“Can I try it on?”
Carlo flinched, but soon concealed his inner turmoil and calmly said, “Of course you can.”
Viola accepted the dress. However, something strange happened. The color of the dress seemed to change as soon as it came into contact with her skin.
‘Did the color of the dress change?’
The color of the dress Viola wore had transformed into a violet shade as if it had absorbed the color from her hair. The size of the dress also adjusted slightly, making it a more comfortable fit, as if it had been tailored for her from the start.
‘Wow, it’s so comfortable.’
Most dresses in this world were uncomfortable. However, this dress felt incredibly light and comfortable, even invigorating.
‘What’s going on?’
Strangely enough, neither Hera nor Carlo showed any reaction. The dress had completely changed color, yet they remained unperturbed.
‘Are they pretending not to know, or do they genuinely not know?’
It genuinely seemed like they didn’t know. Viola decided to test the waters.
“This dress looks similar to my eye color.”
“By eye color you mean…”
Carlo glanced at Viola’s eyes. They were a violet shade.
An awkward silence followed.
“You see it as violet?”
“Yes.”
Viola began to feel uneasy. Did they think she was colorblind?
“You truly see it as violet?”
While Viola concealed her embarrassment and composed herself, Hera spoke up.
“To my eyes, it looks red.”
“It appears red to my eyes as well. However… this dress is a masterpiece made by my master. Some may ridicule its artistic and practical value but I cannot imagine my master leaving me with anything other than a true masterpiece.”
Carlo’s master was a dwarf and had taught him many things when he was younger, before returning to the dwarves’ forest.
“He said this dress would recognize its owner. It seems to mean this.”
Carlo had to admit it. The owner of this dress was Lady Viola. Until this moment he had felt a sense of loss, but now the situation had changed.
“Masterpieces shine when worn by those who truly appreciate their value. I feel that the dress has recognized its true owner.”
Carlo’s heart began to beat faster and he applauded with joy.
“As expected, Lady Viola is truly exceptional.”
“…”
Viola was at a loss for words. While fantastical events would unfold in this fantasy world, she still found it hard to accept.
“It is truly awe-inspiring to see that Lady Viola immediately chose this dress.”
Carlo exclaimed sincerely.
“It was said that only one with special qualifications would recognize this dress. And the one with these special qualifications…”
Carlo paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts.
“…was destined to be a ruler.”
Viola wanted to say something.
‘Damn that master of his! What nonsense prophecy was he spouting? I just chose it because it looked like something Heidi wore in the novel! She claimed it could deflect most sword strikes!’
Hera added, “While the dwarves are known for their exceptional artistry, they are also known for their expertise in prophecy and astrology. Am I correct, Chief Designer?”
In a world where magical engineering had advanced to this extent, what place did prophecy and astrology have?
“Indeed. I heard that my master was particularly renowned for his exceptional skills in astrology, even among the dwarves.”
Viola was speechless. She had only mentioned that the color of the dress changed but suddenly she had become the girl ‘born with the destiny of a ruler.’ She felt like crying a little. Viola concealed her desire to cry and smiled outwardly.
“I love it. Let’s go with this one.”
She didn’t like it at all.
***
Viola and her party stayed in the guest rooms of the Louis Bartengan mansion as VIP guests.
Viola asked, “I think we’ve bought everything we need. Why are we staying here?”
“The social scene is a battlefield and you are a general preparing for war.”
Bellato was a stranger to high society. That’s why Hera decided to use this approach from the beginning.
“You’re being treated as a guest of Louis Bartengan, and Serphon will probably come and apologize to us soon. Of course, we won’t forgive him right away.”
From the outside, people wouldn’t know the true situation. To them, it would seem like Serphon was making a real effort to befriend the guests by frequently visiting their guest room.
“A guest of the prestigious Louis Bartengan family, whom a direct descendant visits every day. And that guest is Bellato’s adopted daughter. How does that sound? It will be quite the talk of the town, right?”
Hera’s inclination to pursue the highest in everything was evident.
“Because every beginning is important. Don’t you think so, too?”
Cold sweat ran down Viola’s back.
‘How far ahead are you looking and planning?’
Once again Viola realized it would have been really difficult if she had become Hera’s enemy.
As Hera predicted, rumors about Viola Bellato began to stir across the entire continent. The attention was immense. A few days later Viola and her party decided to leave Parr Viscounty. Chief Designer Carlo seemed quite disappointed.
“Are you really leaving already?”
They had almost finished their farewell greetings when Viola decided to ask the question she had been trying to hold back.
“Chief Designer, I’d like to ask about something.”
“Of course.”
“It’s about the blue uniforms worn by the people of Louis Bartengan.”
While staying in the guest room, Viola encountered Louis Bartengan’s people several times. Most of them wore blue uniforms with the Louis Bartengan emblem.
“When we first met Lord Serphon, he was wearing a similar blue uniform. I heard it’s an item blessed by the spirits. Is that true?”
“Yes. It’s still a prototype, but we’re heading in the direction of making all our uniforms like that.”
Louis Bartengan was collaborating with spirit mages, imbuing spirit power into the products they produced.
“Why is that?”
Carlo was about to answer that until now, they’d only considered the connection between artifacts and magic engineering, but in the distant future, it seemed that the integration of spirit studies and magic engineering would be much more advantageous.
However, Viola spoke first.
“You don’t think that the connection with spirit studies is better than magic engineering, do you? Like being more efficient or allowing mass production at the same price or having higher durability without consuming mana?”
Strictly speaking, magic engineering was a major discipline in this world while spirit studies were a minor one. Magical engineering was deeply intertwined with everyday life in this world and magicians even established closed communities, the Magic Towers, to consolidate their power.
In contrast, spirit mages were very rare and there were even fewer who could handle spirit power properly. There were no large organizations like the Magic Towers for them. It was the same in the latter part of the novel.
‘Oh! I remember!’
Viola was able to recall the content buried in her memory from the novel.
‘There was definitely something about the Louis Bartengan family stumbling around the middle of the novel.’
The information about Louis Bartengan started to come back, one piece at a time. It was supplementary explanations that she hadn’t paid attention to when reading the novel.
‘They were tricked by the great conman, Herton.’
Herton was an outstanding speaker and possessed a daring habit of visiting influential families and defrauding them. There were many famous families defrauded by Herton, some of them even going bankrupt.
‘Wasn’t there a story about a man who was so deeply in debt after being conned by Herton that he killed his own son and then committed suicide? Maybe?’
It wasn’t something covered in detail in the novel. If it wasn’t about a main character, what was happening would be explained with just three or four lines of dialogue between the supporting characters.
‘Wow, I remembered this? Am I a genius or what?’
Viola chuckled and said, “Did I mention that I made a contract with the Water Spirit Kell-Vernon?”
“Oh, no. I didn’t hear that.”
“I have an exceptionally high affinity with spirits.”
“I see.”
“I didn’t feel a spirit’s blessing in the blue uniforms. It feels like it’s made to mimic a spirit, but…”
Carlo didn’t answer immediately.
“In my opinion, it seems like someone artificially manipulated it.”
How could Carlo answer? He couldn’t say that he would start an investigation right away because that would damage Louis Bartengan’s reputation.
‘But it’s impossible to outright deny Lady Viola’s words.’
Yes, any response was difficult.
Viola calmly continued, “I understand Senior Designer Carlo’s position. You don’t have to answer.”
“…Thank you.”
“So just listen to what I have to say.”
Hera looked at Viola with a pleased expression thinking, ‘That actually means, ‘Shut up and listen to me,’ right?’
But even Carlo, the person who was supposed to listen, seemed unaware of that. Instead, he expressed gratitude to Viola.
‘Her timing is perfect.’
This was the power Viola possessed. To skillfully use the situation with perfect timing to achieve the best results.
‘As expected of my little sister.’
Hera’s eyes narrowed.
‘She’ll be a great ruler of Bellato.’
Viola unintentionally provided a great favor for the Louis Bartengan family.
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Translator Note:
This chapter was translated by Bree.
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