I sat on the edge of my bed as I always do while thinking about just how irritating being adopted into a grand duke's family could be.

It's been about a day since I woke up after the system's message and all.

And of course the first thing I did after reassuring Ardeat who had been sitting by bed on the verge of tears that I was fine, was check if it was all real.

And yup, a screen did appear in front of me out of nowhere, but Ardeat didn't seem like she could see it while leaving to get lunch.

'Honestly tho, what kind of father brings up an meeting with his daughter fiancé right away after hearing she's awake?'

Just when I was starting to consider seeing him in a better light since he broke off all connections with the marquis in business too!

I thought it was a pretty big step since he held those investments so cautiously too.

But it's obvious now that it didn't matter much since my fiancé was now also a grand duke.

So, first thing's first, I need to make sure the wound from the vase hitting my forehead doesn't scar this pretty face.

And second, bring absolute chaos to Anartis the next time we meet.

Embarrass him and make his reputation plummet through the bottom of the earth.

Make him wish he was blind so he would never have to even look my way.

'It won't be easy... But I'm going to make it happen...' And so I immediately went back to planning for my next meeting with Anartis.

It was such a horrendously evil but entertaining plan that I couldn't help but share it with Ardeat.

She dropped the tray of my food and tried to burn it.

...

Moving on, now all that's left to do is wait. For our second meeting. Which is tomorrow.

Yes, tomorrow. Only two days after the incident. Apparently the duke was the one who suggested this even though Anartis had said he'd wait.

He must've been worried that Anartis just didn't want to meet me because of what happened the last time we saw each other at the ball.

Can't blame him though, I also expected that. But it's still was annoying.

"My lady... I beg you, never, ever, in a billion years, do what you have written down on that..." Ardeat suddenly spoke up while eyeing my book as if it was the devil's diary itself.

"I won't!" I replied in a cheery tone despite planning on doing it the very next while knowing full well that Ardeat was going to suffer more from it than me.

I'm sorry, Ardeat. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

So, tomorrow's "date", will just be Anartis and me walking around the market and watching this famous play which I still don't get.

I'm surprised he's willing to take me outside on our first date considering what happened at the ball but I guess that's even better for me!

'Now the issue is, the dress. I'll have to hand make it but I don't think I have enough time.' Well, it didn't matter if I couldn't finish it, the messier the better.

But I should still try not to piss him off too much. So I'll try my best to finish it as much as I can.

But first I have to kick Ardeat out so she doesn't find out what I'm actually trying to do.

"Ardeat. Please, get out." And being the faithful and great maid she was, she was gone.

"Yeah, I probably won't get any sleep tonight..." I muttered to myself and I stared at the amount of work that needed to be done.

"... Meh, who needs sleep anyways." And so I began to sew the dress I had in mind together.

-----

As expected, I didn't get any sleep that night. But it didn't really matter since the dark circles only served to improve my outfit!

"Ardeat, I'm going to go change. Please get a carriage ready in the meantime." I requested as I hurried into the changing room before Ardeat could see the dress.

I was pretty sure that she would faint if ended up seeing even the hat, she had already made a pretty big fuss about my dark circles.

There's no way she would take this lightly. Hell, she might even try knocking me out if she sees it fit.

Though it's unlikely that she would.

I changed into the cursed outfit I had put together in a rush and spent the whole night on as I proceeded to then observe my appearance in the mirror.

"Damn... I mean I know looking bad was the point, but this is just low key embarrassing..." I muttered under my breast as I stared at my reflection.

"... I am so sorry for doing this to your perfect, beautiful body, Sovine." I muttered another quick apology for ruining her image even more before setting out.

Of course, I quickly grabbed the cloak I had used the last time we went to the capital and put in on for the sake of Ardeat's mental state.

"Is the carriage ready?" I questioned as I stepped out of the changing room, only to meet Ardeat's suspicious glare.

I couldn't blame her though. Who wouldn't be suspicious if they saw me so carefully wrapped in a cloak like right now.

"... Yes, my lady." Ardeat said warily, I'm fortunate that I have such a respectable and disciplined maid like Ardeat or I wouldn't have been able to do these kind of things.

Which probably wouldn't such a bad thing for the grand ducal family's reputation but it's not like I gave a damn about them.

I did feel a bit bad while first planning this but I was quick to snap myself back to reality.

Plus, Sovine hair was straight to wavy and her eyes were coral colored, just the right amount of craziness for this outfit so I saw this as an absolute win.

We soon mounted onto the carriage and made our way to the spot Anartis had decided to meet up at.

And turns out that the duke had the decency to prepare a proper carriage for me today as well. He probably didn't want to look bad in front of Anartis.

Well, that sucks for him. Considering all the shit I'm planning to do today. We soon arrived at the decided meeting point, the capital center.

The perfect place to attract attention to my show.

I scanned the area for Anartis, I couldn't rely on just searching for some men with swords, aka knights anymore since Anartis never took any with him.

He found it too bothersome, it's not like he needed the protection anyway considering his strength. But it didn't take me long to find him regardless.

Reason. His pretty face attracted quite a bit of attention to him. And so, it was time to begin!

"Your grace!" I called out sprinting towards Anartis before body slamming into him, while he was right next to the fountain too, so he ended flying into it.

"Oh, heavens! I'm so sorry your grace! I was simply trying to hug you but I seemed to have gotten a little too excited!" I gasped clasping my mouth.

"... My lady, why is it whenever I meet you I end up in- ..." Anartis lifted his head brushing his hair out of his face before suddenly cutting himself off upon seeing me.

"What... Are you wearing...?" Anartis was shook to the core, there was no coming back from this.

To be continued...

I know it's short BUT BARE WITH ME!

Anyway, I'm back and the next chapter will hopefully not take almost a whole month like this did 😓😓