132. Am I Really Beautiful?

Inside the canopied bed, the space was gradually brightening. As she tried to remove Darius’s arm naturally wrapped around her waist to get up, he wouldn’t let go. Was she his body pillow or something?

“Ah, it’s time for the morning attendants to come.”

As she twisted her body, one strap of her slip slid down. Darius buried his face against her waist and mumbled.

“So what.”

This was what happened when someone was born a nobleman.

He had the attitude that there was nothing wrong with servants seeing them cuddling when they were supposed to be helping them change clothes and wash up.

“We went to bed late yesterday. Let’s sleep more.”

With just a light application of force from Darius, her body was tucked back under the covers. Darius pulled the blanket up to the top of his head and said:

“Sleep.”

A shadow fell over her head, pretending to hide the arrival of morning while feigning innocence, as her body was trapped under firm chest muscles. At the same time, knock knock knock, Apple’s knocking sound was heard.

“My lady, Grand Duke. May I come in?”

“No.”

“Yes!”

Darius grumbled as he watched her urgently push him away and stand up.

“When you attend parties that last until 4 AM, people normally sleep until 1 PM. Why are you getting up so early?”

“We came back at 1 AM. People will wonder why we left so early.”

“Even if we returned at 1 AM, we only went to sleep at 4 AM.”

Anette looked back at Darius as she sat down at the vanity, guided by Apple who had opened the door and entered. Surely he wasn’t implying…?

“We did the same thing everyone else was doing. They did it at the party venue, we did it at home, that’s all.”

She was about to brush her hair but threw the brush at Darius instead. As if he had anticipated this, Darius pulled up the blanket to block it.

“This man has such a loose tongue every day!”

“My lady, I didn’t see or hear anything. As always.”

Apple responded nonchalantly, as if that was the proper attitude of a good maid.

The sound of breathless laughter flowed from behind the blanket.

Good grief, that rascal. Having no choice, she sat back down obediently at the vanity, and Apple picked up the brush that had fallen on the bed and started fixing her hair.

Lazy and indulgent, Darius was watching her get ready with his upper body exposed.

When their eyes met in the mirror, he smiled with crescent eyes.

“Why don’t you put some clothes on?”

“Well, it’s not particularly cold in here.”

Despite her words, he approached, seemingly proud of his naked body, took the brush from Apple, and stood behind her.

“Ah, what are you doing with that brush? Are you trying to ruin my hair?”

“My wife is so beautiful that I want to mess up her hair a bit.”

Despite his words, his touch as he brushed her hair was meticulous. She too, while grumbling, quietly entrusted her hair to him. Meanwhile, Apple brought Darius’s upper garment.

“Am I pretty?”

“Every day.”

When she tilted her head back to ask, Darius paused his brushing and bent down to kiss her.

“Ah, why are you doing that, stop it.”

She whined at the man who somehow kept sticking to her. Undeterred by her complaints, Darius kissed her cheeks with little pecks.

She had really created an unhealthy attachment in her husband, hadn’t she?

Since Darius had brushed her hair, she reciprocated by taking the clothes Apple had brought and helping him put them on, buttoning his shirt. The man who had been constantly clinging to her now stood still during this.

“How nice it would be if you were always this mature.”

When she gave him a playful side-eye, he smiled broadly. Well, at least he knew when he was being teased, smiling even when she gave him the side-eye.

“When are we going to the temple?”

She was concerned about registering their marriage at the Great Temple. That was why they had come to the capital, but they still hadn’t done it.

“Soon, very soon.”

“Oh my?”

She narrowed her eyes at Darius, who was strangely trying to delay for a few more days even though there was no particular reason to do so.

“Are you really not going to register our marriage? Are you going to leave me legally single like this?”

“Of course not. I really have something to take care of.”

When she suspected that she might be getting blindsided again, having acted as someone else’s wife without even a family registry, Darius comforted her.

Right, just as she sometimes attended tea parties without Darius, he could have his own personal schedule where he moved alone. Hmph.

After she sent Darius out, Apple tied her hair again. Darius had brushed it diligently, but the result wasn’t to her liking.

“All done, my lady. You look beautiful today as well.”

The face of Anette Pochet reflected in the mirror stared back at her. A noble lady with pink hair and blue eyes.

Blue eyes like jewels were set in her snow-white face. Her pink eyelashes, as dense as the teeth of a comb, added to the mystique of her deep blue eyes.

Her cheeks, tinged as if dipped in flower dye, were healthy and fresh, adding vitality to her perfectly sculpted face.

“A beauty no one could forget.”

“My lady is always, constantly beautiful!”

“Always, constantly? I don’t think so.”

“Pardon?”

Anette didn’t answer Apple’s questioning response.

From some point, praise about her extraordinary beauty had become attached to her.

Despite the fact that when she was a terminal extra, Anette Pochet had definitely belonged in the category of ordinary faces. This was probably because she was no longer an extra.

‘Ah, I’ve finally become an incredible beauty, but I don’t feel good about it.’

It felt burdensome, as if she had acquired responsibilities proportional to her enhanced beauty from the protagonist buff.

It was as if the god of this world had suddenly said to her, ‘Please take good care of Darius instead of the female lead from now on. In that sense, here’s a gift,’ and handed her beauty.

Ah, was this the suffering of a beautiful woman?

“That man has been going out frequently these days. Alone without me. Not even telling me what he’s doing, tsk.”

“He is the lord. He must have various matters to attend to.”

Apple, who had been speaking casually, subtly checked her reaction and changed the subject.

“By the way, my lady, according to other maids, Miss Caitlyn has recently become obsessed with astrology.”

“Is that so?”

“She probably doesn’t have much money, but somehow she’s been bewitched and is meeting every famous fortune teller there is.”

“Leave her be. She probably wants to hear them tell her she’ll become queen.”

It’s common for people whose affairs aren’t going well to rely on superstitions as a means of escape.

If Anette truly considered Caitlyn as her real sister, she would have gone upstairs immediately and told her to come to her senses, but since that wasn’t the case, it wasn’t her concern whether Caitlyn ruined her life by relying on superstitions.

“Well, in truth, if that young lady just goes around consulting fortune tellers without causing other disturbances, we should be grateful.”

Apple nodded in agreement.

* * *

Darius continued to have busy days. It was originally rare for the grand ducal couple to be unaware of each other’s schedules, but strangely, for the past few days, Darius had a series of personal appointments that Anette knew nothing about.

Just as Anette was contemplating whether to let it slide or confront him about it, Darius finally brought it up first.

“Let’s go register our marriage now.”

“When?”

“Today.”

Anette rested her chin on her hand and stared at him.

“Finally those words come out. You’ve been so busy with whatever you’ve been doing lately that I barely saw your face. I was wondering if you’d forgotten about me.”

Darius was quite dressed up. His clothes embroidered with gold thread were clearly new ones she hadn’t seen before, and his bangs were swept halfway back, revealing his handsome face. He had even placed a rose in his handkerchief pocket.

Anette chuckled at his thoroughly prepared appearance.

“We’re registering our marriage today, not having a wedding ceremony, right?”

While teasing him like that, she readily went to her room to prepare for going out, and there was an unfamiliar box placed on the table.

It was a large box wrapped with ribbons.

Darius stood with his hands behind his back, pretending to be distracted. His expression of subtle pride while deliberately avoiding eye contact made it clear who had prepared the gift.

When she unwrapped it, a card and a beautiful dress emerged.

“For the Grand Duchess’s most precious day, from Bertang Dress Shop?”

Darius’s proud face crumpled in an instant. When Anette read the card aloud, Darius snatched it from her hands with a dismayed expression.

“I didn’t ask them to include a card.”

“And why is there a dress from here? You know I don’t go to Bertang Dress Shop anymore.”

This was because not only had her business proposal to Bertang fallen through, but Anette had also discovered Mera, a rookie designer who had split from Bertang.

So it had been a while since Anette had seen clothes from Bertang Dress Shop.

What came out of the box was a dress with thin, voluminous fabric reminiscent of a chas skirt. It was a very light pink, and rather than using hoops to puff out the skirt, the fabric itself was layered so that it would naturally billow when worn.

The abundant layered skirt would flutter slightly with every movement, naturally drawing people’s attention.

It was indeed Bertang’s craftsmanship.

“I thought dresses from this shop were the prettiest.”

Darius answered steadfastly despite Anette’s teasing.

Darius had a specific reason why it had to be a dress made by Bertang.

He vividly remembered the sight of Anette trying on clothes at Bertang Dress Shop. The image of her wearing a fitted dress, gently flipping her hair, and turning around once.

Though he had thought he had no particular taste in clothes, after that day when he saw Anette in Bertang’s dress, Darius developed his first preference for women’s clothing.

While dresses from other shops were also stylish, Bertang’s distinctively glamorous dresses suited Anette best.

“Your clothes are from Bertang too, right? I should have recognized the gold embroidery.”

Anette smiled and picked up the dress in response to Darius’s expectant eyes. With her husband looking at her like that, what else could she do but wear it?

Meanwhile, behind Anette who had gone to change clothes, Darius unfolded the crumpled card.

For the Grand Duchess’s most precious day.

“Always doing things I didn’t ask for……”

Fortunately, he hadn’t been caught. The card from Bertang Dress Shop was torn into small pieces with a sigh.