Lilia was truly having a hard time choosing a dress, so she dawdled for quite a while—nearly half an hour.
The Miss Maid beside her was starting to get restless too, afraid that this Daughter of Duke Ryan wouldn’t be satisfied with any of the dresses here.
But Charlotte’s sudden appearance made the once-frowning Lilia instantly brighten up.
“Ah… Lilia, what a coincidence, running into you here.”
Charlotte was a bit awkward—after all, he’d just done something a little bad, and now he had to face this pure-hearted elven young lady.
He couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty.
When Lilia saw Charlotte turning his head and awkwardly scratching his cheek, she wasn’t pleased. It felt too distant, so she took a step closer.
Charlotte instinctively took two steps back—he still had a strange scent on him, and just now, Bella had gotten water stains on his sleeve.
But Lilia was hurt by that unintentional half-step retreat. She frowned unhappily, though she didn’t lash out right away. Instead, she simply dropped the “teacher” title.
“Charlotte, are you here to pick out a dress too? Perfect, we can help each other with suggestions.”
She’d thought calling him “Charlotte Teacher” sounded too distant, especially since they’d agreed before they didn’t need to be so formal with each other.
“Ah, of course…” Charlotte replied.
The two maids exchanged a glance, then silently took several steps back to give the pair space, only following from a distance.
And so, Charlotte walked around with Lilia.
Lilia kept stealing glances at Charlotte’s eyes, seeing what he was looking at.
Charlotte viewed women’s dresses mostly with an appreciative eye.
Sometimes, when he saw a particularly intricate gown, he’d sneak a second look, but more often his gaze lingered on the more revealing dresses.
Of course, Lilia noticed this too, and thought to herself,
“Mm… it’s nothing, after all, Charlotte is a man. It’s perfectly normal for him to like that sort of dress.”
But when she suddenly faced Charlotte, Lilia always wanted to catch his attention, and was a bit disappointed that his eyes never lingered on her.
She didn’t really understand this complicated thing called love; after all, the romance novels she read were all about life-and-death love affairs.
She just wanted Charlotte to look at her more, as an act of appreciation between friends.
Yes, that’s it—between friends. Besides, Charlotte was her Family Tutor; wasn’t it normal to have your tutor give you advice?
Although this young lady had confused the relationship between Adviser and Family Tutor, at least she’d convinced herself.
Lilia lowered her head, looking at the crystal-blue pendant hanging at her chest.
She broke the silence, “Charlotte, do you think I’d look good in this dress?”
Lilia reached out toward the dress Charlotte had been staring at for a long time. She was nervous and didn’t realize her hand landed in the wrong place.
Charlotte’s gaze landed on that patch of white, his voice a little awkward: “Lilia, that’s underwear…”
“Ah! Mm—” Lilia’s shriek was like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on. Her face turned bright red, even her earlobes blushing.
She hurriedly stuffed the underwear back onto the rack, her fingers trembling as she grabbed the dress beside it, her voice barely a whisper, “Took the wrong one, it’s this one…”
She glared at the rack in secret, full of confusion: Why was underwear placed with the dresses? Were they supposed to be a set? But what sort of dress needs to be paired with that kind of underwear?
“Mm… you really can’t tell just by looking.”
But Lilia seemed to have made up her mind, biting her lower lip: “Charlotte, wait here a moment. I’ll try it on, and you can tell me what you think…”
She clutched the dress, fingers anxiously rubbing the hem, caught between heaven and earth—should she take the matching underwear, too?
In the end, her girlish shyness won out; blushing, she snatched up the underwear and all but fled into the fitting room.
Charlotte watched her panicked retreat and let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, Lilia hadn’t noticed anything odd about him—if she found out he’d just been with Bella, it’d leave a terrible impression.
Forget the Divine Artifact, Lilia might not even want to talk to him anymore.
At that moment, the two maids strolled over and bowed to Charlotte, their tone respectful: “Marquis Charlotte, thank you for taking care of our young lady.”
“Not at all. Please convey my regards to Duke Ryan.” Charlotte nodded slightly, though his gaze drifted to another corner of the women’s section—he still had to pick out a dress for Bella and couldn’t keep her waiting too long.
Before long, Lilia returned.
She was wearing a water-blue dress. Her moonlight-silver hair was loosely pinned in a half-updo, revealing some pretty pink tips, while the rest flowed down her shoulders like a silver waterfall. A few strands at the end were tied with matching ribbons, swaying gently as she moved. The crystal-blue pendant at the collar reflected soft light, giving off a hazy blue glow that set off her elf’s pointed ears, the tips naturally tinged pink, like flower buds in early spring.
Most importantly, Lilia had an incredible figure—her “combat power” was equal to 2.5 Bellas, with perfect curves!
“You look stunning, Lilia. In this dress, you’ll definitely be the focus of the banquet.” Charlotte offered his praise freely, his gaze sincere—he truly felt this gown suited her.
“Thank you for the compliment.” Lilia’s eyes curved like crescent moons, the tips of her ears trembling slightly, her tone full of delight: “I think it suits me very well too.”
She stepped forward, taking Charlotte’s hand, the warmth of her fingertips passing through the fabric with a girlish softness: “Now that I’ve chosen my dress, shouldn’t I help you pick one too?”
Charlotte was startled by her sudden action and instinctively tried to pull his hand back: “Help… help me? Wait, Miss Lilia, I…”
But Lilia gripped tighter, her voice suddenly firm, leaving no room for refusal: “Charlotte watched me change into a new dress, so why can’t I see you change? And just now, you were staring at that dress, weren’t you? I’ll pick a few for you and pay for them myself, all right?”
Her eyes sparkled like they held starlight, making it impossible for Charlotte to refuse.
He couldn’t let Bella wait too long, but right now, he had no way to turn her down.
Besides, he hadn’t gotten Lilia’s Divine Artifact yet; it wouldn’t do to offend his employer.
“All right…” Charlotte yielded helplessly, letting Lilia pull him toward the men’s section.
With great enthusiasm, Lilia began picking out outfits for Charlotte. After trying on seven or eight, she truly felt Charlotte was like a clothes rack—everything looked good on him, whether a morning suit or a tailcoat; he wore it with ease—in short, Charlotte had a great temperament.
“Pack all these up.” Lilia directed the maid, not to be refused.
Charlotte quickly protested, “Lilia, these clothes aren’t cheap… If you give me so many, I can’t take them.”
The Miss Maid packed the clothes up happily, “It’s fine, Marquis. Our store offers home delivery—just leave an address.”
Lilia nodded, a sly smile on her face: “Charlotte, just take them as advance payment for your tutoring.”
Looking into her expectant eyes, Charlotte finally gave in: “Then I’ll gladly accept.”
Gifts from women are best accepted; otherwise, who knows what they’ll think. Maybe the next day, they’d start wondering if you don’t value them at all.
“Charlotte, I’m glad you helped me pick a dress today. I’ll wear it at the Emperor’s Banquet. Please look forward to it. I’ll also try to finish my homework before then—could you come help me check it?”
Lilia gave a proper bow, bidding Charlotte farewell. Charlotte bowed in return.
“Of course. Wishing you a wonderful evening, Miss Lilia.”
For the first time, Charlotte felt such pressure—her airheadedness was truly hard to deal with.
When Charlotte, with his new clothes, returned to the fitting room where Bella was waiting—
Bella was idly playing with her hair. Seeing Charlotte come in, her eyes lit up, “You took so long. Let me see, what did you pick out for me?”
“Just a regular dress.”
Though he said that, Charlotte’s taste was indeed good. The white base with deep blue trim was simple yet elegant.
“Not bad. Did you used to help girls pick out clothes?” Bella boldly began changing right in front of Charlotte.
“Sort of. I helped my family pick things out before.”
Charlotte remembered his past—his three older sisters loved dragging him out shopping. Whenever they bought new clothes, they had to have Charlotte there to offer his opinions.
He watched Bella finish changing and twirl in front of him.
“Perfect. This dress—consider it my compensation to you.”
“Compensation?”
“Charlotte, did I hear right? You actually say things like ‘compensation’?” In her mind, this man had always been cold, rarely this “gentle.”
“Let me put it another way: I want to see you in this. You’re responsible for satisfying my selfish wish.”
Charlotte spoke with a straight face.
Bella stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly laughed, her eyes curving into a beautiful arc: “All right, satisfying your selfish wish isn’t so bad.” She suddenly felt this man wasn’t so annoying after all.
This method of giving a stick, then a sweet date—it was his deliberate way of easing things, much more genuine than just being cold.
“All right, I’ll get you home quickly. I have things to do tonight.”
“Okay~”