The Materialistic Princess, Episode 7
Since elven blood flowed through me, whatever I did was elven style. Neither they nor I had any way of knowing how actual elves went about things.
I added something a bit more impressive.
“Have you ever heard of naturalism…”
“Naturalism! That sounds so wonderful.”
Anything could be dressed up with a plausible slogan. Sure enough, the people around me watched my style with sparkling eyes.
“Shall I show you around the imperial palace?”
I readily agreed to Lady Cladine’s suggestion. When we left the room, we ran into Serena, who had been on her way to my room.
“Miss Kaneff! Are you going out?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s tour the imperial palace together!”
“Let’s.”
This was the west wing of the palace. The center of the main palace housed the offices, audience rooms, grand conference hall, and other spaces for state affairs, while the east wing contained the banquet hall, dining room, theater, and the like.
We went to the imperial garden. I searched for a blond man. To my surprise, blond men were not all that rare. ‘Ugly. There’s no way an ugly man is the male lead.’ “There are so many people in the imperial palace.”
“Since it is the social season, there is always a steady stream of people.”
The garden was extravagantly splendid, with beautifully trimmed topiary, angel fountains spraying water, and high walls made of glass conservatories. Nobles enjoyed picnics there or rode about on horseback.
“It really is another world.”
We walked along the path that ran around the outside of the garden. The nobles’ conversations reached my ears clearly.
“I heard this is a banquet to find a bride for His Highness the Crown Prince. Do you think that’s true?” ‘It went off track because I left for Rockingham.’ Originally, before Serena came to the capital, I should have already finished the official discussion of my engagement to the Crown Prince.
I didn’t know what consequences my actions would bring in the future, but the important thing was that the Crown Prince’s soul fragment was with me. ‘Come to think of it… what happens if the Crown Prince appears while we’re together?’ If Serena and I were together, what sort of feelings would he experience? ‘In the original, Roselia once stole the soul fragment.’ There was an episode in which Roselia, after discovering the blue jewel’s true nature, stole it. She believed that as long as she had it, the Crown Prince would love her.
Unfortunately, the Crown Prince only felt displeasure toward Roselia when she appeared holding the soul fragment. She was devastated and returned the soul fragment to Serena. ‘It would be better to meet the Crown Prince when I’m alone.’ My worries deepened.
“The banquet hall, dining room, music room, and such are all in the east wing. Her Highness Princess Iella’s atelier is there as well.”
With my nerves on edge, I looked around. I hadn’t decided what to do if I ran into the Crown Prince, but I at least had to know who he was!
“Are you looking for something?”
When I kept glancing around restlessly, Serena quietly asked me.
“I heard His Highness the Crown Prince has returned to the imperial palace, so I wondered if he might be here.”
Lady Cladine glanced at me.
“His Highness’s appearance has been prominently featured in the newspapers several times. Have you not seen them?”
“Ah, I don’t subscribe to the newspaper…”
The atmosphere turned solemn for a moment. Lady Cladine gave a small cough before speaking.
“There should be a portrait of His Highness in the dance hall on the first floor of the west wing. It is a public hall, but no one enters it, so it is currently closed. If you wish, I will guide you there tomorrow.”
That seemed better. Exhausted from worrying about one thing after another, I immediately returned to my room.
“Tomorrow, all I have to do is get clothes fitted, so it should be fine.”
***
Even up until the moment I opened my eyes in the morning, I couldn’t understand why getting formalwear made would take up the entire morning.
After moving to the large toilette room on the second floor of the west wing, when servants filed in carrying boxes, mannequins, and other things in their hands, I unconsciously looked at the table clock.
“This will be finished before dinner, right?”
The madame, who had a warm impression and vivid red lips as her defining feature, smiled and spread her fan wide. She was Madame Antoute, the owner of the finest dress shop in the empire.
“What young lady eats a full meal before a ball!”
To think the imperial palace, which I had believed to be a famous restaurant, was actually a fasting center…
“To hold an awards ceremony and a debutante at the same time—no young lady has ever enjoyed such a special ball. Then naturally, you need equally special clothes!”
Knock, knock.
The door opened, and Serena, who was late, entered, radiating freshness like sunlight.
“Oh my, I’m sorry! There are so many trees here bearing fascinating fruit that I was looking around…”
“The beauty of the imperial palace is truly enchanting, after all. Now then, please hurry and take off your outdoor clothes and change into a slip!”
Only then did Serena notice the astonishing sight inside the toilette room and click her tongue.
“You need this much just to make clothes?”
“These are clothes you will wear at the ceremony honoring your achievement in saving His Majesty the Emperor’s life. The ceremony is only three days away, so we prepared simply since time is short.”
“If that’s simple, twice more of it and I’d be just about ready for a coffin lid…”
“Hmm? What did you just say?”
“I said I wanted to see your wonderful skill, Madame.”
“Hoho! I’ll make you the most splendid in the empire, so don’t worry!”
At last, Serena, now dressed in a slip, came over to my side.
“Now! It would be best to look at the fabrics first. Both of you have such distinct personalities that you’ll stand out even more when you’re side by side.”
I held out the hydrangea hair ornament to Madame. It was the very hair ornament I had broken yesterday.
“I definitely want this as my hair ornament.”
It was important to appear at such a significant event wearing an adornment bestowed by the Emperor.
“This ornament is too plain to match formalwear.”
As if somewhat displeased, Madame Antoute covered her face neatly with her fan. It was indeed a plain ornament without much distinguishing feature.
But at such an event, I thought flattery was more important than dazzling decoration. I carefully murmured the magic words.
“I was thinking, what if we incorporated naturalistic elven fashion…”
“Hmm?”
Sure enough, Madame Antoute listened to me with an intrigued expression. Since my hair happened to be braided, I placed the hydrangea ornament in it. Then I picked up a flower crown and lace ribbon from among the prepared hair ornaments and set them on my head.
“Naturalism!”
Madame’s eyes shone as she looked at me. Dressed in a cream-colored slip and decorated with modest ornaments, I looked like an elf who had just sprung out of the forest.
Serena even clapped her hands, gazing at me with an enraptured face, then said something strange again.
“I knew you were a fairy…!”
“I told you I’m human.”
I corrected her casually. Madame had already thrown aside her fan and was rummaging through the fabrics herself.
“This is it!”
She looked like an artist who had just been struck by inspiration.
“Princess Kaneff. We may very soon become good partners.”
Her red-painted lips curved smoothly into an arc. I smiled back at Madame Antoute. ‘I smell money!’ After that, we chose fabrics and matched accessories again. Because of the soul fragment in the bag I had set down for a moment, I couldn’t concentrate properly, so it took even longer. ‘I should take this chance to get an accessory.’ “Madame Antoute, would it be possible to get a bracelet with a socket that can hold a bead about this size? As sturdy as possible.”
“Of course! I’ll bring it to you in two days.”
At last, the work of fitting the formalwear was over. All I had eaten so far was grain tea and pound cake.
I thought I needed to clear up the unfortunate misunderstanding surrounding meat, so I spoke cautiously.
“I’m saying this because you may not know yet, but meat doesn’t make you gain weight.”
The maids firmly dismissed my words as nonsense.
“Even the Holy See says to refrain from meat and alcohol, does it not? They defined appetite as a sin, saying it makes you gain weight and harms your health.”
To think the seven sins applied here too. ‘The real sin isn’t gluttony, but what those Holy See bastards did by making me poor!’ After the schedule was over, Lady Cladine said she would show me the place she had mentioned yesterday, but I had something else to do.
“I’ll look around the imperial palace a bit by myself.”
“I will accompany you.”
I couldn’t have Lady Cladine following me. Just then, Serena said to me,
“Then come with me. I was thinking of visiting Her Highness Princess Iella’s atelier in the east wing.”
I had the gold coins given to me as an allowance for maintaining my dignity. My plan was to immediately run to an open-air café outside the imperial palace with them and buy something like a meat sandwich.
Would Serena be helpful to this plan? I judged coldly.
“No, I only want to look around nearby for a little while. Elves naturally like wandering alone.”
“I see!”
How would I know what elves were like? In any case, as long as I attached those magic words, anything made sense.
Lady Cladine looked at me with somewhat suspicious eyes before saying,
“Please do not go too far, and be careful of strangers approaching you.”
There was no need to worry. I intended to conceal my appearance completely.
I put on a thin robe. Since I always carried the bag containing the soul fragment, I came outside before anyone could stop me.
Inside the imperial palace, wearing a robe stood out, but I attracted less attention than when I walked around with my hair fully exposed. ‘Will I have to walk quite a while to reach an open-air café?’ As I approached the entrance of the imperial palace, I carefully noted the surrounding geography. Finding my way was something I was confident in, so I wasn’t too worried. The problem wasn’t anything like finding my way.
“Why are there so many people here?”
At the imperial palace entrance, people in unfamiliar styles of clothing were swarming.
They were holding things like black lumps of scrap metal, as well as small notebooks and pens in one hand, while looking around.
“Look at that woman in the robe over there.”
“She looks like someone trying to sneak out, no matter how you look at it.”
I heard their whispers. Only then could I guess who they were. ‘Are all those people reporters?’ “Let’s go over. Who knows, we might get a scoop?”
They were approaching me in a group. I remembered Lady Cladine’s warning that reporters were everywhere, so I had to be careful. I naturally turned my steps away from the entrance.
“What, she’s avoiding us?”
“I smell a scoop!”
As soon as I started running away, the reporters became certain.
“It’s a scoop!” ‘The place where I can hide the fastest from here? ……
I have no choice but to go back to the west wing!’ “We’re not suspicious people!”
“We’ll just ask a few questions! We’re reporters with permission to enter the imperial palace!”
Without answering, I ran toward the front entrance of the west wing. But from that entrance, someone dressed similarly to the reporters chasing me was coming out. My instincts told me those people were reporters too.
“What’s going on?”
I immediately changed direction and ran. Because of that, the hood of my robe slipped off, revealing my lavender-colored hair.
“It’s Princess Kaneff!” ‘My hair guarantees my identity all too well. This is why I covered it with a hood!’ The entire area fell into chaos. Once they confirmed who I was, they abandoned their previously hesitant attitude and began running as if their lives depended on it.
“Princess! Please stop for a moment! We’ll just ask a few questions!”
Because all I did was keep sprinting, the atmosphere grew more and more heated. They seemed convinced I was hiding something.
That wasn’t a baseless assumption. In fact, I had too many things I was hiding and too many facts I already knew! ‘If I say the wrong thing, I won’t be able to avoid complete ruin.’ I gritted my teeth and fled. I spotted a small rear door used by servants at the back of the west wing. I entered through it, looked around, then opened a random door and went inside. ‘That place looks good.’ There was a large window with dark velvet curtains, so I hid myself there. Covered pieces of furniture and the like were scattered about, hiding me well enough.
I heard the sound of someone opening and then closing the door to this hall. ‘Are they gone now?’ After running for so long, my heels were rubbed raw, and a faint sheen of sweat had formed over my body. I sank down onto the floor and caught my breath. Then, suddenly, the appearance of this place entered my eyes.
Several landscapes and still lifes hung on the walls, and every frame around the paintings was made of jewels, gold, or silver.
“Now this is luxury.”
Then one painting caught my eye.
It depicted a knight defeating a pitch-black monster. At the very front, a man with golden hair and no helmet held his sword high. His eyes were a clear sky blue.
“Could this be…”
Although the face had not been painted in detail, I could tell well enough who the subject of this painting was.
“Anok Asher.”
He was none other than the male lead of this novel, Anok Asher.