82. It's Different From What I Imagined (2)
82. It's Different From What I Imagined (2)
[Episode 82] - Not What I Imagined (2)
The time goes back to before the masquerade ball started, right before I changed my clothes. I opened the wardrobe and looked at the 'Gray Wolf' costume I would be wearing to this ball, and I gave a bitter smile at the sight of it.
'Knights...? No, it's a costume that looks like something a prince would wear.'
A white suit adorned with gold thread, complete with a gray fur cape. On top of that, a black wig and a wolf mask that covered my entire face. It is true that I asked Hailey for a 'male' costume to wear to the masquerade ball, but...
Should I say this is a bit too much? I never imagined it would be such a prince-like costume. I had requested that she prepare something modest since it was an outfit I would only wear once and never again, but it seems it was of no use.
"Queen-nim... are you really going to attend the masquerade ball in this costume?"
As I looked at the costume with a bitter smile, the maid standing next to me asked with a worried expression. Well, it's true that even at a masquerade ball, there aren't any nobles who cross-dress as the opposite gender.
Nevertheless, the reason I requested this 'male' costume was—
"Yes, if I don't do this, everyone will recognize me, so I have no choice. No one would imagine the Queen attending the ball in a male costume."
It was to perfectly hide my identity. At the last masquerade ball I attended, there were quite a few people who recognized me even while I was wearing a mask and a wig.
When I first attended a masquerade ball, it wasn't that I didn't have the same expectations as Titania. It would be a lie to say I didn't hope for a small deviation, hiding my face and identity at the masquerade ball.
I attended the masquerade ball with a pounding heart, but once I was there, such small deviations were impossible to even dream of. Because even with a mask and disguise, everyone recognized that I was 'Vivian'.
Surely, it would be the same for Titania. It was clear that everyone would inevitably find out that Titania had disguised herself as 'Little Red Riding Hood'. Then, wouldn't Titania realize the reality a little bit?
The fact that a masquerade ball is not an event for us to enjoy.
There was also a part of me that agreed to attend the masquerade ball reluctantly just to teach her that. Anyway, to prepare for the cross-dressing, I was led by the hands of the maids and began to change.
However, cross-dressing was not easy at all.
To begin with, the skeletal structure of men and women was different, and the maids had never helped with cross-dressing even once. They said the rest would somehow work out, but there was one major problem hindering the cross-dressing.
That was...
"Queen-nim, are you ready...?"
"Hoo... Yes."
"T-then, I'll start on the signal. One... two... three!"
Gwaak-!
On the signal, the maids began to pull the compression bandage wrapped around my chest tightly.
"Ugh...!"
Really, this uselessly large chest was the biggest problem. To cross-dress, it was important to tighten the compression bandage very strongly to make the chest look as small as possible, but... is Vivian's chest just a normal chest?
No matter how much the maids pulled, it only hurt like death, and there was almost no effect of the chest shrinking. Furthermore, after wrapping the bandage around and around, they started to wrap a large cloth from my chest down to my belly.
If there was a silver lining, was it that a corset wasn't needed for cross-dressing? If a corset had been added to this, I would have definitely suffocated to death. I caught my breath from the pressure of the wrapped chest and looked at my bandaged bosom.
Even doing this, I couldn't completely hide my chest, but I nodded, thinking that it had shrunk enough to be acceptable. So, compression bandages are useful after all.
I was exhausted just from wrapping my chest with the compression bandage, but the most important thing was putting on the clothes. To look as much like a man as possible, I put padding in the shoulder area and wore high insoles in my shoes.
When I put on the prince's clothes that Hailey had prepared and looked in the mirror, I saw myself with a fairly masculine physique. My chest was sticking out a little, but not enough to be that noticeable.
With the short black wig and the wolf mask that completely covered my face, I could pass for a slightly short, teenage-looking man at a glance.
Certainly, with this much of a disguise, it felt like no one would notice that I was the Queen. As I looked in the mirror and admired my disguised appearance, the maids also looked at me in surprise and hovered around me.
"Certainly, with this, it seems no one will notice that you are the Queen-nim."
"Might the young ladies actually fall for Queen-nim instead? Looking at the costume, I would think you were a prince from another country."
"Queen-nim! Queen-nim! Could you please hold my chin just once?!"
When the young maid stuck out her chin, asking me to hold it, I smirked and grabbed the maid's chin roughly with one hand. The maids shrieked as if it were a scene from a novel.
"Really, if I met a young master like this at a masquerade ball, I would have fallen for him at first sight. The hearts of the young ladies attending the ball today won't be safe."
At the maids' endless praise, I took off my mask for a moment and showed the maid whose chin I was holding a very simple 'coin magic' trick. The magic trick where a coin appears from the ear, which I had shown Titania when she was young.
When I pulled the coin that had disappeared from my palm out from the maid's ear, the maid, surprised by the coin magic, widened her eyes. I looked at such a maid and smiled gently.
"Don't fall for me. I can't take responsibility."
When I placed the coin in the maid's palm, she blushed, saying, "Oh my, oh my, oh my!", and covered her mouth with both hands. The maids burst into giggles at my nonsense and clumsy magic.
As I glanced at the clock in the heartwarming atmosphere, it was just time for the masquerade ball to start. If I left right now, I thought I could arrive before the dance, which was the flower of the ball, began.
So, I put the 'wolf mask' that completely covered my face back on and told the maids I was heading to the ballroom. Ordering them not to call me Queen-nim outside.
*
"Ha... Anyway, the song is Mazurka. I'll decide on my partner myself, so don't cling to me until I dance. Got it?!"
""Yes, yes! Princess Titania!""
As soon as I arrived at the ballroom, what I saw was Titania shouting at everyone as if she were annoyed. As I expected, it seemed everyone recognized Titania's presence despite the mask.
As the young masters backed away, Titania bowed her head with a look that seemed like she was about to cry. As a parent, it was heartbreaking to see that, but since I allowed it for her to have this experience, it couldn't be helped.
'That aside, Mazurka...'
Mazurka was a song where as many people as possible danced together. Moreover, it was a song where you constantly changed dance partners at every timing. Even with a little thought, I could tell why Titania had changed it to Mazurka, a group dance, instead of the prepared song.
'Anyway, being too kind-hearted is also a flaw.'
Surely, the young masters must have flocked to Titania to ask for a dance. And the reason they asked for a dance wasn't because they really wanted to dance with Titania, but because they were pushed by their parents.
Titania, having realized that, must have changed it to Mazurka, where she could dance with everyone, because she had no choice. If she danced with Mazurka as the song, she could dance with as many young masters as possible.
'I definitely thought I had filtered and filtered and invited only decent people...'
As expected, do true colors come out when wearing a mask?
Seeing Titania saddened by the greedy desires of dirty adults, I felt really bad. Just as I was thinking about whether I should call all the adults after the ball and make them bow their heads in shame—
"E-excuse me..."
A young noble lady wearing fairy wings, a green dress, and a green mask. A young lady who looked to be around Titania's age was blushing and held out one hand to me.
"I-if it's alright, could you please ask me to be your dance partner...?"
"....."
This is troublesome from the start...
Usually, in most cases, the young master asks the young lady for a dance. Roughly saying a dance request line like, "Young Lady So-and-so, would you give me the honor of the first dance with you?", and the young lady accepts it.
That's why the young lady asked me, "Could you please ask me to be your dance partner?" I didn't want to refuse because the young lady was asking despite her shyness.
The problem is... I can't speak right now.
I couldn't say the dance request line to the young lady. Anyway, I needed a partner to dance the Mazurka, and it was truly grateful that the young lady had asked me despite her shyness, but...
When I didn't answer, the young lady's face began to turn redder and redder, enough to be noticeable even with a mask on. Just as she was about to pull back the hand she had extended to me, thinking I had refused—
I grabbed the young lady's hand, lifted my mask slightly, and planted a small kiss on the back of the hand she had extended. Just nodding would have seemed too impolite, and this was the method I came up with to accept the dance without speaking. I saw it in a romance webtoon a long time ago, but...
Fortunately, the meaning got across, and the young lady nodded as well.
"I-I see... So you were going for the 'silent cold-blooded top' concept... Indeed, the 'cold-blooded top, sweet bottom' is trending among young ladies these days... You really researched the concepts young ladies like, didn't you?"
W-what? Cold-blooded top? Sweet bottom? What is that...?
Leaving the young lady who was saying incomprehensible things behind, I just nodded quietly for now. Then, the young lady continued to chatter on in a rapid-fire manner about things I couldn't understand, cheering even more. Listening to it for a moment, it seemed to be about the romance novels Titania likes.
'Does Titania also share these stories with Viola...'
I tried to understand the incomprehensible things the young lady was saying, thinking that as a parent, I should know what my child likes, but it was of no use.
Really, there wasn't a single word I could understand. It was like listening to a foreign language. As I stood there blankly, listening to incomprehensible words like 'gong' and whatnot, the song finally began.
When I took the young lady's hand and went out to the dance floor, I saw Titania in the distance. Titania, who had started dancing while holding the hand of a young master dressed as a pirate. Even from afar, that rhythm-deafness was still the same.
"Ah... A cold-blooded top who has no interest in his partner until the end... You are the real deal!"
I don't know what the real deal is, but thank you for the compliment, young lady.
After greeting the young lady at the right timing, I took the next partner's hand. And then the next partner, and the next, and as I got closer and closer to Titania, who had been far away, and so—
I was able to hold the hand of Titania, who had her lips pouted just a little bit. She seemed to be trying to manage her expression in front of others, but she couldn't deceive my eyes. Even the furrowed brow over the mask.
That aside, it's been a really long time since I danced with Titania, but...
'She's still terrible at dancing... I thought it would be fixed as time passed...'
Originally, I hadn't intended to tell Titania my identity. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to monitor her. However, she kept missing the beat, as if she really had no intention of dancing. Her stiff body.
Originally, it was important for everyone to keep the beat in the Mazurka, enough to make it look like a colorful flower blooming when viewed from above.
However, Titania was dancing half-heartedly with a sullen expression, as if she had no intention of doing so. Since my daughter was showing such an appearance in front of everyone, how could I not say anything?
"Haa... You're still terrible at dancing. When will you ever fix that rhythm-deafness? How can you still be stumbling even in this simple dance?"
"Oh? Oh? O-Mother...?"
When I spoke, Titania widened her eyes in surprise. Seeing that expression, I couldn't help but laugh. That's right, who told you to ignore my advice? Really, who does she take after... My foolish daughter.
"So? How is the masquerade ball? It's not as fun as you thought, is it? You want to go home right now, don't you?"
"Mother..."