Madame Reiss delivered the dress to the Duke’s house on the promised day. She had dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn’t slept for nearly three days. When I saw her, I remembered my old self staying up all night during exam period in the past, and I gave her a cake made by a new pastry chef as a gift. Sweets were the best on days when you stayed up all night.
I said it was okay to go back, but Madame Reese was more professional than I thought. She tried to keep her place until the end, saying that her clothes had to fit the children’s bodies to go, so I served her her coffee with plenty of sugar instead of tea. The finished clothes were displayed in my private parlor by Madame Riess’s assistants.
“It’s prettier than I thought. You had a hard time.”
I said, looking at the dresses and tailcoats on display. The things Madame Reece made were much more beautiful than I imagined.
“I just did what I was given.”
As she said that, I felt a little sorry that her face had become gray after two days. The door opened just as I finished my cup of coffee. The first to arrive were Lima and Greenly. Lima entered the room first, followed by Greenly. Lima, who arrived much faster than Greenly, came into the room panting as if she had run. As soon as she entered the room, Lima’s eyes widened at the dress that greeted her. She forgot to greet me and had her eyes fixed on her dress. Even though Greenly, who greeted me, nudged Lima to say hello, Lima still couldn’t take her eyes off her dress.
“Do you like it, Lima?”
Only then did Lima look back at me, her cheeks turning red.
“Is this my dress?”
Lima’s eyes widened as I nodded in response to her question. She said, smiling brightly.
“Oh, my God! It’s really, really pretty.”
Lima seemed to really like the dress and came up to me and hugged me.
“Thank you. I really like it.”
Seeing her speaking with a happy smile made me feel happy too.
“I’m glad you like it.”
I felt proud to see Lima enjoying it so much. And it seemed to be the same for Madame Reese. Because she too was smiling with a proud face. I thanked Madam in my heart. At that time, Madame Reese’s assistants brought a portable screen.
“I’ll help you get dressed.”
“Okay, try it on, Lima.”
Lima, who was hesitant, listened to me and then nodded her head and entered the screen. After Lima’s appearance completely disappeared, Greenly opened his mouth.
“Thank you too.”
I was surprised to see him sitting like an adult, unlike Lima, so I patted his head.
“Do you like the clothes?”
He responded by smiling and nodding his head, and I found Greenly cute so I burst into laughter. Not long after, Lima, who had changed her dress, came out. The yellow dress was decorated with white pearls and yellow roses, which suited Lima very well. Madame Reese seemed to have sensed that fact as well, looking at Lima with a satisfied smile.
Lima smiled shyly and asked.
“Does it suit me?”
“Huh. So pretty.”
Lima smiled brightly at my answer.
“Thank you, I didn’t have a dress to wear to the banquet so I was wondering what to do.”
My expression hardened at her words.
‘No, your family has a lot of money, but you have not being bought a dress? You are a vicious parent.’
Then, as if he sensed what I was thinking, Greenly opened his mouth.
“We have no reason to attend the banquet. Lima bought a lot of clothes a few days ago and now there’s no room in the closet.”
Ah, something like that. I felt a little embarrassed because I felt like I had made a strange misunderstanding. Afterwards, Greenly scolded Lima that she shouldn’t talk like that, but she didn’t seem to hear him. Lima just smiled at Greenly’s words, as if she was happy to receive a new dress as a gift. After calming down a little, Lima took Greenly’s tuxedo and held it out to him.
“Hurry up and try it on, too.”
At Lima’s words, Greenly made a disgusted expression and waved his hand. However, after sighing at Lima’s continued urging, he took off his outerwear and roughly put on his tuxedo.
“Is this enough?”
But Lima did not give in.
“No. You have to wear everything. Isn’t that polite to the person who gave the gift?”
She answered firmly and looked back at me with her eyes asking for help. Suddenly caught in the middle, I looked at the twins who were looking at me earnestly. To be honest, I didn’t think there was a need to try them all on since I made sure they were the right size. However, it could not be said that Lima was wrong. Just as I was wondering whose side to take, I heard the sound of the door opening. Jasmine and Ren were holding hands and entering the room. Jasmine, who saw the dress hanging on the mannequin, ran without even looking at me, and Ren came up to me and said hello.
“Hello, princess.”
“Hello, Ren.”
Lima and Jasmine both seemed more interested in the dress than me. I somehow felt like I was being pushed by the dress. I wasn’t sure, well, if the kids say they liked it, that’s fine. Compared to those two kids, Ren didn’t seem to be particularly interested in dresses and sat next to me.
“The dress is pretty.”
Ren, who saw Lima’s dress, carefully opened her mouth. Although she was sitting like an adult, Ren’s cheeks were a little brighter than usual. I smiled at her cute appearance and patted Ren’s head.
“I have yours too. I don’t know if you’ll like it.”
Just as I was about to point to Ren’s dress, Lima screamed.
“Don’t do it!!”
Her surprise made me and Ren look back at her at the same time. Jasmine was trying to take off her clothes and Lima was barely able to hold her collar. Greenly was looking behind her, unable to stop her. We, unable to fully understand the situation, looked at the situation blankly, and Lima, feeling frustrated, shouted.
“Sister, don’t just watch, come and stop her!”
Ren, who finally came to her senses after hearing Lima’s pleading words, ran to her and lifted Jasmine up. Jasmine, who was stopped by her older sisters, looked at the dress in tears.
“You wore it too, I want to try it too!!”
Eventually, Jasmine burst into tears and Ren began to comfort her by patting her on the back. I got up, took Jasmine from Ren, and hugged her. She hugged my neck as if she was upset and burst into tears.
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
I looked at Ren as I comforted her.
“I will comfort Jasmine. Try it on.”
I gestured to the assistants and they took Ren into the cubicle. Ren seemed to be worried about Jasmine and tried not to go in, keeping her eyes fixed on Jasmine until the end, but she was pushed by their hands and disappeared inside her. I started walking around the room, holding Jasmine and patting her on the back. To be honest, in my past life, no one would scold a three-year-old child for walking around wearing only underwear. However, this place was sensitive to such exposure, and even Jasmine was an aristocrat. So it was natural to stop her. She must have been very sad, so the shoulders of my dress were already wet with Jasmine’s tears and were a mess. This was a familiar experience to me as a kindergarten teacher. It was a daily routine to appease the residents who were fighting several times a day. If you think about it that way, the children of the Chilan were very well-behaved. There were a couple of times that we fought or made noise like we did now. I laughed a little as I saw Lima sitting with a sullen expression, saying she was upset because Jasmine was crying, and Greenly trying to comfort her.
They’re good kids.
Then my eyes met hers and I spoke to her with the shape of her mouth.
“Good job, Lima.”
Lima’s expression brightened a little at my words. I felt fortunate. After a while, Jasmine, who had calmed down, stopped crying and was sniffling at him, taking his breath away.
“Me too… Wearing a dress and a sipper…”
“But you can’t just take your clothes off anywhere. Jasmine is a lady, right?”
Jasmine nodded at my words. Now that she had stopped crying, she stamped her feet as if asking to be put down. As I dropped her off, her dodo also ran and ran to Lima.
“Thank you, sister.”
Lima laughed a little at Jasmine’s words. Then Ren, who had changed into her dress, came out and we admired her appearance. Ren sure was pretty. She wore the same dress, but while Lemon had a more cute feel than pretty, Ren had a more mature feel and she was truly beautiful. Ren blushed as if she was embarrassed, and Lima and I complimented each other. Before we knew it, Jasmine, who had changed her dress, came running over and circling around us as if she wanted to compliment us. I found Jasmine’s behavior so cute that I burst into laughter, and Greenly picked her up.
“You’re pretty, my little sister.”
Jasmine smiled brightly in his arms. Now all I have to do is put Thomas’ on, but even though the sun was setting, he hasn’t come. When the dress arrived, it was time for him to be training, so I told him to come back after finishing, but it seemed like he wasn’t finished yet.
At that time, the door to the living room opened.
I looked towards the door, thinking that Thomas had come. However, the person who entered the room was Baridas, not Thomas. His eyes were wide open as if he was surprised to see the children’s dresses. When the children playing saw that Baridas had arrived, they took turns greeting him. Responding with a nod of his head, he approached me. Looking into his eyes, it seemed like I had done something wrong even though I hadn’t done anything wrong. Was this how criminals who were interrogated feel?
“Hello.”
Baridas bowed to my words and then opened his mouth.
“I didn’t know you would prepare this much, but thank you, princess.”
Baridas looked at the children’s dresses. It seemed to have been made that way on purpose, as it was quite similar to Fiora’s dress he had prepared. I smiled at Baridas’ words.
‘I’m so good at my job, don’t you want to hire me?’
“It’s no big deal.”
“If you charge me the cost of the dress, I will refund it to you.”
From his point of view, it seemed like he was considerate of me, but then what happens to my position in giving gifts to the kids? That dress was a gift from me to the children. With my money. I never intended to take money from him.
“It’s okay. Since my dress was made by the Duke family anyway, I’ll do it as a teacher.”
When I saw it, it was more than five children’s dresses. My dress is more expensive. Baridas tilted his head at my words.
“T-teacher?”
Ah, there is no such thing as this here. How should I explain this? After thinking about it, I pulled out the word that I thought was most similar. Surely, this word doesn’t even exist?
“Let’s call it a draw.”
Baridas seemed to understand what it meant then and let out a small laugh.
“Okay, let’s do it as teacher.”
Still, it made sense. At the satisfactory answer, I smiled proudly and looked at the children. Without knowing how he would repay me.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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