“Well? Tell me.”

“Oh, um.”

The king was clearly going to be disappointed to hear they both didn’t express their feelings for each other. Rubica blushed hard while not knowing what to say.

“Well, I see you are toying with yet another innocent person again.”

Thankfully, the queen came to her salvation.

She had had no choice but to go to walk in the garden as the king was interrupting the pleasant time with her long awaited guest, so she was feeling a lot worse than before she left.

In addition to that, her guest was clearly feeling uneasy, and the king was up to his nasty habit again.

“What is it this time? You made the duke dance with a new lady during every dance, so were you about to have her dance with a young and handsome gentleman so that her husband would be jealous? You’d better not do so. Although there are many men younger than Edgar in this kingdom, none of them is more handsome than him. She would feel as if she is dancing with a squid.”

The queen was quite harsh on her husband, and Rubica’s eyes widened while the king cringed.

“Oh, I just remembered I have a council to attend.”

In the end, he stood up and ran away while the queen smiled happily as if she hadn’t been mad at all.

“I’m sorry about that disturber, you must be tired… but as he is gone now, I think we will be able to have a delightful conversation.”

And she wasn’t frowning at all as she said so.

***

Rubica could only leave the queen by sunset. She also liked Rubica’s gifts very much and she even asked her to stay for dinner, which she politely refused.

She looked up at the red sky. It reminded her of Edgar, who had to be waiting for her back at the mansion, and it made her a little sad. If he had been with her, the king wouldn’t have dared to approach her.

‘It’s all for the better, I have a chance to try now.’

The queen wanted to see her out personally, but as she had other schedules to attend, including the dinner banquet, she sent the lady-in-waiting who had brought Rubica instead.

“It’s the princess.”

Rubica walked fast, eager to go back, but then the lady-in-waiting warned her quietly. There was a group of ladies on the other side of the hallway, and Rubica recognized some of them. She met them earlier the day.

She knew it couldn’t be good, but she couldn’t ignore the princess. Therefore, she stopped and bowed first.

“Oh, you are new.”

“Your Highness, this is Duchess Claymore.”

It was Princess Charlotte, the youngest child of the king and the queen. She was dearly loved as she was the youngest and still a minor. Rubica tried for her kindest smile and looked up.

“Oh.”

At the front of the group, she could see a girl who looked very similar to the king. She blinked, quite surprised to see Rubica.

“Is she really Duchess Claymore?”

Rubica’s feeling had been right. The ladies, in the meantime, covered their mouths with fans while the men coughed.

What was she supposed to do? Gabriel would have laughed along with them.

That wouldn’t have been a bad strategy for a count’s daughter, but Rubica was a duchess. She decided to keep her smile and not say anything in return.

After a short silence, the princess started to get a little nervous. The most fearful and trickiest person in the world is whose thoughts are impossible to tell.

“My mistake.”

“Her Highness must have been excited as people say so much about you. Please understand.”

Before Rubica could say it was okay, the lady she met earlier the day spoke first. Now saying she was okay would only turn her into an ungenerous person. However, she seemed to be right since the princess looked grateful for the lady speaking for her.

‘She… doesn’t seem to hate me.’

Was she just easily manipulated by the people around her because of her young age? Rubica didn’t know what the princess was exactly thinking, but there was one thing she knew. Some of the people in the group hated her, and talking more wouldn’t do her any good.

“I was just a little surprised. Then, Your Highness…”

“Why are you not wearing one of your famous ribbon dresses?”

Unfortunately, Rubica’s goodbye was blocked by the princess’s question. It didn’t seem like she was going to let Rubica go easily. It really frustrated her as Edgar was waiting for her, but there wasn’t much she could do to the princess.

‘This must be why they are using her.’

The ladies she had encountered earlier must have made her and the princess run into each other.

Judging from Charlotte’s reaction and her innocent looks, she didn’t seem to have a particular purpose. It was just that she was always loved and couldn’t even guess how troubled Rubica was feeling.

“Your Highness, ribbon dresses are for tea meetings.”

“Are they?”

Princess Charlotte looked confused. The king’s palace was her home. She could wear anything she wanted there. Therefore, although she did know the others had to wear clothes in accordance with manners when coming to the palace, she just couldn’t accept it.

“I heard you were the person who introduced tea meeting. It has become popular here at the capital as well. I’d like to go to one, but my father wouldn’t let me.”

“It’s because the price of tea has gone up too much.”

“And there would be no stopping it if you start going to tea meetings. Your father doesn’t allow you to go because he cares about his people.”

The princess protested, and everyone was immediately soothing her and complimenting how great and generous of a king her father was. Witnessing what kind of flattery they were using didn’t make Rubica feel good, but it did made the young princess feel better. She smiled.

“Of course. I must follow my father’s example and care about our people.”

Without realizing it, she was joining her group in criticizing Rubica for starting tea meeting and making the price of tea go up. She didn’t seem to know she was making herself an enemy of Duchess Claymore.

‘Living as a royal must be so hard.’

Even a small lack of sense could easily make one a prey of flattery. What would it feel like to watch one’s own children grow up among such people?

“Your Highness, please do not worry. The price of tea will soon go down and you will be able to host your own tea meetings.”

Anyway, Rubica couldn’t just stay still when they were criticizing Claymore right in front of her.

“The price of tea will go down?”

“Yes, I’ve found a good solution to it with your father.”

It made the princess brighten up, but everyone else was quite disappointed to hear it.

Duke Claymore had been refusing to show his wife to the king, and the king had become quite enraged by it. Every person in the capital knew about that.

Therefore, it wasn’t surprising the king had gone to meet her while she was with the queen.

Some of them even wanted to see her sad after being warned by the king to stop having tea meetings.

But to their surprise, she had discussed the matter with the king and found a solution. It was more than enough to sound the alarm in their heads.

“Soon the king’s court will be full of ladies wearing clothes that follow Claymore’s style.”

A lady who was right next to the princess covered her mouth with her fan and said really sharply, “It uses ornaments made of cheap fabric instead of gems, so it is perfect for this kingdom’s love for humble and chaste things.”

Rubica’s mind went black at that sudden criticism.

‘Cheap?’

Ribbons could be made of cheap fabrics, of course, but ribbons for dresses were all made of the most expensive silk. Unlike stomachers, that were meant to be used once since the embroidery and gems couldn’t be easily removed, the ribbons she made with Khanna could be used for various purposes and occasions.

However, would they even listen to such an explanation? They just didn’t like her and were criticizing every flaw in her they could find.

“No one will force you to wear ribbon dresses. If you don’t want to see others in it, you can stop coming to the palace and stay home.”

Her opponent was quite surprised to hear her direct counterattack.

“Yes, you can do that.”

The princess leisurely agreed with Rubica, so she didn’t seem to be entirely on their side.

“It would befit this kingdom’s spirit, but it would make this man extremely sad. It is my belief that dresses must make ladies shine with beauty, and to let them fulfill their purpose, no money should be saved on them.”

A man cried so. He wasn’t a peer, as he wasn’t wearing any gold or silver, but he was wearing a fashionable black jacket and had long, elegant silver hair.