Chapter 30
If her eyes weren’t deceiving her, the person struggling under Aiden was none other than the spirit beast of Jeronga, a cadet branch of the Erdin family.
Because he often caused trouble, the family now rarely engaged in private interactions outside of official appearances.
“Why is he acting like that?”
Putting aside why they—who were currently in the south—were in her territory, why was Aiden sitting on him? What kind of trouble had Luke Jeron gotten into this time?
Feeling uneasy, Alice moved to enter the fitting room immediately.
“Who’s there? The Duchess of Erdin? Or the young lady of Erdin?”
If it weren’t for Luke’s words that followed.
“Or is it both? You’ve got quite nice faces, so it doesn’t seem like you only beat one or two people.”
Luke continued speaking carelessly, not realizing that Alice was listening.
‘What did he just say?’
Alice froze for a moment, unable to process the low-level remark, but as soon as she understood its meaning, she was filled with rage.
Every single word he spoke was extremely disrespectful—not only to Alice but also to Aiden and the Erdin family.
But Aiden didn’t respond to his insults; he just listened quietly.
His indifferent reaction made Alice even angrier.
As Luke continued crossing the line with his remarks, Aiden grabbed the back of his neck and slammed him down.
“You’ve got a colorful way of talking nonsense.”
Aiden said this with cold, sharp eyes fixed on Luke.
Though his smiling expression could sometimes seem irritating, his face without any expression was unexpectedly chilling.
“Seems like you still haven’t figured out the situation. You shouldn’t speak recklessly when you’re in my grasp. Who knows when I might take your life?”
Every word he spoke was sharp and cutting, and it seemed that Luke had finally snapped because he could no longer tolerate Aiden’s presence.
“Cough… You treat me like that and think you’ll be safe? If I tell the Duke of Erdin about your misbehavior, it’ll be over for you. Got it?”
Even after barely escaping death moments ago, Luke couldn’t get himself together and kept provoking Aiden.
“Do as you please.”
Alice could no longer stand idly by. She opened the fitting room door and stepped inside.
Luke froze in the same position he had been lying on the floor, unable to believe that the Erdin young lady would actually appear in front of him.
Aiden, too, seemed surprised by her sudden entrance and loosened his grip.
In that moment, Luke quickly freed himself from Aiden’s hold and pointed at him, raising his voice. This was his chance to report the insolent commoner to the Erdin young lady.
“Miss Erdin, do you know what this commoner just said? He claims to belong to the Erdin family! You can’t let someone impersonate a noble family. He should be taken to the authorities immediately…”
“We are part of the family.”
“Huh?”
Alice’s response left Luke stunned. So this man really did belong to the Erdin family?
Alice’s cold glare silenced him further.
“To be exact, he’s one of my closest aides. He’s so skilled in swordsmanship that he could take down a spirit beast like that in one blow. That’s why I personally recruited him.”
“…”
“Oh, why the stiff expression? I was joking. Or maybe it’s because you almost lost your neck earlier.”
Though a smile played on Alice’s lips, her eyes were icy.
Meeting that cold gaze, Luke slowly averted his eyes. Only then did he notice the sword at Aiden’s waist.
He had assumed that Aiden, with his handsome face, must be some leech who attached himself to a noblewoman, relying on his looks.
After all, his skin was so pale and unblemished it looked like he’d never been in the sun. There was no way he could be a skilled swordsman, right?
Well, he had just subdued Luke with one hand. If he displayed his real skill against someone like Luke, who had no talent in swordsmanship even by Alice’s admission… Luke swallowed nervously.
Alice took a step closer, pressing Luke with her presence.
“By the way, you were telling some interesting stories before I arrived.”
“Yes… what?”
Luke took a step back, breaking into a nervous sweat. He must have realized he had done something wrong. A soft snicker escaped Alice.
“You couldn’t even open your mouth in front of me, yet why were you saying those things?”
“I… what did I say…?”
“Come now, you still have plenty of life ahead, yet it seems your end has come early. Why can’t you remember? Who among me and my mother were you flattering? How much did you think you’d get for trying to charm a noblewoman?”
“And you said my temper is good, didn’t you?”
“I-It wasn’t meant in a bad way…”
“If it wasn’t meant in a bad way, then what else could it have meant? You insulted not only Lord Aiden and Madam here, but also me, my mother, and our family. Surely, you made those remarks knowing you couldn’t handle the consequences?”
Luke seemed more focused on defending himself than apologizing, so Alice dropped the polite tone she had been maintaining.
Folding her arms and tilting her chin, she said:
“I suppose crossing our family is nothing to the Jeron Count family, huh?”
No, it was very serious.
Apart from being a cadet branch of the Erdin family, they had nothing to boast of. If they fell out completely with the Erdin family, they would have no standing in high society.
This was a disaster. Returning like this, he would surely be punished by his father, Count Jeron.
At a time when business funds were crucial, why did he provoke the Erdin family and make matters worse? His father would likely curse him, and his position as heir would become unstable.
Luke recalled his father muttering that if he caused one more incident, he would consider changing the successor. With that in mind, he bowed to Alice.
“I’m sorry, young lady! I spoke recklessly. I swear I won’t mention your name again. Please, just give me one chance!”
“One chance… huh?”
Alice tapped her chin with a finger and glanced at Aiden, who was speaking with Christine.
“What do you think, Lord Aiden? Do you think he deserves one chance?”
“Me? You mean… me?”
He quickly adjusted his speech to a polite tone, speaking to Alice as usual. Alice nodded briefly, noting his subtle shift.
“Alright. He owes you an apology, so you should accept it.”
“Not just to me… though.”
Indeed, it wasn’t only Alice—his behavior had affected the Erdin household staff, and even Christine, who had witnessed his misconduct from the start.
A thought flashed through Aiden’s mind. He picked up a catalog from the table, flipped it open, and said:
“Madam, how much would it cost to purchase all the outfits in this catalog?”
“Pardon? I haven’t calculated it exactly, but the fabrics are all high quality. Altogether, it would easily exceed 100 million gold. Even the dress on the last page alone costs 10 million gold…”
“Perfect. Then let’s buy all these outfits and send them to the Erdin mansion.”
“What? You want me to spend over 100 million gold?”
“What?”
Alice and Luke approached Aiden in shock.
Alice, the Erdin young lady, probably intended to prevent the ignorant commoner from overextending himself. Luke’s expression briefly filled with hope.
But contrary to his expectation, Alice picked up another catalog from the table and said:
“These are all women’s clothes. You should buy your own clothes. That was the reason we came to the fitting room in the first place.”
“My clothes are already more than enough. Let’s get outfits for the young lady. Women’s clothing is more expensive anyway, isn’t it, Madam?”
“Yes, the price difference is roughly two to three times if you go by the most expensive outfit.”
“Exactly. We can’t let him buy the cheaper ones.”
“Then what if we buy both women’s and men’s clothing?”
“If that’s the case… well…”
Hearing their conversation, Luke turned pale. Buying all the clothes in a fitting room—the most prestigious in the empire—was beyond the reach of even the Jeron family’s secret funds.
Before they confirmed the purchase, Luke desperately bowed to Alice.
“Young lady, I’m sorry! I promise this will never happen again. Truly, I am sorry!”
“Onii-chan! My dress?”
“Goodbye!”
“My dress…!”
Luke dragged the reluctant Anna out of the fitting room and ran outside.
“In the end, he didn’t apologize to Aiden either.”
Alice muttered as she watched the two of them leave.
