GIF 9

Chapter 9

Iris, riding in the carriage toward Rodans, looked outside. The sunlight was good, and many people were walking about the streets.

‘Most of them are the errand runners of noble ladies.’

Noble ladies did not walk the streets carelessly. They thought it beneath them.

How ridiculous.

While she was having such thoughts, the carriage arrived in front of a dress shop run by the madame most famous in high society for dresses.

She waited for the maid to open the door.

Click.

But when the door opened, a dark-colored man’s hand suddenly darted out. Holding the door, she opened her eyes wide and looked to the side, and there was Jack, dressed in a servant’s clothes.

“Jack?”

When she asked quietly, Jack lightly jerked his chin as if to say, don’t act like you know me. She had plenty she wanted to say, but knowing there were many eyes here, she quietly took his hand and stepped down.

‘When did he follow me?’

Jack, who had a habit of always appearing like the wind and vanishing like the wind, sometimes showed up abruptly like this.

“Who is this person?”

“Ah, he’s one of the servants I hired.”

“I see.”

She made a suitable excuse to the maid, knowing even this conversation would reach the Crown Prince’s ears intact. She smiled on the outside, but her inner thoughts were different.

‘I need to be careful not to let Jack’s identity be discovered.’

Entering the dress shop escorted like that, the gazes of the noble ladies gathered like pretty doves all at once landed on Iris.

Because, no matter how beautiful she was, this was the first time she had visited this dress shop, owing to her ‘background.’

Dress shops, too, weighed the ‘rank’ of the woman who would wear the dress. Even if she was praised as the greatest beauty in the Empire, her origins could not be changed.

The madame approached Iris with a somewhat flustered face. Then the maid stepped cautiously forward before her and showed the imperial seal.

“I have come today to have Lady Iris’s dress fitted, Madame Rose.”

“G-Good heavens. The imperial…….”

At Madame Rose’s words, surprise flickered through the eyes of the noble ladies gathered like doves behind her. And covering their mouths with fans, they began talking quietly among themselves, and even without listening, the content was obvious.

‘They’ll be saying the country bumpkin caught a big fish.’

Her life in high society had not been easy. Noble men only thought of how to toy with her, and noble ladies thought she was not on their level.

Because Iris was fundamentally a commoner, she did not have a single close noble lady. Having married early, it was also awkward to build friendships with young ladies.

“Hello. The weather is lovely.”

Even though she currently had the Crown Prince at her back, she knew her own origins were the humblest, so she greeted first with the feeling of yielding.

“Indeed. Have you come out for an outing?”

The noble lady sitting closest responded to her words. No matter what her origins were, she had brought the imperial crest, so it would not be easy to ignore her.

“I’m glad to see Lady Iris here.”

“Welcome. We had just gathered, as it happens.”

The noble ladies each added a word, but the woman sitting at the center was quietly drinking only tea. She was probably the woman at the center of this gathering.

‘Countess Mormos.’

She was a noble to the bone, raised under a father of margrave origins and married to Count Mormos. She was clearly too high-nosed to exchange words with Iris.

‘She probably means to have her minions talk to me and brush me off appropriately.’

That way she would not have ignored the imperial crest, so no problem would arise. If it were the usual Iris, she would have avoided her out of disgust, thinking, Do I avoid her out of fear? — and let it pass. But today she did not want to.

When else would she have the Crown Prince at her back?

“Oh my, it seems Countess Mormos has also come to have a dress fitted.”

Startled.

At her words, Countess Mormos’s eyebrows twitched upward. It seemed to grate on her. Iris smiled with an innocent face showing no malice and continued.

“Ah, you may speak slowly. Smelling the tea, it’s ginger. It seems your throat isn’t well.”

Iris kindly even made her an escape route. Let’s see if she keeps her mouth shut to the end after this. As Iris smiled and gazed at her, Countess Mormos finally set down her teacup.

“……That is so. There is a banquet coming up soon.”

“Ah, I came here for the banquet as well. Did you find a dress you like?”

For a moment, a silent battle of nerves passed between the two. Ha, really, well-bred noble ladies — this is the problem. Do they think they can accomplish something with their eyes?

“May I sit?”

“Ah, keeping you standing would be impolite. Sit here.”

The noble lady on the left yielded her seat. It was the seat farthest from the center, but that was probably the best she could do. Iris looked at the noble lady who had given up her seat.

The noble lady with soft brown hair and vermilion eyes was the wife of Viscount Voler. She remembered her as someone who had always trailed after Countess Mormos.

‘She’s probably the gentlest of them.’

Iris smiled brightly, expressed her thanks, and sat down. Thus an uncomfortable seat was prepared.

Madame Rose smiled awkwardly and excused herself, saying she would bring the fabrics of the noble ladies whose measurements had been taken in advance, and for a while only the noble ladies and Iris remained.

“More than that, Lady Iris, who is your partner for this banquet?”

Since they could not openly ask, So you’ve fallen in love with the Crown Prince? — they were asking indirectly, elegantly. It would be nicer if they just asked outright.

“I haven’t decided yet. There is someone I intend to ask, though.”

So Iris also traded a move by answering ambiguously. Countess Mormos raised her teacup again and took a few sips of the strongly fragrant ginger tea.

“I heard it hasn’t been long since your divorce.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“You must have been heartbroken. I’m glad you’ve recovered so well in the meantime.”

It meant: I know you divorced for adultery, and in the meantime you’ve caught another man. Since these were noble ladies who abhorred vulgar language more than anyone, their way of speaking was always like this.

“Surely everyone needs a place to open their heart. I merely had a place to open mine.”

Iris shot back just as formidably. It meant: Even if I stay still, there are plenty of men around me. And it carried a subtle nuance that she had known the Crown Prince from before.

“……You seem to have a very affectionate close friend.”

“Sometimes it’s a problem that he’s frighteningly affectionate.”

The Crown Prince acted as though he wanted her. She could play along with such acting as much as needed. Acting the part of a beloved, foolish flower-garden lady was something she had always done.

While the two waged their war of words, the noble ladies around them all kept their mouths shut. So did Bibi, the maid standing behind Iris, and Jack, disguised as a servant.

No blood was shed, but it was no different from a savage battlefield.

No one would want to get caught up in this fight.

It was Madame Rose’s voice from within that shattered that atmosphere.

“Lady Iris, please come this way. I need to take your measurements.”

“Ah, I’ll be right there.”

Just as Iris smiled brightly and was about to excuse herself, saying she would be back in a moment—from behind her came a jingle.

“Gasp…….”

The noble ladies all gasped in unison. Iris, who had no idea what was happening, turned around, and at that moment a sweet fragrance wafted through the air.

It was the smell of perfume.

“Lady Iris.”

“C-Crown Prince?”

Why are you coming out already?

“I have arrived.”

We didn’t even have an appointment.

The flustered Iris quickly composed her expression and looked at him.

“What brings you to the dress shop……?”

When Iris answered with a peculiar smile, the Crown Prince’s smile deepened. Truly an angelic face.

“Though there is time left until our appointment, please look kindly upon a foolish man who arrived a step early because he wanted to see you.”

She could feel the noble ladies staring this way with startled faces.

‘Look at this bastard?’

What scheme is this, coming all the way here?