“Look at this, Milady,” Daisy whined and put things she had been carrying down on the desk.
“What’s this?”
“I collected all the newspapers and magazines today. It’s all about you!”
They were the most popular news in the empire.
[Princess Felicite in a shocking dress, a complete analysis of her from head to toe.]
[Is Bergman, chosen by Princess Felicite, an eccentric or a genius?]
[Siani Felicite received praise from His Majesty the Emperor at the banquet hall.]
It was crazy. The person who held the welcoming party was Ash, but there wasn’t a single article about him. It was my comeback show after all.
I knew this would happen. I had taken over all the spotlight.
“All the young ladies in the capital wanted to wear a dress similar to the one Lady wore on the banquet day.”
Ah, this damn popularity.
“Moreover, even famous salons are producing counterfeits, or should I say imitations.”
“Really?”
The life of a celebrity is exhausting and tiring.
“Those arrogant, no, the high-nosed designers. They refused to sell their work to the Milady, and now look at them, they’re begging. Hmph!” Daisy burst out laughing as if she was feeling refreshed.
The chief designers who had been pushed out by Bergman threatened not to sell their work to me in the future. I became a blacklist from the famous salons overnight. Whatever. But it didn’t matter. The reality is that while Bergman has emerged as a hot new talent, they have become backroom clones. Anyway, they will struggle to get into my building at some point.
“Think about it, Daisy. What would it be like if all the famous salons were gathered in one building?”
“Pardon?”
“Cosmetics on the first floor, shoes on the second floor, bags on the third floor, etc.”
“Is that possible? It should be convenient, but wouldn’t that be only possible if the building was enormous and this tall?” Daisy said, extending her arms to the sky.
As I said, my stomach was already full at the thought of an incredibly large and tall building being built in the center of the capital.
“Bergman.”
“…Yes.”
I heard a low voice behind the statue in the parlor at my call.
“Why don’t you just come out?”
“Yes, Princess…”
Bergman, who was hiding behind it, hurriedly walked out. His face seemed to have been exhausted by the attention poured into him after the welcoming party.
“Wouldn’t the people in front of your salon be gone by now?”
“Well, dozens of carriages were blocking the door… did they all leave?”
I didn’t know his personality of running away from customers would be seen as mysterious.
“Ah, by the way, it’s about the new fabric you developed and used on my dress.”
“Yes.”
“How about officially starting to develop the new material fabric at our Felicite’s material and fabric lab?”
“…Yes?” At the same time, Bergman’s eyes widened.
“We can commercialize it after improving its quality through formal research.”
“Then I-I’m so honored…”
“Now, sign here.” I immediately presented the contract I had prepared.
“Pardon?”
Yeah, he’s this kind of guy.
“You don’t like it?”
“N-no! Is that even possible? Princess is the first person who recognized me.” Then, as if in tears, Bergman curled his lips and continued. “I don’t like having a lot of customers, and it’s enough if there’s just one person who acknowledges me just like now…”
“Are you confident about other things?”
“Yes? If it’s other things…”
“There are so many things I’m thinking about, Bergman.”
Well, for example, anything that makes money.
“That’s why I need a talented ‘genius’ like you.”
“Genius? G-genius… By all means, just leave it to me, Princess.”
I smiled slightly at him. As expected, he was someone who could be my slave, no, I mean my colleague.
Finally, I decided to talk about ‘let’s make clothes for the Normas’ with him later. Because he might faint now.
* * *
“Princess, these are the gloves you ordered.”
The gloves I ordered for Redian arrived that afternoon.
Wow, it’s pretty. The pitch-black, fine leather gloves seemed to go very well with Redian’s hands. I wanted to quickly see him putting on these gloves, but it was late at night after taking care of my work.
Redian must have fallen asleep too. It was not until it was time for everyone to fall asleep that I could go to the underground castle.
“Oh my! Princess, you’re here.”
“Is everything okay?”
Maze, who found me, got up. “Yes. Of course. Nothing happened.”
“That’s a relief. What about John?”
“If it’s John… Because Princess has drastically reduced the number of days he goes to work, he can’t come to work more than once or twice a month.”
“Is he still trying to spy for Irik these days?”
I grinned as I looked through the underground castle.
“If he didn’t want to be kicked out of my sight, tell him to stay calm.”
“Yes, yes. I understand.”
It was a quiet night without much fuss, as he said.
“Ah, by the way, Maze. I need data for something.”
“Just say it, Princess.”
He stood at an angle and answered with eyes that promised to be loyal.
“There must be data containing Normas’ personal information, right?”
“Yes. Of course, there is.”
“Bring it all to me.”
“Ah, but Princess. Even if you look at it as a list that literally only contains personal information, it won’t do.”
Maze, who was lost in thought for a moment, added. “How about meeting Norma in person?”
Meeting in person… It wasn’t a bad suggestion. However, considering the ending of the original, it was a waste of time.
“No. All I need is a list.”
“Yes?”
“Because I can tell just by looking at the name.”
At the end of the original story… Francis, Inein, Vallentin, and Redian. Only four of them survive. All other Norma would die in this underground castle. Rather than die here like that, sending them out while they’re still alive would be better. For the underground castle and Norma that I will create, just four of them were enough.
“We’ll have to meet each other sometime anyway. Let’s take a look before that.”
“Yes, I understand. Then, I will prepare the data you mentioned.”
“Ah, what about Redian?”
“It seemed like he was training really hard, but he didn’t seem to be doing very well the last few days…”
“Why…”
“That’s…” Maze stretched his words as if he wasn’t sure.
“Is he sick?”
“He didn’t seem sick. However, he has been having trouble sleeping recently and has requested a sedative.”
“Sedative?”
Mads shook his hands urgently as my eyes narrowed. “Originally, Redian only fell asleep when we trained him until he collapsed from exhaustion or forcibly gave him a sedative.”
“…”
Come to think of it, he was lying down limp the first day I saw him.
“It didn’t happen these days, so maybe he’s finding it hard to fall asleep alone.”
“Hard to fall asleep?”
When I remembered his face, which was faint, as if he was dead, my stomach boiled. Irik, you punk.
“He must be proud to have made him like that. So he gave him a sedative to put him to sleep?”
“Yes, yes, but I didn’t force-feed it! Forced feeding was only possible when he was tied up in restraints…”
Maze must have been horrified by my expression and mumbled, avoiding my eyes.
“Nowadays, since he’s not restrained, everyone is busy avoiding Redian. H-how scary it is just to be around him.”
He looked really scary just imagining it.
“Princess knows, right? If we even touch Redian with our fingertips, our limbs will be torn apart.”
It’s not to that extent. Behind being like that, Redian is… not exactly kind, but strangely cute.
“I see. Get the data ready.”
“Yes, Princess.”
I headed into the cage where Redian was imprisoned.
It looks like he’s really sleeping. As I got closer, I saw Redian curled upon his body, asleep. I looked at every corner of him like a habit. Just like Maze said, there doesn’t seem to be any pain or injury…
“What’s wrong with your hand again?”
I saw a red flesh on his palm. It looked like it had been cut by something sharp and thorn. I just finally got it treated.
I couldn’t take my eyes off for a second. If I let my guard down even for a moment, he will get hurt like this.
“Should I change the training tools?”
“…Ah!”
I had to stop right there. It was because Redian grabbed my wrist as if pulling me in an instant.
“Redian?”
In the darkness, unusually bluish eyes were revealed.
“It’s me, Redian.”
“…”
Is there still some sedative left? Redian, with drowsy eyes, just looked at me in silence. However,
“Redian, are you okay?”
The eyes looking at me felt somewhat strange and eerie.
“…Now.”
At that time, Redian muttered quietly.
“You’re here.”
It was a voice where you couldn’t find any warmth.
