The crown prince had cut down on coming to the academy since that day.

And when he does come, he always looks busy and I don"t get a chance to talk at all.

It"s as if we have returned to that time before the tea parties, when we didn"t even know each other.

I remember looking at him from afar then.

Back then, when his highness looked so beautiful that it didn"t feel like he was from this world—and so I also didn"t have that much of an interest.

However, now, I know he"s just another person breathing and living in this same world—and so I look at him differently.

Unrelated to that, Remias has not been coming to the academy either.

He was collecting evidence of injustice, so I was worried that something might have happened to him but when I asked Remie-sama, she said that her elder brother had just caught a bad cold and was taking a long break.

"Haa…."

This is boring.

While I was sighing with my head down on the table, my head was stroked.

"You tired? We had dance cla.s.s today, after all. That reminds me… C-cosette, have you decided on a partner?"

"Partner? For what?"

When I lifted my head, I found George looking at me with wide eyes and slightly red cheeks.

"The Freshman Welcome Dance! Although it is a bit late this time around but it says in the bulletin that it will held at the end of the month."

"Dance…. I had completely forgotten."

"Oi, oi, oi…. Haa.. Then you probably don"t have a partner?"

"Obviously. I didn"t know up till now, alright? And n.o.body invited me to it either, so."

So that"s why the girls have been going "kyaa, kyaa" recently in the cla.s.sroom.

I didn"t notice at all since no one invited me.

Even though I worked hard and am dieting…. disappointing.

"…..Oh, really? I"m glad! Let"s get along, us loners!"

That"s great! I don"t have to be a loner in the dance anymore.

"Us loners… Ha…"

George dropped his shoulders for some reason. Hmm?

When I told Sissy about the dance after returning to the mansion, she got quite angry.

"Why did you not let me know earlier?! Miss, your size keeps on changing frequently and you also do not partic.i.p.ate in tea parties so you barely have any proper formal dresses! And it"s for an evening party on top of that! Awaawaawaa"

"Whwhwha"

"Either way, I will call the tailor immediately! Ahh, we also need to do that and this and awawwaawaaa"

"Whwhwha"

Sissy went rushing out, so I decided to just sit down and drink some tea while I wait. The tailor soon came in.

"Miss, I am Zamas. Well then, I shall be taking the measurements today, zamas. As it will be a super express delivery, I will be quick zamas. I would like you to choose the fabric while I take the measurements, zamas."

While I was wondering if this was the old woman Zamas, Mrs Zamas" subordinate A went on to take my measurements and her subordinate B raised the materials in front of my face so that I could choose and Mrs Zamas immediately started making the design.

As I sunk into the chair, completely exhausted from the thorough measuring, Mrs Zamas showed me a few designs.

"Miss, you"re very thin so I recommend a dress going swoosh from the back and woosh towards the front, zamas. I recommend these fabrics which I chose."

"Wait, did you say zamas just now?"

"Well then, I will come again for test sewing, zamas."

"No, like, you don"t intent on listening to my opinion, do you?"

"Then, if you will excuse us, zamas."

Mrs. Zamas…. she left like a storm.

Her explanation of the dress was so vague that I couldn"t understand anything.

Well, although her personality is like that, since she is highly popular for making dresses which match the client, I guess I will leave it to her.

Probably.

Even still, how does she keep doing business when she doesn"t even listen to her clients?

"…..I wonder what kind of a dress she will make. I can"t even imagine."

"Mrs Zamas is very popular even at the capital so it will be fine. I thought she wouldn"t accept but it"s a relief that she did."

"…..Yeah. You did well to have her accept."

Mrs Zamas is very hard to please and she doesn"t normally accept orders from new customers.

On top of that, her delivery time ranges from 1 week to 3 months—it changes based on how quick she gets inspired.

You would think that the fashion trend itself will change in 3 months but the dresses she makes brings out the wearer"s appeal and is not only original, it also creates a new trend.

As such, she is flooded with requests and one can rarely order a haute couture made directly by her.

"That, was the actual person herself, right? It was my first time meeting her."

"Yes, it was Mrs. Zamas herself. It was my first time meeting her, as well. I didn"t think she would come herself."

As Mrs. Zamas rarely makes haute couture and normally has her disciple designers make it, she rarely goes to the customers" place.

Sissy made the request a.s.suming that one of the disciple would come.

"But, now that Mrs. Zamas herself took the job, we can"t predict when the dress will be done. Let"s make some orders at other places, as well."

"It"s the unpredictable Zamas, after all…."

It"s bothersome but I guess we have no choice zamas.

But such predictions were soon overturned.

Mrs. Zamas came into my room next morning with the test dress in her hands.

I literally jumped up as the door was suddenly slammed open.

And Sissy came running after her.

"Haa.. haa.. haa.. Mrs… Mrs Zamas… has come.."

It seems Mrs. Zamas couldn"t be stopped by anyone in the mansion as she pa.s.sed even Sissy while coming here.

Is this person really okay?

I am really worried about whether she is alright or not… in the head.

Is this how artists are? I wonder if art is an explosion.

As I stared at her with my eyes wide open, she handed the dress over to me.

"Mrs. Zamas… this is.. the test dress..?"

"I am Zamas. That"s right, zamas. Please wear it right away, zamas."

"Eh, ah, yes."

While I just stood there, dumbfounded, the changing had already started.

Mrs. Zamas stood a bit far away and kept giving instructions to her disciples seriously about holding or lifting the dress.

"Umm, Mrs. Zamas."

"I am Zamas. What is it?"

"Why did you accept this job? We had only met for the first time yesterday…"

"Because you requested, zamas."

"No, not about that…"

Ah, I can"t get through.

"Cossette-sama, you"re the designer of the signora, right zamas?"

"Eh? Yeah. I just made the thing I wanted."

I feel very uncomfortable talking about designs with an actual designer, when the one I used was just based on my knowledge of my previous world.

"That goes for me as well. High heel, was it? That made my design dreams multiply, zamas. It just keeps coming up that I don"t even have time to sleep, zamas."

"I am… sorry?"

Mrs. Zamas just smiled happily.

That"s the first time I saw her smile. I couldn"t really notice properly before but she is quite pretty.

"This is the first time I had my imagination outburst since I first became a designer. As such, I wanted to meet you once, miss."

Mrs. Zamas said, as if to imply that she was also a bit jealous, as another designer.

It made me feel kinda sorry and I couldn"t reply.

"But… after meeting you, after seeing your thoroughly trained style, those feet which bring out the true appeal of high heels… I wanted adorn it with my design, zamas."

Mrs. Zamas gave a bold smile, saying "I shall make the perfect dress for you!", to which I could finally smile back, as well.

"Fufu, then I will be looking forward to it, Mrs. Zamas."

"I am Zamas."

Mrs. Zamas" job was quick.

She kept making changes to the test dress right there and brought the final form to light.

And it seemed she kept getting more and more ideas even while she was doing that so I can"t even begin to imagine what kind of a dress it will turn out to be.

After Mrs. Zamas had left, Sissy and I just lied down, drenched in sweat.

All that"s left is to wait for the completed version.

It seems the dress will be done the day before the dance.

She did say that she might come a few times before that but the image in her mind has solidified.

I am excited to see what kind of a dress she makes!