“Rubica, your muffler.”

As each day went by, he kept making her wear more clothes. White coat made of the best sable skin, muffler made of silver fox skin, gloves, furred hat, and a mask. In the end, Rubica looked like a polar bear.

“But this is too much, I can’t even move.”

“It’s cold, and you can’t face them when you are cold.”

Edgar wouldn’t let her take off even one of them when he wasn’t even wearing gloves, saying they made his pen slip out of his hand. Moreover, the heating of the carriage was working so well that Rubica was sweating.

“Can’t I just wear my coat when we go to meet the underlings? I don’t think it’s that cold.”

She had no choice but to hide that she was Madam Berry at Seritos Kingdom, but she had no reason to do it to Iber’s underlings. She wanted to present herself as a fashionable designer.

“No, we are going to meet them late at night. Do you want to catch a cold?”

The meeting was going to take place after the sun went down because of Edgar’s condition, but it wasn’t going to be ‘late at night’.

“But I don’t think it’s that cold…”

“Haven’t you heard what Minos said? It’s going to be a lot colder in the territory.”

However, they were going to meet at its entrance, not inside it. But it seemed like insisting more on it would make him cry, so she just decided to give up and go to meet the underlings looking like a polar bear.

“Is Ios at the village?”

“Yes, I think he doesn’t want to meet Blanco and Shasha again.”

“Yes, he won’t be of any help anyway.”

He was never able to resist the urge to interfere, tended to get mad at weird points, and ran away when things got complicated.

“It will be fine. They have ‘invited’ us, anyway.”

“Yes, even the underlings don’t kill the guests they invite. They have to keep the rules that must be kept in their mistress’s territory.”

Still, Edgar was somewhat anxious as they waited for Iber’s underlings. They had said they would come in their original forms instead of transforming into humans. Edgar wasn’t happy about that, considering their massive size, but it wasn’t like they could decide on such details.

Instead, he had ordered Carl to bring weapons. He had remodeled the carriage in a short time and now it was like a tank.

“Your Grace, I think it’s them.”

Edgar looked at where Carl was pointing at. The sun had set, but it wasn’t completely dark yet and they could see things to some extent. The underlings were coming from far away, and what they were wearing were clearly… dresses.

Creatures each three meters tall, wearing dresses decorated with ribbons and frills. He didn’t know how to describe it, even with his abundant vocabulary.

Edgar tried hard not to laugh and glanced at Rubica. She had been worried she might be terrified when she met the underlings because of her memories of being chased by monsters during the war, so it was probably good that they looked so ridiculous.

She was wearing a hat, a coat, and a mask, and only her eyes and nose were the parts that weren’t wrapped, but she didn’t laugh. She looked quite touched.

She had worried she might be terrified because of her trauma, but they looked all lovely in the dresses she had designed, despite their huge bodies.

“You think they look good.”

“Yes, Edgar. Especially that underling in the baby blue dress. I think she has a good sense of fashion. Oh, but she lets her hair loose like that. It would be better to braid it.”

“Their hands are too big for such delicate work.”

Rubica moaned to hear it. For a second, Edgar doubted his eyes and rubbed them. But no matter how hard he looked, what he could see were three buffy creatures in way too lovely dresses.

‘I really can’t understand.’

Sometimes, the beauty Rubica spoke of was too profound that he couldn’t understand it. He wasn’t an expert in beauty, after all. He just decided to think of it as a kind of beauty he didn’t know about yet and focus on trying not to laugh.

“I am Blanco, the leader of the organization for protecting the peaceful slumber of Iber the Great Dragon.”

But when the biggest underling in the baby blue dress came out to greet them, he just couldn’t hold his laughter.

‘What? An organization?’

That infamous underling was, it turned out, the protector of the dragon in deep sleep.

“Your Grace? Are you alright?”

“Oh, I just got something from dinner caught up in my windpipe.”

Edgar barely, really barely, managed not to laugh in the serious mood.

“Are you Duke Claymore?”

Blanco asked, not hiding that she was offended. Snow and Shasha also gave him a hard look, probably knowing Edgar only said that to hide the fact that he almost laughed out loud.

“Yes.”

It was almost like sparks were in the air. It was amazing that Edgar could remain so calm when three huge underlings were giving him a murderous look.

It was like a fight was going to break out at any moment, so Minos quickly introduced Rubica.

“This is Duchess Claymore.”

The underlings let out short exclaims to hear it. They hadn’t thought the white and fluffy creature next to Edgar was a human. They just thought the evil Claymore had a pet bear.

“Nice to meet you.”

Rubica took off her mask to say hello. Most humans tended to be afraid and run away when they saw an underling.

However, she wasn’t afraid at all. She was smiling with affection for them. She was different from other people who were full of prejudices. She was Madam Berry. Plus, she looked like a cute polar bear now, which was enough to melt the underlings’ frozen heart.

“I’ve brought gifts for you.”

Rubica mentioned the gifts to soften the overly tensed mood. Carl realized what she was up to and quickly brought a few boxes from the carriage and handed it to her.

Each box had an underling’s name on it. Blanco, Shasha, and Snow each took a box and looked at them with much curiosity. They were clearly excited.

“What is this?”

“You should look for yourself?”

Blanco opened the box first, pretending like she was reluctant to do it. And when she saw what was inside, she blinked, not able to believe what she was looking at.

“This is…”

“I made each of you a hat that would match your dress.”

Snow and Shasha opened their boxes as well before she could finish saying it. Snow’s box had a bonnet made of linen, and Shasha’s had a flower-shaped headdress. They clearly had been customized for each of them.

The three didn’t hesitate to try them on.

“Snow, what do you think?”

“I think it looks good on you.”

“Well, how about me?”

“The ribbons are of the same color with your horn, it looks great.”

Ios’s advice had been just right. All the headdresses had too many frills and ribbons, but they looked surprisingly good on the underlings. Even Edgar didn’t laugh this time and admired Rubica’s sense.

“I should tell them to make similar things at the shop when I go home.”

Rubica thought they would be delighted to hear it. However, it just made a strange look of pity appear and then disappear on their faces. Then they talked amongst themselves, but it wasn’t in human language and Rubica couldn’t understand it.

‘They clearly like the gifts.’

But then, why? Maybe they weren’t thinking of letting them go home. She knew they never killed invited guests, but she had a bad feeling about this. After they ended the discussion, Blanco asked gravely, “Have you brought the ring?”

It took a long time for Edgar to realize the question was directed to him. He had been always addressed politely, in and outside Seritos. Carl was even madder than him about it.

“He is the duke, you should keep your manners when addressing him.”

“Manners?”

Snow frowned.

“Are you talking about manners? According to our manners, we would have cut your master in half by now.”

“How dare you…”

“Carl, enough.”

House Claymore was greatly respected in Claymore, but to Iber’s underlings, he was only one of the evils that was making their mistress slumber for so long. They were supposed to be grateful that they now had a chance to talk. Rubica had just barely managed to soften the mood, and he couldn’t undo it himself. Edgar decided to calmly accept their rudeness.

“Yes, I’ve brought the ring.”

Edgar showed it to them, and Blanco took it to take a closer look. The ring was made of their mistress’s tears. It made her feel longing and hatred at the same time. She held it and spoke coldly, doing her best to sound okay.

“Follow me.”

“But I thought you were going to tell me the way here.”

“There’s a place where you can break the curse, so follow me.”