The White Marriage of the Seamstress and the Ice Count

Another day passed.

When I visited Lady Margaret at her house, she appeared from the kitchen in a hurry, apparently in the middle of working on something.

“Oh, you are early, Sara! Wait just a moment, I have my hands full at the moment…” 

“Can I help you with anything?”

“No, no need! Just wait over there!”

I was waiting on the front porch like I was told when I heard a loud BAM! of an explosion coming from the kitchen, black smoke rolling in.

“L-Lady Margaret! Are you alright?!”

“Elsie, you stupid girl! You used the wrong amount of gunpowder, didn’t you?!”

“I’m sorry, Mistress!”

She probably didn’t hear my voice because from the inside of the house came a litany of crude words.

Also, gunpowder…?

A crow cawed from the roof.

I pretended not to have heard anything and continued waiting. After a while, a tired-looking Lady Margaret came to greet me.

She had perfect makeup on today as well, but also had black soot smeared on her cheeks.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Now, come on in.”

“Y-yes…”

She has told me before that she liked to simmer things in a pot, so maybe that was what she was doing. I was too scared to mention it, though…

We sat down on the sofa in the living room. I thanked her for lending a hand with putting my crafts on sale at the charity bazaar and she smiled.

“Your accessories are proving quite useful, aren’t they? Well, of course they are.”

“I-is that so? I think those are just normal trinkets…”

“Ohoho. You know, the leader of the church’s women’s association has come to ask me to take care of the next batch, too. Oh, that woman will owe me such a debt of gratitude… But, no, I’m just glad to help the community.”

Did she just say something problematic…? No, I must have misheard.

Later, I asked Lady Margaret for advice.

I was thinking of making a dress for going out, but I wasn’t sure what design to choose. 

Rosie was very happy with the dresses I made for her so far and wore them every day.

She really seemed to believe that they could ward off evil, going as far as to say, “When I wear Mistress Sara’s dresses, I keep getting better and better,” which made me happy, so I wanted to keep making dresses for her.

When I told her I was planning to make her a dress for going out, she said, “Wouldn’t it be bad if you gave me that many?”, but Rosie didn’t have any dresses fitting her height, having been bedridden since the year before.

All the dresses I made for her this far have been loose-fitting, enough so that she could comfortably sleep in them, so this time I wanted to make her a pretty dress she could wear for an outing. 

Yes, Rosie has already recovered enough to be able to go out for a bit.

I wanted to tailor a dress suitable for a Countess, but since I wasn’t a professional seamstress, I didn’t want to make something weird and end up with Rosie being laughed at.

That’s why I came to ask Lady Margaret, a pillar of the Searfield community.

“Well, I think Rosie’s dress should have… Yes, the embroidery of the moon and stars.”

“Moon and stars…? Very novel. But it would fit sweet Rosie.”

As I murmured, writing down notes, Lady Margaret offered me more advice.

“How about adding a quartz crystal necklace? With how clear that child’s skin is, I think it would suit her.”

“Great! Then maybe a dark blue dress to compliment the moon, stars and the crystals.”

“Yes, that would be good.”

Seeing Lady Margaret nodding her head in such a serious way, I felt confident and motivated.

The image of the dress became clearer and clearer.

“Thank you, Margaret! I’ll get right on it, so I will have to excuse myself now!”

“Ah, already? Oh, well. Good day to you, then.”

“Goodbye.”

I left Margaret’s house in high spirits.

On the way back, the smell of gunpowder wafted from the kitchen, but I decided not to notice.

　✧✧✧

I immersed myself in making a dress for Rosie. 

It was my first time sewing a dress meant for outings, so I carefully selected both the silk cloth and the tread from a catalog to be sent from the Royal Capital, as well as a child-sized crystal necklace.

In the meantime I made a sewing pattern from paper and sketched the embroidery design.

Of course this was all for Rosie, but there was also one more thing.

When he returned, if I could show Master Alexis that Rosie has recovered enough to be able to go out — 

How happy the both of them would be.

I couldn’t help but look forward to that.

When I told Rosie, she said, full of excitement, “Then let’s keep this a secret from big brother and surprise him!”, and I ended up anticipating it even more.

When the ordered things finally arrived, I forgot all about whether it was day or night and started sewing the dress.

I cut the dark blue silk, sewed it together and began to give shape to an elegant dress with puffed sleeves and wide hem.  

Then, using the gold and silver threads, I started to inlay the moon and the stars along the hem. 

As I embroidered, I couldn’t help but chuckle. 

The dress was truly like a starlit sky.

If she wore it with a crystal necklace, Rosie would definitely look like a little witch on a broomstick going out for an evening party.

After a few days of work, I finally made the best dress I possibly could. 

At the same time, after almost a month, Master Alexis returned from the battlefield.