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Chapter 25

The payment for her meals.

Radis, a temporary guest of the Russell Marquisate, had nothing to do when she had the staggering salary of 100 million rupens per year. So she had no choice but to feel guilty.

She took her coat off slowly.

As if waiting for this moment, a delicate touch wrapped around her waist.

The seamstress spoke.

“Then, I’ll measure the Miss.”

“Please do as you wish. Haa..”

Behind the screen, Radis could hear Yves Russel grumbling.

“’Haa’? I’m the one who should be sighing here. I’m such a busy person, but do I have to be here just to tell you to get measured for your clothes?”

In response to his pointed complaints, Radis looked towards the screen with a troubled expression.

It had been a while since she met him, so the overwhelming first impression and the vicious rumors surrounding him had already been forgotten.

‘Marquis, you nag too much..’

In a gloomy voice, Radis replied.

“If you’re so busy, please don’t come here.”

“And if I don’t! You run away! And when anyone tries to pin you down, you disappear!”

“..Because there’s nothing for me to do.”

Whether he was really angry or not, Yves Russell replied in a sarcastic tone.

“You have nothing to do? I don’t even think 24 hours is enough for your skin care, to do your hair, your nails.”

Those ‘to dos’ were fun in the beginning.

She had a facial with honey mixed with a bit of salt, bathed in goat milk, and had plenty of clay mixed with herbs applied to her hair so that it could grow quickly. They even put fake nails on her.

But it was only fun then, at first.

She couldn’t wash her face with anything but milk, and she was trapped inside the house so that her skin wouldn’t be so tan.

Her hair was like any other hair that would just grow at the same rate over time, but because she had to sit there with mud on her head for it to ‘grow quicker’, she couldn’t endure how itchy it was.

And the nails. Those were the worst.

Whenever wearing long, fake nails, she couldn’t hold anything except thin utensils.

“I hate them. Do I really need them?”

“Oli..!”

Suddenly conscious of his surroundings, Yves Russel dropped the volume of his voice to a whisper.

“..Do you not want to meet Prince Olivier?”

Tempered at the mention of Olivier’s name, Radis quieted down and bowed her head.

Finally trumping over Radis’ stubbornness, Yves Russell patted her shoulders with a satisfied face.

“Alright, Radis. I have a plan, so just trust and follow me. First of all, we’re going to get you measured for a dress today. Okay?”

“..Okay.”

Inwardly, Radis could only say ‘I’m dead’ as she surrendered to the seamstress’ hands, her own arms stretched wide.

“Milady, you don’t have to worry!”

Coming from the most famous boutique in the south called 〈 Saffron 〉, a seamstress named Celia personally came to the mansion for a fitting. She pulled the tape measure tightly and spoke.

“This Celia will measure the Lady perfectly!”

“It’s fine if it’s not perfect..”

“No no, it will be the basic foundation of the dress’ production, so the Lady’s body must be measured perfectly to understand the strengths and weaknesses! I won’t allow any errors, even a hairsbreadth of it!”

Celia swung the tape measure like a whip and flitted around Radis with it, on her neck, her shoulder width, her forearm length, bust, waist, buttocks, legs and feet.

Changing her posture as Celia would instruct her to, Radis thought that it would be more efficient if they made her float or something.

After a while, the measurements were finally done and Celia took out a catalogue with fabric samples.

“Is there any color that you’d prefer for your dress?”

“..As long as it’s not pink....”

Then from behind the screen as though waiting impatiently for that moment, Yves Russell jumped to his feet and shouted.

“Silver, purple!”

“I understand, Your Excellency!”

Celia turned the thick pages of the catalogue.

Then, she stopped at a page where silver and purple fabric samples could be seen.

“The Lady’s skin tone is a little on the tan side, so I think it’s better to avoid too bright of a shade of silver.”

“It depends on the color.”

Marquis Russell walked over and took a closer look at the page where the samples were attached.

Then, he took out a patch of silver, which looked just like the color of Prince Olivier’s hair, and a patch of purple, which was the same color as the prince’s eyes.

Yves Russell asked Celia in a challenging tone.

“Can you do this? It doesn’t matter how much it’ll cost.”

“Of course!”

Radis was just dumbfounded by the color selection.

‘You’re the one who only wears black clothes..’

Then, the marquis approached her, then placed the fabric sample over her nape.

She could feel the gentle touch of the back of his hand grazing atop the hair on her neck.

‘It tickles.’

Not used to being in contact with another person, Radis flinched and shuddered.

She fixed her gaze at a faraway spot and tried to think of other things.

‘When I leave the marquisate, I’ll definitely buy wool mattresses and feathered duvets. I want to take Brandon, too, but maybe that’s not possible? If it’s the marquisate’s chef, who has a lot of pride in having been employed by the Russell’s for generations..! T-Then I can eat as much as I can before I leave..!’

Finally, Marquis Russell stepped back.

“Seems like this would look better on you than I thought. Make about four dresses using this fabric.”

“Yes, of course, Your Excellency!”

“The design.. should suit her.”

Yves Russell glanced towards Radis, then he added.

“If you prefer to have anything else apart from what I’ve ordered, you can buy as much as you want.”

“I’m fine—”

“M-Milady!”

Celia hurriedly cut Radis off and unfolded a catalogue of dress designs.

“Take a look at the designs first and decide! Of course, I’ve also brought dress samples that you can wear!”

Did she see it wrong or was there a dangerous smirk on Marquis Russell’s lips?

“Of course, let’s work hard to pay for our meals.”

In the end, Radis was forced to spend the rest of the afternoon staring blankly at dress and shoe designs, her eyes like dead fish eyes. She also had to change into various dresses countless times.

“I’m dying..”

Allen smiled softly as he poured some tea for Radis, who barely managed to escape from Celia’s clutches.

“Was it too difficult? Didn’t you have fun?”

“The dresses look pretty, but for me.. well.”

“Really? I think they’ll look good on you.”

“Not at all. I have short hair and uneven skin tones.”

“Your skin’s not all bad. And your hair will grow out quickly.”

Allen smiled as he said this.

“If you’re too tired, would you like to take a break from your studies today?”

“No! I’m fine!”

She was drooping on the table just now, but she suddenly jumped up as her eyes glimmered.

Radis liked studying quite a bit.

However, studying itself was difficult to do in the Tilrod household.

The patriarch, who was in charge of Tilrod’s children, was even more wary of Margaret. He was scared of her more than Armano was of the matriarch.

So that she wouldn’t be rebuked, Radis had to study without books and take classes while pretending that she didn’t know the answers.

“That’s a relief. I found an interesting book for you, and I brought it here because I thought it would be a good, light read.”

Allen and Radis settled in the greenhouse where warm sunlight streamed in.

Berry, a maid of the mansion, brought some fragrant black tea and very delicious-looking custard pastries.

With a crispy outer layer that’s sprinkled with white confectioners sugar and a light cream filling that’s full of the scrumptious taste of vanilla, it’s become Radis’ favorite dessert that she only recently discovered.

In a warm place, surrounded by a beautiful landscape, she studied while enjoying a relaxing teatime.

Radis’ mood got better and she quickly forgot about the dresses. Smiling broadly, she turned to Berry.

“Berry, thank you!”

Seeing Radis’ smile, Berry’s plump cheeks turned into a strawberry shade.

Berry, whose naturally curly hair was tied into two braids, was the same maid who showed Radis the way to Yves’ room on the first day of her stay in this mansion.

However, the marquisate’s maids seemed a bit unique.

Among them, Berry was really shy.

Even now, she took several steps back to quickly disappear, all the while covering her face with a tray.

Soon after Berry went past the door and out of sight, Berry could be heard shouting in the distance. ‘Kyaaa! What do I do!’

Allen sighed as he watched this.

“When will you all grow up..?”

Allen just observed the maids’ demeanors as they acted like that.

Radis didn’t know why Berry always shouted, ‘what do I do!’ whenever she was with her, but she believed this to be normal.

The maids of the mansion seemed to have a habit of shouting, ‘what do I do!’ sometimes, but apart from this, everyone was very sweet and kind.

“Now, this is the book that you’ll be reading today.”

Allen placed a book that had a colorful and pretty cover on the table.

“〈 The Adventures of Prince Dantes 〉! This is a fairytale book.”

“That’s right. Have you read this before, Miss?”

Radis shook her head.

〈 The Adventures of Prince Dantes 〉 was a fairytale about the life of Dantes Arpend, a real hero who founded the empire.

As the first emperor, the imperial family themselves produced the fairytales and sent them as gifts to children of powerful aristocrats.

The Tilrod family also had the same fairytale book and it’s been handed down from generation to generation. It was so worn out that the cover had to be changed several times.

And Jade would allow only the eldest son, David, to read it.

However, because David just shucked it under his bed secretly without even opening the cover, Jade just took it back.

“This book is considered to be a gift that symbolizes each family’s connection to the imperial family, but the contents are very interesting. That Sword of Fire also appears here.”

Allen winked.

Radis’ eyes sparkled as her posture straightened the moment that the Sword of Fire was mentioned.

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t/n: not relevant to the chapter, but Radis liking custard pastries made me crave for that korean custard snack made by orion. aaaa i’m gonna buy some tomorrow~

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