Chapter 15
Dante didn’t eat the cake. Instead, the boy frowned deeply, rose from his seat with flawless manners, and spoke coldly.
“Stop bothering me and play by yourself. I don’t have time to hang around with a little kid like you.”
With those words, Dante left the tearoom first.
Left alone, Rowena blinked blankly.
The situation was so unexpected that even Rowena of all people was left bewildered.
‘Don’t tell me he actually…’
Does he hate me?
“Your Grace, we’ve received word from the ducal estate. The Dowager Duchess Hayworth has come to visit.”
“…My mother-in-law.”
Seymour’s hand, which had been moving nonstop across the paperwork, abruptly stopped.
Even without hearing more, he already looked exhausted.
“If she wanted to see me, she would’ve come to the company. Most likely she went to see the child.”
“That’s correct. And apparently they’re getting along very well. She even asked if they’d always been this close.”
At Axel’s words, Seymour let out a cold scoff and set down his pen.
“Does my mother-in-law look like the type to build friendships with children? The kid’s just unusually sociable.”
Far too sociable, if anything.
Seymour shook his head as memories of last night and this morning resurfaced.
“Axel, are children these days all this friendly?”
“…To be honest, if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it either.”
Axel recalled the scene he had witnessed that morning at the Somerset Ducal Estate.
Simply seeing Seymour fall asleep while holding a child—completely sober, no less—had already been shocking enough.
But what truly stunned Axel came afterward.
As Seymour finished preparing for work, Rowena came running over.
“Duke, you’re leaving for work now, right? When will you come back?”
“…Why are you asking that?”
“Because we promised. I said I’d run out to greet you when you return.”
For a brief moment, Axel thought he saw Seymour mutter, ‘That damned promise,’ with a weary expression.
His attitude was cold enough to send a chill through the room, but the squirrel-like little girl with her round eyes didn’t shrink back at all.
“I’ll wait for you. You have to come back, okay? I’m not going to sleep until you do!”
“What kind of nonsense is that…”
Seymour frowned, then turned to Eirene, who stood a step behind them.
“Make sure the child doesn’t stay up too late. …But don’t let her go to bed too early either.”
“Understood, Master. Though…”
Eirene trailed off awkwardly before smiling brightly.
“I’m merely a servant, so I’m not sure the young lady will actually listen to me.”
“…Hah.”
Eirene was the biological daughter of Rose’s nanny. She had grown up like sisters with Rose and currently served as the head maid of the Somerset Ducal Estate.
In some ways, she wielded even more influence than the butler.
So if Eirene truly wished, she could probably keep Rowena from stepping even a foot outside her room.
Yet she still said that deliberately, making her intentions crystal clear.
‘She’s using the young lady as an excuse to make His Grace come home early.’
A servant couldn’t directly demand that Seymour return home.
But subtly encouraging Rowena’s wishes was another matter entirely.
Completely unaware—or perhaps uncaring—about any of this, Rowena innocently grabbed Seymour’s hand.
“Duke, it’s a promise! Got it?”
And so, regardless of his own will, Seymour ended up sealing the agreement with a pinky promise before he could finally leave for work.
Apparently remembering that moment as well, Seymour shook his head with a fed-up expression.
“This is ridiculous. I already have too much work, and now I have to deal with a child’s clinginess too…”
But despite his complaints, his complexion was noticeably brighter than yesterday’s.
The effects of proper sleep.
Knowing that, Axel chuckled.
“Then why not leave work early today? The young lady’s waiting for you. And at least you’re getting some sleep.”
“Enough. Shut up and get out.”
Just as Seymour, nearing the end of his patience, growled threateningly—
Knock knock.
A knock sounded, and the door opened.
The one who entered was Derek, the general director overseeing the clothing brand Seymour’s company was preparing to launch.
“Excuse me, sir! We’ve run into a problem during preparations for the brand launch.”
“A problem? What problem?”
Seymour’s expression instantly darkened.
This clothing brand launch was currently the project the company was investing the most effort into.
And now there was a problem?
“As you know, the brand was supposed to launch alongside a children’s line. But the child model in charge of the kidswear had an accident!”
“What?”
“It’s not a serious accident. The child slipped a little on the stairs, but unfortunately scratched their cheek on a railing ornament… They contacted us saying they’ll be suspending all activities for the time being.”
Except in special cases, the models used by upper-class fashion brands were all nobles.
Since these people generally lacked for nothing, they had no desire to endure inconvenience once they were injured.
“So we need to find a new model.”
“Yes. But it won’t be easy. You know how difficult it was just to secure the current model.”
Strictly speaking, Seymour’s company had nothing to do with fashion brands.
His main business was distribution based on trade.
The reason Seymour had suddenly decided to launch a clothing brand was simple.
Among the goods recently imported was a cotton fabric dyed using a completely new method.
Not through chemical processing, but through an eco-friendly, natural dyeing technique.
And on top of that, high society was currently obsessed with the trend of country living.
Building villas, tending gardens personally, raising livestock—simple and nature-friendly lifestyles were all the rage.
Seymour had decided to capitalize on this trend by turning the imported fabric into a full-fledged brand.
Thus, the concept of the brand became:
The concept itself was excellent.
“The pastoral concept makes finding models incredibly difficult. If they look too noble, it doesn’t fit. But if they look too plain, aristocrats won’t buy it.”
Luxurious, yet simple.
Everyone in the room understood just how contradictory and difficult that sounded.
“And you know how Ober is famous for refusing to work unless he likes the model. We barely managed to get his approval for the current one…!”
Even if they found a replacement model, it would mean nothing unless Ober approved.
“And the photoshoot is tomorrow! How are we supposed to find a new model now?”
“Then contacting people one by one is pointless. What about delaying Ober’s schedule instead?”
“That’s impossible. If we postpone now, the soonest we can reschedule is half a year later. Realistically, we’d be waiting nearly a year. We already waited months just to get this booking.”
Ober was currently the most sought-after commercial painter among the nobility.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that nearly every luxury clothing brand was promoted through his work.
In fact, any brand untouched by his hand could hardly even be considered high-end.
Seymour knew that very well, which was why he had gone through such trouble to commission Ober in the first place.
Without the prestige of a luxury brand, conservative nobles wouldn’t even glance their way.
“At this point, either we give up working with Ober, or we pray that whatever replacement model we scrape together somehow catches his interest.”
Axel muttered awkwardly.
“Well, obviously the latter would be ideal, but…”
“Expecting that would be no different from praying for a miracle.”
As Seymour cut him off flatly, Derek finally exploded in frustration.
“That Ober bastard is completely insane! He said to bring him a child model who’s healthy, pure, and lovable in a genuinely childlike way!”
Apparently having bottled up his grievances for a long time, Derek burst out all at once.
“He said the child should suit the pastoral concept perfectly—someone who runs through fields and climbs trees. Not a child like an expensive bouquet, but one like a wildflower. But at the same time, they can’t look cheap, so the child still has to be upper class! Where the hell are we supposed to find a model like that?”
“…Uh.”
After quietly listening to Derek’s rant, Axel scratched the tip of his nose and glanced sideways at Seymour.
Looks like His Grace is thinking the exact same thing.
“So, in simple terms, you need an upper-class child who doesn’t look aristocratic?”
“Exactly!”
“Then… I think we might actually be able to find one.”
“One just happened to appear at the Somerset Ducal Estate yesterday.”
