‘Oh, I’m about to lose my mind.’

She had smiled so much that her face muscles were now hurting. However, she was having a good time looking at her guests’ dresses and hair accessories. It was also pleasant to get to know the other high-rank nobles’ trends and interests.

Most of all, she was happy that what worried her so much was going well since a lot of people were asking her about the dress and the roses.

“Madam, you must be tired.”

“No, I’m fine. But I think I should go to my table now.”

Rubica’s seat was at the same table with Countess Tangt as she was the most famous celebrity of society. As soon as Rubica sat down, she started to talk as if she had been waiting for her.

“I was so shocked when Ms. Solana introduced herself for the first time that I had to ask her name again and again. Oh my, the girl was so pretty! It made me admit that although I have an eye that can recognize what is beauty, I do not have the gift of recognizing hidden beauty.”

Rubica smiled at her babbling. Edgar had said he didn’t like her because she was too talkative, but it was different for Rubica.

‘It’s good that I don’t have to talk.’

Rubica didn’t have to worry about the topic. She just agreed with Countess Tangt from time to time and looked around. The mood was pleasant, and a few men and women were already exchanging shy glances.

Now that was a success.

She happily looked around again, but then she met a pair of brown eyes. Sir Stephen was glaring at her, clearly dissatisfied. As the guard captain, he was supposed to guard her. But now, Rubica could almost see the hatred directed to her that shrouded him. He looked like he wanted to kill her at any moment.

‘Wow, I get that he had to leave Edgar’s side to be here, but is that something to be so mad about? Does he like Edgar that much?’

Rubica truly couldn’t understand that. Of course, this had to be another work for him, but it was much easier than guarding the duke. However, Stephen didn’t even give a look to the women passionately staring at him. He just looked at the direction of Edgar’s office and sighed. It looked like he wasn’t just worried about the duke, he seemed to be missing him.

‘Then maybe…’

Rubica almost covered her mouth with both hands at the possibility she suddenly thought of.

‘Does he like Edgar?’

Nothing else could explain that attachment he was showing. To Stephen, his duty as a guard had to be one of the few occasions he could freely look at and protect the person he loved.

‘Oh my, I didn’t know.’

Rubica pitied Stephen and his love that could never be complete. She looked at him with pity, but then his face muscle twitched when she silently mouthed some words to him.

‘I know what this is about. I understand.’

And then, Stephen’s eyes caught fire.

What does she know? Has she realized I am a spy from Amanun? Is the duke not doing his work as part of their plan?

He gulped down the cup of tea in front of him to cool down his anger.

“You can’t drink it like that. You must drink it slowly, savoring its taste.”

Carl showed up from somewhere and stopped him.

“Are you plotting a scheme with her to screw me over?”

“I… do not know what you are talking about.”

Carl politely replied, and Stephen had no choice but to shake his head. Duchess Claymore. She just showed up one day and after that, everything in his plan had gone off its course.

***

As Rubica had expected, the guest had trouble drinking tea. However, the pain was compensated the moment they ate Steven’s cakes and sweets.

“This cake is really good.”

“And I’ve never tried this cookie before. It’s crispy on the outside, but the inside is so sweet and moist.”

Steven had been into dessert making after he started because of Rubica. She kept giving him information about desserts she tasted or heard of during her time at the abbey. As Seritos didn’t have many desserts, the cakes and sweets were shockingly delicious to its nobles.

After a round of pleasure, they started to talk. The first topic was Elise’s amazing transformation.

“I couldn’t recognize her at first. I never guessed she could be so pretty.”

“Who changed her so utterly like that?”

“Well, I heard her dress was made by Madam Khanna.”

“Has she also given her advice about the makeup and hairstyle?”

All the ladies’ heads were now full of thoughts about Madam Khanna and her boutique. The dresses worn by the duchess and her ladies-in-waiting were not only sensational, but they were also extremely pretty.

They had no jewel, but they looked more splendid than the dresses of famous designers that had many jewels.

In addition to that, Ann’s dress even looked reserved and elegant.

The wind carried the story about Chris and his ribbon that started at Elise’s table to Rubica’s ears.

“I should order dresses from Madam Khanna as well.”

“Oh yes. I would like to order a similar dress to what the duchess is wearing.”

Everyone was very interested in Rubica’s chest decoration. She blushed shyly when being showered in compliments. Someone saw that and commented on how she was a kind and quiet lady.

“Will my daughter become pretty like Ms. Solana if Madam Khanna helps?”

While the older ladies were busy talking about that, the men were busy with something else. Some young lords were trying to flirt with Elise, and a few of them even left their own tables and couldn’t leave her side.

“I envy her.”

Gabriel whispered and Tatiana kindly spoke to her.

“That can happen to you as well, Gabriel.”

However, that didn’t help her much. Although her sisters were always called beautiful no matter where they went, she wasn’t like them even if they had the same parents.

She was constantly compared with her sisters, and her role was only to highlight their beauty.

‘How could she change like that?’

Gabriel had never gone to a ball as she hadn’t been introduced to society, but she knew well about Ms. Solana. She was famous as a wallflower.

-Gabriel, if you don’t change, you will not be asked to dance at balls. You will have to stand alone and watch the others dance, just like Ms. Solana.

Her mother would say things like that to scare her and make her lose some weight.

-But I have a brother, so it wouldn’t be a problem for me. I can dance with him.

She would say that to anger her mother even more, but actually, she was afraid. What she feared more than not being asked to dance was the people talking about how she was never asked to dance, just like her mother was doing.

Why did people count the times a girl was asked to dance and made fun of it? It’s nothing more than dancing!

Gabriel could emphasize with Ms. Solana, even though they never met in person. However, today she found out that she had been completely wrong. Ms. Solana now had a crowd of men who wanted her.

‘But what I envy about her the most is that attitude.’

Gabriel wasn’t jealous of Elise’s admirers. She had seen many women with admirers. To start with, her two sisters were like that.

However, Gabriel didn’t want to be like her sisters. They would compete about the number of their admirers and boast about it.

Gabriel silently criticized them, thinking there was nothing to boast about as it wasn’t like her sisters could marry all of their admirers.

On the other hand, Elise was different. Even though she had a number of men looking at her, she wasn’t glad about it. She rather found it bothersome, and that attitude looked quite cool in Gabriel’s eyes.

“Do you want to be friends with Elise?”

“Oh.”

The duchess’s kind question made her realize she had been rude. She hadn’t participated in the conversation at all and kept staring at Elise. Rubica offered to call her for Gabriel, but she shook her hands.

“No, it’s not like I wanted to talk to her. It’s just, her dress is so pretty, and I couldn’t help looking at her.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Gabriel was complimenting Ms. Solana’s dress, but the duchess blushed and thanked her. Gabriel thought she was extremely kind.

“I also agree with you. Ms. Solana’s dress is beautiful, but Her Grace’s dress is… well, I don’t even know what to say about it.”

“Mother?”

“Yes, my child?”

“Can’t I get another dress for my debutante?”

“But you were insisting on Christopher’s boutique with tears only yesterday…”

Gabriel blushed in embarrassment, but her cheeks had been completely painted in red, so it wasn’t shown.

“I want Madam Khanna’s dress.”

The countess wasn’t the type of woman who would be reluctant in spending the money for her daughter. And Gabriel, her youngest daughter, was the dearest one to her. Every time someone criticized Gabriel’s looks, she felt like it was all her fault as she was her mother.

“Of course, if that is what you want.”

Countess Tangt made her decision right on the spot. Rubica had promised Khanna to introduce her boutique to her, but she hadn’t known it would be this easy.