Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 133

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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 133

The person who truly led the fashion of the Imperial high society. Someone everyone hoped to obtain a dress from, or failing that, a pair of gloves or a fan. A free spirit who could rake in money by the handful yet refused any work that didn’t suit her whim.
This mad designer had presented Empress Cleo with a dreadful dress, and when the furious empress wouldn’t understand this “art” as befitted someone of her nobility, had lamented so theatrically about dying from grief that she’d kept her studio doors shut for nearly half a year. Now she approached us with that languid, drifting gait.
Hair bleached white by repeated, deliberate treatments—limp and colorless. Eyes the shade of wine-dark burgundy, full of indifference. Over a thin silk shirt lay a short leather cape adorned with chains of gold that hung and chimed with every movement. Even indoors, tight leather boots that climbed all the way to the calves.
It was a bold ensemble, the kind rarely glimpsed even in high society, where men faced far fewer demands than women.
Ordinarily a man’s shirt would be buttoned all the way to the collar with a proper tie secured above, and Lisianthus had been criticized as a ruffian merely for undoing a few top buttons—though in his case, remembering the incidents he’d caused at social functions, one couldn’t really fault society’s judgment.
Empress Cleo might parade about with her bosom exposed day in and day out, but that was tolerated under the name of fashion precisely because those inclined to judge her harshly on account of her origins already did so without limit, and besides, as empress, no one dared openly object. But the counterpart was that men’s fashion remained largely unchanged, uniform across the board.
It wasn’t as though there were no noblewomen or young ladies who secretly dyed their hair in pursuit of the blonde coveted by all society, but the men here simply didn’t dye theirs. Since hair color naturally varied, showing no concern even when gray appeared was simply the culture.
Yet a man who walked past while carelessly sporting hair bleached white through repeated decolorization and yawning was living paradox incarnate. Jewels dangled from earrings pierced through multiple points on his ears, catching the light.
“I’m telling you, it’s absurd. Heard all this talk about the history of Imperial high society, the history of fashion—gentlemen who’ve never once picked up a needle going on about embroidery scissors and recording everything so meticulously. I’ve never been fond of it myself, but perhaps the Countess Gordian ought to purchase something, wouldn’t you say?”
“…I’m not sure what your intention is in insulting me at such an occasion, Lord Mercury, but hoho. My dressmaking studios follow tradition one and all—places of historic lineage and refined taste.”
Fire flickered in the eyes of the woman who spoke, pressing down her anger and maintaining her composure. The man, by contrast, wore an expression of utter indifference—like someone watching a distant fire across a river. Then he laughed softly, pointing at my dress.
“Really following tradition, and yet you don’t even recognize that dress? The Celebration Banquet Dress of the Previous Empress?”
“…Pardon? I heard the Previous Empress’s Celebration Banquet Dress was an empire silhouette made of white muslin! Even though I couldn’t attend that occasion, it had a different shape than what the Princess Titania wore, and….”
“No, there’s a golden lily and diamonds right in the center of the dress.”
The woman finally examined my gown more carefully, and her face drained of all color.
Valentina had mentioned deliberately, saying there was no need to have a new dress made for me.
‘You see, if you wear a newly finished dress you’ve never worn out before, how would others know if it’s new or old? But by now, everyone who matters knows the state of your household expenses. Even if you rushed to commission a new dress, word would leak about where you had it made. Well, if you borrowed the Castrain Family’s hand, you could have a new dress made perfectly invisibly. But as I said, your debut is a great opportunity, isn’t it? And they won’t even remember what it means that I’ve “returned.”‘
Valentina had plenty of money and a close relationship with the Previous Emperor. That meant she possessed several noble gowns steeped in a history that no one would dare question.
‘Besides, people tend to forget old things far more completely than you’d expect when fashion changes. For instance, even when the Imperial household embroidered lilies, they often incorporated this simplified pattern. What was it called—the emblem of one of the noble houses integrated into the Imperial line long ago, so traces of it remained. It’s merely a convention with little meaning, and people forget it so easily. Empress Cleo dismissed all the stuffy Imperial traditional gowns as uninteresting and wouldn’t even glance at them. And the Empress herself, who was worth preserving for, hasn’t made a formal public appearance in anything truly radiant in ages due to the empress’s territorial pettiness.’
Empress Cleo deliberately ignored Imperial traditions and customs precisely because her own lineage was insufficient.
And the Countess Gordian had not been invited to the Previous Empress and Previous Emperor’s celebration banquet, so she had merely heard accounts from others and assumed the dress was of that sort.
Thus she had never imagined that my dress, which had a quite different overall silhouette and additional embellishments, could be such a gown.
She knew most fashions and trends well enough—she felt confident that surely she knew something she didn’t, and would have assumed she was already learned and knew best, in the way that a moderate level of study in any subject makes one feel most knowledgeable.
Because the dress was decorated with diamonds scattered about, the lily embroidered across the upper bodice was relatively difficult to observe. Especially so, since the recent fashion in high society was to embroider flowers realistically and magnificently in every way.
‘So, who attacked first, and who defended. In what manner did people act—I should watch carefully.’
A woman of tremendous background, yet an eccentric who couldn’t tolerate a single illegitimate child from her husband and had chosen to live confined to a villa of her own making.
There was no one who could ignore Valentina before her eyes, and yet that image of her persisted nonetheless.
Had she been even slightly more cautious with her opponent, would Valentina so thoughtlessly have debuted the Princess Titania and dressed her so foolishly in a gown without any provenance, inviting controversy? That’s what one might think, but….
If this was Empress Cleo’s trusted retainer, who had heard that Valentina had little money left and couldn’t even receive Imperial support, she might have thought quite simply.
That an ignorant old woman, who’d been shut away in her villa for so long she didn’t know high society’s manners, had merely spent money to refurbish an old dress. That if it wasn’t visible to others, they’d think it new. If anyone called it new, you could simply mock them, asking which renowned dressmaker had made it….
The woman whose face had gone pale objected.
“Even if it is the Celebration Banquet Dress of the Previous Empress, what connection exists between the Previous Empress and the Princess Titania that justifies wearing such a gown to a debutante ball? The Princess Titania was born only after the Previous Empress had passed!”
“I shall answer that.”
Valentina smiled.
“The Previous Empress desired a daughter, you see. She would clasp my hand—I being her sister-in-law—and lament that she wished for just one beautiful daughter to dress in fine clothes. The wedding dress the Imperial household naturally preserves as a historical artifact. But the Celebration Banquet Dress she could pass down and down to a daughter, a granddaughter—if only she had just one. That wish moved my heart so, I thought perhaps if I gave birth to a daughter myself, I might pass it on. And so I’ve kept it all this while.”
Had the debutante been announced so publicly, even the elderly grand dames living in seclusion like Valentina might have made the heavy journey. Before such people, one dared not resort to such petty schemes.
Murmurs rippled from all directions. The Countess Gordian’s face flushed crimson with shame. Had matters continued as they were, the Countess’s reputation would have been destroyed, and she would have effectively handed Empress Cleo a tidy victory. Yet in that moment, someone interjected.
“The Countess Gordian was perhaps hasty. But the Princess Titania would not be accustomed to high society, so it was merely excessive concern, worrying whether perhaps she had made a mistake. She will surely go forward commissioning several new dresses and pursuing proper social activities.”
“Quite so.”
A couple who had softly inserted themselves into the situation came into view. A man and woman, each with an agreeable impression. And from behind those two, a familiar figure approached. The clamor from all around subsided in an instant.
“I am relieved to see you defending yourself so well, Great-aunt.”
……
“This useless nephew of yours has not slept a night, great-aunt, struggling with how to apologize for the rudeness I have caused you.”
It was Brian, whom I hadn’t seen in quite some time. I quickly examined Valentina’s expression. Her eyebrows flickered for the briefest moment, but outwardly she appeared unmoved. Only the Countess Orland’s face had turned ashen. No matter that the caller was of high noble standing, they had said no invitation had been sent to the Lande Marquis House in preparation for such an eventuality.
Of course, even so, one could not simply turn away or coldly refuse a high noble who had come without invitation—but ordinarily, to avoid the disgrace it would bring, no one visited uninvited.
Yes, not unless he had a motive like Brian, a Prince.
Brian knelt before Valentina, who stood rigid as stone. Everyone was astonished. Murmurs echoed and rippled outward like sound waves.
“Will you forgive this unworthy one?”
In those eyes seeking forgiveness, something infinitely cold and bleak shone, then vanished like a trick of light.

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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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