Chapter 14

At the bolt out of the blue words of my father, the duke’s house became even busier.

Especially mine, my brother and sister’s escort knights.

“We should give the youngest lady the joy of winning. Do you understand?”

“Of course. Captain. We can’t lose to the other escorts!”

“Victory to the youngest lady!”

“Glory to the Master!”

When I sneaked a peek, they were shouting like this.

Not only my escort knights, but the knights of my older sister and older brother as well.

‘Well….. It would be nice to win.’

In any case, the festival became more lively after my father’s sudden announcement to hold a martial arts competition.

Two or three of the maids in charge of my room would whisper with pink cheeks.

“It’s an opportunity to give a handkerchief before the martial arts competition.”

“What embroidery will you put?”

“I want to embroider the flowers and initials that the knight said he liked last time.”

“Are you going to confess?”

“What do you mean by confess, I’ll just……. tell him to not get hurt and win.”

Is it because it’s spring.

It’s a good time for everyone. A good time.

I sighed heavily and struggled to climb the sofa.

Because it seemed like I was going to succeed.

‘Oh, if I use a little more strength–’

When I was trying to lift my thighs and stomach over to the seat of the sofa while whining.

“Shasha!”

My sister ran into the room and called me.

It looks like I’ll have to postpone it until next time.

With that thought in mind, the moment I went down from the sofa, my sister hugged me tightly from behind and excitedly said.

“You know! You know!”

“Woo?”

“Shasha and Lara are going to be princesses this time!”

Princess?

What is it this time?

* * *

It didn’t take long to know what my sister meant.

Because.

“I’ve been swinging my sword 3,000 times everyday these days in order to show off my cool side in the martial arts competition.”

“If I become the winner and receive flowers from the youngest lady, I will cry.”

“No, My lady. I’ll be the winner!”

Since that afternoon, the knights have been telling me to cheer for them everytime they see me.

I mean, do they think that a baby, who now barely reached nine months old, will understand those words?

No, I do understand.

To put it simply, me and my sister took on the role of giving flowers to the winner of the martial arts competition.

What is it, this ominous feeling?

I mean, I think my father’s up to something.

Since we are ladies of a ducal family, it’s not strange in itself to take on such a role but.

Father’s putting me and my sister in front of the knights?

That overprotective father?

But my thoughts didn’t last much longer.

It was because the maid and my mother, who called the costume designer, got together and started discussing my dress for that day.

“Wouldn’t it be better to have a hat that covers the youngest lady’s hair because she still has short hair?”

“Since you’re a baby, you’ll still be cute with short hair, and you can match the color of the dress by putting on a ribbon headband.”

“That’s right, even though you’re still young, you’re very elegant, so no matter what you put on, you’ll calmly wear it!”

I realized my mistake at the happy words of the maids.

‘So normal babies throw it away!’

[tn–like when you put a headband or smth on a baby they usually take it off and throw it away]

If I had seen an example at least once, I would have been happy to do so.

‘Well, it would be weird to do it now.’

Besides, fortunately or unfortunately, the duke has Damian, who is more mature than I am, so this gentleness was just a trait.

“Since it’s spring for the first time in a while, would it be good to use a light green fabric?”

My mother had a worried face.

“Madam, what did you wear for your first dress as a child?”

“Me?”

My mother looked as if she was rummaging through her memories.

“I think I often wore white, light green, and yellow dresses when I was young.”

“Then, don’t you think it would suit the young lady very well too?”

“That’s right! The youngest lady looks just like you madam, with this pretty face, and elegance at a young age!”

At the words of the maids, my mother smiled as if she felt good.

“Her black hair and ruby-like crimson eyes all look just like the madam’s!”

As the maid said, unlike my older sister and brother, who had cotton-candy-like colors, I looked a lot like my mother.

The straight hair, the black hair -truthfully, it’s always been like this every time I reincarnated- but the color of my eyes, although a little lighter than my mother’s, is crimson.

After I was born, my father made a fuss saying that he was happy that a child who resembled her mother was born, it was a fact that I soon found out.

“Do you know how sad I was? The kids always look just like me. When my wife is so beautiful like this.”

“Oh my, I like the kids that look like you though?”

“Of course, I like the kids who look like me! But…… Since there are children who look like me, I can’t help but want to see a child who looks like my wife.”

It was the first time that someone was happy that I looked like my parents.

The cases of resembling my parents were rare, but when I was born to look so strangely similar, it was an uncomfortable feeling.

Well, I didn’t see my parents’ faces most of the time.

Anyway, the maids chose white, light green and yellow from the prepared fabrics and started comparing them with my body.

My mother beckoned out the fabrics that brushed my body a few times, and finally decided with a satisfied face.

“Let’s wear yellow for the martial arts competition because it’s cuter if you wear bright yellow when you’re young.”

“As expected of the madam, for sure she will be like a cute chick.”

“Oh my, I thought she would be like a forsythia flower though?”

My mother, who listened to the maids attentively, thought deeply and spoke to the designer.

“Prepare both a forsythia-like dress and a cute chick-like dress.”

“Understood, Madam.”

“Yeah, and.”

Mother pondered for a moment, then pointed to all the other fabrics the maids had chosen and said.

“Our youngest doesn’t have many dresses yet, so make dresses from all of those as well. Something very pretty. You can do it, right?”

What?

I doubted my eyes for a moment.

For some reason, my mother’s eyes looking at the designer seemed to say, ‘be prepared if you can’t do it.’

‘Eyy, no way.’

There’s no way, my kind and sweet mother.

Seeing the designer bending their back and saying that they would do their best, I let it go.

* * *

It was already mid-April.

The knights were enthusiastic with their training to achieve even a little better results in the martial arts competition.

Because some of the escort knights who stood guard in my room, came with a bruise or two on their forearms or hands.

“How can you stand in front of the youngest lady with such a nasty face!”

“No matter how bold you are, are you going to show her such a terrible thing?”

“Even in the martial arts competition, all those with a damaged face wear masks. Do you understand?”

“It won’t be enough even if you show the youngest lady only pretty and good things!”

Behind the scenes, they talk nonsense like this.

Your youngest lady has seen a lot of things hundreds of times worse than you.

Well, I had no intention of stopping their consideration.

Even if I’ve seen a lot, it’s true that it’s better to only see pretty and good things.

Before the festival began in earnest, the designer had brilliantly completed the martial arts competition dress.

The bright yellow dress was lovely and cute even when I looked at it, so it was a design that must be tried for little babies.

Of course, it was a little embarrassing to be the little baby here.

“You’re so cute, it’s like you’ll be making chirping noises soon.”

“My lady, would you repeat after me once? A chick, chirp, chirp.”

“How impertinent, how dare you make the lady do such a thing.”

The maids were busy looking at me, who they dressed up in a chick-like dress.

If possible, I’d rather have the forsythia-like dress.

Because that one had a more modest design…..

Of course, the dress I was going to wear –even though I’m already wearing it– was also pretty.

The hem of the skirt was shaped like an inverted tulip, with gorgeous and rich frills on it.

On the shoulders were adorable puff sleeves adorned with flower-shaped decorations.

As a baby, the area of the neck and shoulders were wrinkled with white fabric to avoid being cold, but soft fabric was used to prevent itchy skin.

In addition, the cloak they gave me as a set had a cute hood.

The hat was also a bright yellow color that covers the entire head, and it was cute that it was skillfully designed and looked like a bonnet at first glance.

In particular, on the inside of the brim raised above the head, a white satin fabric ribbon was attached to give a point.

Despite the fact that she made the dress with a lot of care, together with the maids’ praises, the designer, who still looked young, stood with a nervous face.

Because my mother was carefully looking at me.

As if she didn’t want to miss anything.

“Impressive, as expected she’s my daughter, don’t you think so?”

At my mother’s words, the designer didn’t know what she was talking about, but they hurriedly opened their mouth.

“Of, of course. Madam! Since the first time I saw her that day, the youngest lady was so lovely that the designs kept coming out.”

[tn– meaning they could continuously think of designs]

Society life must be hard…….

While I was looking at the designer with a pitiful look, my mother hugged me carefully so that the dress wouldn’t crumple up and kissed me on the cheek.

“As expected, our youngest, you look cute in whatever you wear, but this dress is so lovely that I can’t help but kiss you.”

Then, with a very pleasant face, she said to the designer.

“All right, madame. I’ll double the cost of all the fees for this dress.”

At my mother’s words, I corrected my thoughts a while ago.

‘It was worth living in society.’