Heroine On Strike

Countess Setin and the duchess were shocked by Ella’s words. They were becoming suspicious of Ella, who never showed any interest in dresses. It was easy to guess what kind of boring dress she was going to suggest. The countess scrutinized the plain-looking dress that Ella was wearing, and then she remembered the dress design someone had given her. Although it would be problematic, the countess considered showing Ella the design that someone had given to her. After deliberating for a moment, she waved at her apprentice to bring the catalog to her.

“Maybe… the design you’re looking for is this?” asked Countess Setin.

After she saw the design, Ella smiled brightly. It was exactly the dress she wanted. The chemise dress was white, puffy, and had a bright-colored ribbon tied around the waist. This type of dress was popularized by Marie Antoinette when a pannier dress like in this world was considered mainstream, and the best part of this dress was that it did not require a corset to wear it. Thinking how she didn’t need to explain to the countess the dress she wanted, she sighed in relief. 

Then, Ella felt a sense of déjà vu and narrowed her eyes to search her memories. The dress Clara wore the night of Ella’s debutante looked similar to the design the countess showed her. Although Ella was too busy to look at dresses at her party, she seemed to remember the white dress that Clara wore as she stood smiling next to Cladis. There was a thick pink waistband around the dress. Yesterday, she wore a white dress that had a deep chest opening with a white yellow waistband. It was easy to see who gave this design to the countess. If Clara was an outsider like Ella, then she was bound to look for another design after being disgusted by this world’s dresses.

‘Clara probably wanted this design too,’ thought Ella as her suspicion grew. Originally, Luciella created this design in the novel, and Cladis even complimented her on it. In this world, the corset was the most important part of the dress. Excluding the corset in a dress was impossible. There was no way that she had the same experience as Luciella, nor that she came from another country like Marie Antoinette, so how could she have thought of such design? The only possible explanation for this design was that Clara was from another world like Ella.

The chemise dress was the kind of dress that made you cherish it if you read the novel. Cladis loved how he could feel Luciella’s body just by embracing her. He could do that because the dress was form-fitting and stuck to her sides whenever she wore the dress. There was a time when Cladis kept kissing Ella’s sensitive neck to hear her laughter. Eventually, his actions frustrated her.

‘This dress is perfect to seduce him.’ Realizing that, Ella slammed the book shut. She couldn’t let Luciella wear that kind of dress since she knew who designed it for a specific purpose in mind.

“This isn’t the design that I was looking for,” said Ella coldly.

“Of course, I understand. Do you have anything in mind?”

Seeing the way Ella had closed the catalog, the countess immediately noticed the change in Ella’s demeanor. Ella must have found out who the designer was. Trying to hide her shock, she took out a blank piece of paper. Soon, she felt the duchess glaring at her and felt sweat running down her back.

‘Did she notice?’ The countess coughed, silently asking Ella for a design. All she wanted was for this choking silence to end.

“Please, feel free to tell me,” said the countess.