THE VILLAINESS TURNS THE HOURGLASS

Translator: Khan

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

She had thought she would get the ring right away, saying yes if he proposed to her, but she couldn’t do it right away in the great joy she had never tasted.

The eyes of Asher, which were always shining, came to her mind. And then slowly emerged in turn, with Sarah and Carin and other precious beings, her forces sending endless favors, and finally the entire capital city being decorated with tulips.

Unlike in the past when there had been nothing, there were so many precious things that made her heart warm just by thinking. Even when she closed her eyes, the touching and beautiful scene was vividly spread and she seemed to pour tears into it.

Now that she had no more ugly feelings, appearances, people, she faced the future she had never drawn even in the dream, opened her eyes slowly and hugged him with her arms, who knelt on one leg, with her face as if she were about to cry.

“… Of course.”

Before Aria could finish her answer, Asher hugged her in his arms. Thanks to that, the ring he was holding rolled onto the ground, but no one cared.

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After her birthday, Aria became an adult and naturally lived in a busy whirl of business. It was because she couldn’t move only for her own benefit, as she had done in the past.

Now she had to manage her own forces that had become pillars of the empire while filling the vacancy of the Aristocratic Party, and also to manage the mansion and property because her mother, Carin, had left the empire and she had taken over them.

In addition, she had a close relationship with the academy, so she had to be briefed on the students’ achievements from time to time and to identify the best in the class and invest in funds or provide a better environment.

This alone would lead to a busy day, but she had something more important than all of them combined. It was the preparation for a national wedding.

Thanks to Asher, who had made a big proposal on a large scale by laying flowers across the capital as if to show off to everyone, Aria and Asher’s national marriage was receiving great attention from people of other countries beyond those of the empire. Therefore, she was even busier because she had to prepare for a national wedding that everyone envied and admired without making a mistake.

Of course, the preparation of the ceremony was taken care of by the Imperial Castle, but it also required a lot of Aria’s efforts, such as choosing a dress or studying the order of the ceremony and etiquette.

“Miss! The dresses we ordered have arrived!”

Annie knocked on the door, making a great fuss, and Aria, who was writing a letter to a newly-invested businessman, went out of the room, arranging it. Right in front of the door was Annie, with her eyes glistening and flushed. Aria smiled briefly and asked Annie, because she was more excited than herself, even though they were not her dresses which had arrived.

“Where are they?”

“They are in the lobby! I think they have brought almost a hundred dresses! More than twenty servants followed them! I caught a glimpse of them as they moved them, but my eyes were so dazzled that I was speechless!”

‘A hundred? The designs I chose and described was almost twenty. I thought they are going to bring some extra dresses other than the designs I ordered, but I didn’t think they’d bring a hundred dresses.’ So Aria just shut up.

‘Of course, what kind of complaints can I make, as they brought more dresses? On the contrary, I could choose the dress that would suit me best and brighten me up first among the countless dresses.’

“I can’t wait for you to try it on! How beautiful would you be? I’m sure it’s beautiful enough to go down in the history of the empire. You are dazzling enough, even when you’re dressed in a dressing gown like this!”

Annie spoke to herself in ecstasy, as if imagining Aria in a colorful, elegant dress. She added the natural words that men from all over the empire would fall in love with her.

In the lobby where she arrived with such a tumultuous chat from Annie, nearly a hundred dresses, as she said, were waiting for Aria’s choice, showing off their beautiful selves.

The designer, who was in a hurry to clean up the mess because the amount was so large, and the servants who accompanied her hurriedly took a courtesy when they found Aria. Aria could see the designer’s troubled expression after she deeply bent her head. She seemed nervous because it was Aria who would soon become the Crown Princess.

“We are sorry, we are not ready.”

Jessie, who led the visitors to the lobby, spoke to Aria casually, speaking on behalf of them.

“Miss, you came down early. I think it takes time to clean up more than a hundred dresses. Would you like to wait while you have tea?”

It was also because unlike ordinary aristocrats, she knew that Aria would not be angry about such a trifle. Busy Arya did not do anything stupid to waste her feelings on unproductive things.

Aria answered Jessie’s question with a shake of her head. “No, you don’t have to clean up in detail. Anyway, they have to take them back. So, I think I should try on the dress while I’m waiting for tea. Besides, they’ve prepared a hundred pairs of them, so it might take me a whole day to look at the design.”

Her voice was so soft that the servants, who had been bowing their heads to the full extent, lifted their eyes to check Aria’s expression, and as she had such a gentle expression as her voice, they swallowed a sigh of relief.

“I don’t know why they brought so many dresses… There’s no reason to feel bad as there are many dresses I like, even though I’ve only looked through once.”

Then the designer was encouraged and talked about the reason because Aria seemed to like them rather than upset.

“His, His Highness the Crown Prince ordered it. He asked me to create as many dresses as I can so that Lady Piast can be satisfied.”

“Did Mr. Asher do that?”

Aria asked back with a wide-open eye. ‘You must be spending your busy days as much as I am, but you’ve paid attention to such trivial matters.’

Moreover, dresses and accessories were not part of Asher’s involvement. It was not something that he should not be involved in, but it was usually a part of women’s affairs. Moreover, few men were interested in women’s clothing because it was usually a part of women’s care, and it was a trivial thing.

“Yes. His Highness also told me to prepare dresses that would suit the beauty of Lady Piast.”

“…”

‘You don’t even want to give me a chance to regret something I haven’t met you because I’ve been busy.’ Asher often left Aria speechless like this.

‘You are so devoted to living far away, so how about living together?’ As if to imagine the imminent future, Aria’s eyes began to tremble slightly.

“Ah, and there’s a dress that His Highness designed himself.”

“… Designed himself?”

“Yes! Would you like to take a look?”

The designer, who said that, told the servants to bring the dress that was foremost in front of them. Of course, she was full of confidence as if she was sure that Aria would see it. ‘Who can just pass on a dress that her lover prepared himself?’

As Aria nodded slowly, the designer had a good complexion. “His Highness ordered a white dress that is proper and regular. He said he’d dress in a formal white one and it would be matched like a tailored one. Instead, he said that because Lady Piast is excellent in appearance, I must prepare the splendid decorations suit for it.”

Then the designer instructed the maidservants who had brought the dress to spread it out to Aria so that it would be seen well.

As she explained, it was a dress of pure white color, but it could only be described as the ultimate in harmony with mysterious pearls that glowed in five colors, brilliantly reflective diamonds, and pieces of lace that must have been touched by craftsmen.

‘Who would dare wear such a colorful dress for her only wedding?’ It was clear that the main character would be transformed into a dress, not a bride. It was a colorful dress that no woman would dare to digest. But Aria wasn’t.

“Would you like to try it on?”

“Okay.”