episode_0149

“This one was sent by Prince Hans, and this one was sent by my brother-in-law…”

After scattering the neckties around and letting three or four days pass, the impressions of those who received the neckties were conveyed to me one by one.

I was truly grateful that everyone actively gave their opinions, but conversely, most of the opinions I received were far from what I wanted.

“Ugh… My brother-in-law didn’t like the neckties either…”

Strangely, everyone didn’t seem to like neckties that much.

Bow ties and ascot styles mostly received neutral or favorable reviews.

When I showed my father an ascot-style tie in response to his question of whether there was anything else, he stared at me with eyes that seemed to say, ‘Why are you only bringing this out now?’, which made me feel a little wronged.

It’s just that I liked neckties more, so I gave them to him first…

However, not everyone gave the neckties a bad review.

Since people’s tastes vary, a very small number of people did evaluate the neckties positively.

Unfortunately, that very small number was His Majesty the Emperor.

[He liked it, saying it was like a collar.]

His thinking is quite scary.

There were people who found it unpleasant because it reminded them of a noose, but His Majesty the Emperor was the only one out of a dozen people who said he ‘liked’ it because it was like a collar.

Well… It wasn’t that surprising since His Majesty the Emperor spouting such strange things wasn’t a rare occurrence.

I’m just scared that His Majesty the Emperor’s children might be thinking similarly.

I thought Elizabeth was normal compared to His Majesty, but I couldn’t let my guard down because the first thing I heard when I first met Elizabeth was, ‘My mother told me to meet an enterprising man, and you seem to be one.’

At the time, I didn’t know her mother was the Emperor, so I brushed it off thinking, ‘How unique~,’ but now that I know the truth, there’s no sound more chilling than that.

There’s no way that a taste educated by His Majesty the Emperor would be normal.

Who knows if she might later say something like, ‘My mother told me that you have to keep a man on a tight leash,’ and imprison me.

“……”

Suddenly, the cool sensation of a prison came to mind, and my neck tingled.

I suddenly wanted to worship His Excellency the Prince Consort.

How did His Excellency the Prince Consort endure 20 years by His Majesty the Emperor’s side?

I don’t think I could stay by his side for even a month without going crazy.

“Gulp…”

I raised my loyalty to His Excellency the Prince Consort by about two levels, slightly turning my eyes to glance at Elizabeth, who was sitting two seats away.

“Hmm~”

Elizabeth was drawing a design, and when she came across a part she didn’t like, she pressed her lips tightly with a pen and crossed her legs.

Because she was frowning with her eyes narrowed, an overbearing atmosphere filled Elizabeth’s surroundings.

What scares me in the midst of all this is that such an atmosphere suits Elizabeth so well, and my mind thinks that it might not be so bad to be actually subjected to it.

“Ugh…”

“…?”

I shuddered at the thought of myself, who seemed to be twisting more and more grotesquely, and made a groaning sound while trembling. Elizabeth, who seemed to have her concentration broken by the sound, raised her eyebrows and turned her gaze to me.

“What’s wrong?”

“Haha, it’s nothing.”

“……”

I couldn’t say, ‘I was imagining you kidnapping and imprisoning me,’ so I smiled awkwardly and shook my head. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and looked at me suspiciously, but didn’t ask any further.

“Hoo…”

However, Elizabeth, as if her motivation to work had completely disappeared thanks to me, let out a light breath, put down her pen, and uncrossed her legs.

Then, she crossed her arms and turned her chair slightly towards me, as if to seriously start a conversation.

“How’s the necktie you’re working so hard on these days coming along?”

“Well… I haven’t even started yet.”

“Why? I thought you were making this and that, even if not as much as Elin?”

“After listening to the people around me, I think I need to modify the direction a little, but that’s not really my taste, so I’m a bit worried.”

At first, I thought of making a simple 9cm-wide striped necktie.

If I were to match His Majesty the Emperor’s taste, it would be a skinny tie with a width of 3cm or less.

If I were to match the common sentiments of the nobles, I would have to make an ascot-style necktie.

I could make them if I had to, but personally, I hated both styles.

If the ascot style was at a level where I wouldn’t bother looking for it to wear, the skinny tie was so hideous that it shouldn’t even exist.

Skinny ties really look like nooses or collars, and they fail to properly take care of either style or etiquette.

I’d rather wear a bolo tie made of metal tips and a string than wear a skinny tie.

At least with bolo ties, if you choose a pretty metal tip, it looks like a pendant, so the design isn’t bad.

“Is that a meaningful worry? You’re going to make them all anyway.”

“No.”

Of course not.

From the beginning, rather than worrying because I didn’t want to make them, it was closer to worrying about how to make them in a direction that I like even a little bit.

It’s like a childish desire to add a spoonful of my own taste if I’m going to make them anyway.

“Then don’t overthink it and just make them. You always pour your energy into strange things.”

“It’s not that strange, though…”

Even a housewife who cooks by looking at someone else’s recipe has her own ego or thoughts.

Although I’m working by stealing ideas from my past life, I’m stealing with my own beliefs.

“…”

What kind of nonsense is this?

Even I think it’s foolish.

As Elizabeth said, I was thinking too much.

And I was too arrogant.

I was just an empty wagon making a lot of noise.

“… Elizabeth, which tie do you prefer?”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm…”

A flush of embarrassment rushed over me, so I slightly changed the direction of the conversation.

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows and pointed at herself at the sudden question, but immediately put her hand on her right cheek and stared intently at my neck.

“You, lower your necktie a little.”

Then, with a somewhat uncomfortable expression, she pointed at the necktie and wiggled her finger up and down.

“Lower it more, and unbutton one button, and slightly open your shirt front.”

As I grabbed the knot of the necktie and shook it from side to side, pulling it down, Elizabeth made detailed and strange requests.

You might wonder what’s so strange about simply unbuttoning a shirt and tidying up the front, but this shirt is still underwear.

If you were to pick a similar piece of clothing in modern times, it would be like a sleeveless undershirt.

It’s not underwear that you really shouldn’t show, like panties or a bra, but it’s clothing that you shouldn’t confidently show either.

You can ask for understanding and reveal it briefly indoors, but if you go outside with it, you’ll get a barrage of curses.

If you look closely at a suit jacket, you’ll see that there are buttons on the sleeves, called Surgeon’s cuffs, and the reason for that is all remnants of the time when shirts were underwear.

This is because when you had to work or move your hands busily while wearing a suit, you rolled up the sleeves of the jacket instead of taking it off.

“Hmm…”

I feel a little uneasy.

Elizabeth’s face is perfectly calm, but I can faintly feel an impure energy in her eyes.

I wondered if I should listen to her, but I didn’t think she would do that in front of everyone, so I took off my necktie and unbuttoned one button.

Then, as I tidied up my collar, I opened the front just enough to reveal my collarbone.

“Hmm~”

“……”

Immediately, a nasal sound came from Elizabeth.

The corners of her lips also turned up slightly, and the corners of her eyes curved softly. That wasn’t just a formal exclamation, but one that was deeply mixed with sincerity.

“As expected, I like you better without a necktie. You have a pretty neckline and clean skin, so it’s a shame to hide it?”

“……”

It was definitely a compliment, but I didn’t feel good.

It’s a compliment that you would give to a woman.

If you were to say it to a man, it would usually be a statement like, ‘Go outside, hunt, and ride a horse, you gigolo.’

Of course, Elizabeth wasn’t using such a euphemism, but sincerely thought I was pretty.

That was scary in its own way.

Mother and daughter are both showing interest in my neck.

Even though I know in my head that Elizabeth and His Majesty the Emperor are different, they have similar faces and are taking similar steps, so I kept feeling uneasy because iron bars and collars kept flickering before my eyes.

“… I mean, in general, not just me.”

I decided that I should tidy up my front carefully in the future so that I wouldn’t end up in an imprisonment collar dog ending, and slightly changed the question.

“Then you would say a normal necktie?”

“Why?”

“Because the design is compact, it’s not too excessive, and it’s not just plain. You can also give it some variation, and it’s moderately neat without being too stiff.”

“Hmm~ That’s music to my ears.”

“That’s your taste in the first place, right? I’m here because I like the way you think.”

“Ahem…”

The directness in her tone has increased to the point where I feel a sense of incongruity.

Before, it felt like she was teasing me by barely catching me in the strike zone, but now she’s blatantly planting it right in the middle of the zone.

I wondered if she had been drinking during the day, so I carefully examined Elizabeth, but her face was just calm.

No, she even went a step further and made soft eye contact with me, who was staring at her intently, and smiled softly.

I felt awkward at the sudden and foxy flirting.

“Hehe…”

I let out an awkward laugh and stroked the back of my neck.

Seriously, what is she doing in front of everyone?

An outsider like me doesn’t know how to react in these situations.

“……”

And so, the confrontation, or rather, the non-confrontation, between me and Elizabeth dragged on.

Elizabeth, not taking her eyes off me as if telling me to react somehow.

Me, trying to gloss over it while avoiding Elizabeth’s eyes.

It was truly a battle that made my heart narrow.

The reason for that was entirely on me, but being narrow-minded is being narrow-minded.

“Ahem! Ahem…!”

Had we been fiercely bickering in the air for about a minute?

Elin, who had been silent until now, cleared her throat cutely and straightened her hunched body, blocking the space between me and Elizabeth.

“Y-you two…!”

Elin, trembling like a kitten, called out to us, glancing at me and Elizabeth with dissatisfied eyes, and opened her dainty mouth.

“Don’t… Don’t flirt between me… It’s making me self-conscious and I can’t work…”

“Oh my, I’m sorry, I’ve done something terrible in the workplace.”

“Ah, no, it’s not that far…”

Elizabeth finally averted her gaze and gently stroked Elin’s head when Elin protested with a frustrated voice, having been unintentionally hit by a sweet situation.

“Whew…”

I took a deep breath and unbuttoned one button of my jacket.

I barely survived…