“This dress calls for these shoes, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, that would be best… hmm?”
Mary nodded out of habit, then froze as she looked at the sample.
The pointed ankle boots that looked like something a dwarf faerie would wear did not suit the chiffon, airy dress at all.
Seeing Mary flinch, Eliana asked kindly, “Do you really like these?”
“W-well….”
Mary’s pupils trembled badly.
‘She must have thought this was wrong even for herself.’
Eliana, who had deliberately selected the clearly unsuitable boots, laughed aloud at Mary’s expression.
Eliana’s clear voice echoed through the room.
“Why… are you laughing?”
Mary looked at Eliana as if she did not understand.
“Your Highness. Who is the main figure of this ceremony?”
“Obviously me, right?”
Mary stared as if asking why she would even ask that.
“Then why are you trying to make everything your way?”
“Well… those are things Eliana chose, aren’t they? I thought that someone who prepared everything would know better than me.”
Mary flinched and explained as if accused.
Eliana smiled gently at her and answered in a coaxing voice.
“Of course it’s true I prepared hard, but it was all for the princess’s convenience, not mine.”
“……”
“The most important thing in this meeting is the princess’s taste, not mine.”
“My tastes aren’t all that different from Eliana’s.”
Mary gave a somewhat forced answer to avoid an argument.
She seemed to think Eliana was picking a fight.
Eliana put on an expression of utmost benevolence, to show she was not angry at all.
“Then if I insisted on those faerie shoes, would you really wear them?”
“Well….”
“Don’t you think they’d look really ill-suited to you?”
“Eliana?”
Mary still looked as if she did not know Eliana’s intent.
Eliana coming at her so directly made Mary uncomfortable.
Mostly Mary had only enjoyed whatever was arranged for her, so that was understandable.
This time Eliana balled her fist.
Her face flushed as if after a very unpleasant experience; she looked exactly like someone angry.
At that moment Mary flinched.
Eliana cried out in Mary’s defense.
“If I were the princess, I’d shout, ‘Would you be able to wear that?!’ and toss the sample away.”
“Th-that’s a little extreme, isn’t it?”
Mary’s eyes widened.
She regarded Eliana as a strange person — how could anyone throw a thing at another?
Eliana looked at her and said boldly, “Is extreme important? You’re about to be publicly humiliated in front of everyone.”
“……”
“If you’d worn those to the ceremony, you’d have been mocked for a long time afterward.”
“No matter what….”
Mary shook her head fiercely and muttered.
Eliana pressed the point harder.
“If it were me, I’d kick the blanket off at night and grind my teeth thinking how to get revenge on whoever picked those shoes for me.”
She waved her hand as if imagining the scene.
Her face made it clear she hated even thinking about it.
Mary stared blankly at Eliana.
On reflection, she thought Eliana might be right.
If she actually wore those shoes with that dress, she wouldn’t make it a single step without her face burning.
Sensing Mary’s agitation, Eliana asked slyly, “You pictured it just now, didn’t you? Your face went red.”
“N-no!”
Mary tried to hide her face with a fan, but Eliana lightly stopped her.
Eliana took Mary’s fan and said, “Then say it to me now. Tell me you will never wear those shoes. Tell her to wear them herself.”
“I c-can’t! How could I!”
Mary refused in a thin voice.
Eliana, thinking she might have been harsh, softened her wording.
“All right, then say you’ll never wear them. Just that. It’s awkward at first, but the more you do it, the easier it gets to refuse.”
Eliana wouldn’t let go of the fan and kept her gaze on Mary, urging her.
It felt as if it would never end until Mary spoke.
Finally Mary muttered in a tearful voice, “I won’t wear those shoes… okay?”
“What was that? Say it loudly, please, Your Highness.”
Although Eliana had understood, she playfully asked again.
Mary looked astonished at that, then, feeling as if Eliana might accept her, she slowly opened her mouth.
“I… I won’t wear those shoes.”
It was so quiet it would not have been heard if she had not been close.
Eliana’s satisfied smile spread and she soothed her gently.
“Say it louder.”
At Eliana’s request Mary’s face went bright red. With a face of resolution she shouted at once.
“I-I won’t! I won’t wear them! …hic!”
Her voice was very fierce.
It was the first time Mary had ever shouted at someone like that.
Her hands trembled; she seemed as surprised at herself as anyone.
Still, oddly, she felt a little exhilarated.
Had she ever shouted so freely in her life?
“Hic!”
Although she declared herself resolutely, Mary’s hiccup made her look very cute.
Despite her loud answer, she still tried to keep an eye on how others reacted.
Eliana stared at Mary, whose voice had been larger than expected, with widened eyes.
At the moment Mary’s heart thudded, Eliana’s face broke into the gentlest smile it had ever worn.
Eliana folded the corners of her eyes as if to say “well done.”
Mary stared at her, amazed.
She had been scolded, yet Eliana kept smiling.
Others often scowled if Mary did not smile; so she had always smiled even when she disliked it.
No one had ever threatened her to say she disliked something like Eliana did.
Eliana applauded cheerfully at the rigid Mary — a very enthusiastic reaction.
To shout and then receive applause — Mary could not understand Eliana’s behavior at all.
Then Eliana said, “You did very well, Your Highness. If anything else displeases you, shout out about it anytime.”
“……That’s strange.”
“What is?”
“……Never mind.”
Mary muttered in a defeated voice and shook her head.
After seeing Eliana’s reaction, her hiccups stopped naturally.
It was an unfamiliar feeling, but not an unpleasant one.
Her tension in conversation with others seemed to ease somewhat. She felt a little relieved.
“All right, shall we decide again?”
Eliana grinned and rolled up her sleeve.
She brought forward the first sample she had shown when they first met.
Mary asked in surprise, “Wasn’t this already settled?”
“You should pick again according to the princess’s taste.”
Eliana answered as if asking something obvious.
Mary stared at her in blankness.
She felt sorry to toss aside the hours of effort they had spent.
“Is that all right?”
“Yes.”
When Mary asked anxiously, Eliana answered readily.
And Eliana truly waited without a single sign of irritation until Mary picked each item one by one.
‘Even talking with Caleus didn’t feel this relaxed…’
A small smile appeared on Mary’s lips.
It was a comfortable conversation for the first time in a long while.
Velkirei wore a languid smile like a sated beast.
His condition had improved remarkably over the past few days.
Lying alone in the quiet bedchamber, Velkirei’s eyes had taken on a reddish tint.
His right eye had a strange pupil, not like a human’s.
Within it the mark of the contract was clear.
A small snake swallowing a great piece of gold — the mark of a serpent that covets power beyond its measure.
Velkirei’s face was unusually expressionless.
Where his usual gentle smile had faded, a chill hung in the air.
“This is strange after all.”
He muttered, biting his lower lip as if in torment, and his eyes slowly closed.
A slight pain rose in his head.
‘Has my strength already run out?’
Velkirei pictured Eliana, who had gone to see Mary, and waited for her to return.
Merely touching Eliana eased the nagging pain, and he had gradually come to depend on her.
Since Eliana Mushe entered his domain, the demon’s power had been stabilizing rapidly.
Especially when he kissed her, his headache would clear for days.
Although his body still could not fully accept the demon’s power, the relief made life bearable.
As Maha had said, if he could not control his strength until the debutante, he would have to make a clone — but now there was no need.
If she stayed by his side, he could control his power without creating a double.
Velkirei was newly curious about the source of Eliana’s ability.
When he learned she was a magician he had tried to seize the mana core, thinking it might be the origin, but it had been in vain.
The mana within her mana core was the same type as his own power.
Even if he took it, there would be no gain — and he might kill her, making it not worth the attempt.
“She definitely made eye contact.” Velkirei murmured softly.