Chapter 7 – Progress (Part 9)

“Ka… Karinsa, you!”

King Clois couldn’t hold back his laughter at the sight of Princess Karinsa.

“Pffft! Your… your look, what is that! Pfft!”

Princess Karinsa gave her brother a sharp look but wasn’t offended.

‘Brother lacks the aesthetic sense to understand this style.’

Turning her head with a pout, Princess Karinsa then noticed the presence of Ronan and Aaron Hass in the chamber, and she was slightly flustered.

Ronan had a momentarily surprised expression at the sight of Princess Karinsa, then suppressed a smile. Cassius maintained his expression but was inwardly surprised.

“Um… Cassius, I mean, Duke Grendel, it’s been a while. If you have time, would you like to have tea with me?”

Cassius glanced at the setting sun outside the window.

“I was planning to leave the palace soon as it’s nearly dinner time.”

Karinsa, in her haste to arrive, hadn’t thought to change her prepared lines for the afternoon tea time.

“Oh, then instead of tea, perhaps dinner together…!”

“If someone appears unannounced during meal time, it might fluster the kitchen staff at the princess’s palace. And I have work to attend to at my residence, so while I appreciate your invitation, I’m afraid I must decline.”

Watching the exchange between the Duke and Princess Karinsa, both Aaron and Ronan sighed and shook their heads, empathizing with the princess’s struggles.

The king, still unable to stop laughing, gestured for Ronan and the Duke to leave. As Cassius began to leave without any reaction to her ‘mature’ appearance, Karinsa, unable to hold back any longer, asked.

“Duke Grendel, don’t I look a bit different today?”

Karinsa had dressed in a style that might have been fashionable nearly a century ago, with an overly puffed updo, exaggerated sleeves, and a dress with frills at the hem. Her makeup followed the trends of that time, with a white powdered face, dark eyebrows, and bright red lips, complete with a fake beauty mark next to her lips.

Even at grand balls, such voluminous dresses were no longer worn, and the trend now was for makeup that looked naturally vibrant.

Upon the princess’s question, Cassius examined Karinsa closely. His serious gaze made Karinsa blush with excitement. As Cassius opened his mouth to speak, Karinsa was full of anticipation for what he would say.

“It looks like you’ve come to recreate traditional attire. I vaguely remember the grandmothers at court gatherings during my childhood wearing similar outfits.”

Princess Karinsa, caught off guard by Cassius’s unexpected comment, could only open and close her mouth like a goldfish, unable to speak. Meanwhile, the Duke and other visitors bid farewell to the king and left the audience chamber.

After the chamber doors closed, Ronan looked at the Duke with a sympathetic expression.

“I’m not sure the answer you gave was what Princess Karinsa wanted to hear.”

“I responded positively to her efforts to preserve a fading culture, so I’m not sure what the problem is.”

Cassius’s words were purely inquisitive, without any sharpness or criticism. Ronan chuckled.

“Since you have no malice, it makes Princess Karinsa’s situation seem even more pitiful.”

Ronan bowed and quickly exited the palace. Aaron, curious about why Princess Karinsa appeared in such attire, followed the Duke.

***

Clois, having laughed until his sides hurt, was now sitting askew in his chair. In front of him, Princess Karinsa stood still with a dazed expression. The excessively voluminous hem of her skirt made it impossible for her to sit.

“Why… why… I dressed maturely according to the lady-in-waiting’s advice, so why… Lady-in-waiting! It was useless! Why did you give me such advice?”

Princess Karinsa’s anger, having completely misunderstood the meaning of ‘mature appearance,’ was unjustly directed at the lady-in-waiting standing beside her.

Of course, the lady-in-waiting had an opportunity to intervene when Princess Karinsa began dressing in such an odd manner. However, Karinsa often stubbornly refused to listen to others once she fixated on something. It was easier to let her have her way and offer an insincere apology later when she became angry.

Additionally, the lady-in-waiting had observed that even if Karinsa properly understood and dressed maturely, it was doubtful she could capture Duke Grendel’s heart, so she hadn’t bothered to correct her.

“Yes, yes, Princess. I must have been short-sighted. What could a mere lady-in-waiting like me know? I only spoke out of turn to ease your worries, and it caused this. It’s all my fault. Please forgive me.”

The lady-in-waiting apologized with an expressionless face. King Clois, finally grasping the situation, adjusted his posture and spoke to Karinsa.

“It seems you’ve misunderstood the meaning of maturity. This isn’t mature; it’s outdated. Such trends passed long ago. As Cassius said, it reminds one of grandmothers.”

Karinsa sighed deeply and asked Clois.

“It seems that as a woman, neither I nor the lady-in-waiting understand what men want. But as a man, brother, you might be able to guess what kind of mature charm would appeal to the Duke.”

“Did the lady-in-waiting tell you that Cassius wants a woman with mature charm?”

“Well, since I was with you and your study companions from childhood, I think he still sees me as just a little sister. I want to move beyond the position of a childish little sister. If I show him that I’m not just a child, but a proper woman, won’t he see me differently? I don’t want to be seen as a child who needs bugs taken off her shoulder, like last time.”

Clois, though unsure of Cassius’s tastes, thought that if ‘mature’ were limited to a mental aspect, Cassius might desire a woman with mature mental qualities. However, he doubted that Karinsa could suddenly display such adult qualities.

As Clois hesitated to speak, Karinsa asked.

“Brother! When you first saw Sister Agnes, she seemed like just a girl, but you said you suddenly felt a woman’s charm. What was the trigger?”

The question reminded Clois of Queen Agnes’s birthday during their engagement. At her birthday party, Agnes had worn a beautiful dress that accentuated her figure, different from her usual neat attire. Clois had been mesmerized.

“It was probably when she showed a different side. She wore a dress with a seductive aura that revealed her curves, a trend in the southern region. It’s a hot country, so they prefer lighter, more revealing fabrics than Brunchia. It was quite an exotic charm.”

Clois wasn’t merely surprised because Agnes wore a revealing dress. He already had feelings for her, and her confident demeanor in such different attire, without any awkwardness, exuded the allure of someone destined to be queen.

Even if Agnes, who usually wore revealing clothes, had worn a fully covered outfit that day, Clois would have been equally smitten. Lost in thought, he considered asking the queen to wear something different after a long time.

Karinsa, feeling as if she’d been struck with a hammer, was in shock. The lady-in-waiting clicked her tongue inwardly.

‘The princess will focus on the revealing aspect rather than the fact that it was different. Will that work on the Duke? It might actually help if the princess shows genuine maturity instead of childishness. …Wait, that’s uncertain. Sometimes those who seem reserved on the outside are more devious inside.’

Princess Karinsa, leaving the audience chamber without even greeting the king, commanded the lady-in-waiting.

“I need to commission a new dress. How much time is left until the high taxpayer’s court banquet? We need to prepare by then.”

The lady-in-waiting, once again expressionless, answered and followed the princess.

***

For several days, Elysia was troubled, feeling that her relationship with the Duke had become even more distant than when she first entered the duchy. The strange state of their relationship worsening, when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, had persisted lately.

Unable to understand the reason, Elysia retraced her actions, pondering over them one by one, and recalled the time she had encountered Cassius at the training grounds.

At that moment, Elysia wondered if Cassius had become upset because she had clapped and enjoyed the knights’ tricks at the training ground. It seemed that finding amusement in watching knights, who were almost bare-chested, perform like entertainers might have irked the ever-serious Duke.

‘Perhaps he was displeased with the frivolous attitude of someone who is supposed to be the future Duchess, and the ridiculous antics of the knights he trusted in front of her.’

Elysia pondered what Cassius’s demeanor had been like before that. She realized that he had started acting coldly towards her even before the training ground incident, precisely after inviting her family. 

Elysia reconsidered whether there had been any issues with her or her family’s behavior during their visit.

‘Was he upset because my father hinted that he wanted some family time alone? Or did I inadvertently show too much of my impolite true self? Did he become aware of my nature and lose affection? Or was he disappointed because I was too exhausted after my family left to focus on redecorating the duchy?’

There seemed to be more than just one or two reasons.

‘If he has complaints, he should just say so! What’s the point of having a mouth if you don’t use it!’

She wanted to subtly probe during mealtime to find out the reason, but she couldn’t. Lately, the Duke seemed either too busy or was avoiding her, often skipping shared meals, claiming he had no time and eating alone in his office or the Administrative Palace.