Chapter 58
“Gasp.”
The young man watching Alice once again forgot to breathe as he admired her smile.
He knew that smile wasn't meant for him.
Even so, the young man ended up imagining himself marrying into the Fortune family, having one son and one daughter with Alice, and spending his old age laughing and chatting with his grandson and granddaughter.
The power of Alice's smile could only be described as tremendous.
It was completely different from the expressionless face she had worn moments ago.
‘She was truly a goddess back then.’
Like a priest serving a god, the young man felt a sense of awe toward Alice.
But what if that goddess looked at him and smiled?
He was certain that even the most devout priest, if he were a man, couldn't help but entertain such thoughts.
“Haa.”
“My lord….”
…Apparently, men weren't the only ones who had such thoughts.
By this point, the young man suddenly grew curious.
‘What would happen the moment her advertisement went up in the capital?’
He was neither a prophet nor anything special, just an ordinary person, but somehow, he felt he knew the answer.
The moment Alice's face was displayed in the capital… it would cause an enormous stir.
***
“That's it! Thank you for your hard work!”
“Wow!”
Fortunately, this time Egmund gave me the okay right away.
It seemed the advice I had received from Eunha had worked.
“Phew….”
Once the shoot was over, perhaps because the tension had left me, my legs began to tremble slightly.
Even though all I had done was hold poses, my body felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
Was it because I wasn't used to doing this, or simply because my stamina was terrible?
Maybe it was both.
Come to think of it, even when I had fled from the barbarians, I had quickly collapsed because I ran out of stamina.
‘When I return to my territory this time, I should spend less time sitting at my desk and exercise or something.’
I could maintain my figure even while doing nothing for now, but who knew when I might suddenly gain a lot of weight if I kept living like this?
“Good work, Lady Fortune. Lean here.”
“Thanks, Heter.”
Just as I was thinking that I should hurry back to the waiting room and rest with Heter's support—
“Ah, Lady Fortune! Wait a moment.”
“Hm?”
Egmund suddenly called out to stop me.
‘What is it?’
Since he himself had said the shoot was finished, there shouldn't be any problem with it.
Was he trying to tell me I had done a good job?
If not, was he about to give me my modeling fee?
As I wondered that and waited for him to speak,
“Could you possibly be a model one more time?”
“…What?”
A question completely different from what I had expected came out of Egmund's mouth.
“Did something go wrong when you checked the finished product after the shoot?”
“No. The shoot went well.”
If the shoot had gone well, why was he asking me to model again?
“You see, this young woman said she absolutely wants you to wear clothes she made herself.”
“Please!”
The female employee standing beside Egmund bowed so deeply that it looked as though she might plant her head in the floor.
“Who is she?”
“She's worked at our boutique for a long time. If I had to put it another way… she's my apprentice.”
“My name is Alma, Lady Fortune!”
“Hmm, I see.”
One more shoot.
To be honest, I desperately wanted to refuse and rest immediately.
If I pushed myself any harder, I felt like I would spend the entire next day groaning in pain.
“Is there any particular reason I have to wear the clothes for the shoot?”
“Well… opportunities like this don't come around often.”
“That's true.”
Their main business was making and selling clothes.
They probably couldn't arrange photoshoots very often, as they were doing now.
Under normal circumstances, I would have said that I was tired and refused.
‘But Egmund has helped me, too.’
If he hadn't introduced me to Eunha, I wouldn't have met Amugae again when he tried to take her away, nor would I have obtained a wish ticket.
“If that's the reason, all right.”
I suppose I could push myself a little longer.
“Ah, and there's one more thing I'd like to ask….”
“Go ahead.”
Alma said this while grinning foolishly, one hand raised with only her index finger extended.
“Could the knight stand beside Lady Fortune as well?”
“You mean Sir Heter?”
“Yes!”
Alma nodded vigorously.
I wondered why she had suddenly brought up Sir Heter, but when I looked more closely, I understood.
‘So she was that girl?’
She was the girl who had asked whether Heter was a model when we first visited the boutique yesterday, only to be dragged away.
‘As the saying goes, if you want to take down the general, shoot the horse first. She must have targeted me because she wanted Heter to wear clothes she had made.’
‘That's a little annoying.’
“You and the knight look so good together! I really want to see the two of you wearing my clothes!”
Hmm?
“Do you really think Heter and I look good together?”
“Do you look good together? Of course!”
As though she had been waiting for that question, Alma's eyes lit up as she began explaining why Heter and I suited each other.
“First of all, you already know that Lady Fortune is beautiful and the knight is handsome, so I'll skip that part. Then there's the difference in your heights! The knight is tall even among men! But Lady Fortune is tall, too, aren't you? Besides, when I make clothes, I usually imagine an ideal-bodied couple wearing them, and the two of you fit that image perfectly!”
“Heh.”
Her reason was more detailed than I had expected.
If that was all there was to it, she probably wasn't using me because of Heter.
‘If she isn't using me, there's no reason I can't help her.’
However, there was one thing that worried me.
“Heter, what do you think?”
“I don't want to.”
“Whaaa?!”
Hearing Heter's firm refusal, Alma's spirits plummeted.
I knew why.
Heter disliked showing his face so much that he had even worn a mask at Marquis Drosselmeyer's wedding, where few people would have recognized him.
In truth, if I was his master, it would be right not to force him to do something he disliked.
‘But I am kind of tempted to take a picture with Heter, too.’
Think about it.
The photographic magic tool was a valuable item, expensive enough that even Egmund called it costly.
Even if it weren't rented for an entire day like this, but only used for a single shot, it would still cost quite a lot.
And it wasn't just an ordinary photograph.
I could even have a professional do my full makeup.
When would I ever get an opportunity like this again?
“I'll pay you a modeling fee, too! So please….”
“I don't want to.”
And a modeling fee on top of that…!
It would be strange not to do it.
“Heter.”
“My lady, please talk some sense into her.”
“If you grant Alma's request, I'll sign the contract.”
“…!”
“A contract?”
Alma and Egmund looked baffled, but Heter did not.
“I don't want to.”
However, after flinching for a moment, he soon shook his head.
Apparently, he disliked becoming a model enough to refuse even a signature.
“I'll sign two.”
“…?!”
In a situation like this, one should consider whether the offer was insufficient.
“Hmm….”
This time, Heter also rested his chin in his hand and considered my proposal.
Naturally. The part after the hand was the forearm—that is, the section from the wrist to the elbow. What could he do with that?
At the very least, he would need the upper arm before he could do anything, whether linking arms or using it as an arm pillow.
“Can't you really? I want to take a picture with you.”
“…Sigh, all right.”
As a finishing touch, I looked up at him and asked again, and Heter finally threw up both hands.
“Thank you so much, Lady Fortune!”
“Thank Egmund. If you're truly grateful, have the photographs from the shoot printed and give them to me when we leave.”
“I'll give them to you at the cost of my life!”
You don't need to go that far.
“So where are the clothes? I'm very tired right now, so I'd like to take the pictures quickly and rest.”
“Ah, could you wait in the waiting room for now? I'll bring the clothes right away. As for the knight….”
“I'll show Sir Heter the way.”
“Boss?”
“I secretly wanted to photograph the two of them myself, too. Come, sir, this way.”
Egmund rolled up his sleeves for the sake of both his apprentice and his own selfish desires, then led Heter away.
Heter and I headed to separate waiting rooms, and before long, Alma brought me the clothes.
‘Hm?’
It was a black off-the-shoulder dress that left my shoulders and upper chest completely exposed.
“W-Wait. Is this really the right one?”
Isn't this far too revealing?
“It is! And you'll also wear a choker and a collar, so you don't have to worry too much about showing skin!”
‘How is that okay?!’
In other words, she was saying that my cleavage would be exposed.
Couldn't she see the Confucian dragon inside me breathing fire right now?
“There are people in this world who want to show themselves off like you do but can't. Have some confidence.”
“Uh….”
Alma said this while looking sorrowfully down at her own chest.
It did seem as though showing it off would be meaningless for her, but that wasn't the important point right now!
“No. I can't wear it. I'm going back.”
“We're running out of time, so let's stop joking around.”
“No! This shows too much! My bra straps will show!”
It was a bra that would be fine to show today, but even so, wouldn't a frilly bra look strange beneath such a simple dress without any special pattern?
“Ta-da! That's why I prepared this.”
What Alma held up with a bright smile was… a strapless bra.
“Noble ladies mainly use this bra, and it has magic cast on it, so it won't fall even without straps! So don't worry about the straps and hurry up and take off your clothes!”
“Ugh, wha—?!”
While I was flustered by the completely unexpected item, the employees latched onto my arms.
Even I couldn't win against five or six women at once.
“All right, then let's take it off!”
‘Aaaah….’
In the end, I had no choice but to surrender myself to Alma and the other employees' hands.
If I'd known this would happen, I should have just said I wasn't going to do the shoot….
***
“Uuugh….”
“Hold your shoulders back with confidence! You're the prettiest woman I've ever seen!”
I had heard that I was pretty so often that it no longer made me feel particularly confident.
It only made my face burn with embarrassment.
To give you an idea of how embarrassed I was, it was about as bad as when I had worn Ruby's negligee before.
“And… ah, that knight came out first….”
“Hm?”
Alma suddenly stopped speaking.
‘What could Heter possibly look like for Alma to trail off like that?’
My curiosity outweighed my embarrassment, so I slowly raised my head.
“Wow….”
I understood why she had been left speechless.
Had the others thought the same thing when they saw me?
“Are you here, my lady?”
“Wow, Heter, you really….”
It literally felt as though a halo were shining behind him.
“You're beautiful too, my lady.”
“Do you have any other compliments?”
“Hmm, I suppose I should read a book or something when we return to the territory.”
‘He's going to great lengths to say that he's too beautiful to praise with the vocabulary he currently has.’
“Wow… If I hadn't been so shocked earlier, I think I would have been unable to come to my senses for about ten minutes. Really!”
Seeing Egmund drooling at the corner of his mouth, I felt that he really might have been like that.
“I wonder what kind of picture the two of you will make. Come on, let's start the shoot!”
“All right.”
Before long, Heter and I stepped onto the stage and stared at the magic tool.
I thought all that remained was to take the picture, but then—
“What are you doing?”
“Hm?”
“Shouldn't you pose? Shall we start by embracing each other?”
“?”
Had I misheard him?
What did he say we were starting with?