Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 132

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 132

“I was there when Elaine made her debut. She was so beautiful, her every gesture so graceful. Everyone said she’d surely be claimed by some fortunate nobleman’s son.”
The woman speaking looked to be around Elaine’s age. I recalled the portrait attached to the Social Registry that Valentina had brought with her.
Since this was a proper debut into High Society, no one expected a young debutante to recognize everyone present.
More precisely, an experienced chaperone like myself was meant to smoothly introduce the other guests and guide her through the proceedings with practiced ease.
But everywhere, there were veterans hungry to see newcomers stumble and taste humiliation. And in an Imperial Palace held by Cleo, with an empress held silent, and with me scrambling to lay my own groundwork—the vultures circled all the more.
“After all, you’ve ended up beside the most noble person in this empire, and I was fortunate enough to witness your appearance from the beginning. Really, you resemble Elaine so very much from those days.”
“Oh, to be compared to Elaine, who was counted among the empire’s finest beauties back then—you flatter me too much.”
Valentina made no move to stop the woman from addressing me familiarly, instead withdrawing a few paces to observe the situation. Everyone watched our every move without missing a detail. Rather than stare openly, they made a show of gossiping with others while casting sidelong glances in our direction.
“Truly. The gown Elaine wore at her debut was a white Chemise Dress—somewhat modest, one might say, for a noble young lady making her bow. Yet somehow, when a person shines like a jewel, the modesty of her gown becomes irrelevant. After that, many debutantes chose similar Chemise Dresses, but they all left nothing but a shabby impression.”
A beautiful woman without standing behind her struggles everywhere. When the rumor spread that Elaine was a beauty, the Emperor certainly took notice, but even in her modest gown at debut, she had utterly eclipsed her peers in looks. For the young ladies who debuted around the same time, it was natural they found her unbearably beautiful—and hateful.
Once she’d borne a daughter and shut herself away in her palace, growing weak and sickly, complaining constantly—that rumor made everyone forget her. But then the Crown Princess Titania, who had dragged all manner of scandalous rumors in her wake, suddenly behaved as if transformed, brought fresh incidents and chaos, and abruptly forced through her own debut.
It was like throwing a stone into still water—a maelstrom.
Titania had a betrothal already arranged; she had no real need to debut, and certainly no urgency at her age. The unwritten rule was that invitations to balls where a debutante would appear should contain hints of this fact beforehand.
The purpose was to prevent guests from dressing more elaborately than the debutante and creating awkwardness for all involved, but today, neither Valentina nor Gordian’s wife had inserted a single word of such indication into the invitations.
They merely suggested it would be an important gathering and hoped the guests would attend with dignity—but this language was so standard in any sufficiently formal affair that it meant nothing.
As a result, those attending today knew nothing of the true significance and could only attack what was visible on the surface.
“And the gown you’re wearing today also bears that touch of Elaine from those times. It’s more than adequate to support the Crown Princess’s beauty!”
Why does she twist her words like that? It would be cleaner if she just said outright, ‘Fine, I’ll grant your face is pretty. But your dress is rather unremarkable.’ I smiled without a wrinkle, bright and radiant.
“I think my dress is truly beautiful!”
The woman’s face subtly darkened. I felt the thought flicker behind her bewildered eyes: ‘What is this girl doing?’
Using the voluminous fabric that had gathered in the skirt, I pulled out the sword that had been adhering to my leg—young Titania had practiced her dances so intensely that she could dance flawlessly while concealing a blade within the folds, so my success at it hardly surprised me—and let out an astonished voice.
-But doesn’t your dress have a massive chunk of diamonds on it?!
(๑⊙ﾛ⊙๑)
I heard diamonds are among the most precious minerals in the human world—have I been mistaken this whole time?!
-‘So the attack is that you heard of this sort of dress being made by a famous atelier, but they’re suggesting it’s some hand-me-down that came from who knows where…’
-Then do humans in this age wear clothes only once before discarding them?!
(оﾟдﾟо)
-‘The implication is that on one’s High Society debut—the most significant moment—I showed so little sincerity as to wear a second-hand gown. It suggests I don’t take this occasion seriously. And since hand-me-downs are not permitted unless there’s a truly meaningful reason, there’s also that degrading attack: wearing pre-worn clothing at a debut, which is supposed to be made in purity, reveals one’s character. But honestly, I’ve shown restraint just by being the Crown Princess and not rising to such base provocations.’
–
(；◔д◔)
Wow…
“Crown Princess, it seems you’re quite pleased with what you’re wearing today. Aren’t you?”
The woman’s mouth trembled faintly. I opened my eyes wide and spoke.
“Does anyone wear a dress they don’t like to their debutante ball?”
She started to let her face show shock at her own gaffe, then arranged a graceful smile and continued.
“…Haha! Well, place and propriety do sometimes prevent one from wearing even a dress one truly loves. I had assumed that Titania, the Emperor’s precious jewel and betrothed of the Castrain Family, would surely debut in a grand ball held in the Imperial Palace’s grand hall…”
“Yes, well, I’m the Imperial Family’s sole princess and the future mistress of the Castrain Family. So shouldn’t I be free to wear whatever I wish?”
“Oh, no, it’s not that, rather…”
Realizing she wouldn’t get anywhere with me, she averted her eyes. Searching for a better target, her gaze brightened.
“June! My goodness, with the connection our families share, if you were going to oversee the debut of someone so noble, couldn’t you have whispered something to me? So I wouldn’t commit rudeness toward the Crown Princess?”
“…”
June, the eldest daughter of the Orland household, who had been quietly enjoying the ball without dancing, turned her gaze toward us with evident reluctance.
Interesting. She was known for poor tolerance of direct attacks but expert at circling around to assault a person. She’d hint that by dressing so elaborately and beautifully, she’d committed a ‘rudeness’ toward me, and if I asked ‘What rudeness?’, she’d pivot to something like ‘The rudeness of not bringing a gift in advance’, then later laugh with her friends about how the stupid newcomer didn’t even understand what she was being insulted for. I could already see how it would unfold, and since June had debuted before me, she’d be all too familiar with this long-winded, roundabout way of strangling someone’s dignity.
June’s eye corners tightened slightly at the realization.
“My family’s affairs are overseen by my mother, so I have no need to involve myself. Gordian.”
“Yet, though it shames me to say, there’s hardly a dressmaker’s atelier as accomplished as ours in the Capital, is there? Had I known the Crown Princess would be debuting, we’d have spared no effort to create a beautiful gown for you.”
Cleo had always been sensitive about maintaining her own beauty.
That was why she’d brought Gordian into her faction. Gordian ran not just one but three renowned ateliers in the Capital.
Naturally, she was desperate to extract information from competing ateliers, and she had indeed managed to learn most of what mattered about their dealings.
The labor and materials that went into a single elaborate gown were tremendous, and even the largest ateliers couldn’t hide their client lists or the orders they took from outside.
That was why she could attack with such confidence, claiming the dress was used—even though it used so much fabric that the skirt spread like flower petals with a single turn, and was set with that many diamonds. Seeing that Valentina wasn’t intervening, Gordian grew certain of her suspicions and straightened her spine as she spoke.
“Why, Cleo herself relies on our ateliers quite often. There are few so attuned to High Society’s trends. Had she been here today, she’d have guided the Crown Princess quite skillfully…”
“My, how impressive! Ha! To speak of operating an atelier for a family with such limited vision, and with such pride at that! Since we all live such brief lives, I ought to learn that attitude, but alas, I cannot seem to manage it!”
Gordian’s face visibly stiffened. I felt Valentina’s loaded gaze upon me. Tap, tap. The figure who had been observing this entire farce took a new position in the gathering.
There she was. The contact whose true intentions we absolutely had to discern today.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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