the feeling was more of a dark and gloomy transformation rather than becoming a person of dignity.

Meanwhile, the time to see Lucy was approaching.

I planned to find her on her next escape and bring her to the Duke’s house. However, the plan did not go smoothly and had to be hurried.

The day before meeting my favorite for the second time. We had to visit the Duke’s house before Lucy ran away.

Because Gillian, who learned that Sicar had adopted a blond, blueeyed child, said he would visit the Duke’s house to see Kian, we had to hurry.

So, I didn’t have time to gradually build a relationship with Laidox as originally planned.

“Lyze, that bastard, told Gillian to check Kian’s neck. We have to hurry. I will talk to Laidox myself. Kian is the son of Veronia.”

Laidox was polite, but he wasn’t a fool.

In the original work, he helped Kian because Kian was an enemy of Gillian and Sicar, but now that he knows that Kian is Sicar’s son, even though he is an adopted son, he may not help.

Laidox was a character set up to check Sicar, so he had a hidden hostility. Maybe he even has a hostility towards Sicar that he himself may not understand why.

Just like Sicar instinctively has hostility towards Kian.

So, if we don’t explain well to Laidox, we can’t get any help.

No, maybe he could even expose Kian’s existence to Gillian. That’s why I wanted to build a relationship slowly.

To let Laidox know that Gillian is a tyrant as much as a waste king, we had no choice but to persuade him well.

“I am disconcerted by your sudden visit. What is the matter?”

A cold chill swept through the Duke’s reception room, where not a hint of wind could penetrate.

A look of discomfort marked the countenance of Lord Radux, who had been informed of our visit. He didn’t sit down, and as I saw him, I sprang to my feet immediately, while Sicar merely crossed his arms and sat.

So I grabbed Sicar’s arm and pulled him up. He wasn’t someone that I could pull up with force, but because we had agreed on my suggestion in the carriage on the way, Sicar reluctantly stood up.

“We came here because we have something to say.”

Lord Radux asked, looking not at me but at Sicar.

“I wasn’t aware that you had something to discuss with me.”

“Have your conversation with my wife.”

Before we came, I had suggested in the carriage that it would be better if I persuaded Lord Radux, and Sicar had agreed.

Lord Radux sighed in apparent resignation.

“Please, have a seat.”

“Thank you.”

After sitting down again, the maids brought tea. As one of the maids was about to pour tea into Lord Radux’s cup, I showed her my palm, took the cup from her, and poured the tea directly into Lord Radux’s cup.

Lord Radux, who had been sitting uncomfortably as if he disliked the situation, lowered his head towards me with a surprised look.

“Thank you, Blake.”

I put down the teacup, gave him a calm smile, and sat down again.

Sicar was always displeased when I smiled like this, saying that he had taught me all about dignity and elegance, and here I was smiling gently again.

I glanced at him, and sure enough, Sicar was looking at me with an unpleasant expression. Sicar whispered to me so that only I could hear.

“I told you to persuade him, but you are sweettalking him.”

So I whispered back to him.

“I am trying to persuade him, Sicar. You have to understand this. To win someone’s heart, you need to extend kindness, not raise your voice.”