"Hello, I'm Emily Ruayal of Ruayal's Boutique, and I'm honored to be here."
Emily, the owner of the boutique, has soft brown hair and appears to be in her early forties.
She brought with her a stack of colorful fabrics and lace, as well as a style book full of various designs.
"Shall we start with the Duchess?"
Mrs. Ruayal took out a style book for older ladies and opened it in front of the Duchess.
After flipping through a few pages, the Duchess looked up and smiled.
"Hmm...... as I get older, I seem to end up picking the same designs every time, so why don't you guys pick one for me this time?" asked the Duchess, looking back at me and Lizé.
'What a surprise, this is an unexpected situation! Why are you giving me a test without warning?'
A cold sweat ran down my spine.
I know what will happen. Either she will prefer Lizé's design choice over mine, or she will accept both with Lizé's design getting more compliments.
I'm on pins and needles, but Lizé seems rather pleased.
"Are you sure I can do this?"
"Of course, Lizé."
With that, we each had exactly the same style book in front of us.
I calmly looked through the style book, sweating profusely.
This test was clearly stacked against me.
Lizé has lived in this house for five years, so she has a good idea of the Duchess' tastes, and I......
'I've been in this world for less than two weeks!'
I had no idea my style battle episode with Lizé would play out like this......
The flow of the original was much stronger than I expected.
"I'm thinking about this design, I think it would look very elegant on you."
Lizé picked out a blue silk dress.
Mrs. Ruayal quickly took the sample fabric and draped it over the Duchess' shoulders, cooing that it was an excellent choice.
Not only that, but she thought it would look very good on the Duchess with a set of pearl earrings and a necklace, as illustrated in the style book.
'That's a very good choice.'
With her wheat-colored hair, amber eyes, and very fair skin, the Duchess would look good in any color, but blue seems to be the closest to perfect.
"You've chosen very well, Miss Lizé. It's the latest design from our boutique. The silk is also the finest available to the imperial family......"
Mrs. Ruayal was pleased and praised Lizé's discernment.
"And which one did Edith choose?"
"Uh...... I......"
As Lizé's buoyant mood subsided slightly, the Duchess' gaze shifted to me.
Is this also the flow of the original?
I laid out a picture of a dress with a more ornate design that the original Edith might have chosen.
Of course, no matter what I chose, I think the Duchess would prefer the blue dress Lizé chose, but......
"The dress Miss Lizé picked out would be perfect for you, but I think something like this would be fine for the occasional day when you want to change up your mood."
I pointed to a dress of brown silk.
The coppery, lustrous brown silk was delicately vine-embroidered with gold thread, and a dark purple underdress peeked out from the gap in the robe.
The anglaise (lace or ruffles under the elbow-length sleeves) and trim of the robe were the same shade of crimson as the underdress.
To my 21st-century eyes, it looked like something a duchess would wear with grace and class, but I doubt anyone else would.
"Lady Riegelhoff, you have a great eye! I don't know many people who can appreciate the beauty of these two color combinations."
"The dress is beautiful, but don't you think it's a little too flashy for me......?"
Again, the Duchess looked a little embarrassed and leaned back.
However, as you get older, you need to wear fancy clothes to look more beautiful!
I tried to put on a good-natured expression and replied, "First of all, Mrs. Ruayal, I'm not a young lady of Riegelhoff anymore, so if you don't feel comfortable calling me Madame Ludwig, please just call me Miss Edith."
"Oh, my! My mistake, hohoho!"
"And Mother, this dress may look a bit fancy, but it fits in with the genteel Ludwig, and besides, you have the beauty and class to wear it."
The die was cast.
The Duchess was embarrassed by my answer, but said she would order the two dresses Lizé and I had recommended.
I had no intention of winning this showdown anyway.
Beating the female lead would only earn me a few death points.
Of course, if I lost, I'd get a backlash, but I encouraged her to try this design as a "change of mood" just in case.
Sometimes a dress is just a change of mood, so why not be a little flashy?
Anyway, once the Duchess' dress selection was over, it was time for Lizé's.
"I'm just here to look around. I'm really fine with anything, the dresses I have are enough."
Knowing the price of the dress, Lizé waved it away.
'Of course, someone with your beauty would be lauded as avant-garde fashion even if you wore a blanket. After all, fashion is all about the face.'
"There will be many tea parties soon, so you'll need a dress with a bright design."
Shrugging off Lizé's futile protests, the Duchess began to flip through the style book, looking for a dress that would suit her, and when she found one, Mrs. Ruayal pulled out the fabric and held it up to Lizé.
"How about this one, Lizé? The floral print would be perfect for a spring tea party...... oh, and this one too, the pale blue color and pink ribbon would look really good on you."
I watched from the side as the Duchess excitedly picked through the pictures of dresses.
And then I also pointed without me realizing it. "This one, too! This kind of pink doesn't look good on just anyone, but Miss Lizé, with her fair skin and strawberry milk-colored cheeks, would look really good in this."
"Oh, I see. I love Edith's eyes. How about this white empire dress?"
"I think that would make her look too young, something white and simple would be better."
I pointed to a Greek robe-style dress. Lizé would really look like a goddess in this.
With the beautiful model in front of us, the Duchess and I racked our brains for a while longer, as there were so many things we wanted to do with her.
It wasn't that we couldn't decide, it was that we couldn't decide what to give up.
Lizé could only smile embarrassedly beside me.
"Hah, well then, I guess I'll just have to get five dresses like this......"
"It was a hard decision, Mother."
"I know. Next time I call the boutique, I'll make sure to do it much earlier than the season."
Mrs. Ruayal checked out the dresses for Lizé, looking pleased as punch.
Then it was my turn.
"Choose a design you like too, Edith."
"Oh, I didn't call the boutique to order a new dress."
"Huh......?"
Rule number one of survival for the possessed villainess in a Rofan novel: reverse the image!
In the future, I would spend all the money I had, but for now, I needed to reverse my image.
So instead of being the lady of extravagance, ordering expensive new dresses, I would be the frugal one—although this is not frugal at all—who altered the ones I had.
I winked at Anna, and she, with the help of a few maids, brought in the ten dresses I'd picked out that morning.
"I'm going to have these dresses altered, Mrs. Ruayal."
"Yes......?"
"By any chance, you don't do alterations?"
"Oh, of course we do, but I'd like to know...... how you'd like them altered......."
"I'll explain that to you now."
I went in front of the maid as she unfolded the dress and explained to her what needed to be fixed, one by one.
"I'd like you to cover the chest part of the dress as a whole, it's a bit too exposed and uncomfortable, please cover it like this."
"Hohoho, you have much different tastes than you used to."
"Let's say so, and I'd like you to take off all the jewelry on these dresses."
"But the labor alone to embroider those diamond beads must have cost a fortune."
"That's why I've kept some really elaborate dresses, so please just take these ones off."
"Oh...... yes, I'll do that."
Honestly, I felt good inside because I knew that if I could just take off the jewelry on the dresses, I'd be able to secure my slush fund.
Having completed the alteration orders for ten dresses in this manner, I checked once more to make sure Mrs. Ruayal had written them down thoroughly and sat down.
"But, Edith, since someone from the boutique is here, why don't you order a new dress as well?"
"I can barely wear all the dresses I brought with me, as there are so many, so I'll have to order a new one for next year. Thank you for your concern, Mother."
In fact, from this day forward, I was deliberately avoiding the title "Duchess" and calling her "Mother" all the time, trying to establish an inner closeness with her.
I could feel the Duchess' awkwardness, but titles are harder to change later in a marriage if you don't establish them early on.
Anyway, I stood up, praying that this was a success.