Chapter 85: Chapter 35. Dress for the ceremony

After the strange incident that happened to me last night, I tossed and turned for a long time before I could fall asleep again. But in the end, I managed to get quite a bit of sleep, because early in the morning my already restless sleep was interrupted again.

«My Lady, are you awake yet?»

After this question came from outside, the next moment, the door to my room opened without warning. «What’s going on...?» When I was still lying in bed and barely opened one eye, I saw the maids bringing a mannequin with clothes and other strange objects into my room.

Following the maids, a woman I had never seen before also entered the room.

— What’s going on? Who are you? — Half asleep, I absentmindedly sat up, trying to figure out what was going on.

— Madame Revin greets Lady de Walt, — a middle-aged woman entered the room and bowed deeply to me, — weren’t you warned about my visit?

— Warned...?

To be honest, I couldn’t figure out exactly what was happening right now. Confused, I turned to the maids, and they explained to me in a guilty voice:

— Lady, we told you last night that Mrs. Reven would be paying you a visit. Don’t you remember?

I blinked as my sober mind finally began to return to me. Come to think of it, the maids were actually chatting with me about something last night... But apparently, I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I didn’t pay any attention to it at all. But as it turned out, that’s exactly what it was about.

Madame Revin owned one of the best tailoring studios in the empire. To place an order there, the client had to have a certain status in society and capital, and the very existence of these requirements spoke of the high level of this institution. The name of this salon and its owner has been widely known in high society for several years. And even I’ve heard of him before.

But there was one thing I couldn’t figure out at the time.

— I’m... pleased to meet you, madam. But what are you doing here?

I can say with confidence that until recently, I definitely did not make any orders in this atelier that would bring this woman to me. And, to be honest, lately I haven’t been in the mood for shopping at all...

But anyway, I still couldn’t figure out what it all meant.

Madame Revin smiled faintly at me.

— Lady, I was hired by Her Highness the Crown Princess to prepare an outfit for you for the engagement ceremony.

I think I finally woke up from sleep at that moment.

«Wait! The engagement ceremony outfit...?!»

And why am I the last to know about something like this?!

— Since the deadlines set by Her Highness were very tight, the seamstresses in our studio have been working without sleep and rest day and night for the last two weeks. Fortunately, we’re almost done with the work, — she said, — but I need to check if there are any areas that need fixing, and that’s why I came to you today.

Madame Revin presented me with a mannequin on which hung a wedding dress, which made me speechless. The dress was crystal white, and as expected, it looked very beautiful. But what caught my attention in the first place...

The pattern on this dress was a traditional imperial design with fine gold threads. The problem was that usually dresses with such a pattern were intended for future empresses... In other words, it was a dress for a royal wedding!

— This is the dress you will wear to the engagement ceremony, my lady.

«...»

Madame Revin’s further words seemed to come from a long way away, as I was still in absolute shock.

When the maids helped me put on this dress, I still felt like I was out of my mind.

— Lady, please spin around a bit.

Feeling like a living mannequin, I continued to follow the instructions of the salon owner while she carefully examined the dress and looked for any flaws in it. To my great surprise, the dress, which I had never seen before, fit me perfectly. Obviously, Madame Revin had received all my measurements in advance. And I didn’t even want to know exactly how they took them off me...

— My Lady, do you like the dress? Do you have any special requests? — the woman asked when she was sure that all the stitches were indeed done perfectly.

«.....»

When this question was asked to me, I looked at myself in a large mirror in a daze.

And the reflection of the girl dressed in a white wedding dress didn’t seem to belong to me.

To be honest, I still couldn’t believe that all the conversations about our wedding that I had previously heard from the mouth of the main villain were really being conducted in all seriousness.

«I can’t believe the engagement ceremony is just around the corner...!»

This fact worried me much more at the moment than the beautiful dress from Madame Revin.

***

After the fitting, the owner of the atelier wished me a «happy» engagement and left the finished dress in my room, and she left. As I continued to stare at him for some time, I realized that I just couldn’t sit idly by.

Plagued by anxious thoughts, I decided to talk to the Crown Princess again about our upcoming engagement. After all, judging by the conversations of the servants among themselves, I guessed that the ceremony would take place even earlier than originally planned.

And this news didn’t make me very happy.

After all, this ceremony definitely shouldn’t have taken place before our plan with the main character came true! I had to escape from here before I was forcibly led down the aisle. Thus, I absolutely had to talk to the villain about this topic and try to convince her.

However, there was an unexpected surprise waiting for me at the entrance to the office of the Crown Princess.

— ...I am so sorry. Her Highness is unable to meet with you yet.

The dark warrior knight standing guard in front of the door apologized to me and bowed.

«What’s the matter?» I asked, a little surprised, because I had never had any problems arranging a meeting with the princess at any time of the day.

«Her Highness is not in her office right now, but she should be back soon,» the knight informed me.

«Ah, I see.»

I nodded my head slowly.

«It’s all right. I don’t have anything else to do today, so I’ll wait. Can I come into the office then?»

«Of course, I’ll let the lady know that you’re expecting her there,» he replied readily.

Heading to the villainess’ office, I sighed softly. For some reason, I was still uneasy.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read