I’m Only a Stepmother, but My Daughter is Just so Cute! - Chapter 20

Blanche asked this question shyly. I felt that sore, tingly ache in my nose when I saw her like this. No matter how much of a little adult she seemed, she was still only eleven years old. It was a given she’d want attention from her parents. “Of course, Princess Blanche. I’m sure His Majesty would be happy as well.”

“Do you think he’d dance with me as well?” She asked hopefully.

Mm, I don’t know how to respond to that. It’s not like I can just come out and say, “Sorry man, your dad just sucks balls at dancing.”

I admit to being a bit surprised when Sabelian had told me he sucked at dancing. To think he had a flaw like that… I thought he was perfect in pretty much everything. Well, I guess no one really is perfect. As soon as I’d heard him say that, I gave up on the dance. I don’t want to force someone’s hand just for a dance. I’d much rather hear Sir Moize complain. “Perhaps when you grow up a bit more, Princess Blanche?”

“I see…” I tried to soften the blow for her, but the girl still seemed rather dejected. It looked like she was very much looking forward to the festival. I pondered possibilities for a second. “Would you like to dance with me instead, then?”

“….What?” Blanche looked at me in utter surprise. Her soft, rabbit-like eyes widened into full moons before curving upwards in a smile. “Yes! I’d love to dance with you, Miss Abigail!”

Eh? Isn’t she a little too happy about this? And here I’d just said it to distract her for a bit… As I was searching about for my next words, Clara popped into the conversation herself. “What a great idea! You two would look amazing together!”

Norma nodded in agreement. Well… I was planning on refusing, but now everyone’s just setting the stage for me. I coughed in embarrassment, “A-ahem, all right then. Would you like to practice together, then?”

“Of course…!” She gave me a huge smile, her little pearly whites gleaming. I carefully held her hands in mine. We couldn’t dance like a normal couple because of the difference in our heights so instead, we decided to do a group routine together.

The music box started to play and I moved my feet in rhythm with Blanche’s. The me of my previous life had never danced. At all. Dancing was…a shameful thing for me. Getting stared at, even more so. It was worse since people weren’t actually staring at my dancing skills. They were too busy making fun of a pig that danced.

Well, thankfully, I get to live in a beautiful person’s body now. Abigail was beautiful, liked to dance and was actually quite talented at it. My body remembered the rhythm and moved accordingly to the music, almost instinctively.

One, two, three. One, two, three. I stepped forward and looked at Blanche at the same time. Our eyes met, and the tiny little girl smiled.

Yeah, so what if I can’t dance with Sabelian? Blanche is willing to dance with me anyway! I felt like I had the world in my hands at this very moment. I felt I could dance till my feet exploded. Blanche was bouncing up and down in happiness as well. She was energetic even after the song had ended. Clara came up to us with a face full of tears, saying on a sob, “You two…looked…so…so…beautiful…! Miss Abigail looked cool, and Princess Blanche looked cute… Ahh, so lovely!”

This kid…is a woman of culture, isn’t she? I can easily give her the position of vice president of the fan club. “Thank you, Clara.”

“You two look perfect together. Everyone will surely be amazed on the day of the dance!”

That much? I should ask Verite to show me later on. 

“Now that it’s come to this, how about you two wear matching dresses? I think it’d look splendid!”

What the hell? That…is a GREAT idea! I can’t let this chance pass. “Matching dresses…what do you think, Blanche?”

“I like it! But…” Blanche trailed off. Does she not like it, after all? I wondered as i looked at her with a nervous heart, but thankfully the girl smiled as she finished brightly, “I don’t know what would look pretty on me, so…I’d like you to pick…!”

“The dresses?”

“Yes!”

So…let’s get this straight. She wants to wear a dress I picked…and she wants to dance in it…? …Doesn’t that mean I can design those clothes myself? Oh Lord, did I save an entire country in my previous life or something…? Wait, no I didn’t. Is this…Buddha’s generosity? Jesus’ gift?? I was so happy that a grin spread across my face. At the sight of my full-blown grin, Blanche stepped back in surprise, “I-If you don’t want to… I’m sorry…”

“Of course I do!” I put away my grin immediately. Damn this killer smile of mine. “I’ll prepare a dress that will surely fit you, so just tell me what you like.”

“Yes!”

This felt like the luckiest day of my entire life. Nothing can stop me now!! Blanche! Trust in me! I’ll turn you into the star of the festival!!

* * *

“Mm…I wonder what Blanche would look good in… Verite, what do you think?” I showed Verite a few of my sketches. It was something I drew for Blanche.

“I think you’d look good in the first one.”

“Not me, Blanche. I need something that would fit her!” I was going for a ‘mother-daughter’ look, but the star of the show must be Blanche. I’m just a mere extra! I need something that would make Blanche look good. Verite looked resigned, “You’re going to say they all look good on her no matter what I say, though.”

“Of course I will!” There was no question of it. Verite shook his head in annoyance before fading from the mirror.

Hmm… Maybe I should ask the maids instead? I took a look at my sketches again. Blanche was the type to like flowers, frills, and ribbons. She was the sort that really enjoyed the feeling of flair and sparkle à la ‘shalala-laaaa~’. Her favorite colors were pink, sky blue, or pastel tones.

I had lots of different clothes in mind, like for instance, the modern one piece dress. But making something vastly different from the current fad would be a wee bit troublesome.

The current fad in this country was similar to something known as the robe à la française. It was the type of clothing where the wearer would tighten their waist with a corset to accentuate their hips and breasts, and wear panniers to add volume to their skirts. Some would add extra fabric to the back of their skirts to make it look almost like a robe as well.

If I went with the conventional route, I could just go with the current trend, but I don’t want to do that to Blanche. The clothes of this era weren’t meant for children. It made sense. After all, even back in my own world, clothes specifically for children didn’t exist until the 18th century.

Back then, people just downsized adult clothing for kids. No one ever bothered to consider a child’s physique when they made clothes. Putting a corset and panniers on a child, of all people…was a strange and terrifying thing indeed.

I wanted to make clothing that Blanche would feel comfortable in but making something too modern would be strange. I needed something that would fit in, yet still be comfortable when worn. I stared into my drawings, stuck deep within my own thoughts. By then, Verite had floated back into existence again. He pointed at one of my drawings, “What’s that thing over there? It looks pretty interesting.”

“This thing?” I picked up one of my sketches. Verite had an interested look on his face as he peered at it. “Yeah. That’s a dress, right? It’s strange.”

Was this dress…a bit too modern for this world? I looked anxiously at him, “Does it look weird?”

“Not really. I’ve just never seen it before.”

I sighed in relief inwardly. Thank goodness it doesn’t look too bad. But then again, with how normal it looked, I was unsure how much Blanche would like it.

Well, I’ve come up with a lot of designs, so surely at least one of them must suit her tastes. I organized my drawings, feeling much more light of heart, “By the way, did you see Blanche dance last time? She was cute, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, yes, of course she was.” I couldn’t feel one whit of emotion from his perfunctory reply. This guy… I’ll have to lecture him on the greatness of Blanche tonight as well. Just as I was about to start on my tirade, I heard a knock on my door. It was Norma. “Miss Abigail, it’s almost time for your dance.”

“Ah, is it really? I’ll be there soon.” I hadn’t even realized since I’d been so busy looking at my designs. Verite waved goodbye from the mirror carelessly, “Have fun, Your Majesty.”

“Sure, sure. Don’t forget to watch Blanche dance!” I left for the practice room where Blanche was waiting. Dancing with Blanche! What a joyous thing it was~! Plus, today is the day I get to show off my drawings to Blanche! I felt my pace quicken just thinking about it. I opened the door, my heart thumping loudly in my chest. Blanche immediately ran up to greet me. “Ah, Miss Abigail, welcome!”

“I’m sorry for being late, princess. I wanted to show you something.” I handed her the stack of drawings in my arms. Blanche looked up at me curiously, “Show me something…?”

“It’s the designs for the dresses we’re going to wear during the festival.”

“Wow…! They’re so pretty!” Blanche looked at the drawings, her amazement written all over her face. Yay, thank goodness she likes them. I wouldn’t know what to do if she didn’t. “There’s a lot, so please choose something that you would like.”

“Y-yes! I’ll choose something that’ll suit you well…!”

No, don’t, choose something for yourself…! But I couldn’t actually say it aloud, since the girl looked so thrilled. I shrugged mentally. Well, whatever. It’s not like she’d look bad no matter what she wore. Blanche called a maid over to hold onto the papers for her.

“Please keep it safe. It can’t get wet or be blown away by the wind…!” Blanche spoke to the maid with a very serious voice. To think she’d order—no, request something like that of the maid with such a solemn face. I hid my smile under my hand as I spoke, “Now then, shall we dance?”

“Ah, yes!” Blanche ran over to my side immediately. This time, we managed to secure an actual band for us to dance to. Good, good. Everything’s perfect. We got into our positions and waited for the musicians to start. Blanche was looking at me with a face full of focus.

But right before the dance actually started, all the maids leaped up from their seats as one. They all looked pale as heck. What was up with that? The maids were bowing towards whatever was behind me. So I looked behind me as well.

“Hello, Abigail.”

“…Your Majesty?” What the hell are you doing here, of all people?