Chapter 51: A Change Too Loud to Ignore

  “We need to talk.”

  The words were simple. Honest.

  Ray said them the moment he felt her presence leave the dye shop, light footsteps, familiar rhythm.

  He turned.

  And forgot how to breathe.

  It was the same girl.

  Silver hair, still no longer than her neck.

  Odd eyes one blue, one ashen gray.

  But everything else had changed.

  The ragged clothes were gone.

  The oversized boots were gone.

  In their place—

  A white dress trimmed in soft blue.

  Not too large. Not too tight.

  Made for movement, not display.

  Simple brown sandals that fit her perfectly.

  Clean. Neat. Proper.

  Ivaline no longer looked like an orphan from the slums.

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  She looked like a town girl.

  No—worse.

  She looked like someone who belonged.

  The gap between yesterday and today was too wide.

  Too sudden.

  Only then did Ray notice—

  Her hair caught the light differently.

  Smoother. Glossier.

  Cleaned. Cared for.

  This wasn’t coincidence.

  This was intention.

  Inside the dye shop, Corvix muttered to himself, eyes never leaving the ledger.

  “No one dares touch what’s mine.”

  Ink scratched softly.

  “Dye. Fabric. Coin.”

  A pause.

  “…Employees included.”

  He had seen it the moment she stepped into the altered dress.

  The posture.

  The way people looked twice.

  The way the air around her changed.

  So, he had ordered it adjusted further.

  Had one of his workers clean her hair properly.

  The result?

  Remarkable.

  She no longer looked like someone easy to bully.

  She could pass for a respectable household’s daughter.

  At most—

  A mayor’s child.

  Corvix was satisfied.

  If he invested, it would show.

  And it already had.

  “Now, no one would harm you without thinking twice.”

  A simple remark, suits for her guardian than an employer.

  “Sir,” one employee said quietly, peeking toward the entrance.

  “The Brave is at the door.”

  Corvix didn’t look up.

  “What does he want?”

  “…Nothing. He’s just standing there.”

  A beat.

  “…He stopped moving after he saw the lady wearing the dress you provided.”

  Silence.

  Then—

  Corvix’s lips curled upward.

  A slow, sharp grin.

  “Hah.”

  His investment wasn’t just bearing fruit.

  It had stopped the Brave in his tracks.

  “Too good,” he muttered, amused.

  “She might even charm a hero.”

  He closed his ledger.

  Outside, Ray stood frozen—

  Staring at a girl he thought he understood.

  And realizing he never had.

  Ivaline? She just tilts her head cutely, and say nothing.

  Chronicle recorded that silently.