Chapter 74

The Emperor still had no intention of releasing me, and I couldn’t stay here indefinitely. I had no desire to go on worrying the people around me.

If I made the declaration in a setting as symbolic and public as the Founding Festival, no one could dismiss it as an eccentric whim.

I smiled to myself and changed the subject.

“Have you decided what you’ll wear to the Founding Banquet?”

“Naturally, something to match Your Highness.”

“Good heavens.”

Oh — now that I thought about it, I hadn’t heard a word from Madame Drouet. Was the dress simply not going to arrive? A quiet worry crept in.

Well. She’ll reach out eventually.

And so I waited without any particular plan, until —

The day before the Founding Festival arrived. My dress had still not appeared, which meant it was almost certainly a no-show.

Both Friedrich and Joachim, who had vowed to match my color, had long since given up on seeing the dress first and ordered their own outfits.

“Even so, paying off such an expensive dress as a favor — that would have been a waste.”

Elsa spoke as she regarded the dress that had yet to arrive.

“Or perhaps, as Your Highness had hoped, Lady Marcella simply turned the tables on you.”

“How so?”

“By not paying Madame Drouet for the dress.”

“Ten chests of gold is pocket change — but a gown by Madame Drouet is another matter altogether?”

“It costs as much as an entire townhouse.”

Elsa, ever unflinching when it came to money, wore an even more neutral expression than usual as she added her commentary.

Fair point. Not a bad theory. To be honest, that was part of why I hadn’t pushed Madame Drouet to hurry.

What business did I have arriving at my last imperial banquet in a Madame Drouet gown and then announcing I intended to return to nature?

“Well, it doesn’t matter to me. Any dress will do. The simpler, the better, actually.”

At that, Elsa’s eyes narrowed, and I startled under her gaze.

“……Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s just that you sound like an entirely different person from the one who always said she must outshine everyone else at every banquet.”

“……Well, that’s because I’m someone who wants to retire to the countryside now. I’m not the same person I used to be.”

I was caught off guard for just a moment, but I recovered well enough.

Then Elsa paused, and posed a strangely pointed question.

“Will everything truly be resolved, Your Highness, once you retire to the countryside?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your power remains unchanged. Will the Empress simply leave you be?”

“She keeps failing at assassination attempts as it is. Once I’ve fully stepped away, there’s no reason for her to waste the effort.”

I answered lightly and shrugged.

“If anything, this might work out better. For the banquet, I could wear something entirely plain, without——”

“Your Highness!”

A maidservant burst in from outside, urgent and breathless.

“Madame Drouet has arrived! Shall I bring her to you?”

What? She didn’t cancel?

I was still blinking in surprise when, moments later, Madame Drouet herself appeared.

I couldn’t help but flinch. The full, commanding figure I remembered had shrunk to nearly half its former size.

“The radiant morning star of Stade, blessed by the grace of the divine……”

“Please — sit down first.”

I couldn’t bring myself to ask why she was so late. She looked as though she might collapse at any moment — her eyes had lost their light entirely.

Elsa moved quickly and brought a glass of sweet orange juice.

Madame Drouet drained it in one go, then smiled weakly.

“Ah, thank you……I haven’t been eating properly lately……”

Gone was the theatrical voice I remembered from our first meeting. Her expression, too, was completely worn — hollow and exhausted.

What on earth had happened to her?

“You must have been quite ill.”

“No……no, I haven’t. I am……perfectly well.”

She looked as though she was about to fall over. I swallowed my true opinion and said,

“I assumed you’d come to apologize for not being able to finish the dress — but you needn’t worry. I am magnanimous enough to——”

“Not finish the dress?”

Madame Drouet’s eyes flew wide as she lurched to her feet.

I nearly jumped out of my chair.

“What — how could you say that! No — absolutely not! I……I am deeply sorry for the delay! But I finished it. I finished it, in the end……!”

“Oh — is that so? I’d assumed, with how late it was, that it had fallen through.”

“I truly apologize for that. I’m afraid I’ve been completely shut away in the workroom……”

“Well, Madame Drouet finished the dress long ago, then spent night after night revising it — that’s how it came to this.”

The voice that finished her sentence belonged to Marcella.

I turned my head to find her stepping inside — fashionably late, as always — smiling the smile of someone who had long since given up trying to rein in a force of nature.

“She said she had to offer a perfect gown to the radiant star of the empire. In my opinion it was already perfect — but these last few days she barely slept or ate.”

No wonder — those shadows under her eyes looked deep enough to skip rope in.

“You really pushed yourself far too hard. There was no need to——”

“There was every need!”

Madame Drouet’s eyes, somehow, had recovered their fire. She straightened and clapped her hands together — twice.

A moment later, the boutique’s assistants filed in, carrying a dressmaker’s mannequin.

“Good God……”

The words left my mouth before I could stop them.

Elsa stared at the gown with blank, stunned eyes, then turned to me.

“And you’re saying Lady Marcella paid for this in full?”

“……That’s right. I haven’t given a single coin.”

“Stay on her good side.”

Elsa added this in complete sincerity.

“She must be very fond of you, Your Highness.”

Regrettably, it did seem that way.

“How do you find it, Your Highness? I do hope you’re pleased……”

Madame Drouet’s question prompted a helpless laugh to escape me.

How do I find it? Even asking was an insult to the designer.

In one sense, it was a simple gown — white fabric, scattered with diamonds. And yet those diamonds were no larger than a thumbnail, set in precise, curving lines so dense they dazzled the eye just to look at.

It was as though someone had captured the image of sunlight pouring down onto the earth and stitched it into silk.

Rubies were set among the diamonds at intervals, adding depth and accent. They caught the surrounding brilliance and blazed — with an intensity more arresting than any gown done entirely in red.

Is this what a chandelier would look like, if it were made into a dress?

The collar was adorned with larger diamonds and rubies arranged in the shape of a necklace, as if it had always belonged there. A matching cape was attached to the gown — and together, they created the illusion that the wearer was surrounded by an aura of light.

Even someone with no eye for beauty whatsoever would understand it at a glance. This dress had cost an extraordinary amount of money. And an extraordinary amount of care.

Honestly — even arriving the night before the banquet would have been forgivable for something like this. The problem was——

“……This looks like something one would wear to a coronation.”

If I showed up in this tomorrow, everyone would be absolutely convinced the princess was making a serious move toward the succession.

“There wasn’t quite enough time this round, so it’s a little lacking. For the coronation itself, I’ll make it even grander!”

“……Even grander than this? Wait — no. I won’t be having any of that.”

“Best to start preparing early, Madame Drouet. Knowing how much care you put into your work.”

And of course, Marcella was fanning the flames from the side.

I turned to look at her, at a complete loss, and asked,

“How much did you pay?”

“Oh, well — as you can see.”

Marcella laughed and evaded the question entirely. An astronomical sum, then. The gown certainly looked the part.

“……Was this always your style? I don’t remember your work being quite this elaborate.”

Madame Drouet’s gowns were always the talk of the season, yes — but nothing this extravagant had ever come out of her atelier that I could recall.

I was searching René’s memories when Madame Drouet smiled, bright and refreshed.

“Not typically, no — but this time I had my own feelings invested, and so I put in a little……more. And of course, Lady Marcella’s generosity was more than sufficient.”

How much did she actually pay? I was still reeling when Madame Drouet, looking considerably more alive than she had moments ago, beamed at me.

“It was worth it, naturally. Now — please try it on. I imagine it will fit perfectly, but one can never be too sure.”

“No, wait, I——”

I can’t wear this tomorrow. My entire plan will fall apart if I do.

……But there was no way to say that — not when every single pair of eyes in the room was already glowing with anticipation.

Even Elsa was no exception, which was genuinely shocking. You — you could make that expression?

“If you’ll permit me, Your Highness.”

She was already unfastening my dress. Leading the charge, apparently.