Princess Shu

“I’m not the boss. I’m a corpse that has just died.”

“Boss!”

“I don’t know, I don’t want to, I’m not selling. Just tell her to take my hands away.”

Fleur was not exaggerating. She was now the most popular dress designer in the Gel capital, and she was so busy that it would not be enough even if she had ten bodies. Even princesses from other countries requested dresses from her.

Originally, she had few customers. Fleur was skillful and had good sense, but her weakness was that she had no fame. Paul would not have commissioned her for Valia’s wedding dress if it wasn’t for good word of mouth.

And in only one year, Fleur’s position rose sky-high. The nobles lined up to book dresses from her.

This was all thanks to the exclusive contract with Valia. The impressive woman with calm silvery-gray eyes had not terminated her contract even after going to the Garth territory. And with that, Fleur got busy even with just word of mouth. 

And it was not long ago that the Garth name was promoted to a duke.

A dukedom that was born after a long time. The capital was excited beyond description, and the Garth name became the main topic in high society. However, the main characters of the topic, the Duke and Duchess Garth, were in their own territory, the fact that they did not show their faces at all caused people to talk about them even more. And with that, the story of Valia’s dresses also came out. Fleur being her exclusive designer also could not be left out.

One after another events happened and Fleur Beauty Boutique was enjoying an unprecedented boom. To the point where people would even reserve every single ready-to-wear dress that was on display in the boutique, and where the workers at Fleur Beauty Boutique would make dresses day and night.

The nobles of powerful families were different. They wanted a tailored outfit from Fleur herself. Tailored outfits were different from ready-to-wear outfits. In addition, Fleur was a perfectionist, once she started her work, she would work hard to design it.

“Boss! Are you really not going to go out? The debutante dress for Countess Roland’s third daughter…”

“Argh!”

Fleur, who had her head on the sofa, jumped up. She scratched her head with her hands.

“My reservation is full for the next three years! I have to design 18 clothes every three weeks to fulfill them all! 18 clothes! Do you think 18 is a small number? How can I get more orders from here?”

Fleur shouted. She was in awful shape. Her eyes were bloodshot and her skin was dry due to lack of sleep. Currently, the best-selling designer in the Gel capital was like a half-dead body. Eventually, the assistant designer gave in and went down to the first floor alone.

Fleur flung her head back into the sofa. Ten minutes after that, the assistant designer rushed back and slammed the door open.

“Boss!”

I’ll fire him one day.

Fleur gnashed her teeth and shouted.

“I told you I won’t go!”

“But we just got a letter from Garth castle.”

“What? Garth castle?”

Fleur got up from the sofa right away. She snatched the letter from the assistant designer. She did not have any room to use a letter opener so she carefully opened the envelope.

Fleur began to read the letter quickly. She blinked her tired eyes and opened her mouth wide. The assistant designer, who was stretching out his neck and snooping at the letter, quickly asked.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“When we’re done with business today, call two of our fastest staff members. Anne and Land would be great.”

Fleur pulled up her long hair and tied it roughly. Then, she went over to the studio. The assistant designer followed her and asked.

“What did she say in the letter? What has gotten you like this?”

“She said she needs a dress.”

“Well, okay. But why are you so surprised? Where is she going to wear it?”

“Masquerade.”

“Ohh. It seems that Duchess Garth is planning to hold a masquerade.”

“I guess so.”

“As expected of Garth. It costs the most to hold a masquerade. I heard the cost to hold one masquerade is equivalent to the amount of five banquets. The nobles over there are very lucky.”

“She’s the Duchess Garth. Even her title alone is enough to explain everything.”

Contrary to her casual answer, Fleur’s face was very serious. She recalled what was written in the letter.

‘A dress that looks good with a tiara?’

Of course, Fleur remembered the diamond tiara that Duke Garth gave to the Duchess. Valia ordered a dress to match the tiara. But that was not all.

After Valia went to the territory, Fleur sent an order guide. The kind of situation she would wear the dress and the kind of ambiance she wanted. She could also designate if she had a particular color or length she wanted. This was the way Fleur used to take orders for dresses from foreign nobles.

Before this, there had been no particular demand in the letters. Valia simply wrote the season and usage.

Except for this letter.

‘Romance?’

Valia clearly wrote ‘romance’ in the ambiance that she wanted. It was a keyword extracted from a dress order by a noble from another country, which Fleur sent to Valia as an example. The noble was a lucky man who fell in love with his fiancee whom his parents had chosen. Regardless of the matchmaking between families, he ordered a beautiful dress for a nice proposal to his fiancee. There were no such details in the letter, but such a situation could be inferred enough.

Love after engagement.

Just thinking about it made Valia’s heart pound. She could not bring herself to write ‘confession’ so she tried to beat around the bush as much as possible and plucked up the courage to write down the word ‘romance’. She also thought it should be okay since it was a keyword from the sample letter that Fleur gave.

‘The tiara that Duke Garth cared so much about? Moreover, ‘romance’?’

Fleur could already make speculation based on the combination of the two words. She was a designer who took orders and made outfits for nobles. She knew when nobles would care so much about their clothes.

Dressing up for someone that they were interested in was kind of a way of expressing their thoughts.

For example, if the name of the lady in a nobleman’s heart was Rose, the nobleman would put a rose as his boutonnière. Something like this would not happen on just any day. In this case, the nobleman would also usually prepare a bouquet of flowers with a jewelry set.

In addition, Fleur often met the Duke and Duchess Garth. She could guess things more easily than others. If there seemed to be a lack of evidence, she filled it with her gut feeling. Artists would usually develop their senses in strange places.

‘I already know that Duke Garth cannot take his eyes off the Duchess. But I did not know it was the same for the Duchess.’

Fleur laughed.

I can feel what’s happening. 

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Schuden Garth taking leave had become a small topic in the capital’s high society. This was because Duke Garth had never taken leave ever since he was a Marquess. Not all nobles knew about it, but those who knew it, knew it.

But suddenly he took three months off.

It was short compared to other nobles, who usually took half a year off, this proved that Duke Garth was an important man in power. There was no noble in the Gel Empire who could replace him. After all, he was a man who was addressed with the same term as Duke Billiam from his time as Marquess.

Because of this, most nobles only thought that Duke Garth would finally be taking a break. He had done so many important duties, but in the end, he was still a human.

In addition, the territory of Garth was a land of abundance. The land was fertile and the climate was mild. The amount of grain obtained by farming was also very large, and it also had the sea in the territory. Since it was natural land, even if the tax rate was higher than in other territories, the residents were well off.

And just as tax rates were high, the security was strict and the roads were well maintained too. The relaxation and leisure peculiar to the warm climate were also a pride for the locals. It was just the right place for a vacation.

It was not as if Schuden was a noble who was fond of social gatherings or gambling places. Even in the past, he did not show his face to the capital’s high society very often. So everyone thought that Schuden would come back to the capital after finishing his three months in the Duchy.

The probability of meeting Schuden Garth in the capital was low. Especially in a jewelry store located in a luxurious urban area. The ladies who came to buy sapphire necklaces to match the newly tailored dresses whispered.

“Isn’t that Duke Garth?”

“Yeah, right. I think so.”

“I thought he was in the Duchy?”

“Maybe he came to the capital for a while.”

The ladies, who unexpectedly came across a big name, chased Schuden constantly with their eyes. He was just coming down from a special guest room on the second floor. Behind Schuden, a man with a shaggy gray beard followed him subserviently.

“Have a safe trip, Your Grace!”

After recognizing the man, the ladies’ eyes slightly got bigger. Of the nobles in the capital who were interested in jewelry, there were none who were unfamiliar with that man. He was the artisan of the jewelry store, Hubert. When Hubert gave a glance, the employees on the first floor bowed in a row to see Schuden off. That included Hubert himself.

“Take care of yourself!”

As soon as Schuden left, Hubert straightened his back. He could have given his greeting to the other customers on the first floor, but he did not. He just went back to the second floor with a thud of footsteps as if he were showing his attitude. The ladies tilted their heads without a hint of displeasure. Hubert was already infamous for his attitude.

“I can’t believe he kept his head down. What’s going on?”

The artisan Hubert was a man rumored to be of enormous ego and rather eccentric. But this was rather a public prejudice. Hubert was endlessly generous, courteous, and curried favor with the customers who paid him reasonable pay.

The problem was that the ‘reasonable pay’ that met Hubert’s standards was too high.

Hubert returned to the special guest room on the second floor. He sat in his seat and looked again at the jewelry samples and order sheet on the table. Schuden Garth personally wrote the order sheet, which has nearly 30 pages.

‘I didn’t expect Duke Garth to come.’

Even with the same name, there was a difference between a visit by a deputy and a direct visit from the head of a family. But even if the one who came today was a subordinate of Duke Garth, Hubert would have served him sincerely. It was a matter of course. Garth had that much power.

‘I never thought I’d be getting an order like this.’