"That's it."

As soon as my father's proposal arrived, my mother, who was engaged to me, also trembled.

Seeing Mom and Dad trembling in anger as if they had cried, Raphine quietly cut the meat.

Social aristocrats usually become engaged when they reach the age of majority.

Of course, there are cases where the marriage is decided in advance through family promises, but most recently, the trend has been to wait until the coming-of-age ceremony.

At the coming-of-age ceremony, young male aristocrats send a proposal to the person they like, and the female nobleman who receives the proposal chooses from among them and becomes engaged to the man they like.

Conversely, there are cases where the woman sends the proposal first.

'Two years ago, Luka and Lois did.'

I still remember how the butler complained of pain over the pouring proposals.

Of course, the two have very high eyes, so they haven't decided on a fiance yet....

Then, Luca said playfully.

"How are you, Raphine? Do you have a man you like?"

After that, Mom and Dad turned on the lights and looked at Raffine.

Raphine swallowed the meat in her mouth and said.

"I... Well. not really."

"How about Clyde?"

"who?"

When Raphine blinked and asked, Luca glanced at Mom and Dad and spoke again.

"It's Clyde. Clyde Bastien."

Wait, if it's Clyde Bastien....

"Are you guys friends?"

"Yeah, right. You often come to my house to play."

Among the friends of Luka and Lois who often visited when they were young, I remembered a boy who looked quite handsome.

Raphine shrugged.

"Are you telling me to send a proposal to that person first?"

"It's not.... He said he would send you a proposal right after your coming-of-age ceremony."

"What?"

did he like me

That time when Raphine blinked tremblingly.

There was a loud thump, the sound of forks and knives being put down.

I looked around and saw Mom and Dad.

They both looked very uncomfortable.

Mother scolded them with a harsh voice.

"Luca, Lois. Do you guys think you want your only sister to get married as soon as possible?"

"I can't!"

In response to Luka and Lois' reply, the Duke of Aston once again slammed the table and shouted.

"Then why do you keep talking nonsense? Did he tell you to scoop the rafine? You look like a mean bastard! Can't you say it confidently with your own mouth and have you guys do it?"

"It's not...."

Luca and Lois hesitated.

Then Lois spoke up.

"He's a good guy. And above all...."

"More than anything? What?"

When Mom and Dad asked with stern eyes, Luca said.

"I'm going to take her son-in-law."

"...."

"...."

At those words, Mom and Dad's expressions slightly changed. Oh oh? That expression... I think it's kind of tempting.

Usually, the nobles got a townhouse and started a new household after they got married.

It was not common to live in a man's house or a woman's house.

This is because young nobles these days prefer to live separately rather than live with adults.

Among them, a house with a son-in-law was even less common.

"Tell me more about him."

After Dad said that, Luka and Lois began to frown with joy.

Raphine sneaked out of the family and went up to the room.

'A wedding proposal....'

Speaking of which, I am starting to worry about the marriage proposal that will come after the coming-of-age ceremony.

'Are you going to pour like Luka and Lois? ...?'

It was true that I was nervous for nothing.

It's okay to say this to yourself, but in fact, Raphine was quite popular.

The only youngest daughter of the duke family that even the emperor can't take care of, and besides, she has a gorgeous appearance that resembles her mother and father.

After he started attending the Royal Academy, he became more and more popular.

It was because of Raphine's personality, who was a leader and caring.

Last year, he was so popular with both men and women that he became the representative of the student council.

'But I didn't know that even Clyde would like me.'

Clyde has been a huge hit since attending the academy.

The twins of Luca and Lois are best friends, so the three of us always went there....

Compared to twins with shiny looks, they were not at all attracted to them.

Besides, the house wasn't bad either. It was one of the empress's outcasts, and it had a good reputation as it was a traditional knight family.

'It's a far cry from me anyway.'

I've gotten a lot of confessions, but it felt strange that Clyde, whom I hadn't seen for a few times, liked him.

* * *

The next day, Raphine went to the pottery workshop in the downtown area as soon as the sun came up.

The workshop was located at the back of the fancy store of 'Imperial Mason', a high-end tableware brand.

"Are you here, miss?"

"Welcome, Miss Raphine."

The owner of this workshop and the famous artisan, Ella and her husband, welcomed Raffine.

They were also one of the few people who knew that Rafine was the owner of the top of the Ravior.

To Ella and her husband, Raphine was like a life saver.

After gaining fame in the teacup business, it was because of Raffine that he turned down all scouting offers.

Of course, it wasn't just out of loyalty.

"No matter where the scout offer comes from, I'll give you 20 times that amount."

Raphine did not spare money for talented people.

Thanks to this, they were able to enjoy a more prosperous life than ever before and do what they love.

"You came quickly because you were curious about the new product."

"that's right. I'm curious, so I have to be patient."

At Raphine's words, the couple laughed softly.

They brought the new product straight away without delay.

Raphine put her hands together and calmed her pounding heart.

As I lifted the hidden white cloth, a gorgeous dinnerware set caught my eye.

"Wow...."

The main color of this new product was cobalt blue.

Raphine put on the prepared white gloves and took a close look at the teacup adorned with pure gold.

An elaborately embossed imperial pattern adorned the center of the teacup.

Besides, the line at the bottom of the teacup was decorated with small jewels, which was dazzling.

When you drink tea in this teacup, you will definitely feel like you have the blue sea in your hand.

"Perfect. How did you come up with this color?"

"I struggled a bit."

I heard that it is difficult to apply such a bright blue uniformly, but they were also craftsmen recognized by Rafine.

"How much?"

"As you said, we only prepared 5 sets in total."

"You did very well. One set will be presented to the Empress Dowager."

"It will increase our reputation even more."

Raphine got up after checking all the teaspoons.

"Good work. Incentives will be very well taken care of."

"Haha, I'm not going to speculate."

"Then send us another design, and we'll work on it right away."

"great."

In particular, this teacup was made based on a drawing designed by Rafine himself.

Raphine hummed out of the studio and looked around the store once.

I decided to come back to find the stuff before going to Hwangseong tomorrow, just in case.

It was when I left the store after looking around.

"Hey, little Aston?"

"...?"

A familiar, unfamiliar face came into Raphine's eyes.

He was a student at the Royal Academy. As the vassal family of Viscount Tedler, Orfana mentioned it once.

'A typical family with only a lot of money and little to see started to pay attention to the teacup business, so they said they stepped on it little by little.'

Raphine asked with her eyes as if what was going on.

'My name is Peryl... Was it? It looks like a little old cucumber.'

Peryl coughed heavily, very awkwardly, and then came closer. Quite coincidental.

'Even if you look at it, it looks like you've been waiting for the Aston family's wagon in front of the store.'

Feryl was also famous for throwing flirts at the girls of his family once in a while. And if they get rejected, they openly take down the young girl....

Anyway, it was someone I didn't want to get involved with.

"It is a coincidence that we met like this. by the way... Youngae seems to like this brand too. I love it too."

"okay."

"I also have a set of teacups from this brand in my house. haha."

"okay."

After repeating the soulless answer, Peryl made the proposal very hastily.

"Well, if you have time, let's have a cup of tea together and talk... Let me tell you about black tea!"

"...?"

"You don't know much about tea, do you? fufu. Usually young children are like that. They don't know the true meaning of black tea, and they make the mistake of simply falling in love with a beautiful teacup."

What...? What are you going to tell me now?

Raphine was stunned.