Chapter 170 Departure
“Marriage, huh…”
After we told the royals about the engagement, the whole thing fell into purgatory.
Although it really isn’t something that can be decided immediately so there wasn’t really much else for us to do…
I thought of a possibility. Really, when we informed the royals, who were we actually talking to?
The king…he had fallen ill and was no longer able to attend to his duties. Queen Ellia was out of the discussion. None of the princes had the right to decide either. If one of them became king, they might not even take the blame for anything that happened before that.
In the end, that left only the queen dowager.
…Honestly, I don’t even know anymore who among the royals has the right to decide things like these.
“Excuse me, milady. Madame’s gown has arrived.”
I couldn’t help but exclaim at her speed even while starting to prepare with Tanya’s assistance.
The upper half of the gown exposed skin down to the collarbone. In front of the chest area were deep turquoise chiffon. Pearls were sewed into the chiffon, and they glimmered in the light.
The lower body started with a tight waist, a faded blue the color of water that transitioned into a deeper, darker blue the lower it went. Eventually it ended in a pleated skirt that seemed to ripple each time I moved.
I had specifically requested for Madame to use this material. In fact, this fabric that came in a gradient of colors was the newest product of the Azura Conglomerate.
When the Madame proposed that it would be ideal if we had such a fabric, the inventors who were part of the conglomerate combined all their minds to produce this product. It seemed that they had expended a great deal of effort in the weaving.
Because it was Madame’s idea, we agreed to give her the first supply of the product.
As a matter of fact, there was still a great deal of debate left to be settled over who owned which part of the product. But in Madame’s words, “As long as I can acquire the rights to a splendid fabric, that’s more than enough for me.”
…Her statement was quite characteristic of her, of course.
I determined the overall design. The details were decided by Madame and Tanya after intense discussion.
After the outfit, they decided to put my hair up in a detailed braid, add some diamond hair accessories, and then a necklace to finish off the look.
Today there was a dance hosted by the royals marking the beginning of the social season.
During this dance, the children of nobles from twelve to eighteen would greet the king. This would mark their first entry into noble society. It was quite similar to Earth’s “debutante”.
The reason why there was an age range was because each family decided for itself.
In short, it was a decision of whether their children could navigate the social world independently.
Although debuting earlier meant more opportunity to accumulate connections, it meant that a child was no longer allowed to be innocent. Instead they would need to become cunning in their deception. A dull or naive child could not be sent out into the world.
So in most circumstances, the debut age is fourteen or fifteen, when they’ve had the chance to gather some experience already.
If they debut too late, then there will be odd guesses and ideas, on whether or not the family has some kind of issue.
By the way, I debuted at thirteen.
Queen Ellia made the judgement that compared to risk there were more benefits to starting early, so Prince Edward debuted at that age. As his future fiance, I also followed suit.
…But of course, all this was from the past.
When we were finished preparing and waiting to depart, Bern came to my room.
“Sorry for the wait.”
“No, it’s fine…do you think that this is really a good idea?”
Hearing my question, Bern cocked his head to the side.
“What do you mean, a good idea?”
“Companions. I mean, asking you to serve as my companion again…I’m sorry.”
In official events like these, Bern was always my companion.
Because of how much I worked I never really had time for romantic encounters. Even so, it was a bit odd to go alone…that was why Father asked Bern to accompany me.
I didn’t really care about how it made me look, but it was time that Bern found himself a wife.
When we attended events together, he lingered around me like a police dog.
…Even though banquets themselves were also places for romantic encounters.
My current position is waiting eagerly for the next person to shoulder the mantle of Duke Armenia’s household.
…Even so, every time I think about everything to do with Yuri, my head starts to hurt.
He was no longer so obsessed with Yuri. Did this count as something positive?
“Because I’ve been working this whole time, I haven’t met an ideal woman. Please, sister, don’t worry about me.”
He said this with an exasperated smile, extending his hand to me.
I took his hand and stood up quickly.
“You look very beautiful today as well.”
“Thank you.”
We continued our lighthearted conversation while getting into the carriage that was headed for the palace.