Sandra Belloni — Volume 7

Emilia spends an evening locked with her mother, a sharp‑tongued woman who paces about trying dresses and pins while lamenting her daughter’s growing vanity. Draped in a sumptuous violet velvet gown—an elaborate gift from the enigmatic designer Merthyr—Emilia feels transformed, her reflection a rose‑blushed bloom that both exhilarates and unsettles her.

In the quiet of the library the next morning, Merthyr awaits, his eyes lingering on the flamboyant dress that seems to belong to someone else entirely. The pair begin a ritual of reading together, a fragile dance of admiration and restraint that forces Emilia to confront a yearning for approval that competes with her deeper love of music and art.