"Okay, take care and see you in two weeks."

Beatrice managed to convince herself to hold out until the ceremony by thinking about Jubelian. Still, there was a minor problem.

'I don't know why, but Maximillian was definitely being strange that day.'

Beatrice gritted her teeth as she recalled how his abominable stepbrother had behaved in front of the lady. She then pledged to stop him from approaching Jubelian during the ball.

* * *

'Hm, was that the last one?'

I was hassled with writing rejection letters for most of the day as many asked me to be their partner for the princess' coming-of-age ceremony. It was indeed strange that no one ever asked me to dance during the actual party. I turned to the clock to see it was still three in the afternoon. There was enough time for a short outing.

It had already been four days since Max last visited, and I had been feeling a bit down due to his absence. I wondered if he was going to visit today.

'Is it because I didn't accept his confession right away?" I worried then yawned from the fatigue that overcame me. All the letters I had written must have taken a toll on me.

"My lady, get some rest if you're tired," Merilyn tempted me, but there was work to be done.

"No, there is a place I need to visit. Could you help me get ready to go out?"

Merilyn nodded with a smile. "Of course, my lady."

* * *

It had been three days since Max had taken the armor to the blacksmith for it to be repaired. Still, he was told it was a long way until the mending was finished and was left with no choice but to remain barefaced.

'How annoying. Why in the world would it take so long?'

He had made an excuse for the repairs, but the real reason was that Victor had slightly dented the breastplate while taking it off. Of course, the reason why he wanted the repair to be done soon was not that he wanted to be back in the uncomfortable covering. There were other reasons—like the fact that it had been three days since he hadn't seen Jubelian.

Max clenched his fists and opened them up, cracking his knuckles in the process. He was concerned that something might happen to her while he was gone. Most of his worries were due to Mikhail given what he had done a few days ago. Max was also bothered that Jubelian might find it strange that he wasn't visiting her anymore after confessing to her. Perhaps she had already decided to partner with someone other than her father for the royal banquet.

Max's head almost exploded from the disturbing thoughts.

'If I stay like this, I'll go insane. I have to go see her.'

The servants might look for him, but they would have no choice but to think that he was wandering around the palace somewhere.

'Victor will have to take care of the rest.'

Blaming his irresponsibility on the person who ruined his armor, Max jumped out of his room.

* * *

The Fyodor Workshop had grown in size compared to the last time I had visited. It seemed that the owner had expanded the store. After all, it had been a long time since I last shopped here.

The line in front of the store was no joke. I was standing with my mouth agape at its exploding popularity when a man who appeared to be a guard for the store approached us.

"Pardon me, but do you happen to be Lady Floyen?"

"Yes, she is," Geraldine—who had accompanied me—replied with a smile.

"Please follow me. Someone is waiting for Your Ladyship."

I followed the guard up to the second floor of the workshop where the studio was located. When the guard opened the door to the studio, a man greeted me.

"Long time no see, Lady Floyen."

There were no traces of his distressing past in his now neat appearance.

"It's been a while, Ian."

He smiled brightly in response to my hello.