by CHIROLU
“We should be certain to create such an opportunity.”
It was starting to seem that Latina’s debut as a princess in the capital wouldn’t be limited to just one evening party.
“In that case, how about inviting the envoys to this garden? I believe that would make them quite happy, as Vassilios has quite limited plant life, and such a place would thus feel quite unusual to them.”
“Oh, my. That is a terribly fine idea.”
Thanks to their long years of living like real sisters, the difference in their positions couldn’t be felt very strongly in the conversation Rose and Fania were having.
Having given her ready consent with a smile when Rose raised the desire Latina had voiced just a short while ago, Fania then called over her maid. She then gave an order to adjust the schedule for the near future.
“If you were to wear a foreign outfit when attending the banquet after your audience with His Majesty, it may leave quite the strong impression. And you have strived to learn the manners of our nation, so would it not be good to use the opportunity to display them?”
Despite the grin on Fania’s face, Latina didn’t realize the situation she would soon find herself in.
Fania had a previous record of finding Rose so adorable when she was young that she would frequently treat the girl like a doll and dress her up in gaudy outfits.
There was a need to first have Latina wear a dress, in order to further practice Labandese manners. Or at least, that was the logic presented as to why she needed to pick out an outfit befitting her royal status, while also giving an even stronger impact than her nickname of Platinum Fairy Princess. Those were the prerequisites she was given.
“I know that you prefer subdued colors, Ms. Latina, but I believe a deeper color would look even nicer on you.”
“Vassilios nationally reveres Banafsaj, do they not? Perhaps a violet would be good, then. Ah, but we also must consider how it pairs with the outfit of her sister, the king, yes?”
“Hmm...?”
Latina finally noticed that Rose and Fania were happily chatting away, but she still had yet to realize what would happen to her next, so she simply tilted her head in confusion.
There was a chandelier brilliantly illuminating the banquet hall. It was made by combining delicately crafted and polished, elaborately cut parts, and it alone was enough to demonstrate the prosperity of the nation.
As it was meant for entertaining guests, the banquet hall was especially extravagant, even for the already luxurious royal palace. And that only made sense, as it was a key weapon in the war known as foreign relations, meant to display the strength of the nation.
The most treasured color in Laband was that of their patron god Ahmar, red. And so the banquet hall was colored in a deep, subtle crimson, accompanied by a shade of gold.
Adorning the ceiling was a painting depicting the nation’s founding. It was a heroic, cheerful tale that praised the nation’s majesty.
The banquet hall itself really was like a flawless piece of art.
The banquet held there to welcome the envoys was a small-scale affair, meant to take place before the two nations officially opened diplomatic relations. It was only described as “small-scale” because of the number of people participating, though. Both the prestige of those in attendance and the splendor of the event itself were more than sufficient for demonstrating Laband’s prosperity to another nation.
And as for the Laband side, when they saw Vassilios’s ruler the Golden King and her sister the Platinum Fairy Princess enter the hall, they were so overwhelmed that even sighs of admiration caught in their throats.
While she was clad in beautiful foreign attire, it was more the elder sister’s long platinum hair and strong-willed golden eyes that her nickname was derived from that drew the gaze of observers.
And her sister the princess had the same platinum colored hair, only hers was done up. She wore a darkly-colored Labandese dress, and was greeting the various lords with absolutely perfect manners.
The sisters possessed such overwhelming natural beauty that any mere decoration or piece of art paled in comparison.
Behind them, Rose (who had served as an unofficial ambassador to Vassilios) was acting as an interpreter so that Fania, consort to the second prince, could have a friendly chat with the Golden King.
Very few in Laband possessed comparable beauty to the twins, or similarly great renown, so their presence brought immediate vibrancy to their corner of the room.
And when a certain someone saw them...
“Latina’s even more amazing than I thought...” Dale murmured from a short distance away.
“Should you not be standing at her side?” Gregor asked his friend, wearing an outfit fitting for a member of the ducal family.
“If you mean that it’s rare for me to not be right next to her, then just come out and say so clearly,” Dale said in pointed response to Gregor’s roundabout comment, before turning to look at Latina again.
No matter how you looked at her, she was an absolutely perfect princess. It really was something, since even Dale couldn’t help but think that despite being thoroughly acquainted with how she was normally.
It was hard to imagine that behind the facade was a commoner girl who enjoyed polishing cookware.
“She said she was rehearsing, or undergoing special training or something... Normally something that last-minute doesn’t work out so well though, right?”
“She gives off a rather delicate impression, but I believe she certainly has some guts as well.”
“Well... Yeah, I’d definitely say that’s true, seeing how she faced off against those gruff old-timers without flinching even back when she was just an adorable little thing...”
Dale gave a sigh, in the back of his mind he was thinking about the night before. Latina had buried herself in a heap of pillows in the guest room in the palace that was assigned to her, sobbing away. It was sort of like she had returned to being a little kid after being pushed to the limit of what she could emotionally handle.
Dale’s doting idiot nature couldn’t help overruling any reservations he had about where they were, considering how thoroughly exhausted she looked. It was clear to him how harsh her special training must have been.
Truthfully, it wasn’t just the training, as the way she had been forced to change into one dress after another had also contributed greatly to her exhaustion.
In other words, the dress Latina had borrowed to wear today was the end result of those countless other trials. It really spoke to the skill of Fania’s personal seamstresses, the way that it fit Latina so well that you couldn’t even tell that it had been borrowed. However, it was also necessary for her to put on a corset, which she never normally wore. When the maids squeezed her tightly into it, she couldn’t help but think that if one of those girls happened to be a hero, she would have been defeated then and there.
There were no past precedents of a demon lord being killed by a corset, and if it happened, it would probably never happen ever again.
Whether the fact was fortunate or not, Dale knew nothing of the personal fashion show that Fania had Latina hold. If he had seen it, he probably would have fainted on the spot in spite of all the important people from around the country watching, which would make for a truly deplorable display. And if he learned that he had missed the opportunity to see such a thing, he would surely stamp his feet in frustration and make a real nuisance of himself.
But since he just didn’t know, he was acting normally, at least for the time being. That act of moderation had naturally been Rose’s decision, and was the perfect way to handle the matter.
“Well, that’s for the best... That place is scary.”
“Yes, that’s certainly true...”
The men were daunted because that place was like a microcosm of the palace at large, a place for women to fight.
It went without saying that Rose was grading Latina strictly, even while she was being attended to by th
e maids. And in the palace, there was no division between men and women, as everyone harshly judged each and every action made by everyone else.
On the surface, it looked like Chrysos and Fania were just having a pleasant chat. However, naturally that wasn’t all there was to it. All the while Fania was making sure to act with restraint towards the nobles from her own country, while also keeping an eye on Latina and the others from Vassilios, who were not fully familiar with high society in Laband. And she also carried out her duties as the consort of the second prince, in order to use these new friendly relations with their neighboring country to strengthen her own position.
Meanwhile, faced with such a lady of character from Laband, Chrysos acted as an ambassador of goodwill between the nations, all the while making sure to use lines that wouldn’t cause her country harm.
This was the sort of terrifying place Latina now found herself in, needing to act as expected of a princess.
Even if Dale was expected to act according to his station, swinging a sword out in the wild suited him better. Considering that, it was only natural that he found his current straits daunting.
“My elder sister seems to be quite pleased, having made the acquaintance of the Golden King,” Gregor said while looking over at Fania. It was also showing now and again on his face that he certainly didn’t want to get any closer. As he was born to a renowned family, Gregor was raised closer to high society than Dale, but he still placed greater importance upon his life as a warrior.
The pair gave long sighs in perfect tandem.
“Well, Latina seems to always let her guard down when I’m nearby, so I’ll stay just a bit further away...”
Dale was first and foremost when it came to the people that Latina let dote on her. Right now her nervousness was at its peak, but he couldn’t go and stand by her side and risk tipping her over the edge.
“Besides, it’s better that I’m the only one who gets to experience that cute side of Latina’s.”
Dale really never did waver in his beliefs. In a way, it was almost admirable.
At any rate, Latina carried out her duty of playing the role of a sheltered princess from Vassilios, not letting her occasional bouts of airheadedness show on the surface whatsoever.
As for the girl herself, though, inside her head she was like a quivering little bunny with tears in her eyes from start to finish. Everyone around her remained blissfully ignorant of that, however.
And considering she was a princess from a country they’d had no interaction with, she came across as quite knowledgeable about their language and customs. Latina herself was the only one who didn’t realize she gave that impression to those looking at her objectively.
And Dale had no intention of telling her that the opinion of the Platinum Fairy Princess was seeing a meteoric rise amongst Labandese high society.
“It’s over... It’s over...”
Right now, despite her position as the sister of a foreign nation’s king, she was currently in the corner of Duke Eldstedt’s kitchen, polishing silverware with a cloth while shedding tears and looking like a girl possessed. Of course, since this was the kitchen of the foremost noble family in Laband, everything was already neat and tidy, so there were no stained pots that were truly worth polishing laying about.
I’m at my limit...
Seeing her like that, the corners of Dale’s eyes grew warmer and tears of sympathy subconsciously began falling down his cheeks.
†
The audience with the Labandese king ended without incident, bringing the greatest task for the envoys to a close, but Latina’s job as a princess in the capital still wasn’t over just yet.
One task awaiting her related to something Gregor had told the regulars. Which is to say, a portrait painter of Duke Eldstedt’s patronage had heard of the beautiful twin sisters, Vassilios’s ruler and princess, and became quite interested in them.
The last time Latina visited Duke Eldstedt’s manor, a portrait was painted of her. And when a noble was as influential as the duke, it was only natural for him to offer his patronage to artists whose skills he recognized. One of them had been so taken with the sight of a girl with a mythical beast, like something out of a legend, that he firmly requested to be allowed to paint her himself.
“Hmm? Could that be...”
“I know.”
“Ah... So he really is the person we met last time, isn’t he?”
“Yup.”
When Gregor introduced the painter to Latina, she was certain that she recognized him, commenting on that fact to Vint.
Vint hadn’t been able to follow her to the royal palace, so when she was finally able to pay him some attention in the garden, his tail was wagging enthusiastically.
“Hmm?” Chrysos questioned, tilting her head.
“Vint and I got painted together. It’s a little embarrassing, but I was glad that it turned out to be such a pretty picture,” Latina said, providing a supplementary explanation. She gave a bit of an embarrassed smile as she reminisced back on the past.
“Hrm...”
From Chrysos’s reaction, the topic certainly seemed to have caught her interest.
Chrysos may have been the king of Vassilios, but if she showed clear dissatisfaction on her face, then the painting could never be drawn. The first hurdle that needed to be cleared was showing the painter a relaxed expression.
Still... Dale thought to himself, watching the sisters talk from a distance, Chrysos’s replies are all pretty short, but now that I think on it, they still seem to be communicating just fine.
“Smell, kinda weird.”
“Smell...? Ah, of the paint?”
“Don’t hate or love.”
“That’s an unusual reply.”
Vint’s response had been unexpected, but Chrysos’s face looked like she had just seen something amusing.
“Oh yeah, is it really alright for you to be having such a carefree conversation when officially, you’re not supposed to understand Western Continental?” Dale asked, having suddenly realized that.
The one to look dissatisfied at that and respond, though, was the aloof pup. “Don’t know devil language. Don’t like.”
“I do not believe there should be any issue when it is a conversation between myself and Platina, though.”
“No. Don’t like,” the aloof pup firmly asserted. Apparently he couldn’t accept Latina and Chrysos having a conversation that didn’t involve him, probably because it felt like he was being ignored.
“Sir Gregor and the duke already know that Chrysos really can speak Western Continental... I don’t think there’s any fooling them now.”
“It will also serve us to display the culture of Vassilios within Laband, wouldn’t you say?” Gregor offered as a reason for the painting, and Chrysos nodded in agreement.
“That coincides with my goal. Right...” she said, holding up one finger. “Draw me together with Platina. Then present me with a copy as well, and I shall readily comply.”
“Chrysos?”
“We cannot live together. Can I not at least seek a memento of you, Platina?”
Seeing her sister sulking like that, Latina fell silent with embarrassment. Then Dale suddenly brought his hands together.
“In that case, could you make a reproduction for Latina too and send it our way? It’ll be like a matching pair.”
“You just want it for yourself, don’t you?”
“I’m satisfied just having the real Latina always by my side.”
“You look a little questionable to me right now, honestly.”
Gregor made an exasperated face, but Dale showed no sign of being bothered.
In that way, it was decided that a portrait of Chrysos and Latina would be painted while they were staying at the duke’s residence. They were clad in exquisite outfits from Vassilios, and the various goods the envoy group had brought along to serve as gifts now acted as a backdrop.
As the king of Vassilios, Chrysos planned to use herse
lf as a billboard for her nation, using this one portrait as a sort of catalog to introduce others to a portion of their customs.
“Hmm...?” Dale questioned, tilting his head a bit as he looked at the pair lined up in front of the painter. And then when he realized just what felt off to him, he tilted his head even further. “That’s rare. You’re wearing different outfits.”
In part due to Chrysos’s desires, the two were dressed in matching outfits at nearly every banquet they had attended in Laband. However, the colors they were wearing were completely different this time around.
“My name and Chrysos’s hold the meanings of ‘platinum’ and ‘gold.’”
The dark blue attire Latina had on created a deep coloration through countless layers of thin cloth. And the silver thread delicately embroidered throughout the top layer weaved complex foreign patterns.
“In devil language, each and every character carries a meaning. And the characters for platinum and gold contain the characters for ‘moon’ and ‘sun,’ too.”
“Put another way, while Platina’s name and my own correspond to our titles of ‘Golden King’ and ‘Platinum Fairy Princess,’ they also include the meanings of ‘sun’ and ‘moon,’” Chrysos continued on, picking up the explanation from Latina. She was clad in a bright golden yellow outfit, matching her eyes. The numerous layers of her skirt created a steadily deepening color, and the extravagantly wide hem reached a color close to a crimson. It was light on embroidery, but in exchange, she had on accessories with layers of beads in a style that was unique to Vassilios, as well as golden bracelets.
“I see, so it’s like a moon in the night sky, and the colors of daybreak,” Dale said, looking satisfied.
With that, Chrysos shot him a wicked grin.
“It is only logical to present a variety of outfits in order to better display the culture of my nation, and attaching meaning like this only attracts more attention, does it not?”
Chrysos’s plot certainly bore fruit.
The portrait of the beautiful twins drawn with such an exotic style became a hot topic of discussion amongst the Labandese nobles, who were especially alert to all things novel, and it led to a fad surrounding those sorts of accessories.
