Incidentally, as far as Charlotte could recall, she felt as though she had been wearing fluttery scant gowns the entire time.

“…Looking at them again, all these dresses display my cleavage!”

“…You don’t have to bother saying it because I can see that.”

“This dress is also amazing! There are slits in the thighs and so on!”

“You don’t have to actually point to your thighs!”

Both that day and day prior, she chose to wear rather baggy dresses.

Although, there was no deep reason for that. It was because less exposure meant more warmth.

“Oswald, do you like dresses with a lot of exposure?”

“I don’t care about such a thing.”

“!!”

Charlotte was shocked by the words he uttered so nonchalantly.

“Under normal circumstances, I’d let you wear whatever you want. However, the upcoming evening ball is an exception. If your attire is too conspicuous, it’ll cause unnecessary trouble…”

“New dresses! I’ll do something about procuring new dresses! I will change out everything right now!”

“…I said this time is an exception.”

“I’ll order a dress with less exposure!”

Oswald glared at the desperate Charlotte.

However, he eventually reverted to his usual self.

“In any case, if you were to order for a new dress now, it wouldn’t make it for the evening ball.”

“W, what if I were to sew the chest area of this dress together…?”

“That’d only ruin the dress. Well, if we can’t tailor a dress, we can just purchase a ready-made product.”

That made sense.

What should I do? I don’t remember where to shop for dresses…

Even if she were to tightly knit her eyebrows, the memories were unlikely to surface.

Then, to Charlotte, who in troubled, Oswald uttered as if it were nothing.

“It can’t be helped. I’ll buy one for you.”

“Eh?”

Oswald glanced at Charlotte as she went agape.

“The afternoon after tomorrow, let’s go to the city. It’s my day off, after all. …What’s with that face?”

“A, are we going to buy a dress?”

“Huh? Well, it’s your dress. How am I to go about picking a dress without you present?”

“…Together.”

She desperately thought.

“…Together, together means going shopping with someone.”

“That’s correct.”

“Then, what correlation does that have with Oswald’s day-off?”

Oswald spoke with a deep sigh.

“Like I said, we’re going to the city together.”

“…!!”

Hearing that, Charlotte’s mind went white.

Colorful flowers were in full bloom while the old gardener blew a blessing on a trumpet.

In other words, she mustn’t mess up no matter what! She asked with conviction and concealed excitement.

“C, could it be, I’m going on a date with Oswald!?”

“You’re mistaken.”

“Ehhh!?”

With a bitter face, Oswald closed his eyes and stared at Charlotte.

“Don’t misunderstand. As your supervisor, I mustn’t leave you alone in a busy and public place.”

“Well, but it still counts as a date with Oswald right?! We are picking a dress together, right?! Therefore, it’s definitely a date?!”

“…You’re mistaken.”

“Uwah!”

Oswald suddenly slammed his hands together.

“Listen, we’re merely walking at equal intervals apart from each other, going to the same store for the same purpose, and buying quickly what you need.”

“Ugh… Yes, I understand!! Oswald and I will just be walking while keeping equal distance from each other… With the same purpose… Entering the same shop… buying what we need. In other words, we will just be buying a dress for the evening party together… Hmm?”

“That’s right, did you understand it properly?”

…I don’t know why, even though it isn’t a date, I feel extremely lucky!

Oswald sighed when he noticed that Charlotte was beaming.

“Then, I will go back to my room.”

“Yes, good night, my beloved Oswald!”

“…Why are you so excited?”

Until Oswald went out the door, Charlotte tailed him and saw him off with all her might.

Oswald seemed terribly annoyed, but eventually left the room with a look of resignation.

“…The room Oswald enters, such a wonderful space…”

After swooning, Charlotte gently picked up the diary on her desk.

When she lifted the cover, the diary opened smoothly.

On the second and third pages, only one word was written in the same handwriting as Charlotte’s.

‘Eliminate.’

“…”

Charlotte tried shaking the diary upside down to no avail. She still couldn’t progress to the next page.

---

***T/N: Gasp omg I love their interaction so much. Like, on the surface level, they are still on a different wavelength but you CAN FEELLLL ITTTTTTTTTT, THEY ARE GROWING CLOSERRRRR. Or maybe it’s just me.

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