episode_0067

The first thing I did after coming to work was to put up a sign at the entrance to the workshop.

Until now, I had been working with the Knights or clients, so it wasn’t really necessary, but now I’m targeting the general public.

I was worried that I remembered this when I was about to put up the advertisement and wouldn’t be able to get it in time, but thankfully, I was able to receive it right on time for work.

“Raise the right side just a little bit more.”

“Like this?”

“Yes, that’s right, you can nail it in like that.”

“Understood!”

“Sir William, what’s all this in the morning?”

“Putting up a sign.”

As I was watching the carpenter and telling him what I wanted, Princess Elizabeth, who was getting out of her carriage, frowned and approached me.

“A sign? Our workshop had a name?”

“No, it didn’t?”

“Then what is this?”

“I thought of it when I asked them to put up the advertisement, don’t you think it’s okay?”

“Haa… From now on, let’s seriously decide on important things like this.”

“Okay.”

Princess Elizabeth, after letting out a deep sigh, glared at me slightly, then brushed it off with a light comment.

The problem is that I decided on it roughly, but the name itself isn’t bad.

“By the way, now that I look at it closely, it’s in ancient imperial language?”

“Yeah, it feels a bit more fancy, doesn’t it?”

“If that’s the case, it would have been nice to use ancient imperial language for Atelier as well.”

“Workshop sounds better than Atelier.”

“Is that so?”

“Atelier is like a cradle for artists and creators.”

“Hmm, I see.”

The princess frowned slightly, as if she didn’t understand, and looked at the sign.

It’s natural that she doesn’t understand.

The truth is, it’s because Atelier was in the title of a game I enjoyed in my past life.

It also means workshop, so I quickly used it.

“Sir William, have you seen the advertisement?”

While I was blankly watching the carpenter hammering, the princess poked me in the side with her elbow and asked a question.

“Yeah, it came out well, didn’t it?”

“Right? It definitely seems like it will attract attention, but isn’t it a bit ambiguous?”

“Ah, I think I know, you don’t know what it’s trying to say, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Not yet.”

The advertisement that was uploaded this time is so unrelated to underwear that it could be mistaken for a Katerina photo shoot.

Because right now, I’m focusing on the store rather than the underwear.

The first advertisement was like shouting out a technique name.

It was me shouting that I’m going to do something amazing, so everyone should pay attention, and I was planning to unleash the real technique in the next advertisement.

With the aggro properly drawn, I’ll show the real underwear advertisement.

Whether it’s in a good way or a bad way, people will flock to it.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to unleash it properly in the next advertisement, so make sure you secure the fabric and practice a lot.”

“I’m already doing that.”

_

A time has come when all the young ladies fall into deep thought.

This is because the Founding Day in the middle of next month is followed by the Emperor’s birthday and the Prince Consort’s birthday.

In fact, there are the birthdays of the princesses and the Saint’s celebration in between, so for the young ladies, autumn is a period of hell for banquets and a period of imprisonment in corsets and petticoats.

It’s funny to use the word “punishment” for mere clothes, but when I think of the ribs that cracked because of the corset at the Prince Consort’s birthday, I still feel a throbbing pain in my side.

I vowed that I never wanted to have such a terrible experience again, but despite my vow, it’s now time to decide on the dress and corset to wear in the banquet hell.

I was waiting for my mother to tell me to go to the tailor, like a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.

“Haa…”

It’s rude, but a sigh escapes my lips.

I lightly moistened my lips with tea and glanced at the other young ladies who had gathered to avoid each other’s mothers under the name of tea time.

These people, who had been chattering like sparrows until last week, were as quiet as if they had come to church.

Their mouths were smiling, but their eyes were full of gloom, and it seemed like they were all thinking the same thing as me.

I was so relieved that I wasn’t the only cow waiting to be slaughtered.

“Everyone, did you see that this morning?”

As the gloomy atmosphere continued, Princess Florence, unable to bear it, squeezed out a bright voice and threw out a topic.

I didn’t know what that thing in the morning was, but the other princesses rolled their eyes for a moment, then raised their eyebrows as if they had realized something and leaned their upper bodies forward slightly.

“Are you talking about the one that was in the newspaper?”

“Yes! That’s right, I was so surprised when I saw it this morning that it’s still lingering in my head.”

“Gasp! I’m not the only one who felt that way?”

“It was so fresh even though it was a drawing, it felt like I was in a forest.”

“That’s right.”

Everyone except me seemed to know ‘that’.

Originally, it would be beneficial to remain silent if you don’t know anything, but I was curious as to what ‘that’ was that made the young ladies, who had been gloomy, start talking in such an excited state.

“An epithet that is not ashamed of being called a fairy…”

“Excuse me…”

With a smile full of awkwardness and embarrassment, I carefully raised my hand, and the other young ladies’ gazes were focused on me.

“What is ‘that’? Did something happen?”

“Oh my, Princess Lavinia hasn’t seen the newspaper yet?”

“Shamefully… I didn’t have enough time, so I only read half of it.”

“Oh dear!”

“The princess should have seen that!”

“To think that it was in the back, so this tragedy…!”

I was worried that they would laugh at me, saying, ‘You don’t even know that?’, but the young ladies frowned and sighed as if they were genuinely sorry.

“Is that… so?”

“It is.”

“Princess Lavinia, even later… No, how about we just explain it to you?”

“Let’s do that.”

I was embarrassed because it was the first time that the young ladies had revealed their emotions so openly.

I began to suspect that it was a new form of bullying that had arisen without my knowledge.

“No, if I were to express this with my own words, the beauty would fade, so it would be best to see it for yourself. Annie? Could you bring me the newspaper?”

Princess Florence, who had been quietly listening to the young ladies, calmed down the excited young ladies and ordered the maid who was waiting in the distance to bring the newspaper.

The maid, nodding her head, left the room and soon returned with a newspaper in her arms, approaching Princess Florence with hurried steps.

“Here it is.”

“Thank you, you can go back to your seat now.”

Princess Florence, who received the newspaper, turned it over and handed it to me without turning the page.

“Ignore everything else and take a look at the back page.”

“Yes… Thank you.”

I followed Princess Florence’s words and looked at the back page.

There, a beautiful elf lady enjoying contemplation in nature occupied half of the page.

“Wow…”

“Ohoho… That was my reaction at first too.”

I, who finally understood the young ladies’ reactions, let out a pure admiration that contained no pretense.

Even in the constraints of being drawn in black and white on low-quality paper, the elf lady’s beauty could not be hidden.

To think that she shows both innocence and maturity, where on earth could you find such an elf?

“…?”

I was so intoxicated with the elf’s beauty that I was staring blankly at the picture, no matter what anyone around me said, and I suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu.

I’ve hardly encountered elves until now, but I felt a familiarity with this elf, as if I had encountered her somewhere.

[ The Right to be Beautifully Comfortable ]

[ Atelier liberatio ]

I looked at the words under the picture in case something came to mind, but nothing particularly flashed in my head.

Rather than a flash, I found it jarring that the word “liberation” was written in ancient imperial language, while “workshop” was written in the current imperial language.

“Hmm…”

“Princess Lavinia, is there a problem?”

“No, it’s not that, but… Doesn’t this elf look familiar?”

“Elves? Would we have any reason to encounter elves?”

“We wouldn’t, would we?”

“Ah!”

While everyone was shaking their heads and saying that they were seeing her for the first time, Princess Jane, who was scrutinizing the picture, let out a short scream as if she had realized something and blocked her mouth with her hand.

“Isn’t this elf the person who works with Duke Hume’s second son?”

“Duke Hume…? Ah! William Henley Howard!”

“Isn’t he a corset hater?”

“Ah! He’s a bit of a pervert, but he’s the knight who said things that I could relate to, right?”

“That’s right, but what is that person doing these days?”

“If what I heard from my acquaintance is correct, he is supplying the Imperial Knights with new underwear for the female knights to wear.”

“Underwear?”

“Yes.”

“……”

The atmosphere in the room where we were enjoying tea time calmed down in the blink of an eye, as if a candle in front of the wind had been extinguished.

And the young ladies looked at the newspaper as if they had promised each other.

I also shifted my gaze to the elf’s upper body in the picture.

Firmly gathered breasts.

A natural and gentle curved waist.

I couldn’t feel the bones of the corset that should be seen beyond the tightly fitted dress, and the corset was not visible even in the deeply cut neckline.

Elf.

Corset hater.

New underwear.

The advertisement’s phrase.

Atelier.

The elements that seemed like a jumble began to come together one by one to form a large picture.

“!”

With a month and a little over two weeks left until the Founding Day, what is the corset hater Sir William trying to do?

The young ladies here realized it almost simultaneously.

“Haven’t we had enough tea time by now?”

“Ohoho~ That’s right, everyone should go back now, right?”

“Ahem! I think so, it was a really enjoyable time today.”

Even though they hadn’t even finished a cup of tea, all the young ladies wanted to finish the tea time with one heart.

“It was a really informative time.”

I was also included among those young ladies.