It Was Me, Not You

‘What is it?’

Diana’s arm got goosebumps at Seia’s sudden change of attitude, Seia came a step closer to Diana.

“Diana, let’s take a look at the clothes we received together, huh? I’m so curious about how pretty they will be and how they will look good on you.”

Seia grabbed Diana by the arm pretending to be close.

Diana instinctively held back from pushing Seia’s arm.

What the hell is Seia thinking?

“Yes?”

She didn’t know what Seia meant, but she couldn’t say no, so Diana nodded her head.

“Yes, Grand Princess.”

“Marie, come in and release the boxes.”

‘Marie? I think I’ve heard of that name.’

Diana, who tilted her head to a familiar name, remembered when she saw the maid’s face entering the room.

Marie was one of the maids who bullied a young maid in the bush of the promenade.

Marie, who made eye contact with Diana, also hurriedly avoided eye contact to see if she remembered what happened that day.

Of all the maids working in the Grand Duchy, Marie was Seia’s maid.

Suddenly, the word maid came to my mind as the owner.

When Marie untied the ribbon of the box one by one and opened the box, Seia held Diana’s hand tightly and led her to the box.

“Wow, this outfit is so pretty. That’s right, Diana.”

Seia pointed to the most strikingly designed dress in the box.

The light pink dress was not fancy, but it was quite cute with a ribbon-shaped lace on the chest.

Diana couldn’t see the design of the dress because of Seia’s grip, but she forced her lips to move.

“…Yes, you are beautiful, Grand Princess.”

‘Hurt’

Diana felt like she was about to break Seia’s hand, not knowing what to do.

In an instant, Seia released her hand and took out the dress from the box.

She put the dress on her own body with an innocent smile.

“What do you think, Diana?  Do you think it will look prettier if I wear it?”

“Oh, Grand Princess, you’re so pretty. It suits you so well princess.”

Before Diana could answer anything, Marie said, making a fuss as if she had been waiting.

Then, Seia, who was smiling while touching the clothes, suddenly changed to a sullen look.

“No, Marie. These are not my clothes. I just showed it to Diana because I thought it would be prettier if I just wore it. Of course, I really like pink, too, but…”

“Oh… but you look great in that dress, don’t you think?”

‘Are you asking me?’

Diana had eye contact with Marie looking at her.

In Marie’s eyes, asking if she was right, Diana turned her eyes to Seia.

Seia, still fiddling with the lace in the dress with a sullen face.

From that look, Diana could see why Seia is doing this now.

Seia now wanted her to say that she would give Seia that dress first.

The pink dress was pretty, but compared to the dress Seia is wearing right now, it was obvious just by looking at it that its grade was considerably lower.

So it’s not like Seia really likes this dress.

She just want to take Diana’s. She couldn’t tear Diana’s dress in front of the butler, so she seemed to have chosen another way.

‘Yeah, maybe this is better.’

At least we can avoid direct violence from Seia.

Anyway, these clothes only made Diana uncomfortable, so it didn’t matter if Seia took them.

“Yes, as you say, it suits the Grand Princess.”

“Oh, no, Dianna, I just looked at it once.”

“No, Grand Princess. Now that I see it, the dress looks so good on you. I think it’s right for the Grand Princess to wear it, not me.”

“Really? Oh, I’m fine… This is Diana’s dress.”

“…I don’t need that fancy dress anyway. I just need a few everyday clothes.”

“That’s… Diana doesn’t really have to go out. I wish my father would let you go from place to place…”

Seia handed over the pink dress to Marie, saying that she felt sorry for Diana.

“I don’t need Diana’s. I’d better put it away. ‘Cause it’s a waste to throw it away.’

‘Yes, Grand Duchess.’

The moment Marie received the dress from Seia, she heard the butler’s voice, who stayed still.

“Marie, put the dress back in the box.”

At the butler’s words, Diana, Seia, and Marie’s eyes turned to him.

I was looking at the butler because I thought I had heard it wrong, and I heard Seia’s voice that seemed embarrassed.

“Butler? This is a gift from Diana. You heard it too butler. Diana said she didn’t need this outfit.”

“Yes, Grand Princess. I heard that.”

“But why did you want me to put it back?”

Seia’s expression was slightly stiff, but the butler said with a gentle smile.

“The clothes are not very good for you, Grand Princess.”

“If  you like that design, I will place an order in the salon with the same design. I think you’d better not wear that.”

“Oh… that’s why you felt a scratch when you touched it. What do you mean the material is not good? Butler, why didn’t you buy Diana’s clothes in good material?”

“I’ll pay more attention next time.”

The butler bowed his head as if he were sorry for Seia, not Diana.

Unlike before, Seia said to Marie with a stiff face, as if she was feeling better.

“Marie, put your clothes back in the box.” 

“Yes , Grand Duchess.”

“Diana, I told the butler to buy you better clothes next time. You don’t have any clothes now…. Wear this at least… “

Diana, who was watching Marie fold her clothes roughly and put them in a box, answered without raising her head.

“Yes, thank you, Grand Princess.”

“No, of course I care about you. I have a horse riding class now. See you next time.”

As Seia left the room with Marie, Diana looked quietly at the clothes in the box.

I’d rather have Seia take all of them

‘It would have been better.’

The butler’s voice was heard at the time when his mind was complicated by the favor of the Grand Duke.

“If you don’t like your clothes, miss, I’ll exchange them for other clothes.”

When Diana’s eyes met, the butler unexpectedly lowered his eyes first.

Perhaps it was caught in front of Diana saying that the clothes were of bad material.

“I’m fine.”

Compared to the clothes I’ve worn before, these clothes were among the best. Also, she was well aware of her position in the Grand Duchy.

In addition, Seia’s behavior today was cuter than usual.

I didn’t even say that it’s dirty because it’s made of cloth.

It has been a long time since Seia’s bad words were heard in one ear and out the other.

“It’s alright. This is enough.”

The butler is silent for a moment when he answers casually. He spoke in a low voice.

“… Okay. Miss, if you need anything else, feel free to call me”

What you need…

One important thing came to mind, Diana called the butler to leave the room.

“Oh, butler.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The butler who was leaving the room turned around.

“The last time I said I could go anywhere.”

“Yes.”

“Then can I go if there’s a place like a study in the city?”

“Studies… Do you mean libraries?”

‘Library? Is there a library in the Grand Duchy?’

The Duchy was a castle of enormous size, so it would not be surprising if there was a library inside.

“… Yes… “

With a slight nod, the butler looked at Diana for a moment and opened his mouth.

“It’s a library*

As the butler left the room, Diana stood in front of a neatly arranged closet.

“It’s really pretty.”

Diana smiled as she saw dresses with lace, dresses with ribbon decorations on their shoulders, and dresses with shiny beads.

The clothes Leah bought me were the best clothes Diana had ever worn, and the ones in the closet were much better than that, for the nobles. And there were shoes and hairpins as well as clothes.

I felt uncomfortable, but when I saw the closet full, the corners of my mouth were inevitably raised.

“It’s better to change first”. Right?”

The clothes I’m wearing now are for indoor use, so it was too much to wear when I went outside. I didn’t want to wear the clothes that Leah bought me.

“What should I wear?”

Diana picked out her clothes, humming a little bit.

Diana took out an ivory-colored daily dress with small grains of jewelry, changed, and put the clothes Leah bought in a box and left the room.

***

“Edwin’s skills are getting better day by day.”

On his way back from directly supervising Edwin’s training at the Knights’ Marshal, the Grand Duke told Rowoon.

It was quite an honor for Edwin to be in the eyes of the Grand Duke, but Rowoon laughed as he thought of Edwin, who was excitedly beaten by the Grand Duke earlier in the smoke field.

“Edwin seems to be very good at learning, but why don’t you let him go a little bit? Wouldn’t it be a big deal if Edwin ran away at this rate?”

“If you run away at this level, you don’t deserve to be a knight of the Grand Prix. And I let you off a lot earlier.”

If you really wielded your sword, some of Edwin’s bones would have been broken today.

The Grand Duke’s skills and Edwin’s personality were just a joke because Rowoon knew best.

Rowoon thought quietly and said to the Grand Duke.

“Your Highness, Edwin’s skills are getting better day by day, so you can send him to represent the Grand Duke in the upcoming Imperial Sword Competition.”

The aduke replied with a slight narrowness between his brows as if he were contemplating for a while.

“Yeah, that’s not bad either.”

The Imperial Sword Competition, which is held every spring.

Since it was a swordsmanship competition held without restrictions on status, numerous mercenaries and commoners who used swords participated, but in fact, the championship was always the knights of the noble family.

When competition was held, each noble family tried to raise the family’s reputation by sending out the strongest swordsman in their knighthood.

Until 10 years ago, the winner of a swordsmanship contest always came from the duke’s family, but after the death of the Grand Duchess, the duke left for the battlefield, and the duke did not send out knights to the swordsmanship contest.

Because the highest shaman of the Empire was the Grand Duchess of Terra Vita in name and reality.