Chapter 40

‘Gosh! W-What is this?’

I was startled by an unexpected object lying on the desk.

I took a paper cutter made of platinum, which I had never used before, and ripped open the envelope sealed with sealing wax and string.

It was the first time an invitation came to me after the possession.

‘Ah, f— It was this?’

I was a little excited, but as soon as I saw the contents and the sender, my excitement disappeared.

It was an invitation to attend a magic theory conference.

Since they wanted to study the formula more in-depth, they were asking if I could present the related information myself.

“Ah. My life…”

I was reborn with beauty and wealth, but is it that I only receive invitations to academic conferences and not invitations to fancy parties or social gatherings?

‘Still, I’m glad it’s not a duel.’

It’s a bit annoying, but I replied that I would attend.

This is a great opportunity to promote the improvement formula, so there is no reason to refuse.

Recently, it has reached a point where it appears that all wizards are my stupid customers.

(T/N: The word used for customers is a slang that means a customer who is easily fooled or scammed.)

“Tell them it’s a positive answer.”

The servant who received my letter, sealed with a purple seal, politely bowed his head.

“Yes, Princess. Also, Helen Zihto has just arrived with the dresses for the Spring Blossom Festival ball.”

“I will go to the living room.”

As soon as I sat on the sofa with my arms crossed, the door opened and the servants started coming in, with their arms full of spring-inspired dresses.

Helen Zihto, whom Deborah had picked directly in the Yones District, has been designing my clothes for a long time.

From a chic and urban feeling to a glamorous and sophisticated feeling. She was good at choosing clothes that matched Deborah’s image.

As she is a talented designer, I have been leaving her to it; but this time, I was involved in making the dress for the spring flower ball.

I showed Helen the pink diamond in person and asked her to come up with a design that would go well with the jewel.

I didn’t wear it on purpose because I didn’t want to get dragged into the original work; but thinking about what Philap did to me, I felt angry.

After all, that bastard is the one who has a prejudice against me and argues with me no matter what I do.

‘It’s my jewel, so why can’t I be confident?!’

Rather, it would be easier to take this opportunity to increase the value of the pink diamond and resell it at a higher price, as the Master said.

‘And to make the necklace stand out, the design of the dress is important.’

Deborah’s face and body are always doing her best, so only Helen needs to be good.

Today of all days, the designs were a bit ambiguous.

Helen, who seemed to have been working overtime because the work wasn’t going well, looked at me carefully and gave a presentation about the dresses in an unconfident voice.

“Princess, this dress is made of pale pink silk satin, with an elegant swan-like neckline that reveals the shoulders and makes the necklace stand out.”

It’s pretty, but the problem is that it doesn’t suit me.

After looking at several dresses in front of the mirror for a while, I opened my mouth.

“I don’t like any of the designs you brought in today. The frills are overdone, and especially this ribbon, I’m sure you understand it without me having to explain it.”

Helen lowered her head with a pale complexion.

“I apologize. As I kept thinking about the pink diamond, I couldn’t think of the Princess, who is the one actually wearing the clothes. I was careless.”

‘I don’t think it’s working out…’

The pink diamond has a heart-shaped design that emphasizes its lovely feeling.

No matter how good Helen is, if she emphasizes the necklace, it seems that it will inevitably conflict with my image.

After all, it was an item that made the simple and innocent Mia look charming in the original work.

‘I think I will have to give up on the jewel.’

If I went out wearing those cute pink dresses, everyone would think that I was awkwardly imitating the person next to Philap.

I would be the ridiculous one.

“Helen. Stop thinking about the pink diamond and fix them in a way that suits me better.”

“Yes, Princess.”

“I like the off-the-shoulder, so start with that. Instead, I would like the fabric to be a much more intense purple than it is now.”

After giving a few opinions and sending Helen back to the boutique, I realized I was overlooking the most important fact.

I have a dress, but I don’t have a partner to escort me to the ball.

***

‘Why don’t I just get a suitable guy?’

Last year, at the Spring Flower Festival. Deborah attended the ball with the son of a generous vassal, but returned home early on the excuse of a stomach ache.

Because she felt bad about Philap rejecting being her partner.

Before the ball, Deborah implicitly expressed that she wanted to escort Philap every time, but the results were always disastrous.

‘Why is the shame on me?’

Because of this, Philap couldn’t help but think I liked him.

While I was sipping apple juice and looking back at the fragments of the past, where it was hard to find the capacity for learning, a knock woke me up.

“… What is it again?”

I raised my eyebrows as I watched the servant come in with a letter and several large gift boxes.

This time, no matter how I looked at it, it didn’t look like it was from an academic conference.

“A Young Master has sent a gift to the Princess.”

“To me?”

I reached out to the letter in a suspicious mood, and as soon as I checked the sender, I coughed and spat out the juice.

[Louis Gargell]

The guy who gave me the thrilling nightmare of being chased by wild Thomson’s gazelles with just the letters of his name.

I ripped open the letter and checked the contents.

[Greetings. Princess Deborah.

Let me introduce myself, the eldest son of the Gargell family who owns a silver-filled fief in Akon. Louis Gargell. I am currently receiving education to become the head of the family… (…)]

Seeing the first page of the letter full of self-pride, I stuck out my tongue.

‘It’s the stupid pervert from the original work for sure.’

[I have heard from Sir Belreck about the Princess’s beauty… (…) May I ask such a precious person to be my partner for the ball? I am waiting for a positive reply from the Princess.]

As expected, the letter said that he wanted to escort me to this ball.

The ball held at the Imperial Palace was also a suitable place for unacquainted men and women to meet.

“Hmm, he used his head well.”

After reading the letter, I opened the gift box that Louis Gargell had sent me, and found it was full of silver specialties from the Akon region.

“Princess Deborah. How should we handle these things?”

“Leave them for now.”

“Sorry? Ah, yes. I understand.”

The maid flinched and was agitated at my words.

She couldn’t help it.

In the past, Deborah relentlessly threw the gifts of young men in the trash, and when a letter came, she burned it.

After her terrible temper was revealed to the world, her popularity with the young men plummeted, and no more gifts came.

Deborah was convinced that it wasn’t that she wasn’t popular, but because no one would dare covet her because of her deep feelings for Philap.

‘Well, what do you expect from a consistently stupid character.’

If they were gifts from aristocratic men, they must have been expensive; so why throw them away? It’s a pity.

‘How much is all this?’

I was delighted as I looked at the silver ingots and ornaments in the box.

Although gold was the standard in the Azutea Empire, silver coins also circulated, making it much more money-making than jewelry.

‘Thank you for introducing me to a good person, Belreck. I will repay you for this favor immediately.’

I grinned at the local specialties from the Akon region.

***

Belreck rubbed his forehead at the news that Deborah had not burned Louis Gargell’s letter but instead received it along with the gifts.

‘Why?’

He thought she would go crazy, saying she wouldn’t accept it unless it was a gift from Philap.

He was confused because lately, he couldn’t predict his sister’s behavior at all.

To the extent that he suffered from severe headaches every night and lost his appetite.

“Shit.”

He let out a swear word and roughly swept up his long hair.

“How the hell could this happen!!”