SBCF 07

Chapter 07

‘I feel like there’s still warmth left.’

I had always thought that touching someone’s head was just a simple action.

I never imagined it would feel like this.

‘So is this why the Grand Duke’s hunting dogs used to beg to be patted?’

Aria absentmindedly touched her own hair while staring intently at Dana’s hand.

Noticing the meaning behind her gaze, Dana asked,

“Would you like me to keep patting you?”

Aria held up a card that said: I’m not a baby.

Yet she kept glancing at Dana’s hand, so Dana couldn’t help but laugh.

“By the way, why were you looking out the window?”

[Because the flowers are pretty.]

At the sudden answer, Dana looked puzzled.

Aria pointed outside the window with her quill pen. White flowers, soaked by the spring rain, trembled pitifully.

[I can see the flowers well from here. I like it.]

Looking out the window was part of her daily life. She had spent her entire life practically imprisoned.

To others, she might just look like someone staring blankly at the sky.

“Oh, young lady, you like flowers too, like the Madam? That’s wonderful. The Grand Duke’s estate has many rare plants.”

Rare plants…

Had she been confined for so long? Aria’s eyes sparkled as she looked up at Dana.

“Ugh, please don’t look at me with such pleading eyes…”

Dana looked as though she had been attacked by that gaze alone.

“Since the rain hasn’t stopped yet, would you like to see the garden?”

Aria quickly nodded.

“We brought a few cute dresses from your household.”

Dana had the maids bring in the luggage from the carriage of House Cortes.

“Which clothes do you usually wear?”

All the dresses Aria had brought from the mansion were brand new.

If she had to choose what she usually wore, it would be tattered rags covered in mold—but surely they weren’t asking about that.

After a moment of hesitation, she decided to answer honestly.

[Actually, I’ve never worn any of them. Father bought them all before I came here.]

Dana’s expression instantly hardened.

“…Now that I look at them again, they’re trash.”

Huh? Weren’t they supposed to be cute?

“The fabric and designs are completely unacceptable. In Valentine, they’d be considered nothing but rags.”

That far?

With just a few words, Count Cortes had instantly become a man who bought trash.

Dana gave orders to the maids.

“Call the waiting seamstresses. We need to take the young lady’s measurements.”

Right now? They were planning to go out—could they even finish in time?

But then—

“Bring me dresses fitted to her size within an hour. Silk hats, lace umbrellas—everything in every variety.”

Incredibly… it was possible.

Aria stood there blankly as everything unfolded in an instant.

The maids discussed seriously while holding dresses against her.

“What about this one? It comes with a matching cloak, so it’ll be fine even in the rain. And enamel boots for the shoes…”

The new dresses used fabrics equivalent to those offered to the imperial household. Even the detailing and tailoring were on a completely different level.

‘Now that I see it, I understand.’

The dresses Count Cortes had given her truly were beneath contempt in the eyes of Valentine’s head maid.

‘Amazing. I have a tiny umbrella.’

Aria became completely captivated by the sky-blue umbrella with its delicate lace trim.

‘When I used to look outside on rainy days, I saw people walking with umbrellas.’

She liked listening to the sound of rain hitting them. Tok-tok.

Now she felt strangely excited at the thought of hearing it up close.

Dana then reached into her arms and pulled something out.

“I thought your mask looked uncomfortable, so I made this quickly.”

It looked like a mask with eye holes cut into what was closer to a blindfold.

The reason it looked more like an eye mask than a mask was because it was made of soft pink fabric with fluffy rabbit-like fur.

The part touching her face was soft silk, and the inside was padded with cotton, making it fluffy.

‘It has rabbit ears.’

Why?

Aria silently stared at Dana as if protesting. Dana just smiled brightly.

“This is your rabbit friend. With this, you won’t be scared at night.”

“It even drives away nightmares,” Dana added.

[I said I’m not a baby.]

“Hoho, that’s right. You’re not a baby, you’re all grown up. That was my mistake.”

“……”

Aria felt conflicted.

It was the first time in her life someone had looked at her with such affection, treating her like something precious no matter what she did.

‘It tickles…’

She had never received such care before, so she kept wanting to run away.

She couldn’t understand why they were going to such lengths for her.

She was in a position where she couldn’t even resist being made to wear a mask.

That made it even harder to understand.

‘Even the Grand Duke was like that. He didn’t even check my face.’

He didn’t try to forcefully remove her mask. He didn’t doubt her.

But that couldn’t be right.

‘Maybe this is a test. To see a person’s true nature, kindness is the fastest way.’

If that was the case, she had to stay sharp. Not let her guard down. Not waver. She had to prove her usefulness.

‘Alright. Stay calm.’

Aria calmly turned away and adjusted the new rabbit mask.

But then Dana poked her cheek playfully with a finger.

“Hehe, to think you were hiding such lovely rosy cheeks.”

Had she only been calm for ten seconds?

Aria clutched her cheeks and stepped back.

“Oh, I just thought it might have sugar powder on it.”

Dana laughed at her odd remark and handed her a mug.

It was cocoa she hadn’t been able to drink the day before.

“It’s cold today, so warm yourself up with this.”

Aria drank it under the weight of Dana’s expectant gaze.

“…!”

She looked down at the cup in shock.

The cocoa tasted like pure melted chocolate.

But it was different from anything she had tasted before. Chocolate had once made her nauseous.

Now, however, the sweetness, the thick texture sliding down her throat, even the sense of fullness—it all felt pleasant.

‘I’m not gagging.’

Her heart strangely began to race.

Floating on top of the cocoa were what looked like “melon-flavored” pieces—soft yet chewy, melting instantly in her mouth.

Dana watched her warmly, smiling.

“Does it suit your taste?”

She had thought she had no appetite at all since everything made her vomit.

So she actually liked sweets.

That realization made her feel strangely embarrassed, but she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and admitted it honestly.

[It’s delicious. Melon.]

“…Are you seriously too cute, young lady?”

Cute…?

Me?

At that moment, Dana’s cheeks turned red as she raised her hand as if she couldn’t hold back anymore.

‘Is she going to pat me again?’

Aria stiffened like a nervous rabbit, her heart pounding with anticipation and tension.

But then—

“Ma, Madam Head Maid. It’s urgent.”

The door suddenly burst open, and a servant rushed in, pale as death.

The garden became a place Aria had to explore alone.

“Ma, Madam Head Maid. It’s urgent. The Madam’s condition has suddenly worsened…”

Because the Grand Duke’s wife’s condition had rapidly deteriorated.

Dana and all the servants rushed in a panic toward the Grand Duke’s wife’s chamber in the main palace.

Every single one of them.

“Can you stay here alone for a bit? Just look at the flowers and come back right away, alright?”

Dana told her this with a pale face.

Aria nodded and quickly sent her off.

Before she knew it, the sky had turned dark and rain was pouring down heavily.

She looked toward the main palace, listening to the rain striking her umbrella like a song.

A sudden worry crept in.

What if today was the critical day?

‘The Grand Duke’s wife must not die. It might just be my guess…but still…’

Aria thought that preventing her death might be the first step to stopping the Valentine incident.

‘Dana said Lloyd is taking care of his mother.’

He surely loved his mother more than anyone, and must have been drowning in despair, unable to accept her death.

‘Just like I was.’

Unconsciously, she gripped the necklace around her neck and stared toward the main palace.

‘The top floor.’

The only room with a light on. Shadows of servants moving hurriedly through the corridor.

That must be the Grand Duke’s wife’s chamber.

‘I’ve confirmed the location.’

But she couldn’t approach it yet.

No matter how much the Grand Duke had accepted her, she was still an outsider.

And security was tight.

Rustle—

At that moment, she froze and turned around.

There was definitely the sound of footsteps in the grass…

“You. What are you doing there?”

A low voice.

By the time the chilling killing intent rushed through her body, it was already too late.

“I asked what a rat like you is doing here.”

She swallowed hard. Her neck felt cold.

When she slowly shifted her eyes downward, a sword was already pressed against her throat.

She raised her head.

Across from her stood a boy with a cold expression.

Standing in the rain, completely soaked.

“Just as expected, people try to act during times of chaos. You’d better speak your intentions.”

Neatly buttoned uniform, exuding discipline and nobility. A restrained, precise posture.

Black hair hanging wet from the rain. Eyes like polished obsidian, sharp as a drawn blade.

Under the moonlight, the boy radiated a cold, piercing brilliance.

‘Lloyd Cardenas Valentine…’

He looked like a beautiful boy from a classical painting. Or rather, something more raw, more untamed.

Not a demon, but something that immediately evoked words like royal blood, nobility, aristocracy.

‘I didn’t know he could look at someone like this.’

The dull, drugged haze and madness from before were gone.

The lazy, drawn-out voice, the apathy and emptiness in his eyes—all of it was absent.

Instead, his eyes burned with the flame of a living person.

‘So he wasn’t always insane.’

This wasn’t what she had come for. She had come to find someone unaffected by her song.

But strangely…

‘Why do I feel… happy?’

What he held was not a blood-dripping crimson blade.

It was a pure white sword that gleamed almost too nobly under the moonlight.

Her throat tightened with emotion. Her heart pounded painfully in rhythm with the rain.

The boy, eyes cloaked in darkness, leaned close to her ear and growled.

“Speak. Unless you want your head rolling in the mud.”