207 - Summer Clothes and a Letter from Jemian
The dressmaker delivered the freshly finished summer clothes to the residence. As if on a whim, they also did a fitting for the formal wear that was suddenly ordered. Since we do not know when I will be called to the capital, two sets are being made, one for summer and one for winter.
...It feels a bit like cosplay, huh.
Even if you say "formal wear," I do not really know the standards. In my previous life, student formal wear was school uniforms, and for working adults there were rules like mourning clothes or dresses depending on the occasion. But in this world, if I had to be more specific, I could not even imagine the standard for what a ten-year-old commoner girl wears when summoned to the capital. What is more, in this country there seems to be a tendency that as long as clothes suit the person, anything goes, so quite a lot of freedom is allowed. So much freedom that I could not tell what criteria they use to judge something as formal wear.
...And lately, Leonyaldo-san keeps saying my preferences are fine, so that actually makes it harder.
Having things gaudily decorated according to Leonardo's tastes like before was a bit of a problem, but being given completely free rein is also a problem. There is inevitably a gap between my sense of things and the sense of this world.
...I feel like summer clothes in white fabric would look cooler, though.
White is the color worn by White Knights and Silver-White Knights, so it would be better to avoid it. I pinched the skirt of the formal wear I was being fitted for and moved a little while looking in the mirror.
The red skirt, made with lavish use of thin fabric, flared softly with my movements. The jacket was the same design as Leonardo's formal wear. Red is used as an accent color, but the base is black. Wearing black clothes in summer feels like they would just absorb heat, but when aiming for inoffensive formal wear, I had no choice but to imitate Leonardo. However, Leonardo's formal wear belongs to the knight order, so making it exactly the same would probably be a problem. I knew that much, so it has been adjusted for a girl child. Leonardo's formal wear has black pants too, but my skirt is a brighter red than crimson, and while the black base remains the same, there is more red area. Lace is also used on the gloves and hem, so it is less like knight order formal wear and more like a knight formal wear cosplay costume.
...Is this what they call a military dress, I wonder?
I saw a military-style dress in my previous life, and it was cute. I never imagined that after reincarnating into another world, I would be wearing one as formal wear myself.
"It is good that your confinement has finally been lifted, is it not?"
When I was twirling around enjoying how the hem of my skirt flared, it seemed Salisa saw me as being elated. She checked the position of the wrinkles created by my movements, adjusted the needle placement, and wrote something down on paper.
"It is not that I am excited because the confinement has been lifted, you know?"
When I praised the dressmaker's work, saying I liked how the skirt moved, the seamstress's hand stopped for a moment and her cheek twitched. Few people dislike being praised. The seamstress's daughter was probably also forcing her twitching cheek to stay still and pretending to have a blank expression. A mischievous impulse to shower her with praise until she laughed welled up inside me, but since it would be the seamstress who would get scolded after returning to the shop, I held back. As for the dressmaker's work, it would be better to praise it in front of Leonyaldo-san and have him add a little extra to the price.
...Well, I am happy the confinement is lifted too, though.
The other day, I used Mirshe, who was delivered by Alf's hand, to skillfully extract a promise from Leonyaldo-san to lift the confinement. The method was simple. I got Mirshe's sympathy that the confinement was a bit too long, and when I urged her toward Leonyaldo-san, he readily gave permission to lift it. Even Leonyaldo-san, I suppose, being called mean by a young girl under ten must have weighed on his heart in various ways.
...I get that he is struggling with how to treat me, not being the age I appear, though.
That said, being kept in confinement forever would be inconvenient. It is not like I am the type to go out frequently, but precisely because of that, having my actions restricted by confinement just when I want to go out is a bit troublesome. Its effectiveness as punishment is weak, but it is subtly inconvenient.
I took off the formal wear after the fitting was done and was about to change back into the spring clothes I had been wearing earlier, but then I hesitated. I thought it might be nice to show off the summer clothes to Leonyaldo-san before changing.
"May I come in?"
Waiting for a reply, I opened the door. When I entered Leonyaldo-san's office, Alf was there besides the room's owner.
"What is wrong? You said the dressmaker was coming today, did you not? Do you need something from me?"
"If I did not have business, I would not intrude on your work room, you know."
Though, that business was nothing urgent, just showing the delivered summer clothes. Not something I could puff out my chest and brag about.
"Look, please. This is the summer clothes Hermine-sensei designed for me."
I pinched the skirt and spun around on the spot. The skirt, made with the thin fabric for summer clothes, caught the air and puffed up softly, then settled down quietly. As a bonus, I added a smile at the end.
"...Am I cute?"
"Yeah. It suits yo... ah, no..."
Leonyaldo-san started to nod and soften his cheeks, but immediately his expression hardened. I could read as clearly as day that he had started agonizing over how to answer, so I deliberately put my hand to my cheek and tilted my head.
"When a girl comes to show whether new clothes suit her, there is no need to consider age, is there?"
If it is cute, say it is cute. If it suits, say it suits. Just answer honestly what you think. When I gave him that push, Leonyaldo-san gave a troubled wry smile, then finally relaxed his cheeks.
"...You are cute. It suits you well."
"Thank you very much."
The reason the design this time was by Hermine is that my preferences are apparently too simple and problematic for a lady. I want to avoid being gaudily decorated with lace and ribbons, but a certain amount of decoration is apparently unavoidable, so Hermine corrected the design for me. As a result, lace has been worked into the hem of the skirt, and fabric flowers are attached as decoration at the waist.
After I finished telling Leonyaldo-san about all the parts where the design had been corrected, he called me over to his desk since I was there. Lately I have been able to read letters too, and since it is known that my internal age is not the same as my appearance, I had been kept at a distance, so this was unusual.
"A letter addressed to you has arrived from Jemian-dono."
"...It came to Leonyaldo-san's place?"
I wondered if it had accidentally gotten mixed in with the luggage for the fortress, but as I took the envelope that was handed to me, Alf told me that it seemed Jemian had deliberately sent it to the fortress. Looking at the address, it was clearly a letter addressed to me from the start. Since the destination on the letter was the Grenore Fortress, it probably had meaning in reaching me through Leonyaldo-san.
"Does that mean he wanted me to inform Leonyaldo-san as well?"
"I do not know about that, but why do you not just read it first?"
A paper knife was handed to me along with the envelope, so I borrowed the desk and opened the seal. I think it was a consideration that Leonyaldo-san could have read it first, but it seemed he did not do something like opening a letter addressed to me.
"Is it about that embroidery?"
If there was some shortage or incident, I would have to tell Leonyaldo-san immediately. Thinking that, I started reading it right there, but the more I read, the more I wanted to hold my head.
"Uwaa..."
Apparently, that embroidery painting was causing Jemian tremendous trouble in Lagarette. The trouble was so great that the cat called "lady" which he had finally become able to wear lately had slipped off. I thought about how to explain this to Leonyaldo-san, but decided to just tell him directly. There was no need to dress up my words. Since it was causing trouble for someone else (Jemian), it was probably better to honestly consult with Leonyaldo-san.
"What is wrong, Tina?"
"It seems he is being asked by someone hard to refuse to sell Leo's picture."
Apparently Jemian has been refusing by saying it is a gift for the maker's brother, but the other party is not giving up and comes by every day demanding he sell the painting. I am curious about who could push Jemian around and who Jemian would have trouble dealing with, but more than that, I would be in trouble if that painting got sold to someone else without permission. That was originally prepared as a prank for Leonyaldo-san.
"Denied, denied. If you are talking about the painting Tina sent to Jemian-dono, that is the painting Tina made that is supposed to be my birthday present, right?"
As if to say he would not let some unknown person snatch it away from him, I had tentatively asked for his opinion, but Leonyaldo-san showed strong refusal. It was the reaction I had expected, but that embroidery painting is the kind of thing that even I would be troubled by if he had such high expectations. For me, if I could show it to him once and make Leonyaldo-san go silent, after that it is just a painting that is troublesome to deal with. Considering the future of the painting, which would probably be shoved into a warehouse once the prank was accomplished, having someone who wants it does not seem like such a bad thing for the painting itself.
"Personally, I am curious about who this someone even Jemian-dono finds hard to refuse is."
Jemian, the lord of Lagarette whose ancestors include royalty, is a Staff Peerage. The peerage system of this country is sometimes dismissed by neighboring countries as having no weight of blood in the families themselves, but that is only talk up to the Merit Peerage and Loyalty Peerage. The Staff Peerage, who have served the royal family throughout the country's history, are respected by neighboring countries as nobles of equal rank. If even Jemian, a Staff Peerage, finds someone hard to refuse, it would have to be royalty or those with close blood ties to them.
"I am sorry that he seems to be pestered by such a troublesome person."
"I think Jemian-dono can handle even a somewhat troublesome person without any issue... but it might be good to do him a favor here."
After finishing the letter, I handed it to Leonyaldo-san so he could check the contents. Since what kind of painting it was was not mentioned, there was no problem in circulating it.
"If Leonyaldo-san is fine with selling it, it might be better to sell it."
"It is the painting you made for me, is it not."
For Leonyaldo-san, it seemed more important that I made it than doing Jemian a favor. Honestly, if he values it that much, I wish he would value me as a person rather than the object. I have been secretly hurt by his attitude toward me lately.
...I understand he is conflicted, though. But still, it is a little lonely.
Even when I just came to show whether clothes suited me, he hesitated for a moment over how to answer. Since before, his impressions used to come out naturally without him even thinking, it feels like there is an irritating distance between us.
...My insides are not the age I look, but I am still pretty much the same kid!
"Tina, you do not have any objection to selling it?"
Giving up early on convincing Leonyaldo-san, Alf's gaze turned to me. I pushed the fact that I was feeling a little sulky inside to the back of my mind and switched my thoughts to what needed to be resolved now.
"Well, it is a painting I made as a birthday present for Leonyaldo-san, but it is a mystery whether he will even like it, so honestly it would be a help if someone took it off my hands."
"...What kind of painting did you make?"
Alf and Leonyaldo-san's voices overlapped at my far too dismissive assessment. Well, that was to be expected. It was as if I was saying it was fortunate that there was someone willing to take the embroidery painting I had painstakingly sewn stitch by stitch.
"It is a painting of Leonyaldo-san."
Since last year on his birthday, Leonyaldo-san had prepared a portrait of me as a birthday present, so I honestly answered that I had made a painting of Leonardo to hammer into my own head that receiving a painting of myself would not be something to be happy about. At the time, it seemed Leonyaldo-san's portrait of me had also had its imagination filled in, so I also told him that while I had borrowed Leonardo as a model, the motif was a different painting.
"...Tina, can I ask what the motif is?"
"It is the War God Herkeles. I had them paint a myth of Herkeles."
Leonardo is sometimes compared to the War God Herkeles for his military exploits. So I figured I might as well use the Herkeles myth motif, though it is more accurate to say I borrowed the appearance of a god I had never even seen from Leonardo.
"If they are seeking a painting of Herkeles... a knight family?"
"If they want a picture of you, it might be you they are after, not Herkeles."
"Do not say that. I do not want to think about it."
Saying he had a bad feeling about this, Leonyaldo-san held his head. As a suggestion from Alf, there was no point thinking about it here anyway. Since using the river would allow a round trip to Lagarette in a few days, they settled on the idea of going to see the painting first. After seeing it, they could either bring it back or decide to sell it, he said.
...It was just a little bit of playful fun, but somehow, I am sorry.
Next chapter title is "Peach-Colored Painting" (big lie)