Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: The Sheer Stockings Sensation
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The carriage returning from the viscount's family estate after the banquet was steeped in a silence so heavy and suffocating it sent chills down the spine.
"......"
Her lips parted wide in a gape.
Her cheeks flushed red as if she had caught a cold.
A dull haze clouded her turquoise eyes, drained of their usual spark.
Ever since that brief rendezvous with the young lord, the lady had been acting like she was intoxicated.
"Hehe... Heehee..."
A lascivious chuckle slipped from between the lady's lips.
And as she pressed her hand firmly against her mouth, it was clear she was reliving whatever had happened during their tryst.
Her cheeks flushed even deeper red, a spark of heat flickered in her eyes for a moment, and then her hand dropped limply onto her thigh—her gaze turned vacant once more, staring off into empty space.
"Lady Letisha..."
"What is it?"
"Is the lady... all right? Did the young lord do something to her, perhaps...?"
At the lady's continued odd behavior, Augusta, sitting beside her, gazed at her with anxious eyes and grasped my hand.
I could feel Augusta's trembling through her grip.
To Augusta, still so young, the lady's state wouldn't look like anything positive.
I smiled and placed a hand on Augusta's head.
"Augusta, don't worry too much. The lady is perfectly fine."
I gently stroked her hair and reassured her in a soft, kind voice.
"B-but she looks kind of distressed..."
"Hee..."
"True enough..."
To someone unfamiliar with the situation, it might seem like something terrible had happened, but to me, who knew the full story, she just looked blissfully happy—on the verge of dying from joy.
"Hehe~ Augusta, sometimes when you're just too happy, tears come out, right?"
"Yes..."
"That's what's happening to the lady right now. She's so thrilled that nothing else registers, and laughter keeps bubbling up."
"I see... But what good thing could have happened to her?"
"Well..."
I gave an awkward smile as I briefly recalled the events.
During the banquet, upon hearing that the young lord and the lady had slipped away for a moment, I had grabbed comfortable shoes and a remedy for dizziness before heading to the room where they were.
There, the two of them had greeted me with disheveled collars, hastily smoothed hair, faces red as apples, and awkward smiles.
Those five short minutes they had spent together had been passionate and intense—but not so scandalously lewd or vulgar that I couldn't speak of it...
Still, it felt a bit too stimulating to share with Augusta, who had just turned fourteen.
I squeezed Augusta's hand tightly, looked straight into her eyes, and spoke gently.
"When you're a bit older, Augusta, you'll understand what happened to the lady."
"Y-yes..."
_
After Hayes returned from the viscount's estate, the mansion was briefly thrown into an uproar.
"Mom, Dad, I've found someone I want to marry."
"W-what?"
Because the very next day, during breakfast, Hayes dropped a bombshell.
"That's wonderful, dear. Do as you wish."
"Madam? What are you saying? I don't care who this mongrel is—I absolutely won't allow it! Even if I'm buried six feet under, I won't accept it!"
Mother seemed to sense something, raising an eyebrow and glancing around before nodding calmly. But Father twisted his face into a grimace as if he'd encountered a heretic, vehemently opposing it.
"They said they'd send a letter by today."
"How exciting. To see who our daughter has chosen."
"Urgh!"
Father clutched the back of his neck, looking like he might collapse from outrage.
But before lunch was over, a letter arrived from the viscount's family.
"Heh heh, how could a father not support his lovely daughter falling in love?"
"Right?"
"Mom, Dad, thank you!"
As if his fierce opposition had never happened, he wore a serene expression and cheered on Hayes's romance.
It was a bit unseemly since it hadn't even been half a day since he'd called the suitor a mongrel and sworn never to accept him even in death—but since the young lord was the polar opposite of a mongrel, the perfect groom material, everyone just let it slide.
__
About a week after Hayes brought home her intended groom, Mother suddenly visited my room.
"Son, are you busy?"
"No, not at all."
"Hayes told me you helped her out a lot with this."
"Oh... that? My little sister wanted to make her love work, so I lent a hand."
"You know so much about other people's romances, yet there's no word on your own match..."
"......"
I scrunched my nose and squeezed my eyes shut.
Ever since Hayes's engagement to the young lord was settled, Mother's pressure had intensified.
The young lord hadn't found his match until he was nineteen, so I figured I had a couple of years' leeway—but that didn't matter to Mother.
"Did you come to nag me...?"
"Not just for that, but since I'm here, a little nagging too."
"Urgh..."
I regretted helping Hayes.
It was a romance that would have happened eventually since they both liked each other, but my meddling had backfired onto me.
"Sigh~ Don't dawdle too much."
"Yes, ma'am..."
As I bowed my head and averted my gaze, Mother sighed and wrapped up her lecture quicker than usual.
"By the way, I heard you made Hayes some interesting stockings."
"Interesting? I wouldn't call them that, but I did make her a pretty pair."
"That's what makes them interesting. Who in their right mind would invest so much money and effort into stockings you can barely even see? Just the materials alone cost thirty silver, for mere stockings."
"......"
I averted Mother's eyes again and scratched the back of my head.
I'd made them myself, so only materials were needed. Hiring a tailor skilled enough to handle delicate thin fabric and embroider it would cost a fortune.
Even nobles would balk at spending several gold on stockings that wouldn't last long.
"Sorry..."
"I'm not here to scold you, so lift your head."
"Then why did you come?"
"Those stockings got a surprisingly good reaction from the men. They're pretty, sure, but I didn't think they'd be that appealing—yet the men loved them more than expected."
"The men? Besides me and the young lord, no one else has seen them."
"I was curious, so I had our family tailors make a few. No time for embroidery, though."
"Oh? What did Father say?"
Mother smiled faintly, her earlobes tinting pink as she replied.
"It was hot. Felt like I was young again."
"Ah... I s-see. Glad you liked it."
I nodded awkwardly at Mother's succinct review.
Their marriage had always been harmonious, but if it had heated up even more... I couldn't help but wonder what had gone down.
Were we getting a new sibling?
"So, I'm thinking of selling them in my boutique. What do you think?"
Lost in idle thoughts, Mother snapped me back with the real topic.
"...The boutique?"
Selling sheer, embroidered stockings to others...
Boutiques sold expensive clothes, but sheer stockings were tricky to make, pricey, and obviously wouldn't last—would they sell?
"Think they'll sell?"
"If you stoke a noble's competitive spirit just a bit, they'll buy trash at premium prices."
I tilted my head skeptically, and Mother chuckled with a nod.
"How?"
"The stockings are pretty on their own. Just attach the right story, and it's done. Leak a hint about Hayes and Lord Lennox, gossip to the other madams, and the ladies will snap them up like they're enchanted."
"That's enough? Don't we need more?"
"Beauty is a woman's life. If men are dying for it, which woman wouldn't buy?"
"Makes sense."
As a man, I couldn't quite grasp it, but if Mother said so, I trusted her.
"It won't be hard to copy, so they'll flood the market. Any profit in it?"
"Knockoffs will appear fast, but we can monopolize for a few months and profit."
"Hm..."
No real reason to object.
I nodded without much thought.
"Do as you please, Mother."
"Thank you, dear."
_
As Mother predicted, the sheer stockings quietly gained popularity among the ladies and madams.
Some sought them to draw an admirer's gaze, others to inject spark into a stale romance.
The stockings' rise brought an unexpected change.
To show them off, skirts shortened slightly.
Not by much—just a bit above the ankles.
It was gratifying to see fashion evolving in such a proper direction.
You might think "slightly shorter" is underwhelming, but compared to dresses dragging hems on the floor before, it was a huge leap.
One regrettable thing: Emily wouldn't wear them.
Even after I made the matching pair I hadn't finished for Hayes and gave it to her, Emily never once put them on.
"Emily, you never wear those stockings?"
I timidly brought it up once.
"How could I wear them while working? They'd tear right away."
"Hng..."
Too reasonable to argue further.