“He had a huge battle recently and has been instinctively acting like this ever since.”

“What? Who dared to fight against Lord Ios?”

“It was about Duke Claymore.”

Snow’s white face turned colorful as soon as she heard the name. Her face steamed and Minos worried she might melt. Thankfully, they weren’t kicked out this time.

“So, that evil bastard has finally attacked Lord Ios.”

“I’ve been wondering why he was perfectly fine after touching me, but it was because he’s evil!”

Minos hadn’t been more grateful for the fact that Ios was a complete fool, and Snow totally misinterpreted his innocent reply.

“I can’t treat you this poorly after what you must have been through.”

In less than a minute, Minos and Ios found the table full of rare fruits that grew only in Iber’s territory, meat, and wine.

Snow, who was already heavily drunk, grabbed the sleeping Ios and wailed.

“Oh, that cursed House Claymore. If it hadn’t been for them, my lord Iber would have woken up decades ago!”

Minos didn’t miss that. Each dragon had different habits and natures, so only its underlings knew about them.

Because of that, Iber’s long slumber, which was continuously breaking the record of the longest sleep of a dragon, wasn’t that known to outsiders. Minos used to think the dragon was still sleeping just because she didn’t feel like waking up.

“So, Lord Iber hasn’t been able to wake up because of the Claymores?”

If Snow had been sober, she would have never revealed a secret about her master. But now, she was drunk, and she considered them as brave warriors who just fought her greatest foe.

“You see…”

Minos got a severe headache at finding out what he heard after that.

‘Well, this can’t be good.’

***

On the next day of Rubica’s visit to the king’s castle, she received a visitor who made her somewhat unpleasant mood go away instantly. It was Gabriel.

She was wearing a lovely dress with violet flower pattern and laces. She smiled brightly as soon as she saw Rubica.

“Your Grace.”

“Gabriel! Welcome.”

Was it because she had met a group of people who didn’t hesitate to show her their fangs just the day before? She was glad to see Gabriel’s cute and lovely face more than ever.

Before Rubica could ask her to sit, she started to chatter.

“I begged my mother to let me come here as soon as I heard you were in the capital. Our lands are quite far away, but the capital is only about an hour by carriage from my home. Would it be okay if I come to visit often from now on?”

“Of course, you would always be welcomed here. You may come every day.”

Elise brought tea and poured it out, then Gabriel whispered to Rubica, “And have you decided on our offer?”

She was asking about her ‘The Litter Bird’s News’. As usual, Rubica didn’t say anything and just added sugar to her tea, which Gabriel didn’t miss.

“Please tell me anytime if you need my help.”

“Well, actually…”

Rubica told her about what had happened with Princess Charlotte. As Gabriel published a magazine that had news of the society, she thought she would be able to explain to her what it had been about.

“You don’t have to worry much about the princess. It’s just that… she cannot leave without a herd of admirers around her, just like her mother. But she won’t hate you just because those people hate you. To be more accurate, she always does as she pleases and won’t be swayed by others’ opinions.”

Rubica nodded, thinking of the princess’s carefree attitude. Gabriel also told her about the others as well, and it turned out they weren’t exactly important.

Well, they tried to humiliate her by using the princess, which was something only those who were too afraid to speak for themselves would do. However, there was a single thing that she couldn’t let go of. They spoke ill of her ribbon.

“I’m sure Christopher was there because of the princess. He is the best designer in the capital, after all. They probably called your ribbons cheap because of him.”

With her friend Tatiana’s help, Gabriel had already succeeded in having an informant in Christopher’s shop.

She knew everything about him, where and who he met and what he said to others.

“Are you saying he has been telling people that ribbons are cheap?”

“Yes, to every customer he meets. The other designers are also joining him in it, they’re jealous that Khanna’s shop has become so popular. They will get fewer and fewer customers if more people start wanting ribbons.”

“That can’t be good.”

Once that criticism went around, no one would want to wear a ribbon dress. Clothes are not just about practicality. A lady’s dress was a complicated outcome of many intertwined ideologies. Just being pretty was never enough.

Look at Sesar’s roses. There were many other flowers as beautiful as them, but they brought Claymore enormous wealth thanks to their rarity and symbolic meaning. Rubica had hosted a tea meeting because she knew it, and she made it a success.

“If ribbons dresses are labeled as cheap, no one would want to wear them.”

However, unlike Christopher and his friends who could meet many customers and spread words, Rubica didn’t have any connection in the capital yet.

Her background of coming from a baronet’s family was another problem. If she had been of noble birth like Princess Charlotte, everything she wore would have been turned into precious regardless of what people said, but she knew they would only say she wore something cheap because she couldn’t abandon her old habit of dressing like a baronet’s daughter.

“And, I heard Christopher has been spreading a strange rumor.”

“A strange rumor?”

“It’s about Madam Berry.”

Rubica’s eyes widened to hear her own secretive alias.

“What about her?”

“All the important ideas, including the ribbon itself, have been Madam Berry’s. He is saying Madam Khanna must have tricked an innocent lady and is exploiting her ideas.”

“What? Khanna never tricked me! She always gives my share way too accurately that it’s almost troubling me!”

“She… gives you your share?!”

Rubica realized she had just almost revealed Madam Berry’s identity and quickly tried to explain.

“Oh, Khanna is a designer of Claymore Dukedom, and I’ve invested in her about the ribbons. She always gives me my dividend, she is always clear about the money… so I got a little mad.”

“I… see.”

Gabriel ate a cookie, although she still looked a little suspicious. After that came a short silence. Rubica took a sip of tea, which was cold now, and tried to calm now.

‘Even though that rumor makes no sense, more people will believe it if I do nothing about it.’

That was what she had done when it came to all those nonsensical rumors about Edgar. She believed all of them before she got to know him herself.

“Gabriel.”

At last, the duchess was biting her bait. Gabriel stopped cutting a cookie and replied, “Yes?”

“What is the best way to get rid of a rumor?”

“To counter it with another rumor.”

“But I know nothing about that field.”

Gabriel smiled widely as if she had been waiting to hear that.

“You don’t have to worry. Here is an expert in that field.”

And after she said that, she regretted not calling her a ‘genius’.

In a few days, the special edition of ‘The Little Bird’s News’, which many girls at the capital had been waiting for eagerly, came out.

The magazine always introduced remarkable news and new trends, so it always sold well. But this time, it broke its sales record.

It had succeeded in interviewing a designer everyone had heard of, but no one had met. It was Madam Berry.

“Oh my, how did they meet Madam Berry?”

“What did she say in the interview?”

And to their surprise, the interview wasn’t the only article about Madam Berry. She explained in detail how to decorate an old stomacher with ribbons and make it new.

As there were explanatory pictures along with the description, anyone could try it themselves.

[Using expensive gems doesn’t always make a dress beautiful. However, there is a designer who thinks his dresses are the best as they all have huge gems. He is not a designer, but a gem seller.]

Gabriel was declaring war against Christopher. Even with Gabriel’s witty writing, a ribbon made of fabric couldn’t be as valuable as a gem.

However, not everyone in society could afford to put expensive gems on their dresses. Therefore, many readers were glad to hear gems were not the only thing that defined a dress’s beauty.

They were all delighted to know they could have pretty dresses with only a bit of needlework skill.

Young ladies, who were the most passionate readers of the magazine, needed many dresses.

Young men could wear the same uniform every time as it was a symbol of their rank and status, but ladies couldn’t do so.

In addition to that, many meetings had become popular this year, with a ‘tea meeting’ as the start. The royal family didn’t like the trend till only a few days ago, but now rumors were that the queen was about to host a tea meeting herself.

It was very different from the year before when they had had to prepare only for the society season.