"Is it another gift?"
"..."
When you give someone a gift, the typical reaction is either joy or gratitude—or both.
Claudel sighed, but unfortunately, she seemed to feel neither.
Kaian hesitated for a moment but couldn't abandon his desire to see her in this dress.
"It's a new dress. Why don't you try it on?"
The dress that Madame Marcel had brought was exceptionally elegant and sophisticated.
These days, Kaian had been putting tremendous effort into giving Claudel the best, most special, and most unique things. Originally, he was someone who felt no particular desire for possessions and saw no meaning in owning what everyone else had. He tended to keep only the very rare or absolutely perfect things that anyone could recognize as exceptional.
The man was extremely satisfied with the marriage that had been forced upon him by royal decree.
Claudel was a remarkably beautiful woman—aside from bearing Vermont's coloring. She possessed a kind heart, was honest, and was well-versed in appropriate culture and common sense.
Kaian could never have imagined that the bride so absurdly forced upon him would voluntarily study the Duchess's household duties step by step, even without being asked—being both book-loving and intelligent as she was.
The only women Kaian had grown up observing closely were princesses. Queen Silvia, his mother Lady Elise, and his maternal cousin Bianque all fell into this category. After marriage, only their titles changed—but fundamentally, they were all princesses.
As a result, the Queen—who'd grown up learning statecraft in the royal family—had left a deep impression on Kaian, and his mother had been no less formidable. In fact, his father had been older when he'd married into the Duke of Temnes family, one of the two pillars supporting the kingdom. The previous Duke and Duchess had an age difference of as much as eleven years.
It was only when Kaian grew older that he understood Lady Elise might have believed her marriage would benefit her elder sister, the Queen, politically. As a result, his mother had also been an exceptionally influential figure as mistress of the Temnes family and Lady of Rowan.
Of the three princesses he knew, only Bianque was less politically assertive. Bianque lived the life of a typical aristocratic daughter rather than engaging in politics—but that was because, unlike her mother who'd become Crown Princess and had to inherit the throne as a woman, she had a reliable male successor in Valquiterre.
However, in reality, Bianque was still a member of the Oberon royal family, so one could never truly know what thoughts lay beneath.
For generations, the royal bloodline had been ambitious and possessed a strong desire to own the finest things. Kaian was also half-royal, so he recognized this trait in himself. Since they all had princess mothers, Valquiterre, Kaian, and Bianque all carried half-royal blood.
Anyway, having grown up watching such women, when Kaian came of age and debuted in society, he'd been thoroughly dismayed by girls with pretty faces who seemed utterly vapid. He didn't know what to do with women he couldn't communicate with, who couldn't even speak to him properly and just stared blankly.
However, he'd been genuinely astonished when he'd discovered by chance that Claudel—who'd fallen into his hands—could even read the ancient script of the Sol Continent, which had become a dead language.
And she was captivating both during the day and at night.
After a forced marriage, he'd found a woman who couldn't possibly exist anywhere else in the world, and Kaian had no choice but to acknowledge it. This was the insight of the young King whom the entire Kingdom of Oberon admired.
At one time, Kaian had thought that if Valquiterre had known marriage would bring such satisfaction, he wouldn't have forced Kaian into it so readily. Kaian even wondered if Valquiterre had been deliberately setting him up with an ideal partner when he'd come insisting that Kaian make peace with Vermont—who'd wanted him dead—and forcibly ordered him to marry Claudel for reasons that hadn't even seemed fully explained.
If, before the marriage, Valquiterre had asked whether he'd like to marry a woman with such qualities from Vermont—his family's generational enemy—assuring him Claudel would be the perfect bride, Kaian would never have agreed to take her as his wife. He'd been planning to attack Vermont within the year.
Regardless, Kaian was now obsessed with making his perfect wife the most treasured woman in the world.
However, the woman who'd said from the beginning that the things he gave her were excessive and unnecessary had lately shown no genuine enthusiasm for anything Kaian gave her, no matter what it was.
So when he'd seen this dress today, he'd felt certain—if anything could delight her, this would. He'd been sure Claudel would love it, that her eyes would shine as she exclaimed how beautiful it was.
"Try it on. Hurry."
When Claudel clasped her hands in front of her chest and showed no sign of even touching the new dress's hem, Kaian urged her.
"No, I don't want to."
"What?"
"I don't want to wear it."
Kaian was taken aback.
"Why not?"
At his question, Claudel hesitated, took three steps backward, and avoided his gaze.
"You always say the same thing."
"I just said the same thing?"
"Yes."
"What am I saying?"
It was true that after giving her gifts all this time, he'd told her they suited her well and praised her—but he'd never said identical things.
"'Try it on. Try it on.'"
"What about it?"
"That's all you ever say."
As Kaian's eyebrows twitched, Claudel took two more steps away from him.
"And then at night..."
She looked mortified. If Claudel didn't particularly like him, he was simply satisfying his own selfishness by troubling her or amusing himself at her expense.
"How many times have I said that?"
"All but once."
He paused. It was true. He even remembered the one exception.
He'd brought Claudel a magnificent horse for her to ride. The woman's golden eyes had sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight, seemingly delighted to see the black horse with the distinctive white star on its forehead. He'd thought while watching her, *I can't ask her to "try on" a horse since you can't wear one.* That had been the one exception.
"Well... but you received gifts and didn't even try them on?"
"I don't want to receive any more gifts. No—I'd like you to stop. If this continues, there will be strange rumors in the territory."
"What rumors?"
"That the wicked woman from Vermont has married and is squandering the Temnes family wealth through her extravagance."
It was nonsense. Claudel needed these things to maintain her dignity, and it would take more than a thousand years to deplete his family's fortune on such purchases.
"Haha."
However, the woman saying this was so endearing that Kaian smiled without realizing it.
"Ha... are you worried about my finances now?"
If that was the charming reason she'd decided not to accept his gift today—Kaian was in excellent spirits. He immediately caught the woman who'd taken a full five steps backward trying to avoid him, and embraced her.
"Thank you, I'm honored. I shall become a frugal Lord."
"Ugh, let go!"
"Let's put that on quickly, shall we?"
He personally untied the fastenings of Claudel's dress. In the end, she changed into the new dress, and seeing it fit perfectly as he'd anticipated, he was satisfied with the newly hired seamstress's skills.
---
After arguing with Kaian and ultimately being forced to change into the dress, I felt exhausted.
"Ha."
I sighed, and Hannah tilted her head.
"What's wrong, my Lady?"
"Nothing."
I thought I couldn't tell even Hannah, because it was something no one would understand or sympathize with.
"Are you uncomfortable in your new dress? It's so beautiful."
The new dress Kaian had brought this time was a unique style I'd never seen before. The silhouette was southern in design, and it was cut to flatter my figure beautifully. Additionally, the details were so exquisite it felt like a truly bespoke creation, and the concept of dyeing the fabric specifically to match the dress design had resulted in a sophisticated finished product.
"No. The dress is very comfortable."
It was even more perfect because it was comfortable and didn't restrict me when I wore it.
"Then why the long face? If it were me, I'd take a walk around the castle to show it off."
Although she'd been my friend since childhood, Hannah maintained a strict distinction between public and private matters. Though she still shared friendship and feelings as if she were my equal, she never envied or coveted my possessions or lifestyle, recognizing our different stations.
Even Hannah couldn't take her eyes off my new dress today and couldn't help but admire it.
I actually felt depressed after receiving the gift. As time passed, my once-empty dressing room had filled with all manner of dresses and jewelry—and in such a remarkably short period.
But Kaian wouldn't allow me anything else.
"I don't need this."
What I truly wanted, unfortunately, was him. Kaian. I wanted that person.
Kaian was exceptionally busy governing such a vast territory. This man granted my request and came to my side at night when I couldn't sleep alone.
I wished Kaian would tell me what I longed to hear instead of offering jewelry or dresses like this. However, he wasn't the type to express kind words or compliments directly. There was no emotion in what he said to me.
*It's as if I've become a trophy or something.*
All of the possessions Kaian owned were precious and of exceptional quality. Although I wasn't on par with the Duke and Duchess of Vermont or Irena, I hadn't grown up lacking anything as a young lady when I'd lived at Castle Valmonde.
Irena had found it surprising that I had no interest in jewelry or dresses. When I was young, having lived like a commoner, I'd felt inadequate, wondering what I didn't know. I'd also lamented that we sisters didn't share the pleasure of adorning each other.
Even to my eyes, I could see at a glance that Kaian was a man who understood style quite well and held high standards for himself.
The more Kaian filled my personal belongings with jewels and dresses like this, the more distant I felt from him. We were a married couple. My husband was compensating me—paying for the use of my body instead.
"...How long can I sustain this?"
When I thought like that, I felt utterly lost.
When I'd been educated as a castle lady, the governess who'd taught me etiquette had told me that any lady should be like a flower. I'd hated that expression even then.
Aren't flowers things that cannot take root again once they're broken? Anyone who picks a flower can simply move on to pick another. I'd wondered whether it was right to educate noble ladies to become "flowers"—just to compare them to fleeting youth—bordering on brainwashing.
If I were to be born again, if given the chance, I wanted to become a very strong person. Strong enough to stand equal to Kaian, whom I'd come to love.
"I want to be the one who picks flowers myself."
---