MBYS 16

Chapter 16

Grace’s lips parted slightly.

In that fleeting moment where their gazes clashed sharply in the mirror, an unfamiliar ripple stirred within the head maid’s eyes.

A taut silence lingered.

At last, Grace nodded very slowly. The tension in her straightly held shoulders eased fractionally.

“……I will help you prepare.”

While Grace headed toward the wardrobe, Eveline stared at her own deathly pale face reflected in the mirror.

“A jet-black dress with the highest possible neckline.”

As the velvet hem wrapped around her body, Eveline added, “And gloves.” “Gloves for an indoor reception go against etiquette, however……”

Instead of answering, Eveline slowly lifted her two stiffly hardened hands.

This was the price she paid for absorbing raw, brutal demonic power every single night. Beneath skin so thin it was almost transparent, burst blood vessels and the skin beneath her fingernails bore bizarre, dark blue-black stigmas, resembling pooled dead blood rotting away.

“Because I cannot possibly present these wretched hands to the imperial delegation.”

Grace’s breath caught abruptly. The head maid’s gaze, previously bound to the ruined fingertips, hastily dropped to the floor.

“……I will fetch a pair of dark lace gloves. We can use the northern bitter cold as an excuse; it will look natural enough.”

It was precisely then that Lily stepped through the half-open door, breathing heavily.

“H-Head Maid. The reception room has been set up.”

Eveline’s eyes, which had been persistently chasing Lily’s reflection in the mirror, narrowed coldly.

Despite the uninvited guests having barged in, an oddly excited vitality—rather than bewilderment—rippled across the maid’s cheeks. Silently engraving that jarring liveliness into her mind, Eveline gave a sharp nod to Grace behind her.

“Tighter. As if to allow not a single line of disorder, not an ounce of an opening.”

The instant she drew a breath, the merciless corset strings squeezed her ribcage ruthlessly. A sharp pain, as though her ribs were being crushed, surged up her spine, yet Eveline’s gaze did not waver by an inch.

The silhouette completely concealing every scar on her body beneath heavy jet-black velvet and lace gloves. She in the mirror was like a well-sharpened spearhead.

“Shall we go?”

With a brief retort, Eveline took a step forward. Grace led the way like a bodyguard to the massive reception room on the first floor.

As the heavy door swung open, a man lounging lazily against the sofa rose to his feet and bowed lightly toward Eveline.

“My name is Marcel.” “Thank you for your trouble coming such a long way.”

Eveline walked toward the upper seat reserved solely for the master of the estate without a single tremor, attempting a chilling psychological domination that pierced the air.

Passing right beside him, Marcel’s arrogant gaze swept over Eveline’s jet-black silhouette with a sticky intensity.

“To be greeted in person on behalf of His Grace the Grand Duke, I am merely grateful.”

Instead of replying, Eveline straightened her back without a single disruption and sat down. Her hands, neatly folded over her knees, were perfectly concealed beneath the dark lace gloves.

Marcel sat down once more. Behind him, the gazes of the imperial attendants pierced straight through Eveline’s entire body as if dissecting her piece by piece.

“I understand that the official investiture of the Grand Duchess has not yet taken place. It is truly vexing to know how I ought to address you.”

Eveline slowly rolled the velvet hem between her gloved fingers.

“Choose whatever title suits your fancy. Is this not a position where substance matters far more than mere formality?”

Without a single flicker in her pupils, she pulled her chin down.

“However, all authority to control this estate has been personally delegated to me by His Grace. If you harbor doubts regarding my qualifications in receiving you, you are entirely free to dispatch a letter directly to His Lordship at the front lines to confirm it.”

The composure hovering on Marcel’s face stiffened all at once. Masking his displeasure with a dry cough, he adjusted his posture.

“Naturally, I do not doubt His Grace’s discernment. However, Her Imperial Highness the First Princess is deeply concerned for His Lordship’s physical well-being.”

A persistent gaze probed Eveline’s complexion.

“Is it not a rumor running rampant in the capital that His Lordship is battling a prolonged illness? She commanded me to inspect the estate’s medical facilities and living environment firsthand. Might I be permitted to tour the interior for a moment?”

Her breathing grew shallow under the pressure of the corset. Suppressing the pain, Eveline reached her hand out onto the table with an air of unconcern.

“I shall graciously accept Her Imperial Highness’s affectionate concern.”

Clatter. The teacup dangling from her delicate fingertips sliced through the air. Staring at her own reflection rippling across the crimson tea, she parted her lips coldly.

“However, His Lordship’s health is managed exclusively by the head physician, and according to the laws of the Imperial Medical Association, no facilities may be exposed without the patient’s direct authorization, even if His Majesty the Emperor himself were to visit.”

The teacup settled down without a sound.

“Furthermore, outsider inspections of the territory are a grave matter requiring the Lord’s official sanction. Once His Lordship completes the subjugation and returns, you may submit a fresh request through proper channels.”

Marcel’s mouth twisted. He rose from his seat.

“……If that is truly the Lady’s will, I shall take my leave for today.”

Bowing slightly, he walked toward the door. Just before grasping the doorknob, the corner of his half-turned mouth curved up at an angle.

“However, Lady.”

His gaze swept slowly over Eveline’s entire body once more.

“In the upcoming spring social season, Her Imperial Highness the Princess wishes to invite the Grand Ducal couple to the capital. At that time, pray…… meet her with the qualifications of a true and proper Grand Duchess. Otherwise, you will not even have a place to stand by His Lordship’s side.”

Bang.

The door closed. With that sound, the tension supporting Eveline’s spine snapped. Her vision flickered and faded from the corset’s pressure, and the legs hidden beneath her dress trembled. She gripped the edge of the table to barely sustain her upper body.

“……You were magnificent, My Lady.”

Albert approached from the darkness behind her. His voice was low. Eveline let out a trembling breath and turned her head.

“……Albert.” “Yes, My Lady.” “Do not lower your guard until the delegation has completely cleared the city gates. And.”

Her ash-gray eyes sank coldly.

“While they are staying in this estate, bring me a complete record without omission of who went where, through which route, and what they observed.”

Upon returning to her bedroom, Eveline enlisted the maid’s help to unlace the corset. Once the pressure lifted, her overworked joints shrieked in protest. Eveline collapsed like a ragdoll into the chair by the window.

Click.

“My Lady, I have brought you warm herbal tea.”

Lily placed a steaming teacup on the table. Dropping her heavy eyelids halfway, Eveline let out a languid voice.

“There were no disturbances in the estate while the delegation was staying, I presume?”

Lily’s fingertips, about to release the teacup handle, twitched violently. Quickly donning a placid expression, the maid bowed her head.

“Yes, My Lady. They retired quite quietly. I was helping prepare refreshments in the kitchen the entire time, so I was unable to keep watch on the situation outside, however.”

Eveline did not poke at that smooth falsehood.

From the hem of bowing Lily’s apron wafted an alien scent, entirely distinct from the northern flora. It was the lingering trace of perfume worn by the young ladies of the capital.

Her eyes narrowed from across the teacup.

“Is that so. Good work. You may leave.”

The door closed, and the sound of footsteps faded away completely.

Clutching the cooled teacup, Eveline persistently tracked the lingering impression of that sweet yet sticky fragrance unique to the capital’s high society, which had seeped from Lily’s apron.

‘She claimed she stayed in the kitchen the entire time.’

As Eveline chewed over Lily’s brazen deceit, Marcel’s arrogantly curving smirk coiled into her ears, leaving a chilling tinnitus behind.

As long as she remained by Kailus’s side, stepping foot into the capital’s high society was inevitable. Furthermore, without even the proof of a flawless wedding, Eveline would be stripped bare and dragged through the mud once more beneath the towering princess’s feet—reduced to a wretched, titleless bastard child.

Her gaze drifted apathetically out the window.

Before Kailus departed for the front lines, the crisp parchment he had locked away deep inside the study drawer crossed her mind.

‘Marriage……’

A document pledging eternity with a life having less than a year remaining. The fact that it was a scam did not change.

Yet today, those suffocating moments before Marcel where she had to bluff without any legal backing clawed at her brain.

Eveline tightly hugged the coldly chilled teacup to her chest as though it were her lifeline. Trapped within a deep dilemma, no answer whatsoever managed to escape between her parched lips.

At that moment, three disciplined knocks shattered the heavy silence.

“It is Albert.”

The heavy door swung open, and the butler held a neatly squared file of documents in his hands.

“I have brought the requested record of the delegation’s movements.”

Eveline straightened her upper body. She accepted the document file. Her gaze, chasing the printed text, halted on a single line.

[2:15 PM. One delegation attendant maid departed the reception room. Traces detected of her moving toward the annex via the servant-exclusive passage.]

“The annex……”

It overlapped precisely with the time Lily claimed she was assisting in the kitchen.

“Albert, is there a kitchen in the annex?” “No, My Lady. There is none. The annex contains only quarters for lower servants and an abandoned warehouse.” “I see…….”

The perfume scent that had emanated from Lily’s apron rushed back to her mind.

Eveline’s gaze moved past the text, sinking deeply toward the dark, empty corridor outside.