/
‘What’s up with him all of a sudden?’
She realized only when she looked down at the fork.
She was eating the cake with the same fork she used for Kalcion.
‘What… With this….?’
She smirked to herself as she took a big bite of the cake.
***
All the while she ate in Crange, she thought she was going to be attacked any minute. Needless to say, it went very calmly and quietly, and she even had her stomach full.
“Since I’m full, let’s go see some dresses and jewelry next.”
“What’s the name of the store?”
She had first planned to visit Simeon and Laranta to turn everything upside down. However, it was not so pleasant to look at those leading stores.
‘Since they’re bowing down to the name of Renbird,’
By this point, it was safe to think that no more stores would reject Selena. Reason – rumors will spread around the streets as we speak. Now, she wanted to do some ‘real shopping’.
She thought she would be able to enter Lumera without mentioning Kalcion now.
“I don’t know if it’s famous, but there were many places I couldn’t visit last time because of the lack of time.”
“Do whatever you please, then.”
Kalcion didn’t care where she wanted to go. He couldn’t help but kill time in the cafe while she ate cake to her content. He did not make a fuss.
‘Surprisingly, he seems a lot okay with this, as a man.’
Although he was severely aloof towards women, he didn’t seem to have a bad opinion about them.
‘I’d be flattered if it weren’t for a woman who couldn’t say a word when she was being insulted.’
By the time she pushed the thoughts aside, the carriage arrived in front of Lumera.
Likewise, guards stood at the entrance of Lumera. They politely greeted them as the two approached.
The difference from other stores was that in addition to the guards, an employee was standing with them.
The staff welcomed them with a big smile.
“Welcome. By any chance, do you have a designated staff member?”
“No.”
“Then, would it be okay if I were in charge of your guide?”
“Sure.”
Selena nodded her head.
It seemed that this store provided personal staff to accompany guests while shopping. Then, it wouldn’t be like pushing people into the chaotic jungle of social circles and letting them survive on their own.
“Let me show you our collection.”
The store was a little different from Diatte in appearance and structure.
It also had a salon. However, unlike Diatte, it had more clothes on show.
The structure of the store was not a spacious large hall, but alleys were built to move around the hall. It felt like she was at an art exhibition hall rather than a clothing store.
Mannequins dressed in different get-ups were placed on display here and there. Chairs were placed in spots for the guests to sit down and talk naturally.
Relatively more private spaces were created. It was a salon where people could talk while looking at clothes.
It allowed no fights of wits due to the allocation of seats. Selena’s shoulders finally relaxed.
“Looks like I’ll be comfortable here if I ever have to shop alone again. People won’t come at me all at once.”
“Do you have to shop again?”
Kalcion had a low understanding of meeting people.
The way he interacted with people was a clear indication of how isolated he had been in his life.
Selena laughed, wondering how difficult it would be to make him understand another life.
“The dresses here are a bit more distinctive.”
Diatte had only a standard fashion, while Lumera contained designers’ varieties. Selena preferred this store.
“May I try it on?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Which one do you think I should try on, Duke?”
Selena asked Kalcion.
“Why are you asking me?”
“Because you’re the one I’m going to see, Duke. And besides, I won’t be able to see much since I’ll be wearing the dress.”
“I see.”
It was a convincing reason. Kalcion slowly paced around the store with a serious look on his face, carefully checking each piece of dress.
“I didn’t mean that you should choose this hard.”
After a while, Kalcion finally came to a stop.
“What about this one?”
Selena was surprised.
“Are you serious?”
“It’s not like I’m forcing you to wear this, why?”
“I’m just curious why you chose this.”
Kalcion picked up the most esoteric piece of them all. He couldn’t choose this, considering how great his artistic knowledge was.
“It has more sparkles and decorations on it.”
“Right. I knew it.”
What did she expect?
Kalcion’s eyes were not good at distinguishing different dresses.
‘It’s hard to choose since your skin is white and you look good in any color. You’d look dazzling in white, people would only see your face if you wore black, you’d look unrealistic in purple, and you’d burn in red, so I can’t understand which to recommend!’
She didn’t expect him to say such lines. But she thought he would say that he chose it because he thought it would suit her.
Selena nodded bitterly and turned to the staff.
“Alright, let’s try it on.”
Then, she would check the results of his choice.
The staff she asked walked to the other side of the store.
“Please follow me to the changing room.”
When Selena began to follow her, the staff smiled and gestured toward Kalcion.
“You can come, too, sir.”
They followed the staff, who led them to a spacious separate room. From the splendid wallpaper to antique furniture, the room was quite decorated to be a changing room.
The room had curtains in the middle. Beyond the curtains was the space to change clothes, and the sofa placed outside was for the audience to wait.
‘It’s like a wedding dress changing room.’
How would Kalcion react upon changing the dress, Selena was curious.
She went beyond the curtains to change into the dress he chose, with the help of the staff. In most cases, trying out dresses needed the staff to tighten or sew the parts to adjust to someone’s body size.
Thanks to that, it was cumbersome to wait patiently.
Barely dressed up, Selena silently waited. She stood still, which caused her stamina to run out.
‘Everyday feels like an award ceremony nowadays.’
Selena exclaimed, looking at herself in the mirror.
“Oh my….!”
Just as the maids prepared her every morning, the staff sincerely admired her in the new dress.
“I didn’t know there was someone who could pull off this dress!”
“The designer said that they made this dress out of passion, without considering its popularity and sales!”
“No one has tried this so far. I don’t think there will ever be another!”
The bright colors of the jewels of the dress gently reflected light to make her face seem brighter.
‘Does he have a hidden talent…….?!’
She was doubtful, but the results came unexpectedly good.
After doing her hair and adding matching accessories, the staff set up Selena in front of the curtain.
“I’ll open the curtain.”
Curtains parted as she glanced up at Kalcion sitting in the middle of the sofa.
He was in the middle of lifting his teacup when he stopped.
Silence filled the room. As if time had stopped.
“…….The Duke doesn’t like it?”
Selena urged for him to say something, for the sake of their play.
Then, Kalcion’s hand flinched. He did not budge, even though the hot tea stained his sleeve.
“S-Sir, your hand……!”
“Isn’t the tea hot, Duke?”
Startled, one of the staff and Selena asked one after the other.
“……..Huh? Oh.”
Only then did Kalcion look down at his hand.