Chapter 241
Chapter 241
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 241
Chapter Title: The Easiest Way to End a Stalemate Discussion (2)
"We'll base the veil on Lady Clarice's design, but fill in parts with embroidery to emphasize certain areas. That's the agreement we've reached."
"That's great. Thank you for all your hard work coming up with the ideas."
"Ha, haha..."
Lady Clarice and Sir Richards had achieved a dramatic compromise in just twenty minutes and came to report the results to me.
These were people more skilled than anyone else, so why had they been so stubborn up until now...?
Was it because their pure passion as tailors struck a deeper chord with the elders than any false formality?
To convince them, my sincerity and enthusiasm had been necessary.
They really were artisans. I just needed to treat them the same way as in the atelier!
Once I realized that, dealing with the elders felt a bit easier.
With newfound confidence and a touch of bravado, I headed straight to the dress section, where the next heated debate had been raging after the veil.
The veil debate had been so shockingly deadlocked that I had no choice but to focus heavily there, but the dress had at least made some progress—though in a different, equally headache-inducing way.
"Didn't I say the shoulders need to be exposed? Her Highness the Crown Princess has such a beautiful neckline!"
"The neckline needs to plunge deeper, you old fool. Has age made you blind? Don't you know how exquisite Her Highness's line is from her neck, over her collarbone, all the way to her sternum?"
"Blind? That's you, daring to cover half her collarbone?"
"Ha!"
Yeah... something like that.
It was a remarkably beautiful debate, but it had stalled the upper body's design completely.
The lower half had reached an agreement on patterns and silhouette, but since you couldn't make a dress just from the bottom, they were still at square one.
"Marquis Walks, Baron Troton, are you two still arguing about the neckline?"
"How can I stop debating when this pest won't get it?"
"I can't communicate with those buttonhole eyes."
As I cautiously interjected into the argument, both turned to me in unison, grumbling with faces full of regret, as if on cue.
I understood.
Shoulders or collarbone—it's one of those highly divisive tastes.
Even though they're in similar spots, they're parts that don't pair well together, making it hard for either side to yield.
It's like how even among foot fetishists, some focus on the toes while others obsess over the graceful curve from instep to ankle.
Hmm... is that too niche an example?
That profound world is hard to explain simply.
Anyway, it's something like that.
Either way, for anyone, there's only one absolute best, so neither would back down.
But I had trouble understanding this debate easily.
"If the neckline's the issue, why not just make it an off-shoulder dress?"
Unlike the veil, where the fabric itself differed and forced an either-or, this wasn't that extreme.
"We did consider it."
"But we can't."
"Pardon?"
But their response was a bit unusual.
Not that they didn't want to—it was that they couldn't.
They said it was impossible for reasons beyond their control, leaving me puzzled.
It couldn't be a skill issue; those two could make an off-shoulder dress no problem.
And off-shoulder wasn't some taboo fashion either.
It appeared occasionally, so why can't they?
"It's not that you don't want to—it's that you can't? What does that mean?"
"Well, off-shoulder means paying attention to the armpits, right?"
"Yes, so what's the problem?"
"Hmm..."
"Hmmm..."
They exchanged glances as if reluctant to answer, scratching their heads and furrowing their brows.
"Haa..."
With some kind of eye signal between them, Marquis Walks let out a deep sigh, shoulders slumping as he spoke.
"The thing is, Her Highness the Crown Princess seems uncomfortable exposing the body hair under her arms. We suggested it, but she flatly refused. So off-shoulder is impossible."
"...?"
Body hair... so armpit hair is the issue?
Is there an easier fix than that?
"If it's body hair, can't we just shave it off?"
This wasn't some ancient era where razors were murder weapons. With the right spell and knife, you could remove hair as easily as spreading jam on bread.
"No, even so, shaving it off is too much, isn't it?"
"Mm, yeah, that's excessive. It's not like it's a beard."
"Eh..."
But their reaction—why would you depilate?—made my sense of normalcy crumble.
Don't people shave armpits when wearing off-shoulder or anything that shows them?
Untreated, it looks messy, and tangled body hair is a matter of taste...
No, wait—Emily didn't have any before.
Is Emily the weird one? Or did she do it just for me...?
"Hmm..."
Suddenly, I felt sorry for Emily.
She must have done that embarrassing thing because of her foolish master.
...
No, even so, armpits should be neat...
"Ahem!"
My modern self craving smooth armpits clashed with my isekai self that couldn't care less, so I cleared my throat and shoved the topic from my mind.
Anyway, fully exposing the shoulders was impossible due to personal taste.
As Baron Troton wanted, showing the shoulders around the trapezius would look nice, but fully revealing the shoulder's curve was out.
"Then, wouldn't a deep front neckline be better?"
"Exactly! See, fresh eyes spot the answer right away!"
"What's the reason? If you can't explain it properly, I won't back down."
"I think it only counts if the shoulders are fully exposed."
"What?"
I spoke a bit firmly, and Baron Troton flinched, looking flustered.
I stared steadily at the baron and pointed to the boundary between shoulder and arm, continuing.
"The curve from shoulder to nape is important, but the finishing touch for perfection is right here. The graceful curve and the fold between arm and chest—these two elements must be fully revealed to truly call it 'shoulders.'"
Personally, shoulders only looked beautiful when the fold between arm and chest, and the curve from shoulder to arm, were fully exposed.
The volume and wrinkles from flesh pressing together, the valley stimulating the imagination, and the slender yet softly curving shoulder—if not fully shown, it wasn't exposure.
Better to cover it then.
Half-hearted exposure was less erotic and beautiful than full coverage.
The aesthetic of concealment isn't for nothing.
In contrast, the line from neck to cleavage was complete and problem-free to expose.
"But not the front line—Her Highness won't mind boldly exposing that."
Thus, the straight neck, the dip of the collarbone, and the press of flesh where breasts met could reveal tantalizing points the shoulders couldn't, without restraint.
"Hmm..."
Realizing this key difference, Baron Troton furrowed his wrinkled brow and forehead, clearly displeased.
"Fine, this time I'll go with Walks's opinion. That side's better."
"Thank you for your generosity. If not for Her Highness's tastes, your view would have been perfectly valid."
"What can you do? We failed to read the client properly."
He seemed a bit uncomfortable prioritizing his pride and taste over the client's wishes, but... that wasn't for me to meddle in.
I had too much childlike immaturity myself to guide anyone's self-reflection.
"We've settled the neckline—any other issues with the dress?"
"Not in the design phase, at least. The neckline was the last point."
"Good. That's a relief."
As expected, the dress was in better shape than the veil.
With the silhouette finalized, they could move from theory to practice.
"You're all far more skilled and experienced than I am, so I trust you'll handle the rest even better."
"Yes, just leave it to us now."
"Of course."
Design was one thing, but in actual cutting, they were three levels above, so I just glanced at the final sketch and stepped back.
Now left were petticoats, corsets, bras, and such...
I'd have been lost at the start, but now I wasn't worried.
With dress and veil done, underwear was my specialty.
Here, I could hold my head high against the elders.
And the underwear elders seemed a bit more slippery, so it'd wrap up faster.
"Haa~"
I let out a long breath and grinned.
After over two weeks of torment, solutions were appearing one by one—it felt great.
At this rate, we'd finalize designs before mid-August.
To drag out something this simple—group projects are the worst.
Everyone's stats drop two levels from the debuff.
Even artisans get nerfed, proving group projects are a sin.
"Phew~"
I'd never take on something like this again.
If I do another group project, I'm not human.