EPISODE 18
No sooner had Ines finished speaking than the hired hands rushed in.
Dozens of garments were draped over Kalad’s body.
“A lighter-colored shirt.”
“A darker coat.”
Expensive jewelry stretched to the point where it rolled across the floor.
Add to that the shoes and hat, and it was a mess.
An impatient Kalad shouted.
“Will you please stop ……!”
“If you don’t see anything you like, why don’t you come back tomorrow?”
Kalad was silent.
He couldn’t bring himself to did it again.
After what seemed like an eternity, the hired man looked at Ines and asked.
“What should I do with my hair? Should I cut it?”
“Don’t cut it, but put it up in bangs.”
Ines said, and Kalad immediately sat down in the chair.
The hired hand took out a comb and swept his long hair to one side.
“…….”
For a moment, their eyes met.
The two men sat back in their chairs and stared at each other.
Neither broke eye contact until the hired hand stopped touching them.
“That’s it.”
Ines stood up.
Still maintaining eye contact, she walked slowly toward him.
Stopping in front of Kalad, Ines reached out her hand.
Kalad closed his eyes reflexively.
Sarak, the touch of her hair made him lift his eyelids.
Ines’s face was within breathing distance.
“Your complexion is much better than before.”
Ines whispered, brushing back a stray strand of hair.
Kalad stared up at her, unable to blink.
Removing her finger, Ines took a step back.
He looked at Kalad as if admiring a work of art.
“I wouldn’t be ashamed to give this away.”
The kalad was no longer a stone rolling on the side of the road, but a perfectly forged jewel.
As it turned out, there was no substitute for good looks.
Even those who hadn’t thought well of him based on rumors would change their minds once they saw this face.
His looks were that influential.
“Give me the mirror.”
Ines said, and the hired man immediately held out a hand mirror to Kalad.
When Khalid looked in the mirror, he froze.
It was as if he was looking at someone else.
[“Master, I usually look like a pauper, but today I look like a rich man.]
Kalad glanced at the magic sword at his side.
It would have been a compliment, but it didn’t sound like a compliment at all.
Kalad glared at the blade to silence him.
Ines, whose gaze had shifted to the blade, spoke up.
“Why don’t you leave your sword at the banquet?”
“If I don’t leave it with me, I might die.”
Ines nodded at the strong answer.
Ines glanced at the sword.
It looked ominous, even if it was completely black.
“You don’t mind decorating the blade, do you?”
Kalad glanced at the blade again.
[I get to decorate? I’m going to the banquet too!]
Magik cried out in excitement.
Ines blinked at the sight.
“You didn’t just move, did you?”
[I can talk, Daiya!]
Magum had been calling her Dia ever since Ines had bought her a diamond ring.
It was a very snobbish nickname.
Good thing Ines didn’t hear him, Kalad thought.
“Then have her dress it up with a ribbon.”
Ines flicked a glance at her hired hand.
The hired hand quickly brought back a string of red velvet ribbon.
But he hesitated, unable to touch the sword.
Speaking for the hired man, Ines asked.
“May I touch the sword?”
[Anyone I allow is fine, Daiya].
“……It’s okay.”
Kalad relayed the words of the magic sword to her.
After hearing the answer, Ines personally wrapped the ribbon around the sword.
Even the fearsome magical sword looked toy-like and cute with the ribbon.
“What do you think?”
[Mirror, too!]
Kalad held up his hand mirror to the sword.
[I like it].
Ines stared at Kalad’s reflection in the mirror for a moment, then opened her mouth.
“You can wear this to the banquet, but come at dawn, when I have more to do.”
Kalad was silent.
“Or would you like to come the day before?”
“I will come at dawn.”
It was an uncharacteristically quick answer.
“Take the clothes you tried on today, your jewelry, everything.”
“All of it?”
Kalad asked, double-checking the dozens of clothes and jewelry.
“It’s all by your standards, and I don’t have anyone to wear it anyway.”
“If that’s the case, we could have met in the costume room.”
“You like that?”
Ines tilted her head and whispered, smiling.
“Next time, I’ll get a costume room.”
For a moment, Kalad looked like he’d misheard.
But Ines wasn’t joking.
The investment was a drop in the bucket compared to what Kalad would make me in the future.
Ines extended her hand.
Her delicate, straight fingertips touched the back of my large, hard hand.
Kalad narrowed his eyes, though he could have gotten used to it.
The face was still unfamiliar, but he didn’t shy away from the touch.
He was touched to see misery, Kalad realized now.
‘Seems to be okay for now…….’
As he watched the misery through Khalad’s eyes, there was a knock on the door outside.
“Come in.”
“Miss. We’re in trouble.”
The hired man who opened the door said.
“Marquis Harbert is here to see you…….”
Ines’s expression instantly faded.
Ines asked frostily.
“How did he get in here?”
“He must have gotten in despite the gatekeeper’s protests.”
Marquis Harbert hadn’t visited Countess Eldin since their divorce.
She wondered what had brought him here.
“I beg your pardon, but could you wait a moment, I think we have a visitor.”
Ines left the room, leaving Kalad behind.
“It’s a shame that Halo has gone to the Academy.
It was a good thing Halo hadn’t run into Marquis Harbert.
When she reached the front door, Ines stopped dead in her tracks.
The Marquis was not alone.
“You’ve kept me waiting a long time.”
It was a voice she hadn’t heard in years.
The Marquis, with his back to her, stared at her disapprovingly.
Ines looked at the Marquis, then shifted her gaze to Ranier, who stood behind him.
Ranier’s eyes narrowed as their gazes met.
His pupils narrowed as if he were scrutinizing them, but there was a hint of amusement in them.
The marquis looked around at the decorations scattered throughout the count’s mansion and clicked his tongue.
“I thought you were successful with your investments, so why not splurge?”
The Marquis looked as if he resented the money, but there was a mixture of greed and jealousy in his eyes.
It was so ridiculous that I couldn’t help but laugh.
He hadn’t even contributed a penny.
Worse, the Marquis was the one who had squandered House Eldin’s fortune.
“Why are you here?”
Ines cut him off, and the Marquis frowned.
The Marquis lifted his chin haughtily as if that wasn’t the point anyway.
“The dresses from the Rubisenon wardrobe, give them to Ranier.”
“Ha.”
Ines smirked.
This was the man who hadn’t even come to his mother’s funeral.
How could he come all this way for a dress?
The Marquis’s expression turned sour at Ines’s reaction.
He seemed to think she was impudent.
Ines looked down at Ranier in silence.
Ranier, who had been following closely behind the Marquis and not saying a word, turned and glared at Ines.
“You think you can get the dress by outmaneuvering the Marquis, don’t you?
But I had no intention of letting Ranier take what was mine.
When Ines didn’t move, Ranier began to sob.
“I was looking forward to it, it’s my first imperial banquet…….”
Ranier did her best pity party act.
“If my sister must wear a rubisenong dress, it’s only fair that I give in.”
“…….”
“But can’t you at least leave me the opportunity to order it?”
The Marquise, already gagged by Ranier, turned to Ines.
“If you can’t compromise, at least bring in the wardrobe staff who are on vacation.”
“I suppose you can call them yourself, Marquis.”
“You don’t answer my calls.”
“If you won’t answer my calls, will you take my orders?”
The Marquis’s brow tightened as Ines replied nonchalantly.
“You have no business talking to my father!”
“Father?”
Ines smirked.
Then he fixed the Marquis with his unsmiling eyes.
“Where’s my father here? All I have is a man who abandoned his child because he didn’t want to pay child support.”
“You insolent……!”
The Marquis threw his hands up in the air.
But there was no sound, no pain, no slap.
An arm shot out from behind Ines’s back and grabbed the Marquis’s wrist.
His broad chest pectorals seemed to envelop her.
Ines turned her head, dumbfounded.
A strong jaw was the first thing she saw.
Then the eyes like a blazing sunset and the tightly set mouth.
Calad stared at the Marquis with cold eyes and asked.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
