Chapter 94

“A brat?”

 

“My brother made a beautiful dress using fabric from the Baimery Merchant Guild! Please, look at my brother’s dress!”

 

‘Baimery?’

 

Scarlet fell into deep thought at the mention of the name she had heard somewhere before. Soon, her eyes sparkled with a look of curiosity.

 

The girl she had encountered in the alleyway—the one with lemon-blonde hair and purple eyes, who looked so innocent she seemed almost naive—her name had been Lilithia Baimery.

 

‘She did say she ran a merchant guild.’

 

Shring—

 

A knight with an expressionless face drew his sword from its scabbard and pointed it toward Cyad. In an instant, Cyad’s face turned from pale to ghostly white as he collapsed onto the floor.

 

A man who appeared to be the older brother rushed out from behind, clutching Cyad in his arms and shouting.

 

“Cyad! Are you okay!?”

 

“…Brother….”

 

“I-I am sorry. This is my younger brother’s first time at such a formal event, he was… rude.”

 

Scarlet stood up from her seat and approached the trembling brothers. With every step she took, Jonas’s body flinched.

 

“……We were wrong….”

 

“Lead me to your dress.”

 

“The dress…?”

 

“Yes. The dress you made with fabric from the Baimery Merchant Guild.”

 

Trembling, Jonas slowly moved toward where the dress was located. Scarlet stood before the dress and flashed a wide smile.

 

“I love it.”

 

At her unexpected words, every eye in the banquet hall focused on her. Overwhelmed by the intense scrutiny, Jonas could only roll his eyes incessantly, but upon hearing Scarlet’s answer, he shouted so loudly it was as if he were having a fit.

 

“Pardon…?”

 

“The winner is this dress.”

 

“Not tearing it apart, but… a win?”

 

“Why would I tear such a beautiful dress?”

 

This was a gathering of the century’s greatest master designers. When a man dressed in clothes so tattered they were practically falling apart snatched the victory away from them all, the surroundings erupted into a noisy commotion.

 

“How can you choose that dress!”

 

“This is unfair!”

 

“To think you wouldn’t even look at my dress and choose that thing instead!”

 

Among them, a man with dark blonde hair stepped forward and shouted loudly.

 

“Please judge us fairly!”

 

Scarlet bowed her head and laughed, then nodded, readily complying with his request.

 

“Fine. I’ll personally give you an evaluation.”

 

Turning around, Scarlet pointed at the dresses one by one, critiquing each of them.

 

She looked at a white dress that exposed the thighs, stared blankly at the designer, and let out a smirk.

 

“Do you want to see my legs that badly?”

 

The designer’s face turned bright red, and Scarlet moved leisurely past them.

 

“Was this made for me to sweep the dust off the palace floors? If I wear this, I won’t need to do any separate room cleaning.”

 

“What was this even supposed to cover? If I’m going to wear something like this, a strip show would be better.”

 

One by one, her words struck like fireballs cast by a high-ranking mage, making the designers further down the line tremble.

 

She passed by the relatively simple and elegant dresses without much comment, and the designers of those dresses breathed sighs of relief.

 

Then, Scarlet’s footsteps stopped in front of a golden dress.

 

As she stared at the dress in silence, everyone looked back and forth between the dress and Scarlet with curious eyes.

 

“Ahem. It seems Her Highness truly likes the outfit from the designer I brought!”

 

A noble with a protruding belly and a mustache curled into perfect ovals took a step forward. The designer also spoke up with a confident expression, their nose high in the air as they looked down on everyone.

 

“To explain my dress, it is made of one hundred percent pure gold—”

 

“It’s tacky.”

 

“……!”

 

Looking at the noble and the designer with a firm and contemptuous gaze, Scarlet drove the point home once more.

 

“If you want to waste your money, do it somewhere else.”

 

“Waste… Waste money! This is a masterpiece of the ages…!”

 

“It stinks in here.”

 

She pinched her nose with her fingers and waved her hand as if a foul odor were truly present. The designer and the noble grabbed the hem of the dress and sniffed it.

 

“Does it smell?”

 

“The scent of gold is nothing but refreshing….”

 

A scene unfolded where one side was blocking their nose as if they couldn’t stand a stench, while the other side was pressing their noses into the dress, claiming otherwise.

 

“You really don’t get it, do you?”

 

“…….”

 

Everyone focused on Scarlet because of her unfiltered, direct vocabulary and tone.

 

“Everyone must know. If it is discovered that a family is selling slaves—or even trading them—within the Kingdom of Pearching, it means the end of that family’s honor, its existence, and the lives of its entire bloodline.”

 

“Sl-Slaves! I have nothing to do with that!”

 

“If you really had nothing to do with it, you wouldn’t even know what I was implying. Isn’t that right?”

 

The noble’s face turned as white as flour.

 

“I know nothing of this!”

 

“Too late.”

 

Scarlet pursed her lips and blew a sharp whistle between her thumb and index finger.

 

Wheeeeeet—!

 

The moment the sound ended, knights clad in white steel armor entered the banquet hall.

 

Murmur, murmur—

 

“Princess, what is the meaning of this….”

 

“I didn’t want to reveal this in a place like this, but since you didn’t know your place and shoved your face in here, you’ve made me angry.”

 

Clank, clank, clank—

 

The palace knights grabbed the noble’s arms, their steel armor clanking. His face turned pale with horror, and his eyes trembled as he screamed at Scarlet.

 

“This is a frame-up!”

 

“We’ll find out soon enough. Whether it’s a frame-up or not.”

 

Walking past the noble who was being dragged away with his arms crossed behind him, Scarlet looked around and said: “If there is anyone else who objects to the winner, speak up.”

 

The nobles, who had been filled with a spirit of rebellion, all tucked their tails and looked away.

 

“The winner is that dress.”

 

 

***

 

 

“Baimery Merchant Guild here!”

 

“Our guild sells many products for women!”

 

I was handing out flyers today, just like any other day.

 

“Oh!”

 

A passing child bumped into me as I was handing out flyers. Because I stumbled, the flyers in my hand began to scatter into the sky.

 

Flutter—

 

Like popcorn popping and floating into the air in a movie, my precious flyers cut through the empty space and drifted down.

 

“No!”

 

I was reminded once again that I really have no luck. It was while I was watching the flyers scatter in the air.

 

I saw a figure in front of me, and my eyes widened.

 

“You really are interesting.”

 

Deep red hair, eyes folded into crescents, a mouth smiling cheerfully, and a voice that showed no sign of shyness.

 

“Scarlet…?”

 

It was the woman who had helped me find my way when I was lost, yet at the same time, made me feel a sense of danger: Scarlet.

 

Snap!

 

Scarlet grabbed my right hand as if snatching it. I was flustered by the sudden physical contact for a moment.

 

“Come with me.”

 

At the pull of her hand, I planted my feet firmly.

 

“Wait… Wait a minute!”

 

‘Is this… human trafficking?’

 

To be dragged away by a strange woman in the middle of a plaza in broad daylight. This was absurd. Contrary to her appearance, Scarlet was quite strong. She dragged me along and spoke to me cheerfully.

 

“It’s okay!”

 

“What do you mean, it’s okay….”

 

“I’m not going to take your liver, so don’t worry.”

 

How could she say something so gruesome with such a smiling face? My eyes grew as round as pots, and I heard her chuckle.

 

“Just trust me and follow me once, seriously.”

 

‘That sounds even less trustworthy than a boyfriend saying he’ll only hold my hand and sleep.’

 

“I-If you don’t let go, I’ll call the guards!”

 

“The guards?”

 

Scarlet, who had been dragging me, froze, and only then was I able to stop and catch my breath.

 

“You’re scared, aren’t you! So stop this—”

 

“Report me! That would be even more fun.”

 

‘Eh…’

 

A weak sound escaped me automatically. A human trafficker who wasn’t afraid of the guards? The public security in the Pearching Kingdom must be so bad that people kidnap others in broad daylight.

 

I looked around to ask for help, but my lips began to tremble. Knights in armor were standing around me as if forming a perimeter with a 3-meter radius. Passersby looked bewildered by the sudden appearance of the knights. Just then, I heard Winnie’s voice from afar.

 

“Miss!”

 

Blocked by the knights’ hands, Winnie—who had scattered to hand out flyers separately—was waving her hand and calling me.

 

“Winnie…?”

 

“Is she someone you know?”

 

“She’s my personal maid….”

 

“Is that so?” Scarlet’s eyes crinkled, and she signaled the knights. The knight blocking Winnie lowered his arm. Then Winnie came running over and bowed her head to greet Scarlet.

 

“I greet Her Royal Highness Princess Scarlet Ligliano, of the royal blood of the Pearching Kingdom.”

 

I blinked my eyes slowly, wondering what Winnie was talking about.

 

“Miss! This person is the Princess!”

 

“That’s impossible….”

 

“Look at this!”

 

When I gave her a look asking for an explanation, Winnie showed me a newspaper she was holding. There, a smiling Scarlet was pictured. I looked back and forth between the newspaper and Scarlet several times. And soon, I couldn’t help but let out an exclamation that was half-horror and half-disbelief.

 

‘This can’t be.’

 

Scarlet, wearing a broad smile, dismissed my thoughts.

 

“That’s right.”

 

“I mean, what’s right…?”

 

“The person on there. That’s me.”

 

They say your mind goes blank when you’re too flustered. The red-haired woman I had mistaken for a kidnapper was the Princess of this country.

 

“You must be joking!”

 

“You don’t believe me?”

 

“There’s no way you could be the Princess…?”

 

With the words “I’ll show you if you can’t believe it,” Scarlet ushered me and Winnie into a carriage and set it in motion.