A few days later.
Summoned by Liliana, Yuri found himself seated in the center of an ornately appointed reception room, with Elena Belclair—an apprentice tailor from the Belclair Tailoring Workshop—beside him, facing Viscount Seltsberg.
Beneath the glittering chandelier, the viscount sat across from them beyond a table polished to a gleam, fixing them both with a sharp gaze.
His commanding bearing, together with the refined quality of his clothes, spoke for his rank.
Elena, on the other hand, seemed unable to withstand that piercing look. She had been hunching her shoulders ever since they entered.
One commoner surrounded by three nobles... of course she'd feel like her life was on the line.
Sympathizing with Elena inwardly, Yuri turned his gaze forward again.
If he gave ground here, he would only make her more anxious. If he remained composed, she might settle a little as well—
With that in mind, he straightened his back slightly and never let his calm expression slip.
When Liliana, seated in the place of honor, cleared her throat, it felt as though the taut air in the room shifted for an instant.
Then her voice rang out, crisp enough to tighten the atmosphere all over again.
"Today, we have gathered to resolve the unfortunate misunderstanding that arose between Viscount Seltsberg and the Belclair Tailoring Workshop.
"Viscount, Baron-Consort, thank you both for coming."
At Liliana's declaration, the viscount let out a long sigh as though suppressing his irritation.
Even that gesture carried a certain oppressive weight.
"Honestly, this is a troublesome business.
"To think that the dress I had arranged for my daughter would lead to such a disgrace..."
The viscount's voice was low and ponderous, intimidating by sound alone.
Elena shrank further at those words, and Yuri could tell even from beside her that she had drawn in a small breath.
So this was noble pressure... the name Seltsberg carried weight for a reason.
As Yuri absorbed the voice of the man who served as deputy commander of the Knights of the March of Ishurias, he calmly organized the situation in his head.
The dress had come apart at a soirée, tarnishing the viscount's daughter's reputation. To the viscount, it was no doubt an unforgivable blunder.
Even so, Elena's side had more than enough grounds to defend itself.
The sudden rescheduling of the soirée.
The unreasonable commission taken on while the master was away.
The cold response she had received when she consulted the Tailors' Guild...
And the threads on the dress, which gave more the impression of having been cut than merely frayed.
To ignore all of that and place the blame solely on Elena was unreasonable by any measure.
"Surely you understand that taking on the work while the master was absent is, in itself, a question of supervisory negligence—and a failure of performance due to fault on the workshop's side?"
Fixing Elena with a cold look, the viscount delivered his judgment in a flat, even tone.
That gaze alone made it plain how gravely he regarded the matter.
Elena bit her lip and murmured only,
"...I am terribly sorry."
Her voice was so faint it sounded like the final cry of a sinking ship.
At this rate, Elena will be crushed...
Suppressing his impatience, Yuri let none of it show on his face and spoke in a gentle tone.
"Viscount Seltsberg, may I ask one thing?"
The viscount frowned, but turned his gaze on Yuri.
Without yielding to that pressure, Yuri went on.
"About the dress in question—could you tell me in detail under what circumstances it came loose on the night of the soirée?"
No sooner had Yuri asked calmly than Viscount Seltsberg raised his voice, making no effort to hide his irritation.
"The circumstances? It happened while my daughter was dancing at the ball.
"The skirt came loose, and her leg was seen!"
Those words tightened the air in the room once more.
Beside Yuri, Elena kept her head lowered, shoulders drawn in, trembling slightly.
Receiving the viscount's anger head-on, Yuri still answered in a deliberately even voice.
"It came loose while she was dancing, and her leg...?"
The viscount's gaze sharpened.
"That's right! Do you have any idea how much shame my daughter suffered in that room?
"It is only natural her reputation would fall to the ground!"
Unshaken even by that, Yuri tilted his head just slightly.
"With all due respect, Viscount Seltsberg—
"doesn't that strike you as a little odd?"
"...Odd?"
The viscount knit his brows and glared at Yuri.
"Yes.
"In the first place, noblewomen's evening dresses are constructed in multiple layers.
"Over garments such as a shift and petticoat, the outer skirt is worn over top.
"Which means that even if the outer skirt frays, it is rare for the lower layers to be exposed."
For just a moment, Viscount Seltsberg fell silent.
As though carefully leading the other man toward the conclusion, Yuri continued in a patient voice.
"To be sure, the skirt is not made as a single piece with the bodice, but separately, so depending on the circumstances, it is possible for the skirt to come away.
"But under normal conditions, it is firmly secured with ties and hooks, designed so that it will not come off easily.
"And the skirt itself is fastened at multiple points, so even if one place comes loose, the whole structure seldom collapses."
Silence fell over the room.
The viscount's brows twitched faintly, but he said nothing.
"If the skirt truly did come off altogether...
"would it not be more natural to suspect that the sewing itself had been tampered with?"
Elena lifted her face in surprise at Yuri's words.
Liliana, too, was staring at him in astonishment.
"Tampered with...?"
The viscount's voice dropped low.
There was suspicion and anger mixed together in his expression.
"For example—if the decorative stitching around the hem, or the seam joining the bodice to the skirt, had been sewn in such a way as to make it deliberately weak.
"If the fastenings—buttons, ties, or hooks—had likewise been altered so they would come loose more easily.
"And above all, if a concealed cut had been worked into the seams of the skirt itself.
"If all of those were combined, then once the dress was put under a certain amount of strain during dancing...
"it might be possible to make the skirt split open."
"No... then that would mean it was planned from the start..."
Seltsberg's voice came out hoarse.
Keeping his gaze steady, Yuri spoke quietly.
"It is difficult to believe such alterations could occur by chance.
"If that is the case, then the possibility that they were done deliberately is extremely high.
"In other words, someone engineered this situation."
The air in the room froze.
Elena and Liliana stared wide-eyed, while the viscount fixed Yuri with a sharp look, deep lines carved between his brows.
"H-how is it that you, a man, know so much about dresses...?"
"Why, naturally, I've had occasion to take them off—no, that's not what I meant!"
Yuri swallowed the words in a panic, face reddening as he waved both hands.
"We're able to produce silk thread now, so I only looked into how dresses were constructed.
"There is no other reason!"
The room fell utterly silent, as if everything that had been said moments before had been a lie.
It was Liliana's cold gaze that finally shattered it.
Fixing Yuri with eyes sharp as blades of ice, she spoke in a stern, implacable tone.
"Lord Strauss... do you have any evidence?"
"T-that..."
Yuri's eyes wandered as he searched for words.
"Celia and Lotte and Liliana—"
But he got no farther.
Liliana let out a sigh and cut him down in a chill voice.
"That is not the matter I am asking about."
Silenced in a single stroke, Yuri froze for a moment, then scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"My apologies... I misunderstood."
As though ashamed of his own thoughtlessness, he bowed his head slightly, then lifted it again with a serious expression.
"Unfortunately, I have no evidence.
"By the time the Rosenkreitz Company brought the dress to the workshop, it was already in tatters..."
Seltsberg looked taken aback for an instant, but soon fixed Yuri with a frosty gaze and said in a low, tightly controlled voice,
"Even if it was in tatters, even if it were restored to its original form, that would not change the fact that my daughter's reputation has suffered.
"What do you intend to do about that blunder, Lord Strauss?"
The anger packed into those words made the air in the reception room still heavier.
At the edge of his vision, Yuri saw Elena shrink in on herself.
All right. This is where the real test begins...
Letting out a slow breath inside, Yuri made himself look calm and opened his mouth.
"Exactly. The dress is not the issue."
"...What are you talking about?"
The viscount's brows drew together harshly, his sharp gaze boring into Yuri.
"Viscount Seltsberg... the true problem is not that your daughter's reputation has declined among the nobility, is it?
"The true problem is..."
Yuri let the words trail off and watched the viscount's reaction.
He did not miss the faint note of agitation mixed into that irritation, and continued with a mild smile.
"The true problem is that your daughter has lost heart, isn't it?"
At those words, Seltsberg's expression changed utterly.
His eyes widened, and he went so still it was as though he had forgotten even to blink.
Then his brows fell, and a deep sigh escaped him.
"...Yes. That is true."
Yuri gave a quiet nod, firmed his expression, and pressed on.
"I have heard that Lady Elise of the Santo-Elmo Trading Company was approached by the young gentleman himself for advice.
"She told us that he deeply regrets having hurt the viscount's daughter.
"And that, in order to show the sincerity of his remorse,
"he has been going to her every day to apologize..."
The viscount's eyes sharpened for a brief instant, but then he lowered them as if giving up.
"He has indeed been coming. But my daughter is frightened and refuses to see him.
"It is a troublesome affair."
The viscount let the words spill out with another heavy sigh.
Hearing that, Yuri paused a moment before speaking carefully.
"...Could it be that this is because she truly loves him?"