If I Wear Something Like This, I'll Completely Lose My Masculinity...
I was dragged by the princess's hand all the way to the tailor's shop.
I'd been looking forward to finally escaping my pajamas and wearing normal clothes, but...
“Ugh… I don’t know what I did wrong, but I’m sorry, Princess…”
The moment I saw the first outfit, I had to apologize to her.
“Huh? What’s wrong, Teacher?”
“What do you mean, what’s wrong…? Are you upset with me or something?”
I must have done something to offend the princess.
Had I not been giving her enough rewards lately?
No, that couldn’t be it… I was pretty sure I kissed her on the cheek at least three times a day.
Maybe she didn’t like the lessons?
But she’d been following along quite well…?
I couldn’t think of anything.
I had no idea what I could possibly have done wrong!
“Wrong? What could you possibly do wrong, Teacher?”
“Then why are you trying to make me wear that!”
I pointed straight at the garment the tailor was holding.
There it was.
Fluttery, adorable frills.
A huge ribbon tied at the back.
And tiny jewels scattered all over it.
A pink dress far too cute for me to wear.
I’d just wanted something comfortable to wear every day. Why did it have to be this?
“That dress? You’ll hurt the tailor’s feelings.”
“B-but that’s not something I should be wearing! I was a man until just a few days ago, you know?”
Even as I said it, I felt a little guilty and glanced up at the tailor.
She really did look hurt; she kept dabbing at the corners of her eyes.
I felt a twinge of remorse, but still… that dress was a hard no!
“The tailor’s eye bags look like they’ve grown an inch from making that dress… Don’t you think wearing it would be the polite thing to do, Teacher?”
There really were deep, dark circles under the tailor’s eyes.
Seeing her transformed from a demon into what looked like a panda tugged at my conscience.
“But… if I wear something like this, I’ll completely lose my masculinity…”
“That wouldn’t be so bad, actually…”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, I didn’t say anything.”
The princess had just muttered something. I must have misheard.
Anyway.
Even the animal pajamas had been dangerous. The second I put on that dress, I might start seeing myself as a woman. No, I definitely would.
But with the tailor’s head drooping lower and lower, practically about to fall off, it was hard to refuse.
Fine. I didn’t have to wear it. I could just keep it in the closet, right?
I carefully took the frilly pink dress into my arms.
“…I’ll accept it out of respect for the tailor’s hard work. But I will absolutely, positively never wear it.”
“Hmmm… what a shame…”
The princess’s mouth turned down in a pout.
Even with that pitiful expression, I was never going to wear it. Never.
“Still… it’s fine. We came to order new clothes, didn’t we?”
“Um… Princess…”
The tailor raised a trembling hand as the princess smiled brightly.
The princess gave a little nod, urging her to speak.
“How many alterations should we expect for the clothes you’re ordering this time…? If you could tell me the tutor’s preferences from the start—rather than the pajamas—I’ll do my best to match them…”
She almost called them pajamas again!
More importantly, how many alterations?
I looked at the tailor with uneasy eyes.
“…By the way, Tailor. How many times did you alter this dress…?”
“Hmm… about forty-eight times, I think.”
That was way too many.
My hands started shaking on their own.
The princess had given me the pajamas three days ago, so the tailor must have received the order at least four days ago.
That meant she’d spent nearly a week working on my pajamas while altering this dress more than forty-eight times?
I suddenly understood why the tailor’s species had changed from demon to panda.
How was this woman even still alive?
“I’m so sorry, Tailor!”
It wasn’t my fault, but I bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle anyway.
Even if I hadn’t placed the order, forty-eight alterations…
And after all that hard work, the person who was supposed to wear it refused. At this point, the tailor would have been justified in slapping the princess and quitting on the spot.
“Oh dear, did I really request that many changes? Goodness… After all the effort that went into it, maybe you should wear it at least once, Teacher?”
“What are you saying so shamelessly, Princess?! This was all your doing!”
I shouted at the princess, who was brazenly trying to get me into the dress.
She was the one who caused all the trouble—why did the tailor and I have to suffer for it?
“It’s quite all right… I live on the Demon King’s payroll, after all. This much is expected… You don’t have to wear it, Tutor. Even though I spent six precious days and revised it forty-eight times… if you don’t like it, there’s nothing to be done…”
“Ugh…!”
I already felt like dying from guilt. Please stop looking back and forth between me and the dress with those tragic eyes.
It was incredibly hard to ignore…
“It would look so good on you… Ah, never mind. How could someone like me force the princess’s tutor to wear anything? Of course, I only slept two hours a night while making it… Really, it’s perfectly fine if you don’t wear it.”
No, this woman was clearly guilt-tripping me.
The way she kept making eye contact with the princess… I bet money had changed hands.
“…Just once. Just one time.”
“Oh my… You’re willing to wear a humble tailor’s insignificant effort? It’s an honor.”
Still, money couldn’t truly repay the tailor’s time, so I decided to wear it once.
Just here. I’d endure the brief humiliation.
* * *
I came out of the changing room after putting on the dress.
This was the most embarrassing thing I’d ever worn in my life, even worse than the dinosaur pajamas…
“I’m… dressed.”
“Ooh…”
“Wow! See, Teacher? It’s super cute!”
The tailor lifted her monocle in admiration while the princess grabbed my hands and bounced up and down.
I’d never seen her this excited before…
“Yes… I’m glad you like it…”
What made it even more infuriating was how perfectly the dress suited me.
It made me look even cuter, which only made me burn with embarrassment inside.
“I love it so, so much, Teacher. Can I take just one picture?”
“Wh-what?! No!”
Click.
Who asks while they’re already taking the picture?!
And where on earth did she get that rare portable camera?
The princess was already waiting for my photo to develop.
“Where did you get something that expensive?!”
“Hm? This? Is a camera expensive?”
“Excuse me??”
This was why rich people…! They casually carried around things commoners could never even dream of seeing.
In this world, cameras hadn’t advanced nearly as far as they had on Earth, so a portable camera was worth more than an ordinary demon could earn in a lifetime.
Yet this carefree princess was looking at a treasure comparable to—or perhaps even more valuable than—a national heirloom and asking if it was expensive. With the most innocent face imaginable.
That incredible wealth made me…!
Almost fall for her.
…Honestly, it was pretty cool. Living without any concept of how expensive things were.
I couldn’t even imagine how happy the person who became the princess’s spouse would be.
“Look, Teacher. It came out really well.”
Whether I liked it or not, the princess showed me the photo with a bright smile.
In it was me with a face as red as a tomato, barely covering my eyes with my hands.
Anger surged through me.
Since the camera itself was astronomically valuable, it was only natural that each photo was insanely expensive too.
Even important academic materials were rarely photographed because film was so precious.
Yet here I was in an awkward pose, immortalized on film. It was such a waste that it made me furious.
“Yes… It came out well.”
“Hehe… I’m going to keep it as a family heirloom forever.”
“…Do as you wish.”
But what could a mere tutor do?
I resigned myself and rubbed my face.
In this world, a photo was more expensive than gold. I couldn’t possibly tear it up.
And even if I could, tearing up something that belonged to the princess would surely get me executed.
A photo really was valuable enough to be designated a family treasure.
Was I really going to be preserved like this, my shame frozen in time…?
I was trying to swallow down the resentment of having my humiliation passed on to the future when the tailor tapped me on the shoulder.
“Yes? What is it, Tailor?”
“Ah, um, Tutor…”
“You can just call me Melly.”
“Then… Melly…”
I told her she could just call me Melly, but she still added the honorific.
We didn’t even look that far apart in age.
Ever since I started working at the Demon King’s castle, I’d noticed that the servants in particular seemed to have a hard time interacting with me.
I was just the princess’s tutor…?
“Um… did you not put on any underwear?”
While I was pondering that, the tailor scratched her cheek and looked away.
Huh? Underwear?
“That dress is meant to be worn over underwear… but it looked like you’d taken yours off, Melly…”
“Oh, that. I didn’t take it off. I’ve never worn any from the start.”
“…Pardon?”
The tailor tilted her head as if she’d misheard.
“Teacher never wears a bra. She says she didn’t have one when she was a man, so she still doesn’t. Goodness… A grown woman walking around without underwear…”
“But how am I supposed to get underwear when there isn’t any for me! And stop licking your lips like that while looking at me—it’s creepy!”
When I met the princess’s glittering eyes, a chill ran down my spine.
It was like a herbivore shrinking back after encountering a predator…
As I covered my chest with both hands and backed away from the princess, the tailor wiped away the sweat dripping down her face.
“Um… Melly, I know your gender suddenly changed, but… you really should wear underwear.”
“…Why?”
“Well… other clothes aren’t as soft as pajamas, so they might feel scratchy… and if you’re not careful, your bare chest could show through…”
Ah, so that’s why it felt prickly.
Maybe because they were bigger than when I was a man, they seemed more sensitive too…
“Teacher, since we’re already here, why don’t you take a bra as well?”
“Uh… is that okay?”
“Of course. They’re in the back room. Feel free to look around.”
The tailor smiled brightly and headed into the inner room.
…Could you really see that well from the outside?
When I saw the tailor turning away with an embarrassed expression, my own face grew hot in sympathy.