The Villainess turns the Hourglass

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

As soon as Aria’s answer was finished, the waiting servants, with deft touches, helped her change her clothes. The elegant yet simple interior suit had been transformed into a colorful dress with Asher’s utmost sincerity, and the dress that no one seemed to be able to digest became part of Aria and made her look stand out.

“Oh, my God, Miss…! You, are so beautiful…!”

It made Annie’s constant babbling stop and she stuttered. Annie wasn’t the only one who thought so. Everyone who saw Aria in her dress could not speak in admiration, even the designer who was worried as she had made the dress that Aria’s appearance might be buried in it.

“I don’t have to try on another dress. There is no need to fix it. As I like it, I’ll do with this dress.”

As she really liked it, Aria raised up the corners of her mouth to the fullest and said, checking herself in the mirror. She might remember receiving a similarly colorful dress as a gift in the past and said that she might know Asher’s taste, occasionally smiling.

There were still a hundred dresses left, which they had made day and night, but no one was disappointed by Aria’s statement that she would not check them. It was then that everyone accepted that it was a very natural result.

“Ah, but wait a minute to clean up. There are still some people left to choose dresses.”

“… Yes?”

Aria, who uttered the unexpected words, looked at Jessie and Annie with a smile on her face. They were like the main characters of the words she just brought up.

“You are my precious maids who’ve done your best for me, and of course I should give you this much.”

“Miss…”

“…!”

As Aria had found her mate, they had also found theirs, so it must be a short time left before they could be congratulated by all. So when Aria said she would give them a present for the occasion, the designer was very embarrassed and stammered and dared to argue back.

“But, but Lady Piast…! This dress is specially made for the royal family or for the one who will join the royal family, and it is a little too much for a commoner…!”

However, in Aria’s chilly eyes that soon returned, the designer was forced to keep her mouth shut, unable to speak until the end.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll let them have a big wedding fit for this beautiful dress, so please refrain from saying anything unnecessary.”

Aria, too, had half the blood of the common people, and she spent her childhood in a vague origin of commoners. Even she was a daughter of a prostitute, they could find fault with anything if they tried.

The designer did not refute the idea anymore if she recalled this. Even so, she could not hide her disgruntled expression perfectly, if she didn’t like this situation.

Sensing this, Jessie, feeling anxious, hurriedly waved and tried to say she was fine, but Annie, who was in ecstasy, drew attention with a small shriek earlier than that. “Are you serious? Can I choose a dress that I really like?”

“Well, isn’t it a dress made for someone to wear?”

“Oh, my God.., Oh, my God. I can’t believe I could wear such an elegant and beautiful dress!”

As soon as Aria’s permission was given, the excited Annie began to wander among the dresses and find the most beautiful dress that would suit her. Like the designer, the servants who were proud of their work disapproved of it, but they quietly waited on Annie without expressing it otherwise.

“Jessie, what are you doing? Why are you not choosing a dress?”

“Miss…”

In the meantime, Aria approached Jessie, who was hesitating and was wary of others. She pushed her on her back and urged her to pick a dress.

“But, but… It’s too much for me… And I feel like I’m going to be troublesome for you…”

Aria pointed out Jessie’s foolishness with a very significant smile, as she might expect the tearful answer.

“Jessie, I know what you’re worried about, but… do I look so easy?”

“… Yes?”

Jessie looked up at Aria with a twinge in her eyes because it was a question that was completely incomprehensible.

“There’s nothing for you to worry about. No, something worrisome will not happen. You know… I’m not a very good person in the first place, am I?”

After a long period of time, she had overcome villains who she thought she wouldn’t dare fight against, and she had managed to get the people she liked, and she could not be wary of others who were low and insignificant like these.

“Miss…”

“I hope you realize that it is more humiliating and insulting for me to not listen to me here and to be wary of them.”

Aria urged Jessie again. It was an elegant and gentle expression like the first time, but its meaning was very significant. No matter how famous and great the designer was in the empire, nothing could be more disgraceful than that if it happened to defy the instructions of the soon-to-be Crown Princess.

When Jessie realized this, she bit her lip and moved slowly toward the dress as if she had no choice. This was because she knew that this kind of action from Aria would bring bad results, but she had no other choice.

Eventually, Aria presented Jessie and Annie with two dresses each, and she also picked a few more extra dresses for herself.

“I will charge them to the Imperial Castle.”

Aria shook her head when the designer said so, because it was a considerable sum for an individual to pay, although she was a noble.

“No, I’ll pay. There is a share for Jessie and Annie, so you can’t charge them to the Imperial Castle.”

At her beckoning, Aria’s maid, who was waiting beside her, took out gold coins and paid for them. There was no hesitation because it was Aria who had accumulated a large wealth beyond the financial power of the Roscent family which were once known as the richest in the empire.

The designer, who had an impure look at cash payments, not a cheque, recognized who she was and changed her face. She showed courtesy and left the mansion. The designer experienced the unexpected event that hurt her pride as just maids wore the dresses she had made with all her heart. However, it was nothing to Aria.

Aria was a woman who had built up her force and gained great wealth since she had been regarded as a villain and would soon become the Crown Princess. Even she had a strong foreign force existing in other countries. Unlike in the past, when she had been ignored for nothing she had but her appearance, she didn’t have any enemy anymore, so the designer didn’t have to be hated by Aria.

After everyone left, Annie, who had an unexpected gift, circled the lobby, wondering if she was dreaming. “I can’t believe I got this fancy dress…! No matter how much Baron Burboom succeeded in his business, he wouldn’t be able to give me such a great dress!”

“… That’s right. I don’t know where to wear it.” Unlike Annie, who was just excited, Jessie was somewhat uneasy and unsettled.

Annie criticized Jessie as if she had lost her excitement with this. “It’s a gift for us after a long time. Why do you have such a terrible face? You can wear it at the wedding of our lady, so what are you so worried about? There will be your wedding, too.”

“But I’m just a maid… These dresses are only for a few nobles to wear. I’m sure I’ll be laughed at by someone.”

“… What? Were you worried about that?”

Annie laughed loudly at Jessie, saying she was worried about nothing and asked,

“And… Did you say that you are just a maid? Do you think all the maids are the same? Don’t you know whose maid we are?” Annie showed her dumbfounded expression about how foolish Jessie was.

“We are maids of Lady Aria who is the Star of the Empire and will be the Crown Princess. We are even maids of the Crown Princess! Even the nobles dream of it, right?”

“That’s… right… but…”

It was not easy to work near a noble, but she was even a maid of the Crown Princess. It was so foolish of Jessie to demean herself and show an uneasy attitude even though she had taken on a position that ordinary citizens could not dare dream of.