"No?""...No, that's right. I've liked Edgar for a very long time."She had never imagined she would end up revealing a feeling she’d told no one like this.She knew perfectly well that the “Eddy” before her was not Edgar, and yet—maybe because the face was the same—her heart pounded as if she’d just confessed to the real man."I see."Fortunately, Eddy showed no particular reaction to Angela’s words. Perhaps words tangled with emotion meant little to someone who, until recently, had been a doll."Hey, Eddy. Want me to look around the house with you? You must’ve been bored, sitting on this workbench every day."Left alone to stew in her own awkwardness, Angela sprang to change the subject."Yes. I want to go upstairs."Thankfully, her suggestion seemed to catch his interest; it flickered quickly in his eyes."Then let’s go right now. I haven’t brought them down yet, but there’s a lot I made for you. You can’t use them in the body you have now…"Looking up at Edgar—now about a head taller than she was—Angela spoke with a hint of regret.Edgar gave a brief, amused snort at the look on her face, then bent and brushed a light kiss against her cheek."Then I can use them after I’ve become a doll."At the sudden kiss, Angela’s white face flushed pink and she blinked twice. Too vivid—the warmth that had touched and left her cheek for this to be a dream."Y-you… where did you even learn to do that?"Angela knew little of the world beyond this small workshop, but even so, she still thought she had more worldly sense than someone who had only just gained life."Hm?"His guileless expression, as if he had no idea how serious a thing he’d done, felt almost pure."It was in this book. I thought you would like it, so I tried it."Angela saw the cover of the book in Eddy’s hand and, her already heated face going scarlet, she lunged for it."G-give that here!"Sadly, Eddy—made the size of the real Edgar—was well over six feet. Angela, barely in the low five-foot range, couldn’t reach the book he held high overhead."You weren’t getting up, so I was bored and read it all the way to the end. So Angela likes books like this."In the center of the sensual wine-colored cover in his hand, a woman sat turned away on a bed, half-nude. As the cover alone made clear, more than half of the contents were packed with frankly explicit erotic description.There was no one in this house besides Angela, so she’d left it out without a second thought—never imagining it would cause this mess. Bianca had tossed her a stack of adventure and romance novels, telling her to get a hobby besides making dolls in her secluded workshop, and Angela had fallen headlong."Hurry up and give it back!"Perhaps pitying her desperate attempts to snatch it, Eddy obediently handed the book over. Angela, breathless from her efforts, shot him a wounded glare."Did I do something wrong?"He tilted his head as he asked. The complete lack of mischief or ulterior motive in his expression made Angela’s tension melt away.She’d panicked and overreacted from embarrassment, but really—if this was a dream—there was no need to be so flustered.Besides, what would Eddy, who had only just gained life, even know? Even if the novel’s level was extremely strong or explicit, he might simply think, books are like this."I-I just didn’t think you’d read this, so I got a little startled, I guess. H-house tour! Let’s go upstairs. I’ll show you something more fun than this."Patching it over somewhat forcibly, Angela hastily hid the book under a pile of fabric and tugged Eddy by the arm toward the stairs.As she pulled him along, the corners of his mouth twitched as if he were suppressing a laugh, but Angela, leading the way, unfortunately noticed none of it."The upstairs layout’s a bit different, right? This is where I mostly live. That big room is the bedroom, and this one’s storage."Once they reached the second floor, Angela launched into a very enthusiastic tour."This is…""Ah."Eddy had gone closer to the pale pink dress hanging before the double doors she’d introduced as the storage room."I thought it was a waste to throw away, so I left it as decoration…""Angela, did you make it?""Mm-hm… It’s a failed piece, so please don’t look too closely. After only making doll clothes, making something for a person was way too hard. So it’s really rough."Contrary to Angela’s embarrassed deflection, Eddy let out a low sound of admiration and inspected the dress carefully."The design is quite unique…"The skirt looked as if thin wings had been layered one over another, the edges finished in silk to bring out a luxurious feel—altogether, a strikingly beautiful design.On the bodice and waist, densely worked floral embroidery had been applied, with tiny gemstones hung so that it glittered richly from any angle."S-stop looking and come over here."Unable to endure Eddy’s intent gaze, Angela drew him into the bedroom.He clearly wanted to examine it more closely, but it felt oddly embarrassing that someone with Edgar’s exact face would take such an interest in that dress.As for that dress—it had been born after she was refused when she tried to buy one at Edgar’s boutique, and thought she might as well try making one herself. The result had turned out cruder than she’d imagined, and it had ended up as a mere decoration."Angela, this isn’t a bedroom; it’s basically a workshop."Dragged along despite himself, Edgar burst out laughing the moment he faced her bedroom."I-it is a bedroom. There’s the bed, and the wardrobe…"Mortified by his observation, Angela offered a timid rebuttal. But once she looked where his gaze fell, her confidence deflated and her voice shrank.Well over half the room was, as he said, crammed with materials for making all kinds of accessories. Beads, stones, trims, artificial flowers, feathers—every gaudy supply in the kingdom seemed to have gathered here."What was the thing you said you’d made for me?"Just as she began to regret showing him such a chaotic room, Eddy addressed her gently. At once, light returned to her eyes.Like an excited child eager to show off a masterpiece, Angela picked up a tiny hat from the workbench set along one side of the bedroom and held it up before him."This. It’s the silk top hat Edgar often wears. I specially sourced a product from his regular hatter, took it apart, and reproduced it exactly. How is it?"Edgar took the silk top hat she offered, turned it this way and that, and murmured in admiration."How can you make it this well?""If you keep studying until the failed pieces pile up that high…?"Blushing, Angela pointed to the heap of silk scraps stacked in a corner."You should have just put in an order."At his regretful remark, Angela’s eyes darted and # Nоvеlight # she gave an awkward little smile."Mm…"It wasn’t as if she hadn’t tried. No matter how deft her hands were, there was no way she could match the finish of a master who had devoted a lifetime to hats."It was hard enough just to buy a single product. I couldn’t even imagine daring to commission something like that."It struck her anew—Angela was a person deeply disliked within Portigios.On top of that, the hatter who counted Edgar—no less than the King’s eldest son and a duke—as a regular was famous for a nose in the clouds.With what little courage she could squeeze out, she’d gone to his shop, only to be blocked from even setting foot inside. In the end, all she could do was beg Mark to buy one hat for her."...I ought to cut ties at once.""Huh? Eddy, what did you say?""Nothing."Even so, Angela took comfort in having completed the silk top hat well enough to satisfy her own standards. For Edgar de Grace, the silk top hat was an essential item.The world had always been harsh and cold to her; there was no reason to be wounded anew by such chill. Being turned away at the door was nothing.She was simply glad she had safely, perfectly made a hat for Eddy to wear.

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