The Tragedy of The Villainess (Completed)

  • Novels
  • Library
  • A
  • A

Support us on

Ko - fi & Pateron

Table of Contents

  • 1. Chapter 1 - Prologue
  • 2. Chapter 2 - Part 1 - Can I Be Rude To The Villain?
  • 3. Chapter 2 - Part 2 - Can I Be Rude To The Villain
  • 4. Chapter 3 Part 1
  • 5. Chapter 3 Part 2
  • 6. Chapter 4 Part 1
  • 7. Chapter 4 Part 2
  • 8. Chapter 5 Part 1
  • 9. Chapter 5 Part 2
  • 10. Chapter 6 Part 1
  • 11. Chapter 6 Part 2
  • 12. Chapter 7 Part 1
  • 13. Chapter 7 Part 2
  • 14. Chapter 8
  • 15. Chapter 9
  • 16. Chapter 10
  • 17. Chapter 11
  • 18. Chapter 12
  • 19. Chapter 13 Part 1
  • 20. Chapter 13 Part 2
  • 21. Chapter 14
  • 22. Chapter 15
  • 23. Chapter 16
  • 24. Chapter 17
  • 25. Chapter 18
  • 26. Chapter 19
  • 27. Chapter 20
  • 28. Chapter 21
  • 29. Chapter 22
  • 30. Chapter 23
  • 31. Chapter 24
  • 32. Chapter 25
  • 33. Chapter 26
  • 34. Chapter 27
  • 35. Chapter 28
  • 36. Chapter 29
  • 37. Chapter 30
  • 38. Chapter 31
  • 39. Chapter 32
  • 40. Chapter 33
  • 41. Chapter 34
  • 42. Chapter 35
  • 43. Chapter 36
  • 44. Chapter 37
  • 45. Chapter 38
  • 46. Chapter 39
  • 47. Chapter 40
  • 48. Chapter 41
  • 49. Chapter 42
  • 50. Chapter 43
  • 51. Chapter 44
  • 52. Chapter 45
  • 53. Chapter 46
  • 54. Chapter 47
  • 55. Chapter 48
  • 56. Chapter 49
  • 57. Chapter 50
  • 58. Chapter 51
  • 59. Chapter 52
  • 60. Chapter 53
  • 61. Chapter 54
  • 62. Chapter 55
  • 63. Chapter 56
  • 64. Chapter 57
  • 65. Chapter 58
  • 66. Chapter 59
  • 67. Chapter 60
  • 68. Chapter 61
  • 69. Chapter 62
  • 70. Chapter 63
  • 71. Chapter 64
  • 72. Chapter 65
  • 73. Chapter 66
  • 74. Chapter 67
  • 75. Chapter 68
  • 76. Chapter 69
  • 77. Chapter 70
  • 78. Tragedy 71
  • 79. Chapter 72
  • 80. Chapter 73
  • 81. Chapter 74
  • 82. Chapter 75
  • 83. Chapter 76
  • 84. Chapter 77
  • 85. Chapter 78
  • 86. Chapter 79
  • 87. Chapter 80
  • 88. Chapter 81
  • 89. Chapter 82
  • 90. Chapter 83
  • 91. Chapter 84
  • 92. Chapter 85
  • 93. Chapter 86
  • 94. Chapter 87
  • 95. Chapter 88
  • 96. Tragedy 89
  • 97. Chapter 90
  • 98. Chapter 91
  • 99. Chapter 92
  • 100. Chapter 93
  • 101. Chapter 94
  • 102. Chapter 95
  • 103. Chapter 96
  • 104. Chapter 97
  • 105. Tragedy 98
  • 106. Chapter 99
  • 107. Chapter 100
  • 108. Chapter 101
  • 109. Chapter 102
  • 110. Chapter 103
  • 111. Chapter 104
  • 112. Chapter 105
  • 113. Chapter 106
  • 114. Chapter 107
  • 115. Chapter 108
  • 116. Chapter 109
  • 117. Chapter 110
  • 118. Chapter 111
  • 119. Chapter 112
  • 120. Chapter 113
  • 121. Chapter 114
  • 122. Chapter 115
  • 123. Chapter 116
  • 124. Chapter 117
  • 125. Chapter 118
  • 126. Chapter 119
  • 127. Chapter 120
  • 128. Chapter 121
  • 129. Chapter 122
  • 130. Chapter 123
  • 131. Chapter 124
  • 132. Chapter 125
  • 133. Chapter 126
  • 134. Chapter 127
  • 135. Chapter 128
  • 136. Chapter 129
  • 137. Chapter 130
  • 138. Chapter 131
  • 139. Chapter 132
  • 140. Chapter 133
  • 141. Chapter 134
  • 142. Chapter 135
  • 143. Chapter 136
  • 144. Tragedy 137
  • 145. Chapter 138
  • 146. Chapter 139
  • 147. Chapter 140
  • 148. Chapter 141
  • 149. Chapter 142
  • 150. Chapter 143
  • 151. Chapter 144
  • 152. Chapter 145
  • 153. Chapter 146
  • 154. Chapter 147
  • 155. Chapter 148
  • 156. Chapter 149
  • 157. Chapter 150
  • 158. Chapter 151
  • 159. Chapter 152
  • 160. Chapter 153
  • 161. Chapter 154
  • 162. Chapter 155
  • 163. Chapter 156
  • 164. Chapter 157
  • 165. Chapter 158
  • 166. Chapter 159
  • 167. Chapter 160
  • 168. Chapter 161
  • 169. Chapter 162
  • 170. Chapter 163
  • 171. Chapter 164
  • 172. Chapter 165
  • 173. Chapter 166
  • 174. Chapter 167
  • 175. Chapter 168
  • 176. Chapter 169
  • 177. Chapter 170
  • 178. Chapter 171
  • 179. Chapter 172
  • 180. Chapter 173
  • 181. Chapter 174
  • 182. Chapter 175
  • 183. Chapter 176
  • 184. Chapter 177
  • 185. Chapter 178
  • 186. Chapter 179
  • 187. Chapter 180
  • 188. Chapter 181
  • 189. Chapter 182
  • 190. Chapter 183
  • 191. Chapter 184
  • 192. Chapter 185
  • 193. Chapter 186
  • 194. Chapter 187
  • 195. Chapter 188
  • 196. Chapter 189. Side Story (1) - Berg's Daily Life
  • 197. Chapter 190. Side Story 2
  • 198. Chapter 191. Side Story 3
  • 199. Chapter 192. Side Story 4
  • 200. Chapter 193. Side Story 5
  • 201. Chapter 194. Side Story 6. Confinement
  • 202. Chapter 195. Side Story 7
  • 203. Chapter 196. Side Story 8
  • 204. Chapter 197. Side Story 9
  • 205. Chapter 198. Side Story 10
  • 206. Chapter 199. Side Story 11
  • 207. Chapter 200. Side Story 12
  • 208. Chapter 201. Side Story 13
  • 209. Chapter 202. Side Story 14
  • 210. Chapter 203. Side Story 15
  • 211. Chapter 204. Side Story 16. Lovesick (End)

Chapter 1 - Prologue

 

https://www.patreon.com/TOTV

 

****

The year-end party two days later was a last-minute affair, but preparations were not delayed.

‘I did it.’

Seria came to the hall with a slight disappointment because she was still worried about it, but her fears were unnecessary.

She was quite pleased to see the hall transformed to match the end-of-year atmosphere. The two days of running around on Alliot’s  back had been worth it.

The sweet melodies of the beautifully dressed musicians tickled her ears. She stood on the rather angular second-floor staircase and looked around the hall. There were many nobles, even though the official party had not yet begun. They were busy in groups of two, dancing lightly to the music, or gathering in groups talking. Probably more than 90% of their conversation was about her.

The official reception started in the evening, and the only thing she needed to do was to show up together with Lesche. When she returned to her room, Begonia was already there waiting.

“Do I have to call you Grand Duchess now, My Lady?”

Seria smiled at Begonia’s playful words.

“It’s a kindness His Highness had done to save my life. It was a kind of slavery contract, and the role of the temporary hostess was that of a slave…”

She was actually still a bit busy. Nevertheless, the help she had received from Begonia in many ways was so great that she gladly accepted the request to meet her.

“I see there are cases where favors become destinies,” Begonia said, smiling graciously but with a keen eye. She was now looking carefully at the dress on the mannequin. The pink-beige dress, along with the wedding dress, had been commissioned by Kalis for her to wear at their supposed wedding reception. But the reception had suddenly turned into a year-end party and Begonia had come to see her in a state of emergency.

“The dress you wear at a wedding reception is very different from the dress you wear at a year-end party. The former is an extension of the wedding and can be neat and clean, but the latter has to be more glamorous. If I’m not careful, it can look shabby.”

No designer wants their work to look shabby. That was why there was so much jewellery on the dress all of a sudden.

With Begonia’s simple instructions, her assistants began to dress her. Her hair was braided in place, and carefully decorated with jeweled pins as well.

“Would you look at this dress in the mirror, My Lady,” Begonia said, suddenly pulling it out of a square leather satchel.

“Would you like to see it? It’s a perfect dress for a spring picnic.”

It was a beautiful lentil-coloured dress that Seria naturally admired. She complimented Begonia heartily.

“It’s very pretty.”

“It’s one of my main pieces for the next season,’ said the elated Begonia, laughing in earnest.

“I will give you this dress, Lady Seria, under one condition.”

“Yes?”

“Would you make some changes to your existing dress contract with me?”

“What changes would you like to make?”

“I would like to change the client of the contract to Lady Seria instead of Marquis Haneton. Can you do it?”

“It’s not difficult, it was my dress anyway. Please give me the contract.”

“After all, Lady Seria has a kind heart. That’s good.”

As if she had made up her mind to say this today, Begonia immediately took a piece of paper from her pocket. It was a dressmaking contract signed by Kalis a few months ago. Seria looked at his familiar name for a moment, then quickly drew a line through it and wrote her name next to it.

“Here you go,” she said, confirming her signature and looking as refreshed as someone who had removed a tumor.

“Very well. That’s the end of it. How troublesome it was.”

“Why?”

“Because the Saintess wanted me to make a dress for her.”

“Lina?”

“Yes. It wasn’t a dress for the year end party. I didn’t have much time to spare. She wanted a dress to wear when she went to Haneton Estate.”

“A dress to wear to Haneton Estate?”

“Yes. At the time I still had a contract with Marquis Haneton, so the Saintess wanted to add another dress to it.”

Lina must have been unaware that Kalis had requested a divorce.  Otherwise, she wouldn’t have requested a dress to wear to Haneton Estate.

After the end of the year party tomorrow, all the nobles who came in the name of celebration must leave the castle, and Lina would also have to leave Berg Castle in a few days. She was a Saintess, so of course she had to go back to the Great Temple, but to go to the Haneton Estate…? The question arose.

‘Does she really hate the Great Temple so much?’

With only the priests around Lina, they would all have nothing but good things to say about her. Objectively speaking, New Castle Country, with its great temple, was a beautiful and magnificent city. Of course the food was a little unpleasant, but the priests would never say that such a trifle was a disadvantage. Seria didn’t really understand this, as she had been to the temple after being possessed by the original Seria, just to see the famous sights.

In any case, the divorce from Stern would take quite some time, and until then Lina would be the Marquess of Haneton. The title of Saintess was classy and special, so Lina would always be called Saintess.

“Speaking of which, I must return Marquis Haneton’s ring.”

Like all noblemen of high tradition, Marquis Haneton had an emerald ring that had been passed down from generation to generation. The emerald ring that had been in her possession when Kalis proposed to her was still resting peacefully in her jewellery box. She had forgotten about it because she was not in the right frame of mind. She wanted to see Kalis and return the ring as soon as possible, but Begonia frowned and sighed.

“Saintess is not good at noble etiquette, I don’t know how lucky she is for such a thing. Marquis Haneton has a request, so you may not know that it is difficult to reject the request of the person who becomes his wife.”

“So you’ve decided to rewrite the contract?”

“Yes, from now on, when the Saintess asks for a dress, I can comfortably refuse.”

It was the same as the original that Lina wanted Begonia’s dress. Well, Begonia’s dress is beautiful. It’s like there’s an element to it that resonates with the hearts of people.

Knock. Knock.

There was a knock on the door and a servant with a very troubled expression came in.

“My Lady.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You have a visitor.”

“Why are you being so stuffy?”

The assistants were startled when they suddenly saw a woman peeking out from behind the servant. They immediately checked Seria’s condition. Luckily, she was still wearing her dress.

“Designer Begonia, you’re really here!”

“Saintess!”

It was Lina. She seemed to be able to walk on her own feet after a day. She walked in slowly, dressed in a beautifully decorated manner, as if she was attending a year-end party today. The pure white dress that Lina was wearing suited her image perfectly, but Seria had the feeling that the nobles were going to bite off more than they could chew. It reminded her strangely of a mini wedding dress.

Lina walked slowly over and blushed as she saw the beautiful lily-of-the-valley dress sitting in Begonia’s hands.

“Designer Begonia. I was wondering if you would accept my request for a dress. I heard that this dress was also made on a commission from Kalis. If you don’t have enough money for the commission deposit, I can tell the priest to give you more!”

What should she point out first?

Seria was worried about that beautiful dress, that the thoughts passing through her head and the thoughts in Begonia’s head were not so different.

No, Begonia looked much more furious than Seria did. For she was a designer sensitive to “aristocratic elegance”, with a reputation even in the imperial court.

“Saintess,” came the stern but courteous voice. “This is Lady Seria’s abode. Therefore, it would be proper for you to address the master of the place first.”

Lina looked at Seria, cowering badly at the stern rebuke.

“Excuse me. Good morning, Seria.”

She hurried to greet Seria, but it was too late. Begonia was not Lina’s teacher of etiquette, who would help her redeem her mistake, the reputation of Kalis and Lina had already been ruined in Begonia’s mind.

“Not long ago, Lady Seria was changing her dress. It would only be a vulgar and unbecoming crowd to open the door of a lady’s room, at the hour before a ball!”

Lina’s face flushed red, but this did not remove the cold, hard expression from Begonia’s face.

“Above all, my dear Saintess. I am not a designer who calculates dresses simply in terms of money. So it was very rude of you to say that I don’t have enough money.”

“I didn’t mean it in that way…”

“A blade once swung can leave a mark in the sand. Please understand that I can’t accept your request for a dress.”

“But that dress is also a request from Kalis. It’s not difficult to add one more dress or so….”

“Unfortunately, not anymore. That’s changed at the request of Lady Seria. We’ve amended the contract, so it’s now difficult to add a dress for a Saintess who has nothing to do with Lady Seria.”

“What?”

Lina suddenly approached Seria with a puzzled look on her face. Then she took Seria’s hand curtly.

“Designer Begonia, that’s all right. I’m friends with Seria.”

At that moment, a deep silence struck the room. Seria removed Lina’s hand from hers and spoke.

“We’re not friends.”

“What..? Why…?”

“Why?”

Seria frowned. In aristocratic society, ‘friend’ does not simply mean the same age group. You had to be as close as two people in the next order of family to be able to talk about “friends” in a dignified manner. Above all, to be friends with Lina could be seen as a way of forgiving Kalis for his behavior. And she could never forgive him.

“How can I happily be friends with my ex-fiance’s current wife? Can Lina do that?”

“Kalis and I are not officially married! Seria, you know that. I just had to do it to save him.”

“That is your affair, and I have nothing to do with it.”

Lina, whose face had just turned pale, said.

“But…But…”

“Please leave, Lina. And don’t come back like this again.”

“Seria!”

She caught Seria in a haste.

“We can be good friends! I heard everything from the teacher. Your mother is a commoner actress!”

***

Chapter 2 - Part 1 - Can I be rude to the villain?

 

https://www.patreon.com/TOTV

 

****

The year-end party two days later was a last-minute affair, but preparations were not delayed.

‘I did it.’

Seria came to the hall with a slight disappointment because she was still worried about it, but her fears were unnecessary.

She was quite pleased to see the hall transformed to match the end-of-year atmosphere. The two days of running around on Alliot’s  back had been worth it.

The sweet melodies of the beautifully dressed musicians tickled her ears. She stood on the rather angular second-floor staircase and looked around the hall. There were many nobles, even though the official party had not yet begun. They were busy in groups of two, dancing lightly to the music, or gathering in groups talking. Probably more than 90% of their conversation was about her.

The official reception started in the evening, and the only thing she needed to do was to show up together with Lesche. When she returned to her room, Begonia was already there waiting.

“Do I have to call you Grand Duchess now, My Lady?”

Seria smiled at Begonia’s playful words.

“It’s a kindness His Highness had done to save my life. It was a kind of slavery contract, and the role of the temporary hostess was that of a slave…”

She was actually still a bit busy. Nevertheless, the help she had received from Begonia in many ways was so great that she gladly accepted the request to meet her.

“I see there are cases where favors become destinies,” Begonia said, smiling graciously but with a keen eye. She was now looking carefully at the dress on the mannequin. The pink-beige dress, along with the wedding dress, had been commissioned by Kalis for her to wear at their supposed wedding reception. But the reception had suddenly turned into a year-end party and Begonia had come to see her in a state of emergency.

“The dress you wear at a wedding reception is very different from the dress you wear at a year-end party. The former is an extension of the wedding and can be neat and clean, but the latter has to be more glamorous. If I’m not careful, it can look shabby.”

No designer wants their work to look shabby. That was why there was so much jewellery on the dress all of a sudden.

With Begonia’s simple instructions, her assistants began to dress her. Her hair was braided in place, and carefully decorated with jeweled pins as well.

“Would you look at this dress in the mirror, My Lady,” Begonia said, suddenly pulling it out of a square leather satchel.

“Would you like to see it? It’s a perfect dress for a spring picnic.”

It was a beautiful lentil-coloured dress that Seria naturally admired. She complimented Begonia heartily.

“It’s very pretty.”

“It’s one of my main pieces for the next season,’ said the elated Begonia, laughing in earnest.

“I will give you this dress, Lady Seria, under one condition.”

“Yes?”

“Would you make some changes to your existing dress contract with me?”

“What changes would you like to make?”

“I would like to change the client of the contract to Lady Seria instead of Marquis Haneton. Can you do it?”

“It’s not difficult, it was my dress anyway. Please give me the contract.”

“After all, Lady Seria has a kind heart. That’s good.”

As if she had made up her mind to say this today, Begonia immediately took a piece of paper from her pocket. It was a dressmaking contract signed by Kalis a few months ago. Seria looked at his familiar name for a moment, then quickly drew a line through it and wrote her name next to it.

“Here you go,” she said, confirming her signature and looking as refreshed as someone who had removed a tumor.

“Very well. That’s the end of it. How troublesome it was.”

“Why?”

“Because the Saintess wanted me to make a dress for her.”

“Lina?”

“Yes. It wasn’t a dress for the year end party. I didn’t have much time to spare. She wanted a dress to wear when she went to Haneton Estate.”

“A dress to wear to Haneton Estate?”

“Yes. At the time I still had a contract with Marquis Haneton, so the Saintess wanted to add another dress to it.”

Lina must have been unaware that Kalis had requested a divorce.  Otherwise, she wouldn’t have requested a dress to wear to Haneton Estate.

After the end of the year party tomorrow, all the nobles who came in the name of celebration must leave the castle, and Lina would also have to leave Berg Castle in a few days. She was a Saintess, so of course she had to go back to the Great Temple, but to go to the Haneton Estate…? The question arose.

‘Does she really hate the Great Temple so much?’

With only the priests around Lina, they would all have nothing but good things to say about her. Objectively speaking, New Castle Country, with its great temple, was a beautiful and magnificent city. Of course the food was a little unpleasant, but the priests would never say that such a trifle was a disadvantage. Seria didn’t really understand this, as she had been to the temple after being possessed by the original Seria, just to see the famous sights.

In any case, the divorce from Stern would take quite some time, and until then Lina would be the Marquess of Haneton. The title of Saintess was classy and special, so Lina would always be called Saintess.

“Speaking of which, I must return Marquis Haneton’s ring.”

Like all noblemen of high tradition, Marquis Haneton had an emerald ring that had been passed down from generation to generation. The emerald ring that had been in her possession when Kalis proposed to her was still resting peacefully in her jewellery box. She had forgotten about it because she was not in the right frame of mind. She wanted to see Kalis and return the ring as soon as possible, but Begonia frowned and sighed.

“Saintess is not good at noble etiquette, I don’t know how lucky she is for such a thing. Marquis Haneton has a request, so you may not know that it is difficult to reject the request of the person who becomes his wife.”

“So you’ve decided to rewrite the contract?”

“Yes, from now on, when the Saintess asks for a dress, I can comfortably refuse.”

It was the same as the original that Lina wanted Begonia’s dress. Well, Begonia’s dress is beautiful. It’s like there’s an element to it that resonates with the hearts of people.

Knock. Knock.

There was a knock on the door and a servant with a very troubled expression came in.

“My Lady.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You have a visitor.”

“Why are you being so stuffy?”

The assistants were startled when they suddenly saw a woman peeking out from behind the servant. They immediately checked Seria’s condition. Luckily, she was still wearing her dress.

“Designer Begonia, you’re really here!”

“Saintess!”

It was Lina. She seemed to be able to walk on her own feet after a day. She walked in slowly, dressed in a beautifully decorated manner, as if she was attending a year-end party today. The pure white dress that Lina was wearing suited her image perfectly, but Seria had the feeling that the nobles were going to bite off more than they could chew. It reminded her strangely of a mini wedding dress.

Lina walked slowly over and blushed as she saw the beautiful lily-of-the-valley dress sitting in Begonia’s hands.

“Designer Begonia. I was wondering if you would accept my request for a dress. I heard that this dress was also made on a commission from Kalis. If you don’t have enough money for the commission deposit, I can tell the priest to give you more!”

What should she point out first?

Seria was worried about that beautiful dress, that the thoughts passing through her head and the thoughts in Begonia’s head were not so different.

No, Begonia looked much more furious than Seria did. For she was a designer sensitive to “aristocratic elegance”, with a reputation even in the imperial court.

“Saintess,” came the stern but courteous voice. “This is Lady Seria’s abode. Therefore, it would be proper for you to address the master of the place first.”

Lina looked at Seria, cowering badly at the stern rebuke.

“Excuse me. Good morning, Seria.”

She hurried to greet Seria, but it was too late. Begonia was not Lina’s teacher of etiquette, who would help her redeem her mistake, the reputation of Kalis and Lina had already been ruined in Begonia’s mind.

“Not long ago, Lady Seria was changing her dress. It would only be a vulgar and unbecoming crowd to open the door of a lady’s room, at the hour before a ball!”

Lina’s face flushed red, but this did not remove the cold, hard expression from Begonia’s face.

“Above all, my dear Saintess. I am not a designer who calculates dresses simply in terms of money. So it was very rude of you to say that I don’t have enough money.”

“I didn’t mean it in that way…”

“A blade once swung can leave a mark in the sand. Please understand that I can’t accept your request for a dress.”

“But that dress is also a request from Kalis. It’s not difficult to add one more dress or so….”

“Unfortunately, not anymore. That’s changed at the request of Lady Seria. We’ve amended the contract, so it’s now difficult to add a dress for a Saintess who has nothing to do with Lady Seria.”

“What?”

Lina suddenly approached Seria with a puzzled look on her face. Then she took Seria’s hand curtly.

“Designer Begonia, that’s all right. I’m friends with Seria.”

At that moment, a deep silence struck the room. Seria removed Lina’s hand from hers and spoke.

“We’re not friends.”

“What..? Why…?”

“Why?”

Seria frowned. In aristocratic society, ‘friend’ does not simply mean the same age group. You had to be as close as two people in the next order of family to be able to talk about “friends” in a dignified manner. Above all, to be friends with Lina could be seen as a way of forgiving Kalis for his behavior. And she could never forgive him.

“How can I happily be friends with my ex-fiance’s current wife? Can Lina do that?”

“Kalis and I are not officially married! Seria, you know that. I just had to do it to save him.”

“That is your affair, and I have nothing to do with it.”

Lina, whose face had just turned pale, said.

“But…But…”

“Please leave, Lina. And don’t come back like this again.”

“Seria!”

She caught Seria in a haste.

“We can be good friends! I heard everything from the teacher. Your mother is a commoner actress!”

***

Chapter 2 - Part 2 - Can I be rude to the villain

 

https://www.patreon.com/TOTV

 

****

The year-end party two days later was a last-minute affair, but preparations were not delayed.

‘I did it.’

Seria came to the hall with a slight disappointment because she was still worried about it, but her fears were unnecessary.

She was quite pleased to see the hall transformed to match the end-of-year atmosphere. The two days of running around on Alliot’s  back had been worth it.

The sweet melodies of the beautifully dressed musicians tickled her ears. She stood on the rather angular second-floor staircase and looked around the hall. There were many nobles, even though the official party had not yet begun. They were busy in groups of two, dancing lightly to the music, or gathering in groups talking. Probably more than 90% of their conversation was about her.

The official reception started in the evening, and the only thing she needed to do was to show up together with Lesche. When she returned to her room, Begonia was already there waiting.

“Do I have to call you Grand Duchess now, My Lady?”

Seria smiled at Begonia’s playful words.

“It’s a kindness His Highness had done to save my life. It was a kind of slavery contract, and the role of the temporary hostess was that of a slave…”

She was actually still a bit busy. Nevertheless, the help she had received from Begonia in many ways was so great that she gladly accepted the request to meet her.

“I see there are cases where favors become destinies,” Begonia said, smiling graciously but with a keen eye. She was now looking carefully at the dress on the mannequin. The pink-beige dress, along with the wedding dress, had been commissioned by Kalis for her to wear at their supposed wedding reception. But the reception had suddenly turned into a year-end party and Begonia had come to see her in a state of emergency.

“The dress you wear at a wedding reception is very different from the dress you wear at a year-end party. The former is an extension of the wedding and can be neat and clean, but the latter has to be more glamorous. If I’m not careful, it can look shabby.”

No designer wants their work to look shabby. That was why there was so much jewellery on the dress all of a sudden.

With Begonia’s simple instructions, her assistants began to dress her. Her hair was braided in place, and carefully decorated with jeweled pins as well.

“Would you look at this dress in the mirror, My Lady,” Begonia said, suddenly pulling it out of a square leather satchel.

“Would you like to see it? It’s a perfect dress for a spring picnic.”

It was a beautiful lentil-coloured dress that Seria naturally admired. She complimented Begonia heartily.

“It’s very pretty.”

“It’s one of my main pieces for the next season,’ said the elated Begonia, laughing in earnest.

“I will give you this dress, Lady Seria, under one condition.”

“Yes?”

“Would you make some changes to your existing dress contract with me?”

“What changes would you like to make?”

“I would like to change the client of the contract to Lady Seria instead of Marquis Haneton. Can you do it?”

“It’s not difficult, it was my dress anyway. Please give me the contract.”

“After all, Lady Seria has a kind heart. That’s good.”

As if she had made up her mind to say this today, Begonia immediately took a piece of paper from her pocket. It was a dressmaking contract signed by Kalis a few months ago. Seria looked at his familiar name for a moment, then quickly drew a line through it and wrote her name next to it.

“Here you go,” she said, confirming her signature and looking as refreshed as someone who had removed a tumor.

“Very well. That’s the end of it. How troublesome it was.”

“Why?”

“Because the Saintess wanted me to make a dress for her.”

“Lina?”

“Yes. It wasn’t a dress for the year end party. I didn’t have much time to spare. She wanted a dress to wear when she went to Haneton Estate.”

“A dress to wear to Haneton Estate?”

“Yes. At the time I still had a contract with Marquis Haneton, so the Saintess wanted to add another dress to it.”

Lina must have been unaware that Kalis had requested a divorce.  Otherwise, she wouldn’t have requested a dress to wear to Haneton Estate.

After the end of the year party tomorrow, all the nobles who came in the name of celebration must leave the castle, and Lina would also have to leave Berg Castle in a few days. She was a Saintess, so of course she had to go back to the Great Temple, but to go to the Haneton Estate…? The question arose.

‘Does she really hate the Great Temple so much?’

With only the priests around Lina, they would all have nothing but good things to say about her. Objectively speaking, New Castle Country, with its great temple, was a beautiful and magnificent city. Of course the food was a little unpleasant, but the priests would never say that such a trifle was a disadvantage. Seria didn’t really understand this, as she had been to the temple after being possessed by the original Seria, just to see the famous sights.

In any case, the divorce from Stern would take quite some time, and until then Lina would be the Marquess of Haneton. The title of Saintess was classy and special, so Lina would always be called Saintess.

“Speaking of which, I must return Marquis Haneton’s ring.”

Like all noblemen of high tradition, Marquis Haneton had an emerald ring that had been passed down from generation to generation. The emerald ring that had been in her possession when Kalis proposed to her was still resting peacefully in her jewellery box. She had forgotten about it because she was not in the right frame of mind. She wanted to see Kalis and return the ring as soon as possible, but Begonia frowned and sighed.

“Saintess is not good at noble etiquette, I don’t know how lucky she is for such a thing. Marquis Haneton has a request, so you may not know that it is difficult to reject the request of the person who becomes his wife.”

“So you’ve decided to rewrite the contract?”

“Yes, from now on, when the Saintess asks for a dress, I can comfortably refuse.”

It was the same as the original that Lina wanted Begonia’s dress. Well, Begonia’s dress is beautiful. It’s like there’s an element to it that resonates with the hearts of people.

Knock. Knock.

There was a knock on the door and a servant with a very troubled expression came in.

“My Lady.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You have a visitor.”

“Why are you being so stuffy?”

The assistants were startled when they suddenly saw a woman peeking out from behind the servant. They immediately checked Seria’s condition. Luckily, she was still wearing her dress.

“Designer Begonia, you’re really here!”

“Saintess!”

It was Lina. She seemed to be able to walk on her own feet after a day. She walked in slowly, dressed in a beautifully decorated manner, as if she was attending a year-end party today. The pure white dress that Lina was wearing suited her image perfectly, but Seria had the feeling that the nobles were going to bite off more than they could chew. It reminded her strangely of a mini wedding dress.

Lina walked slowly over and blushed as she saw the beautiful lily-of-the-valley dress sitting in Begonia’s hands.

“Designer Begonia. I was wondering if you would accept my request for a dress. I heard that this dress was also made on a commission from Kalis. If you don’t have enough money for the commission deposit, I can tell the priest to give you more!”

What should she point out first?

Seria was worried about that beautiful dress, that the thoughts passing through her head and the thoughts in Begonia’s head were not so different.

No, Begonia looked much more furious than Seria did. For she was a designer sensitive to “aristocratic elegance”, with a reputation even in the imperial court.

“Saintess,” came the stern but courteous voice. “This is Lady Seria’s abode. Therefore, it would be proper for you to address the master of the place first.”

Lina looked at Seria, cowering badly at the stern rebuke.

“Excuse me. Good morning, Seria.”

She hurried to greet Seria, but it was too late. Begonia was not Lina’s teacher of etiquette, who would help her redeem her mistake, the reputation of Kalis and Lina had already been ruined in Begonia’s mind.

“Not long ago, Lady Seria was changing her dress. It would only be a vulgar and unbecoming crowd to open the door of a lady’s room, at the hour before a ball!”

Lina’s face flushed red, but this did not remove the cold, hard expression from Begonia’s face.

“Above all, my dear Saintess. I am not a designer who calculates dresses simply in terms of money. So it was very rude of you to say that I don’t have enough money.”

“I didn’t mean it in that way…”

“A blade once swung can leave a mark in the sand. Please understand that I can’t accept your request for a dress.”

“But that dress is also a request from Kalis. It’s not difficult to add one more dress or so….”

“Unfortunately, not anymore. That’s changed at the request of Lady Seria. We’ve amended the contract, so it’s now difficult to add a dress for a Saintess who has nothing to do with Lady Seria.”

“What?”

Lina suddenly approached Seria with a puzzled look on her face. Then she took Seria’s hand curtly.

“Designer Begonia, that’s all right. I’m friends with Seria.”

At that moment, a deep silence struck the room. Seria removed Lina’s hand from hers and spoke.

“We’re not friends.”

“What..? Why…?”

“Why?”

Seria frowned. In aristocratic society, ‘friend’ does not simply mean the same age group. You had to be as close as two people in the next order of family to be able to talk about “friends” in a dignified manner. Above all, to be friends with Lina could be seen as a way of forgiving Kalis for his behavior. And she could never forgive him.

“How can I happily be friends with my ex-fiance’s current wife? Can Lina do that?”

“Kalis and I are not officially married! Seria, you know that. I just had to do it to save him.”

“That is your affair, and I have nothing to do with it.”

Lina, whose face had just turned pale, said.

“But…But…”

“Please leave, Lina. And don’t come back like this again.”

“Seria!”

She caught Seria in a haste.

“We can be good friends! I heard everything from the teacher. Your mother is a commoner actress!”

***

Chapter 3 Part 1

 

https://www.patreon.com/TOTV

 

****

The year-end party two days later was a last-minute affair, but preparations were not delayed.

‘I did it.’

Seria came to the hall with a slight disappointment because she was still worried about it, but her fears were unnecessary.

She was quite pleased to see the hall transformed to match the end-of-year atmosphere. The two days of running around on Alliot’s  back had been worth it.

The sweet melodies of the beautifully dressed musicians tickled her ears. She stood on the rather angular second-floor staircase and looked around the hall. There were many nobles, even though the official party had not yet begun. They were busy in groups of two, dancing lightly to the music, or gathering in groups talking. Probably more than 90% of their conversation was about her.

The official reception started in the evening, and the only thing she needed to do was to show up together with Lesche. When she returned to her room, Begonia was already there waiting.

“Do I have to call you Grand Duchess now, My Lady?”

Seria smiled at Begonia’s playful words.

“It’s a kindness His Highness had done to save my life. It was a kind of slavery contract, and the role of the temporary hostess was that of a slave…”

She was actually still a bit busy. Nevertheless, the help she had received from Begonia in many ways was so great that she gladly accepted the request to meet her.

“I see there are cases where favors become destinies,” Begonia said, smiling graciously but with a keen eye. She was now looking carefully at the dress on the mannequin. The pink-beige dress, along with the wedding dress, had been commissioned by Kalis for her to wear at their supposed wedding reception. But the reception had suddenly turned into a year-end party and Begonia had come to see her in a state of emergency.

“The dress you wear at a wedding reception is very different from the dress you wear at a year-end party. The former is an extension of the wedding and can be neat and clean, but the latter has to be more glamorous. If I’m not careful, it can look shabby.”

No designer wants their work to look shabby. That was why there was so much jewellery on the dress all of a sudden.

With Begonia’s simple instructions, her assistants began to dress her. Her hair was braided in place, and carefully decorated with jeweled pins as well.

“Would you look at this dress in the mirror, My Lady,” Begonia said, suddenly pulling it out of a square leather satchel.

“Would you like to see it? It’s a perfect dress for a spring picnic.”

It was a beautiful lentil-coloured dress that Seria naturally admired. She complimented Begonia heartily.

“It’s very pretty.”

“It’s one of my main pieces for the next season,’ said the elated Begonia, laughing in earnest.

“I will give you this dress, Lady Seria, under one condition.”

“Yes?”

“Would you make some changes to your existing dress contract with me?”

“What changes would you like to make?”

“I would like to change the client of the contract to Lady Seria instead of Marquis Haneton. Can you do it?”

“It’s not difficult, it was my dress anyway. Please give me the contract.”

“After all, Lady Seria has a kind heart. That’s good.”

As if she had made up her mind to say this today, Begonia immediately took a piece of paper from her pocket. It was a dressmaking contract signed by Kalis a few months ago. Seria looked at his familiar name for a moment, then quickly drew a line through it and wrote her name next to it.

“Here you go,” she said, confirming her signature and looking as refreshed as someone who had removed a tumor.

“Very well. That’s the end of it. How troublesome it was.”

“Why?”

“Because the Saintess wanted me to make a dress for her.”

“Lina?”

“Yes. It wasn’t a dress for the year end party. I didn’t have much time to spare. She wanted a dress to wear when she went to Haneton Estate.”

“A dress to wear to Haneton Estate?”

“Yes. At the time I still had a contract with Marquis Haneton, so the Saintess wanted to add another dress to it.”

Lina must have been unaware that Kalis had requested a divorce.  Otherwise, she wouldn’t have requested a dress to wear to Haneton Estate.

After the end of the year party tomorrow, all the nobles who came in the name of celebration must leave the castle, and Lina would also have to leave Berg Castle in a few days. She was a Saintess, so of course she had to go back to the Great Temple, but to go to the Haneton Estate…? The question arose.

‘Does she really hate the Great Temple so much?’

With only the priests around Lina, they would all have nothing but good things to say about her. Objectively speaking, New Castle Country, with its great temple, was a beautiful and magnificent city. Of course the food was a little unpleasant, but the priests would never say that such a trifle was a disadvantage. Seria didn’t really understand this, as she had been to the temple after being possessed by the original Seria, just to see the famous sights.

In any case, the divorce from Stern would take quite some time, and until then Lina would be the Marquess of Haneton. The title of Saintess was classy and special, so Lina would always be called Saintess.

“Speaking of which, I must return Marquis Haneton’s ring.”

Like all noblemen of high tradition, Marquis Haneton had an emerald ring that had been passed down from generation to generation. The emerald ring that had been in her possession when Kalis proposed to her was still resting peacefully in her jewellery box. She had forgotten about it because she was not in the right frame of mind. She wanted to see Kalis and return the ring as soon as possible, but Begonia frowned and sighed.

“Saintess is not good at noble etiquette, I don’t know how lucky she is for such a thing. Marquis Haneton has a request, so you may not know that it is difficult to reject the request of the person who becomes his wife.”

“So you’ve decided to rewrite the contract?”

“Yes, from now on, when the Saintess asks for a dress, I can comfortably refuse.”

It was the same as the original that Lina wanted Begonia’s dress. Well, Begonia’s dress is beautiful. It’s like there’s an element to it that resonates with the hearts of people.

Knock. Knock.

There was a knock on the door and a servant with a very troubled expression came in.

“My Lady.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You have a visitor.”

“Why are you being so stuffy?”

The assistants were startled when they suddenly saw a woman peeking out from behind the servant. They immediately checked Seria’s condition. Luckily, she was still wearing her dress.

“Designer Begonia, you’re really here!”

“Saintess!”

It was Lina. She seemed to be able to walk on her own feet after a day. She walked in slowly, dressed in a beautifully decorated manner, as if she was attending a year-end party today. The pure white dress that Lina was wearing suited her image perfectly, but Seria had the feeling that the nobles were going to bite off more than they could chew. It reminded her strangely of a mini wedding dress.

Lina walked slowly over and blushed as she saw the beautiful lily-of-the-valley dress sitting in Begonia’s hands.

“Designer Begonia. I was wondering if you would accept my request for a dress. I heard that this dress was also made on a commission from Kalis. If you don’t have enough money for the commission deposit, I can tell the priest to give you more!”

What should she point out first?

Seria was worried about that beautiful dress, that the thoughts passing through her head and the thoughts in Begonia’s head were not so different.

No, Begonia looked much more furious than Seria did. For she was a designer sensitive to “aristocratic elegance”, with a reputation even in the imperial court.

“Saintess,” came the stern but courteous voice. “This is Lady Seria’s abode. Therefore, it would be proper for you to address the master of the place first.”

Lina looked at Seria, cowering badly at the stern rebuke.

“Excuse me. Good morning, Seria.”

She hurried to greet Seria, but it was too late. Begonia was not Lina’s teacher of etiquette, who would help her redeem her mistake, the reputation of Kalis and Lina had already been ruined in Begonia’s mind.

“Not long ago, Lady Seria was changing her dress. It would only be a vulgar and unbecoming crowd to open the door of a lady’s room, at the hour before a ball!”

Lina’s face flushed red, but this did not remove the cold, hard expression from Begonia’s face.

“Above all, my dear Saintess. I am not a designer who calculates dresses simply in terms of money. So it was very rude of you to say that I don’t have enough money.”

“I didn’t mean it in that way…”

“A blade once swung can leave a mark in the sand. Please understand that I can’t accept your request for a dress.”

“But that dress is also a request from Kalis. It’s not difficult to add one more dress or so….”

“Unfortunately, not anymore. That’s changed at the request of Lady Seria. We’ve amended the contract, so it’s now difficult to add a dress for a Saintess who has nothing to do with Lady Seria.”

“What?”

Lina suddenly approached Seria with a puzzled look on her face. Then she took Seria’s hand curtly.

“Designer Begonia, that’s all right. I’m friends with Seria.”

At that moment, a deep silence struck the room. Seria removed Lina’s hand from hers and spoke.

“We’re not friends.”

“What..? Why…?”

“Why?”

Seria frowned. In aristocratic society, ‘friend’ does not simply mean the same age group. You had to be as close as two people in the next order of family to be able to talk about “friends” in a dignified manner. Above all, to be friends with Lina could be seen as a way of forgiving Kalis for his behavior. And she could never forgive him.

“How can I happily be friends with my ex-fiance’s current wife? Can Lina do that?”

“Kalis and I are not officially married! Seria, you know that. I just had to do it to save him.”

“That is your affair, and I have nothing to do with it.”

Lina, whose face had just turned pale, said.

“But…But…”

“Please leave, Lina. And don’t come back like this again.”

“Seria!”

She caught Seria in a haste.

“We can be good friends! I heard everything from the teacher. Your mother is a commoner actress!”

***

Chapter 3 Part 2

 

https://www.patreon.com/TOTV

 

****

The year-end party two days later was a last-minute affair, but preparations were not delayed.

‘I did it.’

Seria came to the hall with a slight disappointment because she was still worried about it, but her fears were unnecessary.

She was quite pleased to see the hall transformed to match the end-of-year atmosphere. The two days of running around on Alliot’s  back had been worth it.

The sweet melodies of the beautifully dressed musicians tickled her ears. She stood on the rather angular second-floor staircase and looked around the hall. There were many nobles, even though the official party had not yet begun. They were busy in groups of two, dancing lightly to the music, or gathering in groups talking. Probably more than 90% of their conversation was about her.

The official reception started in the evening, and the only thing she needed to do was to show up together with Lesche. When she returned to her room, Begonia was already there waiting.

“Do I have to call you Grand Duchess now, My Lady?”

Seria smiled at Begonia’s playful words.

“It’s a kindness His Highness had done to save my life. It was a kind of slavery contract, and the role of the temporary hostess was that of a slave…”

She was actually still a bit busy. Nevertheless, the help she had received from Begonia in many ways was so great that she gladly accepted the request to meet her.

“I see there are cases where favors become destinies,” Begonia said, smiling graciously but with a keen eye. She was now looking carefully at the dress on the mannequin. The pink-beige dress, along with the wedding dress, had been commissioned by Kalis for her to wear at their supposed wedding reception. But the reception had suddenly turned into a year-end party and Begonia had come to see her in a state of emergency.

“The dress you wear at a wedding reception is very different from the dress you wear at a year-end party. The former is an extension of the wedding and can be neat and clean, but the latter has to be more glamorous. If I’m not careful, it can look shabby.”

No designer wants their work to look shabby. That was why there was so much jewellery on the dress all of a sudden.

With Begonia’s simple instructions, her assistants began to dress her. Her hair was braided in place, and carefully decorated with jeweled pins as well.

“Would you look at this dress in the mirror, My Lady,” Begonia said, suddenly pulling it out of a square leather satchel.

“Would you like to see it? It’s a perfect dress for a spring picnic.”

It was a beautiful lentil-coloured dress that Seria naturally admired. She complimented Begonia heartily.

“It’s very pretty.”

“It’s one of my main pieces for the next season,’ said the elated Begonia, laughing in earnest.

“I will give you this dress, Lady Seria, under one condition.”

“Yes?”

“Would you make some changes to your existing dress contract with me?”

“What changes would you like to make?”

“I would like to change the client of the contract to Lady Seria instead of Marquis Haneton. Can you do it?”

“It’s not difficult, it was my dress anyway. Please give me the contract.”

“After all, Lady Seria has a kind heart. That’s good.”

As if she had made up her mind to say this today, Begonia immediately took a piece of paper from her pocket. It was a dressmaking contract signed by Kalis a few months ago. Seria looked at his familiar name for a moment, then quickly drew a line through it and wrote her name next to it.

“Here you go,” she said, confirming her signature and looking as refreshed as someone who had removed a tumor.

“Very well. That’s the end of it. How troublesome it was.”

“Why?”

“Because the Saintess wanted me to make a dress for her.”

“Lina?”

“Yes. It wasn’t a dress for the year end party. I didn’t have much time to spare. She wanted a dress to wear when she went to Haneton Estate.”

“A dress to wear to Haneton Estate?”

“Yes. At the time I still had a contract with Marquis Haneton, so the Saintess wanted to add another dress to it.”

Lina must have been unaware that Kalis had requested a divorce.  Otherwise, she wouldn’t have requested a dress to wear to Haneton Estate.

After the end of the year party tomorrow, all the nobles who came in the name of celebration must leave the castle, and Lina would also have to leave Berg Castle in a few days. She was a Saintess, so of course she had to go back to the Great Temple, but to go to the Haneton Estate…? The question arose.

‘Does she really hate the Great Temple so much?’

With only the priests around Lina, they would all have nothing but good things to say about her. Objectively speaking, New Castle Country, with its great temple, was a beautiful and magnificent city. Of course the food was a little unpleasant, but the priests would never say that such a trifle was a disadvantage. Seria didn’t really understand this, as she had been to the temple after being possessed by the original Seria, just to see the famous sights.

In any case, the divorce from Stern would take quite some time, and until then Lina would be the Marquess of Haneton. The title of Saintess was classy and special, so Lina would always be called Saintess.

“Speaking of which, I must return Marquis Haneton’s ring.”

Like all noblemen of high tradition, Marquis Haneton had an emerald ring that had been passed down from generation to generation. The emerald ring that had been in her possession when Kalis proposed to her was still resting peacefully in her jewellery box. She had forgotten about it because she was not in the right frame of mind. She wanted to see Kalis and return the ring as soon as possible, but Begonia frowned and sighed.

“Saintess is not good at noble etiquette, I don’t know how lucky she is for such a thing. Marquis Haneton has a request, so you may not know that it is difficult to reject the request of the person who becomes his wife.”

“So you’ve decided to rewrite the contract?”

“Yes, from now on, when the Saintess asks for a dress, I can comfortably refuse.”

It was the same as the original that Lina wanted Begonia’s dress. Well, Begonia’s dress is beautiful. It’s like there’s an element to it that resonates with the hearts of people.

Knock. Knock.

There was a knock on the door and a servant with a very troubled expression came in.

“My Lady.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You have a visitor.”

“Why are you being so stuffy?”

The assistants were startled when they suddenly saw a woman peeking out from behind the servant. They immediately checked Seria’s condition. Luckily, she was still wearing her dress.

“Designer Begonia, you’re really here!”

“Saintess!”

It was Lina. She seemed to be able to walk on her own feet after a day. She walked in slowly, dressed in a beautifully decorated manner, as if she was attending a year-end party today. The pure white dress that Lina was wearing suited her image perfectly, but Seria had the feeling that the nobles were going to bite off more than they could chew. It reminded her strangely of a mini wedding dress.

Lina walked slowly over and blushed as she saw the beautiful lily-of-the-valley dress sitting in Begonia’s hands.

“Designer Begonia. I was wondering if you would accept my request for a dress. I heard that this dress was also made on a commission from Kalis. If you don’t have enough money for the commission deposit, I can tell the priest to give you more!”

What should she point out first?

Seria was worried about that beautiful dress, that the thoughts passing through her head and the thoughts in Begonia’s head were not so different.

No, Begonia looked much more furious than Seria did. For she was a designer sensitive to “aristocratic elegance”, with a reputation even in the imperial court.

“Saintess,” came the stern but courteous voice. “This is Lady Seria’s abode. Therefore, it would be proper for you to address the master of the place first.”

Lina looked at Seria, cowering badly at the stern rebuke.

“Excuse me. Good morning, Seria.”

She hurried to greet Seria, but it was too late. Begonia was not Lina’s teacher of etiquette, who would help her redeem her mistake, the reputation of Kalis and Lina had already been ruined in Begonia’s mind.

“Not long ago, Lady Seria was changing her dress. It would only be a vulgar and unbecoming crowd to open the door of a lady’s room, at the hour before a ball!”

Lina’s face flushed red, but this did not remove the cold, hard expression from Begonia’s face.

“Above all, my dear Saintess. I am not a designer who calculates dresses simply in terms of money. So it was very rude of you to say that I don’t have enough money.”

“I didn’t mean it in that way…”

“A blade once swung can leave a mark in the sand. Please understand that I can’t accept your request for a dress.”

“But that dress is also a request from Kalis. It’s not difficult to add one more dress or so….”

“Unfortunately, not anymore. That’s changed at the request of Lady Seria. We’ve amended the contract, so it’s now difficult to add a dress for a Saintess who has nothing to do with Lady Seria.”

“What?”

Lina suddenly approached Seria with a puzzled look on her face. Then she took Seria’s hand curtly.

“Designer Begonia, that’s all right. I’m friends with Seria.”

At that moment, a deep silence struck the room. Seria removed Lina’s hand from hers and spoke.

“We’re not friends.”

“What..? Why…?”

“Why?”

Seria frowned. In aristocratic society, ‘friend’ does not simply mean the same age group. You had to be as close as two people in the next order of family to be able to talk about “friends” in a dignified manner. Above all, to be friends with Lina could be seen as a way of forgiving Kalis for his behavior. And she could never forgive him.

“How can I happily be friends with my ex-fiance’s current wife? Can Lina do that?”

“Kalis and I are not officially married! Seria, you know that. I just had to do it to save him.”

“That is your affair, and I have nothing to do with it.”

Lina, whose face had just turned pale, said.

“But…But…”

“Please leave, Lina. And don’t come back like this again.”

“Seria!”

She caught Seria in a haste.

“We can be good friends! I heard everything from the teacher. Your mother is a commoner actress!”

***

Chapter 4 Part 1

 

https://www.patreon.com/TOTV

 

****

The year-end party two days later was a last-minute affair, but preparations were not delayed.

‘I did it.’

Seria came to the hall with a slight disappointment because she was still worried about it, but her fears were unnecessary.

She was quite pleased to see the hall transformed to match the end-of-year atmosphere. The two days of running around on Alliot’s  back had been worth it.

The sweet melodies of the beautifully dressed musicians tickled her ears. She stood on the rather angular second-floor staircase and looked around the hall. There were many nobles, even though the official party had not yet begun. They were busy in groups of two, dancing lightly to the music, or gathering in groups talking. Probably more than 90% of their conversation was about her.

The official reception started in the evening, and the only thing she needed to do was to show up together with Lesche. When she returned to her room, Begonia was already there waiting.

“Do I have to call you Grand Duchess now, My Lady?”

Seria smiled at Begonia’s playful words.

“It’s a kindness His Highness had done to save my life. It was a kind of slavery contract, and the role of the temporary hostess was that of a slave…”

She was actually still a bit busy. Nevertheless, the help she had received from Begonia in many ways was so great that she gladly accepted the request to meet her.

“I see there are cases where favors become destinies,” Begonia said, smiling graciously but with a keen eye. She was now looking carefully at the dress on the mannequin. The pink-beige dress, along with the wedding dress, had been commissioned by Kalis for her to wear at their supposed wedding reception. But the reception had suddenly turned into a year-end party and Begonia had come to see her in a state of emergency.

“The dress you wear at a wedding reception is very different from the dress you wear at a year-end party. The former is an extension of the wedding and can be neat and clean, but the latter has to be more glamorous. If I’m not careful, it can look shabby.”

No designer wants their work to look shabby. That was why there was so much jewellery on the dress all of a sudden.

With Begonia’s simple instructions, her assistants began to dress her. Her hair was braided in place, and carefully decorated with jeweled pins as well.

“Would you look at this dress in the mirror, My Lady,” Begonia said, suddenly pulling it out of a square leather satchel.

“Would you like to see it? It’s a perfect dress for a spring picnic.”

It was a beautiful lentil-coloured dress that Seria naturally admired. She complimented Begonia heartily.

“It’s very pretty.”

“It’s one of my main pieces for the next season,’ said the elated Begonia, laughing in earnest.

“I will give you this dress, Lady Seria, under one condition.”

“Yes?”

“Would you make some changes to your existing dress contract with me?”

“What changes would you like to make?”

“I would like to change the client of the contract to Lady Seria instead of Marquis Haneton. Can you do it?”

“It’s not difficult, it was my dress anyway. Please give me the contract.”

“After all, Lady Seria has a kind heart. That’s good.”

As if she had made up her mind to say this today, Begonia immediately took a piece of paper from her pocket. It was a dressmaking contract signed by Kalis a few months ago. Seria looked at his familiar name for a moment, then quickly drew a line through it and wrote her name next to it.

“Here you go,” she said, confirming her signature and looking as refreshed as someone who had removed a tumor.

“Very well. That’s the end of it. How troublesome it was.”

“Why?”

“Because the Saintess wanted me to make a dress for her.”

“Lina?”

“Yes. It wasn’t a dress for the year end party. I didn’t have much time to spare. She wanted a dress to wear when she went to Haneton Estate.”

“A dress to wear to Haneton Estate?”

“Yes. At the time I still had a contract with Marquis Haneton, so the Saintess wanted to add another dress to it.”

Lina must have been unaware that Kalis had requested a divorce.  Otherwise, she wouldn’t have requested a dress to wear to Haneton Estate.

After the end of the year party tomorrow, all the nobles who came in the name of celebration must leave the castle, and Lina would also have to leave Berg Castle in a few days. She was a Saintess, so of course she had to go back to the Great Temple, but to go to the Haneton Estate…? The question arose.

‘Does she really hate the Great Temple so much?’

With only the priests around Lina, they would all have nothing but good things to say about her. Objectively speaking, New Castle Country, with its great temple, was a beautiful and magnificent city. Of course the food was a little unpleasant, but the priests would never say that such a trifle was a disadvantage. Seria didn’t really understand this, as she had been to the temple after being possessed by the original Seria, just to see the famous sights.

In any case, the divorce from Stern would take quite some time, and until then Lina would be the Marquess of Haneton. The title of Saintess was classy and special, so Lina would always be called Saintess.

“Speaking of which, I must return Marquis Haneton’s ring.”

Like all noblemen of high tradition, Marquis Haneton had an emerald ring that had been passed down from generation to generation. The emerald ring that had been in her possession when Kalis proposed to her was still resting peacefully in her jewellery box. She had forgotten about it because she was not in the right frame of mind. She wanted to see Kalis and return the ring as soon as possible, but Begonia frowned and sighed.

“Saintess is not good at noble etiquette, I don’t know how lucky she is for such a thing. Marquis Haneton has a request, so you may not know that it is difficult to reject the request of the person who becomes his wife.”

“So you’ve decided to rewrite the contract?”

“Yes, from now on, when the Saintess asks for a dress, I can comfortably refuse.”

It was the same as the original that Lina wanted Begonia’s dress. Well, Begonia’s dress is beautiful. It’s like there’s an element to it that resonates with the hearts of people.

Knock. Knock.

There was a knock on the door and a servant with a very troubled expression came in.

“My Lady.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You have a visitor.”

“Why are you being so stuffy?”

The assistants were startled when they suddenly saw a woman peeking out from behind the servant. They immediately checked Seria’s condition. Luckily, she was still wearing her dress.

“Designer Begonia, you’re really here!”

“Saintess!”

It was Lina. She seemed to be able to walk on her own feet after a day. She walked in slowly, dressed in a beautifully decorated manner, as if she was attending a year-end party today. The pure white dress that Lina was wearing suited her image perfectly, but Seria had the feeling that the nobles were going to bite off more than they could chew. It reminded her strangely of a mini wedding dress.

Lina walked slowly over and blushed as she saw the beautiful lily-of-the-valley dress sitting in Begonia’s hands.

“Designer Begonia. I was wondering if you would accept my request for a dress. I heard that this dress was also made on a commission from Kalis. If you don’t have enough money for the commission deposit, I can tell the priest to give you more!”

What should she point out first?

Seria was worried about that beautiful dress, that the thoughts passing through her head and the thoughts in Begonia’s head were not so different.

No, Begonia looked much more furious than Seria did. For she was a designer sensitive to “aristocratic elegance”, with a reputation even in the imperial court.

“Saintess,” came the stern but courteous voice. “This is Lady Seria’s abode. Therefore, it would be proper for you to address the master of the place first.”

Lina looked at Seria, cowering badly at the stern rebuke.

“Excuse me. Good morning, Seria.”

She hurried to greet Seria, but it was too late. Begonia was not Lina’s teacher of etiquette, who would help her redeem her mistake, the reputation of Kalis and Lina had already been ruined in Begonia’s mind.

“Not long ago, Lady Seria was changing her dress. It would only be a vulgar and unbecoming crowd to open the door of a lady’s room, at the hour before a ball!”

Lina’s face flushed red, but this did not remove the cold, hard expression from Begonia’s face.

“Above all, my dear Saintess. I am not a designer who calculates dresses simply in terms of money. So it was very rude of you to say that I don’t have enough money.”

“I didn’t mean it in that way…”

“A blade once swung can leave a mark in the sand. Please understand that I can’t accept your request for a dress.”

“But that dress is also a request from Kalis. It’s not difficult to add one more dress or so….”

“Unfortunately, not anymore. That’s changed at the request of Lady Seria. We’ve amended the contract, so it’s now difficult to add a dress for a Saintess who has nothing to do with Lady Seria.”

“What?”

Lina suddenly approached Seria with a puzzled look on her face. Then she took Seria’s hand curtly.

“Designer Begonia, that’s all right. I’m friends with Seria.”

At that moment, a deep silence struck the room. Seria removed Lina’s hand from hers and spoke.

“We’re not friends.”

“What..? Why…?”

“Why?”

Seria frowned. In aristocratic society, ‘friend’ does not simply mean the same age group. You had to be as close as two people in the next order of family to be able to talk about “friends” in a dignified manner. Above all, to be friends with Lina could be seen as a way of forgiving Kalis for his behavior. And she could never forgive him.

“How can I happily be friends with my ex-fiance’s current wife? Can Lina do that?”

“Kalis and I are not officially married! Seria, you know that. I just had to do it to save him.”

“That is your affair, and I have nothing to do with it.”

Lina, whose face had just turned pale, said.

“But…But…”

“Please leave, Lina. And don’t come back like this again.”

“Seria!”

She caught Seria in a haste.

“We can be good friends! I heard everything from the teacher. Your mother is a commoner actress!”

***

Chapter 4 Part 2

 

https://www.patreon.com/TOTV

 

****

The year-end party two days later was a last-minute affair, but preparations were not delayed.

‘I did it.’

Seria came to the hall with a slight disappointment because she was still worried about it, but her fears were unnecessary.

She was quite pleased to see the hall transformed to match the end-of-year atmosphere. The two days of running around on Alliot’s  back had been worth it.

The sweet melodies of the beautifully dressed musicians tickled her ears. She stood on the rather angular second-floor staircase and looked around the hall. There were many nobles, even though the official party had not yet begun. They were busy in groups of two, dancing lightly to the music, or gathering in groups talking. Probably more than 90% of their conversation was about her.

The official reception started in the evening, and the only thing she needed to do was to show up together with Lesche. When she returned to her room, Begonia was already there waiting.

“Do I have to call you Grand Duchess now, My Lady?”

Seria smiled at Begonia’s playful words.

“It’s a kindness His Highness had done to save my life. It was a kind of slavery contract, and the role of the temporary hostess was that of a slave…”

She was actually still a bit busy. Nevertheless, the help she had received from Begonia in many ways was so great that she gladly accepted the request to meet her.

“I see there are cases where favors become destinies,” Begonia said, smiling graciously but with a keen eye. She was now looking carefully at the dress on the mannequin. The pink-beige dress, along with the wedding dress, had been commissioned by Kalis for her to wear at their supposed wedding reception. But the reception had suddenly turned into a year-end party and Begonia had come to see her in a state of emergency.

“The dress you wear at a wedding reception is very different from the dress you wear at a year-end party. The former is an extension of the wedding and can be neat and clean, but the latter has to be more glamorous. If I’m not careful, it can look shabby.”

No designer wants their work to look shabby. That was why there was so much jewellery on the dress all of a sudden.

With Begonia’s simple instructions, her assistants began to dress her. Her hair was braided in place, and carefully decorated with jeweled pins as well.

“Would you look at this dress in the mirror, My Lady,” Begonia said, suddenly pulling it out of a square leather satchel.

“Would you like to see it? It’s a perfect dress for a spring picnic.”

It was a beautiful lentil-coloured dress that Seria naturally admired. She complimented Begonia heartily.

“It’s very pretty.”

“It’s one of my main pieces for the next season,’ said the elated Begonia, laughing in earnest.

“I will give you this dress, Lady Seria, under one condition.”

“Yes?”

“Would you make some changes to your existing dress contract with me?”

“What changes would you like to make?”

“I would like to change the client of the contract to Lady Seria instead of Marquis Haneton. Can you do it?”

“It’s not difficult, it was my dress anyway. Please give me the contract.”

“After all, Lady Seria has a kind heart. That’s good.”

As if she had made up her mind to say this today, Begonia immediately took a piece of paper from her pocket. It was a dressmaking contract signed by Kalis a few months ago. Seria looked at his familiar name for a moment, then quickly drew a line through it and wrote her name next to it.

“Here you go,” she said, confirming her signature and looking as refreshed as someone who had removed a tumor.

“Very well. That’s the end of it. How troublesome it was.”

“Why?”

“Because the Saintess wanted me to make a dress for her.”

“Lina?”

“Yes. It wasn’t a dress for the year end party. I didn’t have much time to spare. She wanted a dress to wear when she went to Haneton Estate.”

“A dress to wear to Haneton Estate?”

“Yes. At the time I still had a contract with Marquis Haneton, so the Saintess wanted to add another dress to it.”

Lina must have been unaware that Kalis had requested a divorce.  Otherwise, she wouldn’t have requested a dress to wear to Haneton Estate.

After the end of the year party tomorrow, all the nobles who came in the name of celebration must leave the castle, and Lina would also have to leave Berg Castle in a few days. She was a Saintess, so of course she had to go back to the Great Temple, but to go to the Haneton Estate…? The question arose.

‘Does she really hate the Great Temple so much?’

With only the priests around Lina, they would all have nothing but good things to say about her. Objectively speaking, New Castle Country, with its great temple, was a beautiful and magnificent city. Of course the food was a little unpleasant, but the priests would never say that such a trifle was a disadvantage. Seria didn’t really understand this, as she had been to the temple after being possessed by the original Seria, just to see the famous sights.

In any case, the divorce from Stern would take quite some time, and until then Lina would be the Marquess of Haneton. The title of Saintess was classy and special, so Lina would always be called Saintess.

“Speaking of which, I must return Marquis Haneton’s ring.”

Like all noblemen of high tradition, Marquis Haneton had an emerald ring that had been passed down from generation to generation. The emerald ring that had been in her possession when Kalis proposed to her was still resting peacefully in her jewellery box. She had forgotten about it because she was not in the right frame of mind. She wanted to see Kalis and return the ring as soon as possible, but Begonia frowned and sighed.

“Saintess is not good at noble etiquette, I don’t know how lucky she is for such a thing. Marquis Haneton has a request, so you may not know that it is difficult to reject the request of the person who becomes his wife.”

“So you’ve decided to rewrite the contract?”

“Yes, from now on, when the Saintess asks for a dress, I can comfortably refuse.”

It was the same as the original that Lina wanted Begonia’s dress. Well, Begonia’s dress is beautiful. It’s like there’s an element to it that resonates with the hearts of people.

Knock. Knock.

There was a knock on the door and a servant with a very troubled expression came in.

“My Lady.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You have a visitor.”

“Why are you being so stuffy?”

The assistants were startled when they suddenly saw a woman peeking out from behind the servant. They immediately checked Seria’s condition. Luckily, she was still wearing her dress.

“Designer Begonia, you’re really here!”

“Saintess!”

It was Lina. She seemed to be able to walk on her own feet after a day. She walked in slowly, dressed in a beautifully decorated manner, as if she was attending a year-end party today. The pure white dress that Lina was wearing suited her image perfectly, but Seria had the feeling that the nobles were going to bite off more than they could chew. It reminded her strangely of a mini wedding dress.

Lina walked slowly over and blushed as she saw the beautiful lily-of-the-valley dress sitting in Begonia’s hands.

“Designer Begonia. I was wondering if you would accept my request for a dress. I heard that this dress was also made on a commission from Kalis. If you don’t have enough money for the commission deposit, I can tell the priest to give you more!”

What should she point out first?

Seria was worried about that beautiful dress, that the thoughts passing through her head and the thoughts in Begonia’s head were not so different.

No, Begonia looked much more furious than Seria did. For she was a designer sensitive to “aristocratic elegance”, with a reputation even in the imperial court.

“Saintess,” came the stern but courteous voice. “This is Lady Seria’s abode. Therefore, it would be proper for you to address the master of the place first.”

Lina looked at Seria, cowering badly at the stern rebuke.

“Excuse me. Good morning, Seria.”

She hurried to greet Seria, but it was too late. Begonia was not Lina’s teacher of etiquette, who would help her redeem her mistake, the reputation of Kalis and Lina had already been ruined in Begonia’s mind.

“Not long ago, Lady Seria was changing her dress. It would only be a vulgar and unbecoming crowd to open the door of a lady’s room, at the hour before a ball!”

Lina’s face flushed red, but this did not remove the cold, hard expression from Begonia’s face.

“Above all, my dear Saintess. I am not a designer who calculates dresses simply in terms of money. So it was very rude of you to say that I don’t have enough money.”

“I didn’t mean it in that way…”

“A blade once swung can leave a mark in the sand. Please understand that I can’t accept your request for a dress.”

“But that dress is also a request from Kalis. It’s not difficult to add one more dress or so….”

“Unfortunately, not anymore. That’s changed at the request of Lady Seria. We’ve amended the contract, so it’s now difficult to add a dress for a Saintess who has nothing to do with Lady Seria.”

“What?”

Lina suddenly approached Seria with a puzzled look on her face. Then she took Seria’s hand curtly.

“Designer Begonia, that’s all right. I’m friends with Seria.”

At that moment, a deep silence struck the room. Seria removed Lina’s hand from hers and spoke.

“We’re not friends.”

“What..? Why…?”

“Why?”

Seria frowned. In aristocratic society, ‘friend’ does not simply mean the same age group. You had to be as close as two people in the next order of family to be able to talk about “friends” in a dignified manner. Above all, to be friends with Lina could be seen as a way of forgiving Kalis for his behavior. And she could never forgive him.

“How can I happily be friends with my ex-fiance’s current wife? Can Lina do that?”

“Kalis and I are not officially married! Seria, you know that. I just had to do it to save him.”

“That is your affair, and I have nothing to do with it.”

Lina, whose face had just turned pale, said.

“But…But…”

“Please leave, Lina. And don’t come back like this again.”

“Seria!”

She caught Seria in a haste.

“We can be good friends! I heard everything from the teacher. Your mother is a commoner actress!”

***

Chapter 5 Part 1

 

https://www.patreon.com/TOTV

 

****

The year-end party two days later was a last-minute affair, but preparations were not delayed.

‘I did it.’

Seria came to the hall with a slight disappointment because she was still worried about it, but her fears were unnecessary.

She was quite pleased to see the hall transformed to match the end-of-year atmosphere. The two days of running around on Alliot’s  back had been worth it.

The sweet melodies of the beautifully dressed musicians tickled her ears. She stood on the rather angular second-floor staircase and looked around the hall. There were many nobles, even though the official party had not yet begun. They were busy in groups of two, dancing lightly to the music, or gathering in groups talking. Probably more than 90% of their conversation was about her.

The official reception started in the evening, and the only thing she needed to do was to show up together with Lesche. When she returned to her room, Begonia was already there waiting.

“Do I have to call you Grand Duchess now, My Lady?”

Seria smiled at Begonia’s playful words.

“It’s a kindness His Highness had done to save my life. It was a kind of slavery contract, and the role of the temporary hostess was that of a slave…”

She was actually still a bit busy. Nevertheless, the help she had received from Begonia in many ways was so great that she gladly accepted the request to meet her.

“I see there are cases where favors become destinies,” Begonia said, smiling graciously but with a keen eye. She was now looking carefully at the dress on the mannequin. The pink-beige dress, along with the wedding dress, had been commissioned by Kalis for her to wear at their supposed wedding reception. But the reception had suddenly turned into a year-end party and Begonia had come to see her in a state of emergency.

“The dress you wear at a wedding reception is very different from the dress you wear at a year-end party. The former is an extension of the wedding and can be neat and clean, but the latter has to be more glamorous. If I’m not careful, it can look shabby.”

No designer wants their work to look shabby. That was why there was so much jewellery on the dress all of a sudden.

With Begonia’s simple instructions, her assistants began to dress her. Her hair was braided in place, and carefully decorated with jeweled pins as well.

“Would you look at this dress in the mirror, My Lady,” Begonia said, suddenly pulling it out of a square leather satchel.

“Would you like to see it? It’s a perfect dress for a spring picnic.”

It was a beautiful lentil-coloured dress that Seria naturally admired. She complimented Begonia heartily.

“It’s very pretty.”

“It’s one of my main pieces for the next season,’ said the elated Begonia, laughing in earnest.

“I will give you this dress, Lady Seria, under one condition.”

“Yes?”

“Would you make some changes to your existing dress contract with me?”

“What changes would you like to make?”

“I would like to change the client of the contract to Lady Seria instead of Marquis Haneton. Can you do it?”

“It’s not difficult, it was my dress anyway. Please give me the contract.”

“After all, Lady Seria has a kind heart. That’s good.”

As if she had made up her mind to say this today, Begonia immediately took a piece of paper from her pocket. It was a dressmaking contract signed by Kalis a few months ago. Seria looked at his familiar name for a moment, then quickly drew a line through it and wrote her name next to it.

“Here you go,” she said, confirming her signature and looking as refreshed as someone who had removed a tumor.

“Very well. That’s the end of it. How troublesome it was.”

“Why?”

“Because the Saintess wanted me to make a dress for her.”

“Lina?”

“Yes. It wasn’t a dress for the year end party. I didn’t have much time to spare. She wanted a dress to wear when she went to Haneton Estate.”

“A dress to wear to Haneton Estate?”

“Yes. At the time I still had a contract with Marquis Haneton, so the Saintess wanted to add another dress to it.”

Lina must have been unaware that Kalis had requested a divorce.  Otherwise, she wouldn’t have requested a dress to wear to Haneton Estate.

After the end of the year party tomorrow, all the nobles who came in the name of celebration must leave the castle, and Lina would also have to leave Berg Castle in a few days. She was a Saintess, so of course she had to go back to the Great Temple, but to go to the Haneton Estate…? The question arose.

‘Does she really hate the Great Temple so much?’

With only the priests around Lina, they would all have nothing but good things to say about her. Objectively speaking, New Castle Country, with its great temple, was a beautiful and magnificent city. Of course the food was a little unpleasant, but the priests would never say that such a trifle was a disadvantage. Seria didn’t really understand this, as she had been to the temple after being possessed by the original Seria, just to see the famous sights.

In any case, the divorce from Stern would take quite some time, and until then Lina would be the Marquess of Haneton. The title of Saintess was classy and special, so Lina would always be called Saintess.

“Speaking of which, I must return Marquis Haneton’s ring.”

Like all noblemen of high tradition, Marquis Haneton had an emerald ring that had been passed down from generation to generation. The emerald ring that had been in her possession when Kalis proposed to her was still resting peacefully in her jewellery box. She had forgotten about it because she was not in the right frame of mind. She wanted to see Kalis and return the ring as soon as possible, but Begonia frowned and sighed.

“Saintess is not good at noble etiquette, I don’t know how lucky she is for such a thing. Marquis Haneton has a request, so you may not know that it is difficult to reject the request of the person who becomes his wife.”

“So you’ve decided to rewrite the contract?”

“Yes, from now on, when the Saintess asks for a dress, I can comfortably refuse.”

It was the same as the original that Lina wanted Begonia’s dress. Well, Begonia’s dress is beautiful. It’s like there’s an element to it that resonates with the hearts of people.

Knock. Knock.

There was a knock on the door and a servant with a very troubled expression came in.

“My Lady.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You have a visitor.”

“Why are you being so stuffy?”

The assistants were startled when they suddenly saw a woman peeking out from behind the servant. They immediately checked Seria’s condition. Luckily, she was still wearing her dress.

“Designer Begonia, you’re really here!”

“Saintess!”

It was Lina. She seemed to be able to walk on her own feet after a day. She walked in slowly, dressed in a beautifully decorated manner, as if she was attending a year-end party today. The pure white dress that Lina was wearing suited her image perfectly, but Seria had the feeling that the nobles were going to bite off more than they could chew. It reminded her strangely of a mini wedding dress.

Lina walked slowly over and blushed as she saw the beautiful lily-of-the-valley dress sitting in Begonia’s hands.

“Designer Begonia. I was wondering if you would accept my request for a dress. I heard that this dress was also made on a commission from Kalis. If you don’t have enough money for the commission deposit, I can tell the priest to give you more!”

What should she point out first?

Seria was worried about that beautiful dress, that the thoughts passing through her head and the thoughts in Begonia’s head were not so different.

No, Begonia looked much more furious than Seria did. For she was a designer sensitive to “aristocratic elegance”, with a reputation even in the imperial court.

“Saintess,” came the stern but courteous voice. “This is Lady Seria’s abode. Therefore, it would be proper for you to address the master of the place first.”

Lina looked at Seria, cowering badly at the stern rebuke.

“Excuse me. Good morning, Seria.”

She hurried to greet Seria, but it was too late. Begonia was not Lina’s teacher of etiquette, who would help her redeem her mistake, the reputation of Kalis and Lina had already been ruined in Begonia’s mind.

“Not long ago, Lady Seria was changing her dress. It would only be a vulgar and unbecoming crowd to open the door of a lady’s room, at the hour before a ball!”

Lina’s face flushed red, but this did not remove the cold, hard expression from Begonia’s face.

“Above all, my dear Saintess. I am not a designer who calculates dresses simply in terms of money. So it was very rude of you to say that I don’t have enough money.”

“I didn’t mean it in that way…”

“A blade once swung can leave a mark in the sand. Please understand that I can’t accept your request for a dress.”

“But that dress is also a request from Kalis. It’s not difficult to add one more dress or so….”

“Unfortunately, not anymore. That’s changed at the request of Lady Seria. We’ve amended the contract, so it’s now difficult to add a dress for a Saintess who has nothing to do with Lady Seria.”

“What?”

Lina suddenly approached Seria with a puzzled look on her face. Then she took Seria’s hand curtly.

“Designer Begonia, that’s all right. I’m friends with Seria.”

At that moment, a deep silence struck the room. Seria removed Lina’s hand from hers and spoke.

“We’re not friends.”

“What..? Why…?”

“Why?”

Seria frowned. In aristocratic society, ‘friend’ does not simply mean the same age group. You had to be as close as two people in the next order of family to be able to talk about “friends” in a dignified manner. Above all, to be friends with Lina could be seen as a way of forgiving Kalis for his behavior. And she could never forgive him.

“How can I happily be friends with my ex-fiance’s current wife? Can Lina do that?”

“Kalis and I are not officially married! Seria, you know that. I just had to do it to save him.”

“That is your affair, and I have nothing to do with it.”

Lina, whose face had just turned pale, said.

“But…But…”

“Please leave, Lina. And don’t come back like this again.”

“Seria!”

She caught Seria in a haste.

“We can be good friends! I heard everything from the teacher. Your mother is a commoner actress!”

***

Chapter 5 Part 2

 

https://www.patreon.com/TOTV

 

****

The year-end party two days later was a last-minute affair, but preparations were not delayed.

‘I did it.’

Seria came to the hall with a slight disappointment because she was still worried about it, but her fears were unnecessary.

She was quite pleased to see the hall transformed to match the end-of-year atmosphere. The two days of running around on Alliot’s  back had been worth it.

The sweet melodies of the beautifully dressed musicians tickled her ears. She stood on the rather angular second-floor staircase and looked around the hall. There were many nobles, even though the official party had not yet begun. They were busy in groups of two, dancing lightly to the music, or gathering in groups talking. Probably more than 90% of their conversation was about her.

The official reception started in the evening, and the only thing she needed to do was to show up together with Lesche. When she returned to her room, Begonia was already there waiting.

“Do I have to call you Grand Duchess now, My Lady?”

Seria smiled at Begonia’s playful words.

“It’s a kindness His Highness had done to save my life. It was a kind of slavery contract, and the role of the temporary hostess was that of a slave…”

She was actually still a bit busy. Nevertheless, the help she had received from Begonia in many ways was so great that she gladly accepted the request to meet her.

“I see there are cases where favors become destinies,” Begonia said, smiling graciously but with a keen eye. She was now looking carefully at the dress on the mannequin. The pink-beige dress, along with the wedding dress, had been commissioned by Kalis for her to wear at their supposed wedding reception. But the reception had suddenly turned into a year-end party and Begonia had come to see her in a state of emergency.

“The dress you wear at a wedding reception is very different from the dress you wear at a year-end party. The former is an extension of the wedding and can be neat and clean, but the latter has to be more glamorous. If I’m not careful, it can look shabby.”

No designer wants their work to look shabby. That was why there was so much jewellery on the dress all of a sudden.

With Begonia’s simple instructions, her assistants began to dress her. Her hair was braided in place, and carefully decorated with jeweled pins as well.

“Would you look at this dress in the mirror, My Lady,” Begonia said, suddenly pulling it out of a square leather satchel.

“Would you like to see it? It’s a perfect dress for a spring picnic.”

It was a beautiful lentil-coloured dress that Seria naturally admired. She complimented Begonia heartily.

“It’s very pretty.”

“It’s one of my main pieces for the next season,’ said the elated Begonia, laughing in earnest.

“I will give you this dress, Lady Seria, under one condition.”

“Yes?”

“Would you make some changes to your existing dress contract with me?”

“What changes would you like to make?”

“I would like to change the client of the contract to Lady Seria instead of Marquis Haneton. Can you do it?”

“It’s not difficult, it was my dress anyway. Please give me the contract.”

“After all, Lady Seria has a kind heart. That’s good.”

As if she had made up her mind to say this today, Begonia immediately took a piece of paper from her pocket. It was a dressmaking contract signed by Kalis a few months ago. Seria looked at his familiar name for a moment, then quickly drew a line through it and wrote her name next to it.

“Here you go,” she said, confirming her signature and looking as refreshed as someone who had removed a tumor.

“Very well. That’s the end of it. How troublesome it was.”

“Why?”

“Because the Saintess wanted me to make a dress for her.”

“Lina?”

“Yes. It wasn’t a dress for the year end party. I didn’t have much time to spare. She wanted a dress to wear when she went to Haneton Estate.”

“A dress to wear to Haneton Estate?”

“Yes. At the time I still had a contract with Marquis Haneton, so the Saintess wanted to add another dress to it.”

Lina must have been unaware that Kalis had requested a divorce.  Otherwise, she wouldn’t have requested a dress to wear to Haneton Estate.

After the end of the year party tomorrow, all the nobles who came in the name of celebration must leave the castle, and Lina would also have to leave Berg Castle in a few days. She was a Saintess, so of course she had to go back to the Great Temple, but to go to the Haneton Estate…? The question arose.

‘Does she really hate the Great Temple so much?’

With only the priests around Lina, they would all have nothing but good things to say about her. Objectively speaking, New Castle Country, with its great temple, was a beautiful and magnificent city. Of course the food was a little unpleasant, but the priests would never say that such a trifle was a disadvantage. Seria didn’t really understand this, as she had been to the temple after being possessed by the original Seria, just to see the famous sights.

In any case, the divorce from Stern would take quite some time, and until then Lina would be the Marquess of Haneton. The title of Saintess was classy and special, so Lina would always be called Saintess.

“Speaking of which, I must return Marquis Haneton’s ring.”

Like all noblemen of high tradition, Marquis Haneton had an emerald ring that had been passed down from generation to generation. The emerald ring that had been in her possession when Kalis proposed to her was still resting peacefully in her jewellery box. She had forgotten about it because she was not in the right frame of mind. She wanted to see Kalis and return the ring as soon as possible, but Begonia frowned and sighed.

“Saintess is not good at noble etiquette, I don’t know how lucky she is for such a thing. Marquis Haneton has a request, so you may not know that it is difficult to reject the request of the person who becomes his wife.”

“So you’ve decided to rewrite the contract?”

“Yes, from now on, when the Saintess asks for a dress, I can comfortably refuse.”

It was the same as the original that Lina wanted Begonia’s dress. Well, Begonia’s dress is beautiful. It’s like there’s an element to it that resonates with the hearts of people.

Knock. Knock.

There was a knock on the door and a servant with a very troubled expression came in.

“My Lady.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You have a visitor.”

“Why are you being so stuffy?”

The assistants were startled when they suddenly saw a woman peeking out from behind the servant. They immediately checked Seria’s condition. Luckily, she was still wearing her dress.

“Designer Begonia, you’re really here!”

“Saintess!”

It was Lina. She seemed to be able to walk on her own feet after a day. She walked in slowly, dressed in a beautifully decorated manner, as if she was attending a year-end party today. The pure white dress that Lina was wearing suited her image perfectly, but Seria had the feeling that the nobles were going to bite off more than they could chew. It reminded her strangely of a mini wedding dress.

Lina walked slowly over and blushed as she saw the beautiful lily-of-the-valley dress sitting in Begonia’s hands.

“Designer Begonia. I was wondering if you would accept my request for a dress. I heard that this dress was also made on a commission from Kalis. If you don’t have enough money for the commission deposit, I can tell the priest to give you more!”

What should she point out first?

Seria was worried about that beautiful dress, that the thoughts passing through her head and the thoughts in Begonia’s head were not so different.

No, Begonia looked much more furious than Seria did. For she was a designer sensitive to “aristocratic elegance”, with a reputation even in the imperial court.

“Saintess,” came the stern but courteous voice. “This is Lady Seria’s abode. Therefore, it would be proper for you to address the master of the place first.”

Lina looked at Seria, cowering badly at the stern rebuke.

“Excuse me. Good morning, Seria.”

She hurried to greet Seria, but it was too late. Begonia was not Lina’s teacher of etiquette, who would help her redeem her mistake, the reputation of Kalis and Lina had already been ruined in Begonia’s mind.

“Not long ago, Lady Seria was changing her dress. It would only be a vulgar and unbecoming crowd to open the door of a lady’s room, at the hour before a ball!”

Lina’s face flushed red, but this did not remove the cold, hard expression from Begonia’s face.

“Above all, my dear Saintess. I am not a designer who calculates dresses simply in terms of money. So it was very rude of you to say that I don’t have enough money.”

“I didn’t mean it in that way…”

“A blade once swung can leave a mark in the sand. Please understand that I can’t accept your request for a dress.”

“But that dress is also a request from Kalis. It’s not difficult to add one more dress or so….”

“Unfortunately, not anymore. That’s changed at the request of Lady Seria. We’ve amended the contract, so it’s now difficult to add a dress for a Saintess who has nothing to do with Lady Seria.”

“What?”

Lina suddenly approached Seria with a puzzled look on her face. Then she took Seria’s hand curtly.

“Designer Begonia, that’s all right. I’m friends with Seria.”

At that moment, a deep silence struck the room. Seria removed Lina’s hand from hers and spoke.

“We’re not friends.”

“What..? Why…?”

“Why?”

Seria frowned. In aristocratic society, ‘friend’ does not simply mean the same age group. You had to be as close as two people in the next order of family to be able to talk about “friends” in a dignified manner. Above all, to be friends with Lina could be seen as a way of forgiving Kalis for his behavior. And she could never forgive him.

“How can I happily be friends with my ex-fiance’s current wife? Can Lina do that?”

“Kalis and I are not officially married! Seria, you know that. I just had to do it to save him.”

“That is your affair, and I have nothing to do with it.”

Lina, whose face had just turned pale, said.

“But…But…”

“Please leave, Lina. And don’t come back like this again.”

“Seria!”

She caught Seria in a haste.

“We can be good friends! I heard everything from the teacher. Your mother is a commoner actress!”

***

Chapter 6 Part 1

 

https://www.patreon.com/TOTV

 

****

The year-end party two days later was a last-minute affair, but preparations were not delayed.

‘I did it.’

Seria came to the hall with a slight disappointment because she was still worried about it, but her fears were unnecessary.

She was quite pleased to see the hall transformed to match the end-of-year atmosphere. The two days of running around on Alliot’s  back had been worth it.

The sweet melodies of the beautifully dressed musicians tickled her ears. She stood on the rather angular second-floor staircase and looked around the hall. There were many nobles, even though the official party had not yet begun. They were busy in groups of two, dancing lightly to the music, or gathering in groups talking. Probably more than 90% of their conversation was about her.

The official reception started in the evening, and the only thing she needed to do was to show up together with Lesche. When she returned to her room, Begonia was already there waiting.

“Do I have to call you Grand Duchess now, My Lady?”

Seria smiled at Begonia’s playful words.

“It’s a kindness His Highness had done to save my life. It was a kind of slavery contract, and the role of the temporary hostess was that of a slave…”

She was actually still a bit busy. Nevertheless, the help she had received from Begonia in many ways was so great that she gladly accepted the request to meet her.

“I see there are cases where favors become destinies,” Begonia said, smiling graciously but with a keen eye. She was now looking carefully at the dress on the mannequin. The pink-beige dress, along with the wedding dress, had been commissioned by Kalis for her to wear at their supposed wedding reception. But the reception had suddenly turned into a year-end party and Begonia had come to see her in a state of emergency.

“The dress you wear at a wedding reception is very different from the dress you wear at a year-end party. The former is an extension of the wedding and can be neat and clean, but the latter has to be more glamorous. If I’m not careful, it can look shabby.”

No designer wants their work to look shabby. That was why there was so much jewellery on the dress all of a sudden.

With Begonia’s simple instructions, her assistants began to dress her. Her hair was braided in place, and carefully decorated with jeweled pins as well.

“Would you look at this dress in the mirror, My Lady,” Begonia said, suddenly pulling it out of a square leather satchel.

“Would you like to see it? It’s a perfect dress for a spring picnic.”

It was a beautiful lentil-coloured dress that Seria naturally admired. She complimented Begonia heartily.

“It’s very pretty.”

“It’s one of my main pieces for the next season,’ said the elated Begonia, laughing in earnest.

“I will give you this dress, Lady Seria, under one condition.”

“Yes?”

“Would you make some changes to your existing dress contract with me?”

“What changes would you like to make?”

“I would like to change the client of the contract to Lady Seria instead of Marquis Haneton. Can you do it?”

“It’s not difficult, it was my dress anyway. Please give me the contract.”

“After all, Lady Seria has a kind heart. That’s good.”

As if she had made up her mind to say this today, Begonia immediately took a piece of paper from her pocket. It was a dressmaking contract signed by Kalis a few months ago. Seria looked at his familiar name for a moment, then quickly drew a line through it and wrote her name next to it.

“Here you go,” she said, confirming her signature and looking as refreshed as someone who had removed a tumor.

“Very well. That’s the end of it. How troublesome it was.”

“Why?”

“Because the Saintess wanted me to make a dress for her.”

“Lina?”

“Yes. It wasn’t a dress for the year end party. I didn’t have much time to spare. She wanted a dress to wear when she went to Haneton Estate.”

“A dress to wear to Haneton Estate?”

“Yes. At the time I still had a contract with Marquis Haneton, so the Saintess wanted to add another dress to it.”

Lina must have been unaware that Kalis had requested a divorce.  Otherwise, she wouldn’t have requested a dress to wear to Haneton Estate.

After the end of the year party tomorrow, all the nobles who came in the name of celebration must leave the castle, and Lina would also have to leave Berg Castle in a few days. She was a Saintess, so of course she had to go back to the Great Temple, but to go to the Haneton Estate…? The question arose.

‘Does she really hate the Great Temple so much?’

With only the priests around Lina, they would all have nothing but good things to say about her. Objectively speaking, New Castle Country, with its great temple, was a beautiful and magnificent city. Of course the food was a little unpleasant, but the priests would never say that such a trifle was a disadvantage. Seria didn’t really understand this, as she had been to the temple after being possessed by the original Seria, just to see the famous sights.

In any case, the divorce from Stern would take quite some time, and until then Lina would be the Marquess of Haneton. The title of Saintess was classy and special, so Lina would always be called Saintess.

“Speaking of which, I must return Marquis Haneton’s ring.”

Like all noblemen of high tradition, Marquis Haneton had an emerald ring that had been passed down from generation to generation. The emerald ring that had been in her possession when Kalis proposed to her was still resting peacefully in her jewellery box. She had forgotten about it because she was not in the right frame of mind. She wanted to see Kalis and return the ring as soon as possible, but Begonia frowned and sighed.

“Saintess is not good at noble etiquette, I don’t know how lucky she is for such a thing. Marquis Haneton has a request, so you may not know that it is difficult to reject the request of the person who becomes his wife.”

“So you’ve decided to rewrite the contract?”

“Yes, from now on, when the Saintess asks for a dress, I can comfortably refuse.”

It was the same as the original that Lina wanted Begonia’s dress. Well, Begonia’s dress is beautiful. It’s like there’s an element to it that resonates with the hearts of people.

Knock. Knock.

There was a knock on the door and a servant with a very troubled expression came in.

“My Lady.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You have a visitor.”

“Why are you being so stuffy?”

The assistants were startled when they suddenly saw a woman peeking out from behind the servant. They immediately checked Seria’s condition. Luckily, she was still wearing her dress.

“Designer Begonia, you’re really here!”

“Saintess!”

It was Lina. She seemed to be able to walk on her own feet after a day. She walked in slowly, dressed in a beautifully decorated manner, as if she was attending a year-end party today. The pure white dress that Lina was wearing suited her image perfectly, but Seria had the feeling that the nobles were going to bite off more than they could chew. It reminded her strangely of a mini wedding dress.

Lina walked slowly over and blushed as she saw the beautiful lily-of-the-valley dress sitting in Begonia’s hands.

“Designer Begonia. I was wondering if you would accept my request for a dress. I heard that this dress was also made on a commission from Kalis. If you don’t have enough money for the commission deposit, I can tell the priest to give you more!”

What should she point out first?

Seria was worried about that beautiful dress, that the thoughts passing through her head and the thoughts in Begonia’s head were not so different.

No, Begonia looked much more furious than Seria did. For she was a designer sensitive to “aristocratic elegance”, with a reputation even in the imperial court.

“Saintess,” came the stern but courteous voice. “This is Lady Seria’s abode. Therefore, it would be proper for you to address the master of the place first.”

Lina looked at Seria, cowering badly at the stern rebuke.

“Excuse me. Good morning, Seria.”

She hurried to greet Seria, but it was too late. Begonia was not Lina’s teacher of etiquette, who would help her redeem her mistake, the reputation of Kalis and Lina had already been ruined in Begonia’s mind.

“Not long ago, Lady Seria was changing her dress. It would only be a vulgar and unbecoming crowd to open the door of a lady’s room, at the hour before a ball!”

Lina’s face flushed red, but this did not remove the cold, hard expression from Begonia’s face.

“Above all, my dear Saintess. I am not a designer who calculates dresses simply in terms of money. So it was very rude of you to say that I don’t have enough money.”

“I didn’t mean it in that way…”

“A blade once swung can leave a mark in the sand. Please understand that I can’t accept your request for a dress.”

“But that dress is also a request from Kalis. It’s not difficult to add one more dress or so….”

“Unfortunately, not anymore. That’s changed at the request of Lady Seria. We’ve amended the contract, so it’s now difficult to add a dress for a Saintess who has nothing to do with Lady Seria.”

“What?”

Lina suddenly approached Seria with a puzzled look on her face. Then she took Seria’s hand curtly.

“Designer Begonia, that’s all right. I’m friends with Seria.”

At that moment, a deep silence struck the room. Seria removed Lina’s hand from hers and spoke.

“We’re not friends.”

“What..? Why…?”

“Why?”

Seria frowned. In aristocratic society, ‘friend’ does not simply mean the same age group. You had to be as close as two people in the next order of family to be able to talk about “friends” in a dignified manner. Above all, to be friends with Lina could be seen as a way of forgiving Kalis for his behavior. And she could never forgive him.

“How can I happily be friends with my ex-fiance’s current wife? Can Lina do that?”

“Kalis and I are not officially married! Seria, you know that. I just had to do it to save him.”

“That is your affair, and I have nothing to do with it.”

Lina, whose face had just turned pale, said.

“But…But…”

“Please leave, Lina. And don’t come back like this again.”

“Seria!”

She caught Seria in a haste.

“We can be good friends! I heard everything from the teacher. Your mother is a commoner actress!”

***

Chapter 6 Part 2

 

https://www.patreon.com/TOTV

 

****

The year-end party two days later was a last-minute affair, but preparations were not delayed.

‘I did it.’

Seria came to the hall with a slight disappointment because she was still worried about it, but her fears were unnecessary.

She was quite pleased to see the hall transformed to match the end-of-year atmosphere. The two days of running around on Alliot’s  back had been worth it.

The sweet melodies of the beautifully dressed musicians tickled her ears. She stood on the rather angular second-floor staircase and looked around the hall. There were many nobles, even though the official party had not yet begun. They were busy in groups of two, dancing lightly to the music, or gathering in groups talking. Probably more than 90% of their conversation was about her.

The official reception started in the evening, and the only thing she needed to do was to show up together with Lesche. When she returned to her room, Begonia was already there waiting.

“Do I have to call you Grand Duchess now, My Lady?”

Seria smiled at Begonia’s playful words.

“It’s a kindness His Highness had done to save my life. It was a kind of slavery contract, and the role of the temporary hostess was that of a slave…”

She was actually still a bit busy. Nevertheless, the help she had received from Begonia in many ways was so great that she gladly accepted the request to meet her.

“I see there are cases where favors become destinies,” Begonia said, smiling graciously but with a keen eye. She was now looking carefully at the dress on the mannequin. The pink-beige dress, along with the wedding dress, had been commissioned by Kalis for her to wear at their supposed wedding reception. But the reception had suddenly turned into a year-end party and Begonia had come to see her in a state of emergency.

“The dress you wear at a wedding reception is very different from the dress you wear at a year-end party. The former is an extension of the wedding and can be neat and clean, but the latter has to be more glamorous. If I’m not careful, it can look shabby.”

No designer wants their work to look shabby. That was why there was so much jewellery on the dress all of a sudden.

With Begonia’s simple instructions, her assistants began to dress her. Her hair was braided in place, and carefully decorated with jeweled pins as well.

“Would you look at this dress in the mirror, My Lady,” Begonia said, suddenly pulling it out of a square leather satchel.

“Would you like to see it? It’s a perfect dress for a spring picnic.”

It was a beautiful lentil-coloured dress that Seria naturally admired. She complimented Begonia heartily.

“It’s very pretty.”

“It’s one of my main pieces for the next season,’ said the elated Begonia, laughing in earnest.

“I will give you this dress, Lady Seria, under one condition.”

“Yes?”

“Would you make some changes to your existing dress contract with me?”

“What changes would you like to make?”

“I would like to change the client of the contract to Lady Seria instead of Marquis Haneton. Can you do it?”

“It’s not difficult, it was my dress anyway. Please give me the contract.”

“After all, Lady Seria has a kind heart. That’s good.”

As if she had made up her mind to say this today, Begonia immediately took a piece of paper from her pocket. It was a dressmaking contract signed by Kalis a few months ago. Seria looked at his familiar name for a moment, then quickly drew a line through it and wrote her name next to it.

“Here you go,” she said, confirming her signature and looking as refreshed as someone who had removed a tumor.

“Very well. That’s the end of it. How troublesome it was.”

“Why?”

“Because the Saintess wanted me to make a dress for her.”

“Lina?”

“Yes. It wasn’t a dress for the year end party. I didn’t have much time to spare. She wanted a dress to wear when she went to Haneton Estate.”

“A dress to wear to Haneton Estate?”

“Yes. At the time I still had a contract with Marquis Haneton, so the Saintess wanted to add another dress to it.”

Lina must have been unaware that Kalis had requested a divorce.  Otherwise, she wouldn’t have requested a dress to wear to Haneton Estate.

After the end of the year party tomorrow, all the nobles who came in the name of celebration must leave the castle, and Lina would also have to leave Berg Castle in a few days. She was a Saintess, so of course she had to go back to the Great Temple, but to go to the Haneton Estate…? The question arose.

‘Does she really hate the Great Temple so much?’

With only the priests around Lina, they would all have nothing but good things to say about her. Objectively speaking, New Castle Country, with its great temple, was a beautiful and magnificent city. Of course the food was a little unpleasant, but the priests would never say that such a trifle was a disadvantage. Seria didn’t really understand this, as she had been to the temple after being possessed by the original Seria, just to see the famous sights.

In any case, the divorce from Stern would take quite some time, and until then Lina would be the Marquess of Haneton. The title of Saintess was classy and special, so Lina would always be called Saintess.

“Speaking of which, I must return Marquis Haneton’s ring.”

Like all noblemen of high tradition, Marquis Haneton had an emerald ring that had been passed down from generation to generation. The emerald ring that had been in her possession when Kalis proposed to her was still resting peacefully in her jewellery box. She had forgotten about it because she was not in the right frame of mind. She wanted to see Kalis and return the ring as soon as possible, but Begonia frowned and sighed.

“Saintess is not good at noble etiquette, I don’t know how lucky she is for such a thing. Marquis Haneton has a request, so you may not know that it is difficult to reject the request of the person who becomes his wife.”

“So you’ve decided to rewrite the contract?”

“Yes, from now on, when the Saintess asks for a dress, I can comfortably refuse.”

It was the same as the original that Lina wanted Begonia’s dress. Well, Begonia’s dress is beautiful. It’s like there’s an element to it that resonates with the hearts of people.

Knock. Knock.

There was a knock on the door and a servant with a very troubled expression came in.

“My Lady.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You have a visitor.”

“Why are you being so stuffy?”

The assistants were startled when they suddenly saw a woman peeking out from behind the servant. They immediately checked Seria’s condition. Luckily, she was still wearing her dress.

“Designer Begonia, you’re really here!”

“Saintess!”

It was Lina. She seemed to be able to walk on her own feet after a day. She walked in slowly, dressed in a beautifully decorated manner, as if she was attending a year-end party today. The pure white dress that Lina was wearing suited her image perfectly, but Seria had the feeling that the nobles were going to bite off more than they could chew. It reminded her strangely of a mini wedding dress.

Lina walked slowly over and blushed as she saw the beautiful lily-of-the-valley dress sitting in Begonia’s hands.

“Designer Begonia. I was wondering if you would accept my request for a dress. I heard that this dress was also made on a commission from Kalis. If you don’t have enough money for the commission deposit, I can tell the priest to give you more!”

What should she point out first?

Seria was worried about that beautiful dress, that the thoughts passing through her head and the thoughts in Begonia’s head were not so different.

No, Begonia looked much more furious than Seria did. For she was a designer sensitive to “aristocratic elegance”, with a reputation even in the imperial court.

“Saintess,” came the stern but courteous voice. “This is Lady Seria’s abode. Therefore, it would be proper for you to address the master of the place first.”

Lina looked at Seria, cowering badly at the stern rebuke.

“Excuse me. Good morning, Seria.”

She hurried to greet Seria, but it was too late. Begonia was not Lina’s teacher of etiquette, who would help her redeem her mistake, the reputation of Kalis and Lina had already been ruined in Begonia’s mind.

“Not long ago, Lady Seria was changing her dress. It would only be a vulgar and unbecoming crowd to open the door of a lady’s room, at the hour before a ball!”

Lina’s face flushed red, but this did not remove the cold, hard expression from Begonia’s face.

“Above all, my dear Saintess. I am not a designer who calculates dresses simply in terms of money. So it was very rude of you to say that I don’t have enough money.”

“I didn’t mean it in that way…”

“A blade once swung can leave a mark in the sand. Please understand that I can’t accept your request for a dress.”

“But that dress is also a request from Kalis. It’s not difficult to add one more dress or so….”

“Unfortunately, not anymore. That’s changed at the request of Lady Seria. We’ve amended the contract, so it’s now difficult to add a dress for a Saintess who has nothing to do with Lady Seria.”

“What?”

Lina suddenly approached Seria with a puzzled look on her face. Then she took Seria’s hand curtly.

“Designer Begonia, that’s all right. I’m friends with Seria.”

At that moment, a deep silence struck the room. Seria removed Lina’s hand from hers and spoke.

“We’re not friends.”

“What..? Why…?”

“Why?”

Seria frowned. In aristocratic society, ‘friend’ does not simply mean the same age group. You had to be as close as two people in the next order of family to be able to talk about “friends” in a dignified manner. Above all, to be friends with Lina could be seen as a way of forgiving Kalis for his behavior. And she could never forgive him.

“How can I happily be friends with my ex-fiance’s current wife? Can Lina do that?”

“Kalis and I are not officially married! Seria, you know that. I just had to do it to save him.”

“That is your affair, and I have nothing to do with it.”

Lina, whose face had just turned pale, said.

“But…But…”

“Please leave, Lina. And don’t come back like this again.”

“Seria!”

She caught Seria in a haste.

“We can be good friends! I heard everything from the teacher. Your mother is a commoner actress!”

***

Chapter 7 Part 1