< 15>
Dante did not eat the cake.
The boy, who had frowned from the start, stood up with impeccable posture and spoke coldly.
“Don’t bother talking to me and play by yourself. I don’t have time to hang around with a little kid like you.”
With those words, Dante left the tea room first.
Left alone, Rowena blinked blankly.
The situation was so bewildering that even the indomitable Rowena was thrown off.
‘Could he possibly…’
Dislike me?
* * *
“Your Grace, there’s contact from the ducal residence. Madam Hayworth has come to visit.”
“…My mother-in-law.”
Seymour’s hand, which had been moving ceaselessly across the documents writing letters, came to an abrupt stop.
His expression already showed fatigue without needing to be told.
“If she wanted to see me, she would have gone to the company. Obviously, she went to see that child.”
“That’s correct. And it seems they get along very well? They’re asking if they’ve always been this close.”
At Axel’s words, Seymour gave a cold scoff and set down his pen.
“Is my mother-in-law the type to build friendships with a child? It’s just that the kid is overly friendly.”
Too friendly, and that’s the problem.
Seymour shook his head as he recalled last night and today.
“Axel, are all children these days this overly friendly?”
“…To be honest, sir, if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Axel recalled the scene he had witnessed this morning at the Somerset ducal residence.
It was already surprising enough that Seymour had fallen asleep with a child in his arms while still in his right mind, but what shocked Axel the most came next.
As Seymour finished preparing to leave for work, Rowena came trotting over.
“Duke, you’re going to work now, right? When will you come back?”
“…Why are you asking that?”
“Because I promised! I said I’d run out to greet you when you return.”
Axel thought he had glimpsed Seymour muttering “That damn promise” with a look of utter annoyance.
His attitude was so cold it practically blew a chill wind, yet the squirrel-like round-cheeked girl was completely undeterred.
“I’ll wait for you. You have to come back, okay? I won’t sleep until the Duke comes!”
“What are you…”
Seymour frowned, then gave an order to Airi, who stood one step behind.
“Put the child to bed on time. …But don’t let her sleep too early either.”
“I will do so, Master. However…”
Airi trailed off with a troubled look before giving a gentle smile.
“I’m merely a servant, so I’m not sure if the young miss will listen to me well.”
“…Hah.”
Airi was the biological daughter of Rose’s nanny.
She had grown up like a sister to Rose and now served as the head maid of the Somerset ducal residence.
In some ways, her influence was even greater than the butler’s.
If Airi truly wanted to, she could keep Rowena from taking even a single step outside her room.
Yet the fact that she spoke this way carried a clear implication.
‘She’s using the young miss as an excuse to make His Grace come home.’
A mere servant could not directly demand that Seymour return home.
But subtly encouraging Rowena’s request was another matter entirely.
Whether she knew it or not, Rowena innocently grabbed Seymour’s hand.
“Duke, it’s a promise! Okay?”
And so, Seymour had no choice but to stamp his little finger in agreement before he could finally leave for work.
Recalling that moment as well, Seymour shook his head with a weary expression.
“This is driving me crazy. Work is piling up, and now I have to deal with a child’s whining too…”
Yet despite his words, Seymour’s complexion was noticeably brighter than yesterday.
It was the effect of sleep.
Knowing this, Axel chuckled and said,
“Don’t be like that — come home early today. The young miss is waiting. And sleep is good for you, isn’t it?”
“Enough. Shut up and get out.”
Just as Seymour, whose patience was reaching its limit, growled menacingly,
Knock knock.
A knock sounded, and the door opened.
The person who entered was Derrick, the overall planner for the clothing brand currently preparing for launch under Seymour’s company.
“Excuse me, President! There’s a problem with the brand preparations.”
“Problem? What problem.”
Seymour’s face crumpled instantly.
This clothing brand launch was the project the company was currently investing the most effort into.
A problem with it?
“As you know, this brand is launching with a children’s line as well, right? But the child model in charge of the children’s line has had an accident!”
“What?”
“It’s not a serious one. They just rolled a little down the stairs, but unfortunately their cheek got scratched on the railing decoration… They’ve contacted us saying all activities will be completely halted for the time being.”
The models promoted by high-class clothing brands were, with rare exceptions, all nobles.
Since they were people who had little to lose, they had no desire to take on difficulties while injured.
“Then we need to find a new model.”
“Yes. But it won’t be easy. You know how difficult it was to secure this model in the first place.”
Strictly speaking, Seymour’s company had nothing to do with clothing brands.
His main business was distribution based on trade.
The reason Seymour had come to launch a clothing brand was one thing.
Among the recently imported goods was cotton fabric dyed in a new method.
It was cotton fabric dyed through a nature-friendly process, not chemical methods.
Moreover, right now, high society was swept up in a craze for country life.
People were building villas, gardening themselves, raising livestock — a simple, nature-friendly lifestyle was hugely popular.
Seymour had decided to capitalize on this trend by branding and selling the imported cotton fabric outright.
Thus, the concept of this brand was <Country Life with Family>.
The concept itself was excellent.
“With such a pastoral concept, finding a model is no easy task. If they look too aristocratic, it won’t fit; if they look too rustic, it won’t sell to nobles.”
Luxurious yet rustic.
Everyone present knew just how difficult those two words were together.
“Teacher Ober is famous for refusing to work at all if the model doesn’t suit his taste. We barely managed to get his approval for this model…!”
Even if they found a new model, if Ober did not approve, it would mean nothing.
“And the photoshoot is tomorrow — how are we supposed to find a new model at this point?”
“Trying to contact people first would be meaningless, right? Should we at least delay Ober’s schedule?”
“Impossible. Even the earliest would be half a year from now. Honestly, we’d have to wait nearly a year. We already waited months for him.”
Ober was currently the most popular commercial painter among nobles.
It was no exaggeration to say that almost every high-end clothing brand was promoted through his hands.
No — brands that had not passed through his hands could hardly be called high-end.
Seymour knew this well, which was why he had gone to great lengths to commission Ober.
If it weren’t a high-end brand, conservative nobles wouldn’t even glance at it.
“In that case, we either have to give up working with Ober, or hope that a hastily found model somehow suits Ober’s taste.”
Axel muttered with a troubled expression.
“Then the latter would be the best-case scenario, but…”
“Hoping for that is practically the same as hoping for a miracle.”
When Seymour cut in decisively, Derrick finally exploded with frustration.
“That Ober guy is completely out of his mind. Demanding a child model who looks healthy and innocent like a real child, yet still lovable!”
With a lot pent up, Derrick poured out his words.
“He said the child should run through fields and climb trees to fit the pastoral concept. Not an expensive bouquet, but a wildflower kind of child. But at the same time, they can’t look completely cheap, so they have to be from the upper class! Where are we supposed to find a model like that?”
“…Um.”
Axel, who had been listening intently to Derrick’s outburst, scratched the tip of his nose.
Then he glanced at Seymour.
It seemed His Grace was thinking the exact same thing.
“So, simply put, you need an upper-class child who doesn’t look aristocratic at all, right?”
“Yes!”
“I think… we might be able to find one.”
We just happened to get one at the Somerset ducal residence yesterday.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
