A Troublesome Outfit

For Ellie, she never had the habit of sleeping in.

She had once been someone who stayed up late and woke up early, living a very busy life, and had experienced many times of running nonstop for twenty-four hours straight.

But, how should one put it.

Perhaps it was because her body had been better back then.

After all, as the Empire’s Second Prince, she bore heavy responsibilities on her shoulders, and many matters required her personal involvement—at least when dealing with the opposing Solor and the Knight Commander, she always went into battle herself, aside from that one fatal misjudgment where she did not know what had gone wrong in her head and let Red Raven carry out the mission.

At the very least, she trained herself properly every day, ate breakfast on time, exercised her body sufficiently on schedule, worked on time, and planned her time reasonably, which was how she maintained a healthy body.

But…

“Haah…”

When Ellie opened her eyes, the sun was already shining right on her face.

She was now a princess, and naturally no one would wake her up to handle government affairs.

So she slept like this, straight until nearly noon.

When Firth had come here in the middle of the night, it had already been past midnight in the early hours of the morning, and she had naturally waited until that time.

After everything was dealt with, it did not take long before the sun was about to rise.

Because she had stayed up all night this time, this single sleep carried her all the way until full daylight.

If she slept any longer, she would probably skip breakfast entirely and fast-forward straight to lunch.

“My god…”

So it really was true that the body would affect her.

Even if she wanted to wake up early, this weak and exhausted body would not allow her to easily stay up late and wake up early.

Her body’s own drowsiness was simply impossible to resist.

While she was asleep, no servants came to wake her either—and thinking about it, that made sense.

Normally she did not really have anything to do, either drinking tea or admiring flowers.

After waking up each day, the first proper thing she did was find a place to sit and bask in the sun…

What kind of life was this, anyway.

It felt as though this Second Princess had skipped over her youthful years and directly fast-forwarded into an elderly retirement lifestyle.

It seemed this body of hers truly was not up to par.

If she wanted to do anything in the future, this body would become her burden.

So, Ellie sat up.

However, the sleepiness was still there.

After suddenly sitting up—she simply continued sitting there, until her drooping eyelids were overcome by sheer self-control.

Only then did her brain finally boot up, and while yawning, she stretched her arms hard.

A princess’s grooming required the help of maids.

After all, for noble ladies, appearance was both their façade and their capital.

They had to protect their face and figure carefully.

And the maids were professionals in this area.

They needed to carefully take care of their mistress’s face, ensuring that she looked radiant every single day, able to walk out with confidence, chest lifted, and face everyone.

Of course, Ellie was not accustomed to this at all, and even felt somewhat resistant to it.

Every morning after she woke up, someone would listen for movement inside the room, knock on the door, and then come in to attend to the noble princess’s washing and grooming.

After enduring a long stretch of having all kinds of things smeared on her face, using the restroom actually became the most relaxing part.

She wished she could sit on the toilet a little longer, letting those maids with makeup tools in both hands stay farther away from her.

But to maintain the persona of a princess, she had no choice but to endure it.

And in truth, the maids were not wrong either.

This face also represented the royal family.

How could she allow herself to look disheveled and dirty.

After tidying up her appearance came dressing up.

The maids would bring out many clothes and accessories for Ellie to choose from.

But generally speaking, Ellie would just point at something casually, or simply let her maids choose for her.

When it came to women’s clothing, she had no particularly delicate thoughts.

In her previous life, she was not someone who paid attention to women’s grooming or attire.

She had no wife, nor any need for female companions.

Those gorgeously dressed women who approached her during palace banquets only made her feel that the perfume powder on their bodies was somewhat choking.

And now, it seemed she herself had to become that kind of gorgeously dressed woman, covered in fragrance.

Still, she had made a request to the maids not to use those choking powders and perfumes on her.

The maids obediently complied without asking questions, preparing only perfumes with a faint, fresh scent as a light accent.

After the clothes were put on, it was time to arrange her hair and apply makeup.

Since she was not attending a banquet and was merely moving about the palace as usual, the clothes she wore were not especially ornate.

The hair accessories on her head were also quite ordinary.

Her makeup and hairstyle were similarly plain and simple.

With a basic touch-up, she could go out normally.

Although this final stage of simple makeup and ordinary hair arrangement was not as complicated or drawn-out as the earlier steps, when all the procedures were added together, the time wasted was still considerable.

Just a moment ago, it had seemed as though it was not yet noon.

Now, after tidying everything from start to finish, she could directly push the door open and go eat lunch.

And this was something she had to go through every single day.

That was really unbearable.

She had said before that she only needed a simple outfit, that there was no need to make things so detailed.

But the surrounding maids seemed unwilling to let her off.

It was not to the extent of dressing her up like an exquisitely crafted doll every day, but at the very least, one glance would tell that she had been carefully prepared.

…Exactly who were they dressing her up so carefully for anyway…

Could it be for Solor?

Ellie even missed the time shortly after she had fallen from before.

Because back then, her entire body, including her head, had been wrapped in layer upon layer of bandages.

She could only do basic cleaning and absolutely could not engage in this kind of makeup.

Later, after the old court physician healed her wounds and removed the scars, these maids started crowding around her again.

Every day they studied things like, “What would look good on our princess tomorrow?”

Was she some kind of dress-up doll?

“This is wonderful, Your Highness!

Today, you are absolutely the most beautiful in the palace!”

“That’s right!

You must believe in yourself, be full of confidence, and face everyone with your head held high!”

“You are absolutely the most beautiful person under the heavens!

You must be happy!”

“……”

But hearing such encouraging words, the complaints in Ellie’s heart suddenly became difficult to say directly to the maids around her.

…Confidence?

Were these girls using their own way to help her regain confidence?

Hmph…

At least they were thoughtful.

She would refrain from offering any critical suggestions about their overly elaborate daily dressing process.