“Eyy, you don’t have to feign innocence with me. What’s there to hide?”
Rona pushed in the door for a moment. I stepped back and looked at her with a puzzled face.
Rona walked in, a towel and undergarments in one hand. Then, she turned around quickly.
“You didn’t come back last night, Madam… I was so worried…”
Rona muttered towards me with an expression that looked as if she was about to cry.
With a hand over her mouth, the way she looked at me was quite strange.
‘What’s wrong with her?’
While I looked at her perplexedly, Rona took her hand off her lips.
“…Absolutely nothing happened.”
But then when the hand that covered her mouth went down, the corners of her lips tugged up even higher.
“Madam. Finally.”
When I heard this, I looked around, not knowing what to do.
“What, why? What? Why do you say that?”
There’s no way she knows. No way. That’s impossible.
What happened last night was something between him and me, and… Anyway, it’s supposed to be like that.
But why did it seem like Rona was looking at me like she knew everything that happened last night?
“Rona?”
I carefully called Rona’s name.
But Rona was distracted by other things. I don’t know if she can hear me or not.
“What are you looking at?”
Rona’s eyes were focused on one spot between my neck and chest.
The same place Emma had been staring at earlier.
However, unlike Emma’s gaze which was so venomous as if she couldn’t stand seeing what she was seeing, Rona’s eyes sparkled like two stars.
“Is there something on me?”
Following that gaze, I looked down calmly.
“Ahh!”
As soon as I saw my chest, a small scream burst out.
Just above the neckline of my clothes was… a trail of red marks all across my chest.
I immediately ran straight to the vanity table’s mirror.
“Oh my god…”
It wasn’t just one trail.
Apart from the spot that’s immediately visible the moment I lowered my head earlier, the center of my chest, even under my clothes and near my collarbone—they were all marked.
“Wh-What is this.”
While I was engulfed in astonishment, Rona’s eyes were just twinkling as she clasped her hands together.
The eyes that seemed to be sprinkled with stardust now seemed to have become heart-shaped.
“What else, it’s a trace of love.”
“Love… what?”
I fumbled through my reddish chest and neck with my hand.
It wasn’t that difficult to pull up the memory of each mark.
[ You’re sweet, Selena. ]
The words he whispered in my ear, the actions he did to me…
“This way… that way…”
Once again, memories flooded my mind the moment I looked at the marks.
I remember them clearly.
“N-No way, this.”
I hurriedly rubbed the red spots with my hands.
However, the marks did not disappear. Rather, they just got even more visible.
“If you rub them, it’ll get redder, Madam.”
Rona grabbed my hand.
“Huh? Huuh?”
“No matter how much you rub it, it won’t come off.”
“T-Then what should I do?”
“Until it disappears… Well, you’ll have to wait.”
“……”
I’m screwed. Totally screwed.
I plopped down on my seat.
“What’s wrong?”
“…I can’t go around like this.”
“Of course, everyone will know that you and His Grace had a hot night together…”
“I can’t do that!”
Rona looked at me with a puzzled face at the sound of my scream.
“Eyy, what is there to be ashamed of between a married couple? But if that’s the case, then I’ll cover it with makeup.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Can you really cover it?”
It felt like a ray of light was shining over a dark sky.
I screamed inwardly as I stood in front of a full-body mirror.
“Is this the only way you can cover it?”
Even though Rona had been applying makeup carefully for the past two hours, the reddish marks would not completely disappear.
“I covered a lot… Is it still not enough?”
Rona made a tearful face as she held the makeup bag.
“It’ll be fine even if it’s a little obvious. I heard this kind of makeup is a trend these days…”
“What? Trend?”
“Yes. To intentionally leave red marks in noticeable places.”
Rona continued calmly.
“It’s not a trend just in the Imperial Palace, but everyone in the capital is following it. In bars, on the streets… Everywhere.”
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Rona enumerated while folding her fingers one by one.
“Are you making fun of me?”
“I’m not teasing, Madam. I’m telling the truth.”
Rona refuted the accusation as her eyes widened.
“I definitely heard it’s a popular makeup trend in high society these days. At the last tea party, I heard Marchioness Morde speak about it directly.”
Oh my god.
“Ah, don’t tell me, don’t tell me.”
I shook my head. It’s trendy to openly reveal traces of such blatant and covert acts?
“Who started this trend?”
There must have been someone who led this trend.
Usually, it was the noblewoman who dominated the social world. Whatever she ate, wore, and drank would become popular.
“Lady Louise.”
“…Who?”
I asked again for a moment, thinking that my ears heard it wrong.
“Who is it?”
“Lady Louise.”
“……”
I stared blankly at Rona, speechless.
“Louise?”
Is it the same Louise that I know? Or it could have been a person with the same name. Louise was a relatively common name after all.
“That person… Do you know what she looks like?”
“Um… According to the Marchioness, she’s as beautiful as a rose. She’s a captivating beauty. And regardless of gender, any man or woman would do a double take.”
“Captivating beauty…”
I muttered blankly.
“What’s the color of her eyes? Her hair color? How captivating does she look?”
I was out of my mind asking questions. The only thought floating in my head was ‘No way’.
Rona looked at me with a puzzled face and began to explain as soon as she visualized the woman.
“She has red hair and wine-colored eyes. I heard that the Imperial Palace is stirred because of rumors about her these days.”
Red hair, wine-colored eyes. Her face was clearly drawn in my mind.
Louise.
‘It’s the same Louise I know.’
How did she, the head of the Opium salon and a high-status widow, appear in the Imperial Palace’s circle?
“How popular is she?”
“I believe she’s favored by His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Favored?”
“Yes.”
Rona said this as if it was nothing.
Well, all the women who the Emperor had been involved with were so famous that it was hard to refute this, so it’s not something unusual.
“I guess it’s a little odd this time.”
“Odd?”
It’s common knowledge that the Emperor has lovers.
And it wasn’t just the Emperor himself, but it was a common occurrence even with noblemen.
Of course, on the contrary, even women had lovers as well.
With marriage, the body and the mind were separate things. Marriage between nobility was like this in the first place.
For each other’s benefit, nobles were willing to be tied under the shackles of marriage in order for their families to combine power.
“Yes, I heard that it’s gone beyond a simple fling… Because of that, it’s said that Her Majesty is very worried these days.”
No woman would encourage her husband to have a lover. The same was true with the Empress.
“So that’s why Missus Camilla often visits Her Majesty these days.”
“Perhaps.”
The current Empress was Camilla’s relative. I heard that they were cousins and that they were close friends even before they had each gotten married.
“What kind of person is Lady Louise? Which family is she from?”
“She’s from a foreign country. I heard her family owns a very affluent guild.”
Only aristocrats with legitimate power and wealth were allowed to enter the Opium salon.
Those who knew her face were also limited in number. With her status, her past is easy to wash away.
‘But the inner circle of the Imperial Palace, that’s amazing.’
I already thought that she wasn’t a normal person, but her abilities were really amazing.
“Why? Is there any problem…”
“No.”
I shook my head. Nevertheless, the name Rona mentioned lingered in my mind.
“Anyway, this makeup won’t be enough.”
I jumped back to my feet.
“Then?”
“We need to find something with more coverage.”
“If it’s something with more coverage…”
Rona tilted her head to the side. With a serious tone, I told her.
“Bring out all my dresses.”
After a while, Rona searched through the closet and lined up all the clothes I had that were the most conservative.
I looked through them carefully.
“Are you really going to wear it twice?”
Rona glanced at the clothes that made even her feel dull just by looking at them.
“Yeah.”
“You’ve got so many pretty dresses, Madam. Why must you…”
Pretending not to hear her deep, pained sigh, I spoke once again.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and find it.”
As I spoke to Rona, I also searched through the pile of clothes.
“Not this, or this. Not that.”
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The dresses that were rejected were pushed out one by one.
There were more dresses here with open necklines even though I asked Rona to bring only dresses that would cover as much of my skin as possible.
‘Isn’t there a single dress here that won’t have a plunging neckline?!’
With a silent scream, the search for the right dress continued for quite a while.
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