Chapter 47

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: A Deceptive Touch
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The fourth-floor staff knows this is a contract marriage, so why are they reacting with such sincerity?

“Um… I can put it on myself.”

I waved my hand.

I had no intention of being dressed by the Duke.

It would have been an imposition on Diello, after all.

*What’s gotten into him?*

*Is it because of the poison from mealtime? Has it made him more sensitive?*

I reached for the dress, then paused.

*Something’s not right.*

“Diello, was this dress already in the mansion?”

“It was newly tailored. From a trusted source, of course,” Diello replied.

As he answered, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes for a moment.

“Is there something wrong with the dress?”

“It has a strange smell.”

Diello inspected the dress.

Of all things, because it was a dress, it couldn't be purified with flames.

The flames of purification were still flames, after all.

“Bring everyone who handled this dress. And Nias, too,” Diello commanded a maid.

Nias was the name of the family physician.

*…There’s no patient, so why Nias?*

*Is it because he’s a doctor?*

Then again, if there was some kind of poison on the clothes, he would be the one to know.

It seemed Diello had also sensed that something was amiss.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Diello’s voice was as gentle as always, but the fourth-floor staff moved with more tension than usual.

“…”

And for good reason.

I watched Diello quietly.

“Croire?”

A faint smile. A slight tilt of his head as if asking if there was a problem.

He was the same as always.

But for a split second, I had definitely felt a strange chill.

A short while later, the physician, Nias, who had been examining the dress with gloved hands, wore a grave expression.

For a doctor, his skill in identifying poisons seemed professional.

As if he had learned about poisons before medicine.

Just as I had that thought, the elderly doctor’s face contorted.

“…Your Grace, the entire dress is permeated with poison. To have it spread so evenly, the only way would be to wash it in poisoned water.”

“…”

My eyes met Diello’s.

*They soaked it in poison using such a cunning method? And I sensed it?*

*Did I feel it because it was in the water?*

If Croire had always been this sensitive to water, she wouldn't have been treated as a useless card.

My senses had become extremely heightened.

“Their methods are growing more cunning.”

Diello frowned.

“I’ll have them prepare a new dress.”

“It’s fine to wear one I already have.”

I waved my hand dismissively. There were more than enough spare dresses.

I didn’t know if it was because of the villainess Croire’s reputation or if the Argenta household was just this devoted to their lady, but there was a mountain of dresses I’d never even seen before.

They would just be thrown away if I didn’t wear them.

“It might be an inconvenience, but would you mind?”

Diello asked, looking troubled.

He then gestured to Pielle, who was standing with Nias.

“The maids who were on laundry duty today… no.”

Tilting his head slightly, Diello said, “Conduct a full inspection of all the servants’ fingertips. Someone will have traces of the poison.”

At his words, I turned to look at him.

Diello smiled gently.

“Even if it was handled by someone with a resistance to poison, I expect a trace would be left on their fingertips.”

Then, holding up the newly delivered dress, hanger and all, to me, he took a step closer.

“I thought this is what you would do, my bride. Was it insufficient?”

His sweet breath washed over me.

He was truly one of those people you could teach one thing, and they would understand ten.

“How could it be insufficient?”

*Perfect score!* I smiled at him to show my satisfaction.

“Then, just in case.”

Diello lifted the dress.

“May I be the one to assist you?”

The same offer as before.

“Th—”

It felt strange to refuse twice.

Just as I blinked my eyes.

—*Click.*

Hearing the sound of a door closing, I looked around to find that only the two of us remained in the room.

The meaning was obvious.

‘Enjoy yourselves!’

*These people!*

***

Among the belongings of the nobility, there were many things one couldn't use alone.

Dresses were a prime example.

The higher a noblewoman’s status, the more complex her attire.

It was nearly impossible to dress oneself.

It was only natural, as the purpose of wearing such elaborate clothing was to subtly show off how many servants one could command.

In that sense, my dress was also on the rather complex side.

“The most comfortable dress to move in, please.”

Even the dress they brought back after that request was one I couldn’t put on by myself.

Even setting aside all the complicated lace decorations, the buttons that ran from the small of my back to my neck were impossible for me to fasten alone.

And the same was true for the clothes I was currently wearing.

“…”

The maids on the fourth floor, of course, knew that we were in a contract marriage.

But since we never knew when or where word might slip out, it was best for us to appear to be a sweet, loving couple.

Still, I hadn’t expected to be left alone like this.

Diello, holding the dress, asked, “If you’re uncomfortable, shall I call for someone else to assist you?”

“No, it’s fine.”

I shook my head.

Asking Diello to leave now would make the atmosphere even stranger.

More than anything, I felt bad, as it might seem like I was suspicious of this gently smiling man.

“Then, could I trouble you for a moment?”

Fortunately, the underdress I was wearing was opaque enough that there would be no cause for embarrassment.

“Of course.”

Diello approached.

He approached with stockings and other garments over his arm, looking like a skilled butler.

I took the silk stockings from him and sat down.

—*Thud.*

I had intended to put them on myself, but Diello willingly knelt on one knee before me.

“Pardon the intrusion.”

With a faint smile, he took the stockings.

While I hesitated, his hands, holding the stockings, enveloped the tips of my feet.

The moment a strange warmth spread to my rather cold toes, Diello smiled, looking troubled.

“Your feet are cold.”

Diello, who had warmed my toes with both hands, meticulously pulled the stockings upward.

His hands slipped under the slightly raised hem of my dress.

He tapped the side of my knee with his thumb, as if knocking, so the advance wasn’t unannounced.

—*Peck.*

A soft kiss landed on my knee, which should have felt cool from the lifted hem.

I felt a searing heat rise within me.

Afterward, he straightened the stocking on the other leg and looked up at me.

“You’re… surprisingly skilled.”

I finally said, looking at him.

Diello blinked his blue eyes.

“I’ve imagined helping you like this countless times.”

*Imagined?*

“…Helping me dress?”

Diello, a duke, helping someone dress?

Sensing my bewilderment, Diello let out a low laugh.

“Yes. You never know, do you? A time might come when it’s needed.”

He kissed my knee again as he spoke.

“At the very least, I shouldn’t be caught off guard because I’m unfamiliar with the attire.”

I thought I saw his lips tremble for a moment on my knee.

It wasn’t like he was nervous.

It was something more than that, a sense of restraint, as if he were suppressing something.

“The attire…”

I repeated his words.

*It’s women’s attire that a man would never have occasion to wear.*

“…Don’t tell me you’ve practiced?”

How else could he be this proficient?

“Of course not.”

Diello looked serious at my words.

“You are the first, Croire. And you will be the first and the last.”

He said it as if making a vow.

He stood up and brought me my main dress.

As he fastened the buttons on my back and even brought a cardigan to drape over my shoulders, his eyes shone with a delicate light.

“…”

Even after I was fully dressed, he kept his hand lightly on the collar of my cardigan.

“Diello?”

The feeling of a strong man’s hand tickling my neck was strange.

It was surely a meaningless touch.

Just a kind gesture.

A kind gesture… I’m sure.

“I thought this part might be cold to the touch.”

When he let go of the metal clasp on the cardigan, the now-warm metal touched the back of my neck.

“Ah.”

I let out a breath without realizing it.

It felt just like the warmth from him I sometimes felt in the mornings, touching the back of my neck.

The warmth of a person. Something that could make a person flush with more than just heat.

“There, all set.”

Diello straightened my clothes.

It was all so natural.

From dismissing the staff, saying he would assist me, to now, having finished.

—*Peck.*

And even the kiss on the back of my hand just before escorting me.

From the back of my neck, to my knee where his fingertips had touched, and my hand where his lips had been.

My skin burned as if covered in heat blossoms.

*This isn’t right.*

*This can’t be what he means.*

While I bit my lip, Diello wore a bright expression.

“Shall we go?”

But in that moment, I wanted to ask him.

*Is this really all practice?*

*Is it truly just practice to deceive others elsewhere?*

***

Diello proceeded with his external appointments as if nothing had happened.

Once we left the space where we had been alone, I couldn't help but become tense as well.

An enemy who had cunningly infiltrated, first with poisoned food, and now with clothing.

There was definitely someone aiming for a life here.

And the fact that they tampered with my dress, not Diello’s, could mean that they were after my neck.

“Be careful, Croire.”

Diello repeated those words.

He not only limited those around us to the fourth-floor staff but also strengthened security.

But despite all these preparations, there was one thing that could not be stopped.

“Emergency! Sector 2 of the Infinite Sea has been breached!”

The knight who rushed in during our meal was clearly straight from the front lines.

Besides, I later heard that he had been an Argenta knight for over a decade.

Though he was from one of the lower floors of Argenta.

They only let him in because he was a familiar face.

…No one could have imagined he’d been bought by the Cartiels.

“My apologies, Your Grace.”

Saying so, the knight pulled out something other than a report on Sector 2 of the Infinite Sea.

“!”

For a moment, I couldn’t comprehend what was happening, my eyes widening.

I saw the knight, who had rushed in to report, pull a pouch from his tunic.

“Croire!”

The moment Argenta’s magic flared from the man’s fingertips, Diello, who had been sitting across from me, was suddenly beside me, shielding my body.

And then.

—*Boom!*

A small explosion sounded.

The dining hall was engulfed in a pure white fog.