Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Clusters of dainty purple flowers bloomed together, and nestled among them was a small white blossom peeking through, its delicate beauty striking.
Isabella, ever interested in herbs, recognized the flower’s name with ease.
“Statice. How pretty.”
Reaching out to pick up the bouquet, she stared at it blankly for a moment before asking Baal, “Did you put this here?”
Normally, Baal would have answered right away, but today, he said nothing.
“Baal?”
Isabella turned her gaze from the flowers to him. Baal was glaring at the bouquet as if it were something filthy, his expression full of displeasure.
“Baal?”
When she called him again, Baal finally responded in a gruff tone, as if he had no choice.
“The master of the house left it, meh.”
“…The Duke?!”
For a moment, Isabella couldn’t believe her ears.
‘Wasn’t he angry?’
From the first moment they met and all through their shared meal, his expression had remained stern. She was certain Cedric disliked her.
And yet… flowers?
Why? The question naturally surfaced. Then Cedric’s words came back to her.
[“Do you… want flowers?”]
Her face flushed in an instant.
Isabella quickly buried her face in the bouquet, struggling to stifle the laugh that bubbled out of her.
‘He actually paid attention to what I said…’
Her chest tingled warmly.
He had seemed blunt, even intimidating, with those cold eyes. But he had offered her a place to stay without hesitation, and now, even paid attention to something so trivial. Could someone like that really be frightening?
‘Maybe I misunderstood him…’
A man different on the inside than he seemed on the outside. She began to wonder if he might actually be… quite kind.
Blushing, Isabella murmured as she looked at the flowers.
“What a pleasant scent…”
Statice wasn’t known for its fragrance, yet for some reason, the bouquet filled the air with a gentle, comforting aroma.
* * *
Time flew by, and soon the day of the debutante ball arrived.
At the break of dawn, Isabella was hauled off like luggage and subjected to repeated baths and massages. Only after several rounds did she finally receive her very first experience with makeup. White powder and colorful pigments were applied all over her face, and delicate patterns were drawn with fine graphite pencils.
Just as the makeup session ended, Isabella, looking slightly fatigued, said to Flenn and the maids.
“Thank you for the makeup. I’ll take it from here, so you can go now.”
“What are you saying? We’re just getting started. You haven’t even done your hair, and you’re not dressed yet.”
Flenn’s protest was echoed by the maids.
“That’s right! We’ve been waiting so long for this day!”
“We even cut back on sleep for days so we could make you the star of this debutante ball!”
Jane and Emily, who had grown quite close to Isabella during her stay at the estate, looked up at her with teary, puppy-like eyes and clasped hands.
The moment she flinched from their heart-melting gazes, Olga, who had been tidying up the cosmetics, suddenly remembered something.
“Oh, by the way, Lady Isabella.”
“Y-Yes?”
“When are you going to show us the dress you’ll be wearing today? You said you’d show us later, so we’ve been waiting…”
Flenn chimed in as well.
“We went ahead with the makeup, but the hairstyle and accessories really depend on the dress design.”
“We’re dying to see it! I heard Countess Hellen’s dresses are really something special!”
“They say her garments aren’t made in any regular atelier. Is that true?”
Under the barrage of curious questions, Isabella began to sweat and averted her gaze. Still, she couldn’t hide it forever.
With a resigned sigh, she said, “Fine, I’ll show you. But you mustn’t laugh. Absolutely not!”
“Laugh? Never!”
“Of course not!”
Flustered by their stares, Isabella made her stern request, and Flenn and the maids nodded solemnly.
Biting her lip slightly, Isabella stood up from her chair and moved to an open space free of furniture. Then, closing her eyes tightly, she placed one hand on her hip and the other behind her head, striking a somewhat sultry pose as she called into the air.
“Citri, what are my three sizes?”
A brief silence followed. Then suddenly, the shadow at her feet rippled, and from it burst a massive figure, easily over two meters tall, shouting, “Thirty-eight! Twenty-three! Thirty-nine!”
“Ugh…”
Before Isabella could even feel the full embarrassment of her sizes being blurted out, the maids screamed in horror at the sight of the creature emerging from the shadows.
“KYAAA!”
“What is that?!”
“A spider!”
And with good reason, the monstrous figure had the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a gigantic spider. It was Citri, Queen of the Spiders, whose red eyes gleamed within black sclera. She stretched her six long arms and wrapped Isabella in a tight embrace.
“Lady Bella! Why did you take so long to call me? I’ve been waiting forever!”
Isabella hid her flushed face in her hands, caught in Citri’s clinging embrace and syrupy voice.
‘This is exactly why I didn’t want to summon her…’
Just as each magical creature had its own contract, the summoning methods and languages varied, and Citri’s was especially mortifying. It didn’t stop at hugging. As Citri’s hands began to roam over her, Isabella whispered, practically shrinking into herself.
“P-Please stop…”
But Citri only clung harder, showering her with affection.
“Oh, come now! It’s been ages since we’ve seen each other, don’t tell me to stop! Mmm~ your skin is still so soft!”
With seductive fingers tipped in sharp claws, Citri traced her bare skin like she was courting a mate. Isabella shivered all over, goosebumps rising. Just then…
“That’s enough. The young lady doesn’t like it.”
Baal, who had been watching quietly from a distance, finally stepped forward and spoke firmly. At his words, Citri froze mid-grope, then pouted and reluctantly let go of Isabella.
“Tch. You get to stay by her side every day, but I can’t. So unfair! Hmph!”
“Stop babbling and hand over the dress.”
“I was going to give it to her! You black goat who wouldn’t know fashion if it hit you!”
Sparks seemed to fly between their eyes.
‘Ugh… this day is cursed,’ Isabella sighed internally, caught between the two of them.
A moment later, Citri rummaged through the shadows at Isabella’s feet and pulled out a dress.
A glossy black satin gown, elegantly flared in an A-line silhouette. From the hem, red embroidery bloomed like fire-shaped flowers twining upward. Even without jewels, the crimson thread shimmered with a mystical glow.
As Isabella gazed at the dress, her mouth slightly open, Citri gave a coquettish laugh.
“Mmm~ don’t just stare at it, dear. Try it on.”
She clapped her hands, summoning her attendants.
“Come, my darlings.”
From her shadow surged countless spiders, large and small, that scurried all over Isabella, dressing her piece by piece.
‘Ugh… I’ll never get used to this feeling.’
The sensation of spiders crawling over her skin made her shudder, but all she could do was grit her teeth and endure.
After the dress was fully on, the spiders vanished back into Citri’s shadow.
Then, with a thoughtful tap of her clawed fingers on Isabella’s cheek, Citri muttered seriously, “Hm. It’s not enough.”
“Huh?”
“This doesn’t fully bring out my lady’s charm.”
At that moment, Flenn and the maids, who had barely recovered from the shock of Citri’s appearance, suddenly gathered around and chimed in with their thoughts.
“She’s right. Instead of highlighting Lady Isabella’s beauty, the dress is overshadowing her.”
“How about adding frills to the sleeves?”
“Should we bring some jewels? The neckline feels too plain.”
“With such a graceful neckline, what if we put her hair up? It might balance the look better.”
Caught in the middle of their fast-paced fashion debate, Isabella could only roll her eyes. Citri giggled, pleased.
“Oho~ humans aren’t so bad.”
“We haven’t known Lady Isabella for long, but she has a charm unlike any other noblewoman.”
“Hohoho~ Of course! Our lady is a divine creation, I should know!”
With Jane’s support, Citri nodded proudly and then declared with gusto.
“Alright! As a reward for your excellent service to my lady, I shall show you the final touch!”
THUD!
She slammed her enormous body onto the ground.
At once, a soft white thread shimmered from the end of her abdomen. At her nimble fingertips, it wove into delicate fabric, dyed with magic. It became fluttering sleeves, sheer mesh that traced the neckline and collarbone, and crimson-black flower corsages. As her six arms danced, the dress grew ever more splendid, and Isabella’s once-loose hair was styled to match the ensemble.
Moments later, Citri teared up.
“Ah… I knew choosing you as my master was the right decision. How can someone be more alluring than a succubus, even when fully clothed?”
“Ha… That’s only in your eyes, Citri.”
Isabella let out an awkward laugh at the flattery, accustomed as she was to Citri’s excessive praise. She would’ve called her pretty even in rags.
Still, curiosity tugged at her, and she glanced at the full-length mirror.
The red-embroidered dress suited her so well that even the word ‘enchanting’ seemed insufficient.
‘Is it pretty? Or maybe it’s too dark…?’
But having had so little contact with others, she had no one to compare herself to and so, to her, she remained simply average.
Isabella soon turned away from the mirror and refocused on her goal.
“Shall we head to the Imperial Palace now?”
