“I thought you were at home.”

“Ah… I was at the library.

That was also possible. He had gone mad wondering she’d gone off to the past two days. She was at the library. The thought reassured him.

“A royal ball will be held soon.”

“A  ball?”

The ball hosted by the Crown Prince was led by his lover Rita a tea.

Ailea looked down at the invitation Clint gave her.

The royal ball is to celebrate the marriage of the Great Duke Clint Risher de Excalibur.

Please be sure to attend.

P.S. No mask allowed.

For the Crown Prince, it was possible and even expected of him to arrange a celebratory ball in regards to Clint’s marriage to Ailea. Lawrence and Clint had history and we’re old friends in the eyes of the public. And not allowing masks to be worn was a jab to Ailea and meant to hurt her. Clint was confused. Shouldn’t Lawrence have pitied her, even feel sorry for her state of being, instead? Yet this deplorable act hinted at some sort of hidden anger as if blaming her for not being able to be with Rita much earlier.

“Just think of it as a goodbye party,” Clint said, concerned.

Surprisingly, she had already made a firm decision.

“No, it’s okay. Everything will be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. They won’t speak horribly of me in front of my face, right? If that is the case, I can just pretend that I hear none of their small whispers.”

“Oh, you’re so brave!” Clint smiled, proud of his wife. He held the urge to pat her head. He remembered kissing her forehead as she cried in her wedding dress. She wasn’t as horrible as Lawrence depicted her to be. She was cute. “Right, did you bring all the dresses from the Outer Castle? I’ll choose a dress for you,” he said with a relaxed smile.

“You?”

“Believe it or not, I’m good at choosing women’s clothes better than the women themselves.”

“Playboy, is that what you’re proud of?”

“Hmm… let’s go with as much glamour as we can. Please show me the dressing room.”

“Ah—that…”

“What’s the matter?”

“I don’t have any dressing room.”

Clint’s face flushed with embarrassment as she looked at him with a puzzled look. “Why don’t you have a dressing room?”

“Because… I don’t have a dress?”

“Ah, is that so? Why don’t you have any dress?” he asked with a tinge of anger.

Ailea had lived in the Imperial Castle, yet she hadn’t the luxury to buy dresses on her own? She had no jewelry either because she had never received any gifts from Lawrence be it on her birthday or the day they separated. She did purchase some suitable dressed before she fell ill to the infectious disease scarring her body with black spots, but she sold them all when she was kicked into the Outer Castle. She only purchased things that she needed to live day by day, never things of luxury and enjoyment.

“Should I borrow one? Apparently, Loop’s wife, a merchant from the Outer Castle, has so many pretty dresses. This is good, right?”

“Wear a borrowed dress to attend the Imperial Family’s royal ball, you said? And it’s not even a noblewoman’s dress you’re borrowing, but clothing worn by a merchant’s wife?”

Ailea nodded. “Yes. Isn’t that why you gave me the invitation?”

Clint sighed. He should’ve brought the matter to Ailea at first notice. Had he known that she had no proper dress to wear, he would have bought one for her in advance. That piece of shit Lawrence. Thinking of that scumbag…

Ailea noticed his eyes turn cold. She subconsciously stepped back.

“You don’t even have a piece of dress?”

“Umm… I have the wedding dress.”

Clint called a servant over and said, “It’s hard to obtain a good piece of jewelry, so get me fresh flowers,”

“Yes, sir.”

The mansion had been turned upside down. Clint had assigned each and every servant to make sure Ailea would be the shining beauty in the ball. They would work late in the night. Meanwhile, he pulled Ailea’s hand and said, “Let’s go out and buy a dress.”