10. I Became Beautiful
“How would you like the bath?”
As Abby wiped my body with a towel, she asked so.
After my body was wiped clean, I was taken to the bathroom.
How spacious—!
It was even larger than that of the Kingdom of Verclaim’s.
Even though Lynchgiham was supposed to have scarce resources… or so said Prince Claude. He also mentioned something about Lynchgiham’s financial situation being not so good…
When I saw both the city and the castle, I immediately questioned that.
“I, it’s truly comfortable…”
“Fufufu, Lady Eliane, why are you squatting in the bathroom? Could it be, you rarely use such a bathroom?”
Certainly… bathrooms were used exclusively by aristocrats.
When the commoners bathed, they usually did so in the public bath, and only once a week with the purpose of cleansing their bodies.
Once again, there was the fact that I was Prince Claude’s fiancée.
—Normally, I’d be able to use the bathroom every day, however…
“I wonder if it’s been three days ago, I was also in a rush at that time…”
“Is that so? That should be normal, shouldn’t it?”
Abby was convinced.
In the first place, a saint should be allowed to take a bath every day.
However, in proportion to Claude’s heart moving away from me, the number of times I could use the bathroom also grew more limited. At first, I could use it once every two days, then once every three days… finally, once a week.
In the end, not only could I only take a bath once a week, a time limit of 5 minutes was also imposed on me.
As such, there was no way I could dilly dally in washing my body.
Well, even so, I was grateful because being able to take a bath was still considered a luxury.
“Despite such, Lady Eliane, your hair is very beautiful. As the same sex, I’m jealous.”
“Is that so?”
“Even before you took a bath, it already looked immensely beautiful. But now, your hair resembles fine-quality jewels strewn around… now, you can go meet His Highness the King with confidence.”
“T, thank you very much.”
For the first time, I was told that my hair was beautiful—
—mumumu…
As I thought, there were various odd things regarding my former livelihood as a saint…
“Me too, I also think that Abby is very beautiful.”
“Fufufu, flattery will get you nowhere…”
Even though I was being serious…
Abby also seemed to be the type who didn’t convey much through her facial expression…
…However, the smile she abruptly showed me looked super cute.
It made me want to pat her head—not like I could do that, though!
“Well, then, Lady Eliane, please change into this dress. I shall give you a hand.”
“Your help is appreciated.”
Saying that, Abby appeared with a beautiful white dress.
It was the type a queen would wear.
Wearing something like that… would that be alright?
I was confused, but I let Abby dress me up as I stood in front of the mirror—
—then.
“As I thought, you’re truly beautiful! Well, it’s said that a beauty will stay a beauty no matter what she wears… but you make even the dress look more beautiful, Lady Eliane!”
Abby said very excitedly.
Originally, I’d humbly say, “No, that’s not true…”
—but such wasn’t the case that time.
T-that’s me!?
It was as if I was reborn as a princess!
Abby also trimmed my hair. In front of the mirror, it was as if I was exuding my own radiance!
It’s as if I’m not looking at myself…
“What’s wrong, Lady Eliane? Do, do you not like the dress!?”
Perhaps because I stood in a daze, Abby looked a little panicked.
Therefore, I immediately shook my hand in front of my face.
“T, that’s not it! Thank you for the wonderful dress. I was just moved, that’s all!”
“If that is the truth, then I’m relieved.”
Get a grip, me!
I was utterly moved, I was at loss for words…
Back in my former kingdom, I was told against attending dance parties, therefore I have almost never donned dresses—only once or twice, at max.
But that was a long time ago.
Claude didn’t let me attend dance parties. I am sure he at that time was already infatuated with Leticia, therefore he didn’t care about me.
Ah… the more I remembered Claude, the angrier I got.
I must forget about him.
“Even so, is it okay for a commoner like me to receive an audience with His Highness the King?”
Since I was also a saint, back when I was still in the Kingdom of Verclaim, I often met with His Highness the King—but no one should know about that.
After I asked so anxiously,
“What are you talking about? I’ve heard from my Lord—you’re his benefactor. We’re the ones who should be humble.”
“Is that how it is…?”
“Besides, His Highness the King treats commoners and the aristocrats equally. Even if you’re a commoner, there shouldn’t be a problem.”
Abby encouraged me.
“I see…”
But I couldn’t help but worry—
—am I nervous?
After all, I was about to meet the King of a kingdom. If I somehow behaved uncouthly, I didn’t know what would happen to me.
“Lady Eliane, excuse me…”
Perhaps feeling my anxiety, Abby hugged me—
—mugyu.
“…!”
Due to its abruptness, I unconsciously leaned to Abby.
“You don’t have to worry about anything. Moreover, you’re a very beautiful person, His Highness the King will be surprised—‘how did my son managed to encounter such a beautiful woman!’…”
“A, Abby, you’re crushing me…”
“Forgive me.”
Abby quickly released me.
Her countenance reverted back to that of an iron mask.
“Alright then, Lord Nigel should be returning, soon. If you still feel uneasy, I’ll hug you again.”
“I, I’m fine, thank you!”
“That’s good.”
Thanks to her, some of my tension was relieved.
Abby… even though she looked young, she seemed to be a fairly competent maid.
If such was indeed the case, I felt I could relax and have an audience with His Highness the King—
—from the bottom of my heart, I believed so.
***T/N: :> … *is visibly uncomfortable at the excessive amount of flatteries in this chapter*
“How would you like the bath?”
The original sentence was ‘How was your bath’. However, I took the liberty to reword it to ‘How’d you like your bath’ otherwise there’d be inconsistencies. :/
This reads like the author is desperate to get the prologue out of the way or something?
Liking the general fluff of this novel, thanks for picking it up!
As an aside, the formal terminology for royalty is “his/her/your majesty” for kings and queens, and “his/her/your highness” for princes and princesses. Nobility has their own sets as well, but they’re easy enough to find with Google-sensei 😉
This chapter was just… weird. It gives the feeling of being an entirely different story now. Also, wasn’t the maid described as a strict looking glasses woman in the previous chapter? Yet in this one she is described as a cute young made? Was the author high on shrooms or something when they wrote this?
The story is getting weirder by the minute though… even if Claude didn’t like Elaine, it was mentioned that she still had audiences with the king. In other words, the king valued Elaine… so why didn’t the King speak out against Claude never bringing his fiance the Saintess to the dance parties? After all, if she was going to be the future queen, surely such a thing would not only be expected but actually benefit them? And if this was the case, why did Elaine simply not talk with the King and tell him that his son was an idiot?
Lynchgiham was mentioned to having been at war with Elaine’s former kingdom in the past… that kingdom believes that Nigel’s kingdom is poor… yet it has been shown to be rich. So exactly what is going on here?
Perhaps we are not seeing the entire picture here? Perhaps everything that has happened is actually a scheme created by Nigel’s kingdom? Perhaps they used some sort of magic to delude everyone’s minds and make them stupid? Perhaps Leticia is a succubus sent by Lynchgiham and she is using some sort of magic on Claude and everyone to make them retarded?
Dear reader, please remember to be respectful and not offensive towards a real person.
[to that of an iIron mMask] -> {to that of an iron mask} ~ unless intended?
Hm, this feels way too rushed, and how did they reach the capital so fast? Rather, it seems Eliane got there in about 3-4 days, but an SS rank adventurer needs a week to get back from another town in the same country (might be another, but…)? I wonder if the author just ignored distances.
Thanks for the chapter! Awesome translation! God bless you!
There seem to be some inconsistencies here, as if the author felt they hadn’t made her miserable enough before and decided to retcon things. Initially, it was stated that the prince insisted on her being beautiful and demanded she use expensive cosmetics, which was why her hair was lustrous. Also mentioned that she didn’t have much experience with men because when she went to a ball she couldn’t dance with anyone, since she had a fiancee, and would just eat in a corner.
If she is using expensive cosmetics for the purpose of being pleasing to the prince’s eyes, it makes no sense to limit how often she can bathe. There’s also no way her hair would look good with one five minute wash per week, unless she’s using saintess magic to keep herself clean. Likewise, if she’s only ever been to one or two balls and never wears dresses (what does she wear regularly then? Saintess’ robes? What was she wearing when she was exiled?), that would likely stand out more than her eating in the corner when she went. Plus, it would be strange for her to be in a corner if she only ever attended one or two balls. All the other guests would have been very curious about their future queen and she would have been the center of attention on her very rare appearances.
Besides, how was the prince keeping her hidden? Balls organized by the king should have included her, and she would have received invitations to balls and tea parties organized by the other aristocrats. If the prince didn’t care about her, would he have gone around forbidding everyone from having any contact with her?
There’s reveals later on, and at least one is a little bit of a surprise if you haven’t taken time to think about it, but it all fits together. Hint: It’s not that they don’t care
I ;ike the flattery she’s obviously been beat down a little kindness goes a long wsy
Things are getting shady…she needs to more aware of what’s going on around her and stop following people she doesn’t know to there house…how naive can a person be???
One of the things I appreciate about you is how often your T/Ns are my exact thoughts on the chapter. That was… a lot of flattery.
Thanks for the chapter! Its nice to read about an MC that doesn’t get the short end after having a bad time with her past kingdom. The only issue i have now is wondering when the next big plot point will show up?
Thank you so much! I was hoping for this story 🙂 ex fiancé is even bigger id*** that we were thinking 😀 looking forward to everyone seeing the most beautiful her ☺️
Thank you for the chapter! Without this, my laptop would have flown on the wall after my excelsheets crashed for the nth time.
So glad Eli is getting treated well. For once I would like to thank the thot since without her, Eli will be stuck with the idiot.
Thanks for the chapter! 🙂
She was only allowed to take a five minute bath once a week?
… it’s no wonder she seems to have left an entire kingdom so easily. I mean, subconsciously she must have realized how awful her conditions were.
Of more concern is that kind of treatment in general was being let past by the people around them.
One of the supposedly most important people in your kingdom (and assumed future queen) not being allowed to socialize, not being allowed to bathe, and whatever other abuse the Prince piled on her, with this clearly continuing on for a lengthy period of time; and no one tried to correct or deal with this situation?
The one who could do something about it is the king but clearly, he chose to stay out of it and let his son semi-abuse his future wife. Most likely getting married to the strongest saintess is a practice of tradition so I won’t be surprised the king himself has other concubines and neglects his legal wife just like what his son is doing.
Asking how would you like the bath is like asking her if she would prefer her bath to be scalding hot or warm or floral scented or something 😮 thanks for the translations~
The original sentence was ‘How was your bath’. However, I took the liberty to reword it to ‘How’d you like your bath’ otherwise there’d be inconsistencies. :/
Haha whoops my bad, was sleepy when typing the previous T/N
Given the context, ‘How do you like the bath?’ would be more appropriate. ‘How would you like the bath’ would be said before entering the bathroom, to check her preferences (and possibly change things to match). ‘How do you like the bath?’ would be said after entering the bathroom to gain her impressions of the bath, which is the context we see here.
I presume the original was something like “Ofuro wa ikaga deshita ka” or “Ofuro wa dou deshita ka”.
Yeah the other kingdom did not treat her well at all. To all the people saying she should have kept on helping that country, good riddance.