51. The Homes of Aristocrats and One’s Parents are Challenging (3)
Due to the sudden appearance of beautiful guests, the surroundings became noisy.
His Majesty is becoming the main focus…
From the start, not only were the single noble ladies, but also married women and young aristocrats were all bedazzled by Gaizel.
For a moment, Tistye was anxious. She felt unworthy of standing beside him—
—however, the voice of his heart cheered her up.
[“Guh, the wolves all eyed Tistye at once! I wanted a dress with less exposure, but if this what Tistye likes, I have to respect it… In fact, she does look great and beautiful… it’s as if the Queen of the Night has graced me with her appearance…”]
Your Majesty, it’s alright… they’re all focusing on you, not me… I’m glad you praised me, but I wonder if you’re actually looking at me…
She glanced at Gaizel’s face, but his face was as unreadable as ever. It was hard to believe he was actually praising her.
He didn’t seem to mind about whether or not she was suitable to stand beside him.
Eventually, the party started. The guests started conversing with a glass in their hands.
“…It’s good to see you, Your Majesty! You used to be so small…”
“Glen, what are you talking about?”
“Being honest to you, the children also want to meet you!”
Gaizel seemed to be somewhat uncomfortable with the happily laughing couple.
When Tistye wondered what had happened, Gaizel re-introduced them.
“A long time ago, the Duke of Kalida took care of me.”
“A long time ago, as in, after His Majesty left the royal capital and came to Lacie?”
“That’s right. However, I didn’t live in the capital.”
Most of the influential aristocrats had residences and territories in the royal capital. It was said that Gaizel spent his childhood in a manor of the house of Duke Kalida.
Then, Sarah happily talked to Tistye.
“Even though His Majesty was so young back then, he never acted childish.”
“Yes. He did everything by himself. He didn’t cry, or get angry. On the contrary, he did his best to not be a burden. Never would I have thought he’d enter the emperor’s succession battle…”
“…Sarah, don’t go there.”
“You know what, he might be good at studying and martial arts, but he didn’t have a single speck of interest in politics. One day, I discovered that my sword and horse were missing. Apparently, he was chasing for Proserpina, the Goddess of Spring—”
“—Glen, that’s enough.”
…Where was the usual Gaizel, who could make his vassals to tremble with one word?
“To tell the truth, when this child came to our house, he was enthusiastically researching every day. I asked him about the purpose of his research, but he refused to tell. After I persistently kept asking him, the reason turned out to be a girl…”
“A girl…?”
“Yes, a girl he met at the royal palace of Lacie. He said she had helped him—helped thaw his heart. For the first time, we saw him smiling happily—”
“—Sarah!”
“Ahaha, I’m sorry.”
Tistye’s face was boiling red, while Sarah smiled gently.
The girl he met in Lacie, the one who thawed his heart…
…She didn’t remember being the Goddess of Spring, but that was probably the name he came up with for her. By the way, Tistye remembered being likened to a goddess and a fairy when they first met.
It seemed that when Gaizel was young, he was a lot more honest.
Maybe because another guest had arrived, the couple told Tistye to enjoy the party. They disappeared into the main gate.
Tistye gently looked up at Gaizel.
“What a lovely couple.”
“Well, indeed…”
[“They’re part of the reason why I didn’t want Tistye to participate…”]
After combat training, Gaizel seemed to be three times more exhausted. The glass he was holding was slightly drooping.
On the other hand, Tistye was able to learn about the new side of Gaizel which made her happy.
“I’ll let you know that I never said those things.”
“W, what?”
“That, the Goddess, of Spring…”
Tistye grew flustered again.
“Glen was just speaking metaphorically… well, although I won’t deny what he said.”
“I, I see…”
Keeping his eyes to the ground, Gaizel didn’t say anything further.
Tistye felt too embarrassed to look away, somehow. Then, a familiar voice called out to Tistye.
“Your Majesty, you seem to be in a good mood.”
“Sir Astil…”
Appearing were the Schneider siblings whom she met at the dress meeting. Luca, whom was a designer, was dressed in a silver formal attire. The deep indigo tie added to his elegance.
Elena stood a little behind him. She wore a pastel green dress with white hand-knitted lace. It was a docile color for an unmarried woman, but it still looked good on her nonetheless.
“There’ll be another meeting so you can try the prototype, soon. By the way, there’s something I’d like you to look at.”
Luca took out a piece of paper from the inside of his coat.
‘Ciel Etoile’ was written in silver ink on the crimson backdrop.
“Actually, I’m thinking of launching a new brand at our workshop.”
“A brand?”
“Yes, it’ll specialize in women’s dresses. We plan for everything to be custom-made.”
The reason seemed to be that Luca’s designs became so popular, keeping up with the orders at their current scale was difficult.
They said they were going to gather some craftsmen and set up another workshop. The brand would specialize in outfits for women whose orders had increased.
“By the way, I’d like to use the dress I’m designing for the empress as one of our highlights for the new brand.”
“My… dress…?’
“Yes, being able to claim we worked on the dress of the empress, the nation’s mother, women would crave our brand even more.”
Tistye, who couldn’t comprehend the topic at first, was having it confidently explained by Luca.
Rather than an aristocrat, Luca was more of a businessman. Then, while Gaizel spoke to Luca, Tistye spoke to Elena who hid behind him.
“Good evening.”
“Good evening, Your Majesty.”
“It’s a very nice dress. Did your workshop come up with it?”
“No, this is…”
Tistye furrowed her eyebrows a little. It seemed that talking to Elena would only cause her to grow more nervous.
It had been a while since Tistye met a woman of similar age other than Lizzy. Therefore, she wanted to get along. But, given their positions, such didn’t seem like it’d be easy.
***T/N: I miss it when Tistye implied that the voice of Gaizel’s heart is subsiding because he’s becoming more honest. Now we’re supposed to treat it as something that never happened.
Please also consider donating to my ko-fi! It’ll greatly support me in action, no matter the amount!
Thank you for your translation!! To be honest, what keep me going right now is the shared feeling of frustation with the translator and editor of this series hahhahaha. The first part was soooo good, too bad every character development that happened there was forgotten by the author. But as always, the translation is great, good work!