31 Evisse Flowers

"Lance!" Wading through the crowd of people, I finally found that Hall brat.

We had come up with nicknames to use during the duration of the festival, and Lancera's name would be Lance, and mine would be Clare.

VA Note: Yeah, I was kinda lazy on this one—very lazy—but, the thing is, I originally wanted to use Golden Song(the definition of Lance in Hebrew) as Lancera's alias, but I found out I already used it for the festival name… so I just used Lance. As for why Lance… *shrug.

Perhaps it was due to looking forward to seeing the Hall brat, but I found that by gritting my teeth and hiding my face/ belongings under a mask/cloak, going through the crowd of commoners wasn't as bad as I initially thought it would be.

My heart palpitated within my chest as I saw the inky colored hair decorated with a simple ornament that I had personally picked out swish and a violet masked face turn towards me, who had taken off my cloak.

As those violet orbs widened in surprise, I felt an unsuppressed smile surface on my face.

Heh. Even without seeing her full expression, I knew for a fact that she must be overflowing with happiness and be enchanted by my beauty.

"As-Clare!"

Lancera was wearing a plain ankle-length magenta dress—made of poor fabric that any family, as long as they were homeowners, could afford— that matched with her eyes and her simple mask. Her voice was filled with child-like joy as she called out to me.

"Your dress! It looks wonderful on you, Clare!" Yelling over the chatter of the other citizens, she linked my arm with hers, smiling brightly. "As expected of your beauty! And the dress looks very unique. I don't think I've seen it before! Did you order it especially for tonight?"

That's right, that's right! (I accidentally did not hear the latter part of her dialogue. Curse the heavens and the manipulative old man who calls himself God that made the streets so loud!)

I puffed up my chest. "Heh, it's nothing. It's just that I'll look good in anything I wear!"

Although I hadn't gotten too carried away with my requests for the designer that I went to, I made sure that the design for my dress would suit my figure and looks as best as the fabric and price cap would allow.

As a result, even though the level of the dress was below something a high-ranking noble would wear to a ball thrown by his imperial majesty—the main element that was missing is the giant hoopskirt and underbodices (those I absolutely dreaded) trending among the court ladies—, it was still a masterpiece.

With fresh Evisse flowers sewn near the bottom hem of the dress and around my bodice, forming stylish and colorful patterns, white ruffles going up to my collar, and narrow sleeves lined with white, I didn't look at all like a Loen citizen, much less a noble.

The main component of the dress was the Evisse flowers. These were mainly grown in the northern parts of Loen, so most of those living in the capital wouldn't recognize them.

In the North, there was a special meaning behind the Evisse, but I won't speak of them.

The silver blossoms glowed a slightly blue hue and were meant to last for a few days even after picking them, so the dress designer was able to get them onto the dress in time.

As for the crowds of Loen peasants, they'll just think that I'm a foreign tourist since many foreign merchants and performers were coming to the festival too.

I doubted that Lancera has seen these flowers before either, so this was meant to surprise and impress her.

And from the looks of it, I know that I've succeeded.

"Hmph. Not that I wore it solely for you," I mumbled under my breath as the violet-eyed girl marveled at my dress.

Lancera suddenly looked at me. "Did you say something?"

"Huh? Wha-NO! You imagined it!" I pursed my lips in displeasure.

How was she able to hear so clearly through the noisy crowd?!

"Yeah? I thought I heard you say that you wore this dress for me…"

"W-W-What are you saying?! I didn't wear it for you! I didn't! Why would I?!" I felt my cheeks turn red with shame as I vehemently denied the conjecture, trying to squirm my arm out of her embrace—but to no avail due to the girl's strength being far beyond my own.

Thank goodness I'm wearing a mask right now! And curse that Hall brat for her sharp ears!

"Hmm, why would you? Maybe because you were looking forward to this event too much and wanted to impress me?"

I looked up to see her awfully annoying smile that pleaded for a punch in the face.

Oh, but I still remained my rationality.

Gritting my teeth, I ruthlessly stomped down on her feet with my crimson flats and walked away with the purple-dressed girl trailing pitifully behind me.