“Uh…I would like to try on a dress like this.”
Elaine began to draw on paper, although she felt embarrassed.
In a previous life, when she was twenty years old, she had been out shopping for new stockings and had seen the dress in the window of a high-end clothes shop.
It wasn’t a flashy design that caught people’s attention, it wasn’t placed right in the center of a shop window, and it wasn’t a style that was popular at the time.
Elaine herself could not understand why her eyes had lingered there, but she stood there for a long time, dressed in shabby clothes, old stockings that had been sewn a few times, shoes with worn toes, and an old, slightly too-small coat.
‘I guess I imagined myself wearing that dress and dancing with someone.’
Elaine couldn’t remember the exact design of the dress, but she did remember that it had ruffles on the off-shoulder, that the bodice was close-fitting and then flared out at the hem, that it had many tiny flower-like embellishments on the bodice and waist, and that the color was a light gray that faded to a dark inky blue.
“The drawing is bad, isn’t it? It might be hard to see,….”
“No, it’s very interesting.”
Merida, who had left the chattering to her assistants next to Elaine, showed interest in the drawings Elaine had drawn.
“I was thinking about this style of design recently. Your drawing gives me a little bit of an idea of how to do it.”
Merida added a few things to Elaine’s drawing.
“I’d like the tulle to be heavy in color, but light in fabric. In the middle of this floral arrangement here, I’d like to use diamonds….”
“All of them are diamonds? Then wouldn’t they be incredibly expensive?”
“Yes? This is a decoration that we can easily do with the amount of money we have been asked to pay. I am also thinking of putting diamond beads on the bottom of the skirt.”
Elaine’s eyes widened when she heard Merida’s plan to embroider it with hundreds of diamonds.
Hubert, who had entered the room late, spoke to Elaine in an attempt to reassure her.
“Master Sergey told me not to skimp on any expense for Miss Elaine’s dress, so don’t worry.”
He said it without knowing that it would burden Elaine’s heart even more.
Although it was burdensome, Elaine was not in a position to refuse, so she just smiled vaguely and took the measurements.
But more burdensome things kept happening.
Two days after the dress was fitted, Sergey returned home with someone and called Elaine into his room.
“It would be more accurate to choose while wearing the dress, but we don’t have time. You can pick out the jewelry here.”
The man Sergey brought was a merchant who distributed luxury goods such as jewels and ornaments imported by a wealthy merchant.
As if he had anticipated that Elaine would not choose properly, Sergey even called in Merida, the dress designer, to help her choose the jewels.
“I don’t care how much it costs. Just make sure it looks good on Elaine and that everyone is amazed.”
“Sergey! This is too much for me.”
When Elaine, who was taken aback by Sergey’s sudden and extravagant shopping spree, tried to stop him, Sergey suddenly made a strange expression and asked.
“Are you unhappy?”
“Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Buying you these things makes you unhappy?”
“Oh, no. That’s not what I meant…”
Elaine fell silent, unsure of what else to say.
Was she unhappy? No, she wasn’t unhappy, she was happy.
Spacious and comfortable rooms, delicious food, friendly people, beautiful dresses, dazzling jewelry.
Elaine had never been treated like that before, so she felt unfamiliar and uneasy.
She felt as if she had come to the wrong place, as if she had been given a happiness she was not allowed to have, and that she would suddenly fall from the peak of happiness to the bottom.
‘But if I say that, Sergey might be disappointed.’
Sergey had a lot of money, and he spent it however he wanted. And his standards for expensive things were very different from Elaine’s.
Sergey did the favor out of consideration for Elaine, but if she refused it because it was burdensome, Sergey would be disappointed and upset.
Elaine, who had been fidgeting with her fingertips, forced a smile.
“Because they are so good, I am grateful.”
“It means you are happy… right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then there’s no problem. Okay, let’s choose quickly. After choosing the jewelry, we have to choose the shoes and fan.”
Sergey looked down at the dazzling jewels, his face even more delighted than Elaine, the recipient of the gift.
Then the man who had brought them spoke up.
“How about this diamond hair ornament? Each bead was carefully crafted by a renowned craftsman in the Duke of Vilen.”
The diamond hair ornament was so beautiful in Elaine’s eyes, but Sergey shook his head slightly.
The man also held out another object.
“Then how about this? It’s a pearl necklace that’s very trendy these days. It has a high-quality emerald in the center.”
It was also a necklace that looked absolutely perfect to Elaine.
But Sergey shook his head, frowning.
“The quality of all the jewels is poor.”
“Yes? That’s not possible. They are all top-quality items. It’s because Master Sergey doesn’t know much about jewels yet, but they are top—!”
“You need to develop an eye for jewelry. Those diamond earrings over here are much better than those, but the design doesn’t suit Elaine. Is that all you brought?”
Although he was speaking politely, Sergey felt so bad that he wanted to chew off the head of the man sitting in front of him.
Dragons love jewelry. Not in the sense of luxury and adornment, as humans do, but because the energy they contain cleanses their magic. In particular, the more pure the jewel, the more transparent it is, and the better the energy it contains.
So, for a dragon, appraising a jewel was as intuitive as tasting food for a human.
However, the man, who could not have known that Sergey was a dragon, tried to deceive him with an item that only had a flashy design, and Sergey, who was upset that he was wasting his time with such a low-quality item in front of Elaine, glared at the merchant with a bit of magic power.
The man, whose spine tingled at that gaze, opened another bag while sweating profusely.
“Here, let’s take a look at this one.”
“This one is much better. I’ll let it slide since it’s the first time, but if you try to trick people like this again, you know it won’t be a good thing.”
It was a casual remark, but everyone except Sergey and Elaine broke out in a cold sweat. Elaine thought Sergey was joking, but the others saw the cold glare in his eyes.
Anyway, thanks to that, the merchant who had been taking Sergey for granted began to change his attitude.
“Considering the design of the dress and the aura of Miss Elaine, I think these earrings would look good. If you wear these earrings, it would be better to skip the necklace.”
The earrings he recommended were made by weaving dozens of diamonds together, and when worn on the ears, they were long enough to reach the tip of the chin, so they seemed to clink whenever she walked.
“It’s a pretty good item. But isn’t it a bit weak to do this alone?”
Merida answered Sergey’s question.
“The earrings alone may not look like much, but when you consider how they sparkle in the light, they’re a pretty flashy accessory. But in my opinion, I’d rather have these sapphire earrings.”
The earrings she was pointing to had teardrop-shaped sapphires dangling from a circular clip made of tiny diamonds.
She thought that the blue sapphire would be a focal point and would also go well with the gray dress.
“What do you think, Elaine? Even if it’s not what these people recommended, if there’s something you like, just pick it. After all, you’re the main character.”
Sergey asked, watching Elaine’s expression.
But Elaine had no insight into the quality or design of the jewels.
‘When have I ever seen anything like this?’
The jewels spread out on the black velvet were all so beautiful and dazzling that it was difficult to know what to choose.
Finally, Elaine picked out the earrings Merida had chosen.
“I think I like these, too.”
“Really? Then….give me both.”
“Huh?”
While Elaine was confused, the merchant bowed deeply and took both the diamond and sapphire earrings separately.
“Why are you buying both of them?”
“I’m not just going to buy two, I’m going to buy more. I need to buy a necklace and a bracelet, and it would be nice to have a hair ornament too.”
“I have jewels, so they are useless. Why would you buy them?”
“Useless? After debuting in society, you have to go out and about here and there, so you can’t wear the same thing every time. You also need to get your dress made quickly, but since it’s the end of the year, the reservations are piling up. I’ll find a clothes shop as soon as possible.”
Elaine’s mouth dropped open, couldn’t figure out what was going on, but Emily, who was next to Elaine, smiled as if she was buying something of her own.
“That’s great, miss! Isn’t it?”
“But…”
“I’ve been learning how to do makeup and hair since last year. I’ll make sure you stand out more than anyone else during your debut! Just wait and see!”
Emily clenched her fists, staring into space as if trying to remember.
“Okay, now that we’ve chosen the jewels, it’s time for the shoes. Tell the shoemaker to come in.”
When Sergey clapped his hands, the merchant quickly put away what he had brought, and Hubert went outside and called out to the shoemaker.
Everyone except Elaine was moving briskly and excitedly as if it were their own work.
But Elaine, the person involved, fidgeted with her fingers anxiously as she thought.
‘Is this okay? Am I relying on Sergey’s sympathy like a parasite? I’m nothing…’
But she didn’t have the courage to say the words out loud.
* * *
Thank you for translating, Chewyy!!