TRLN 19

Chapter 19

The governor—black hair, black shirt, black trousers, everything about him black—drew the eyes of the kingdom’s people wherever he went. Besides those who appeared openly, many watched from afar as well.
To begin with, ash-gray black was not a familiar color to the people of the kingdom. The citizens of the Roseatea Kingdom generally had light-colored hair.

Originally, the two nations had split from a single Roseatea, but when those branded as traitors went so far as to proclaim themselves an empire right next door, relations between the two countries naturally deteriorated rapidly.
Clashes between the citizens of each nation were frequent; what more needed to be said? The king of Roseatea and the emperor of Trahaput also collided fiercely, neither willing to yield.
If there was fault on Roseatea’s side, it was in underestimating the difference in national power.

“I’ll have to change clothes or do something,” the governor muttered.

The governor, who had been walking ahead, stopped short upon entering a sparsely populated alley.
“Stealth, my foot. At this rate, we won’t even be able to look around properly.”

Vivian hadn’t noticed, having long targeted the dark-haired people of the Trahaput Empire, but to the kingdom’s citizens black was a color believed to bring misfortune and was avoided.
And with a face that beautiful, anyone who passed him would have known at a glance that he was the governor.

Vivian stopped after him, standing in the wavering shadow cast along the wall.
“I didn’t think this through. I was careless.”

“Well, it’s not your fault.”

“Shall we go to a tailor’s? Change clothes—and I think they had wigs too…”

“A wig as well?”

“If you want to be sure, wouldn’t it be better to wear one?”

At Vivian’s earnest yet innocent reply, he lifted an eyebrow. After a brief moment of thought, he nodded.
“Let’s go.”

The short reply fell crisply.

The tailor’s shop was located on the outskirts of the capital.
Nobles who favored fine things either commissioned custom pieces from famous designers or paid prices beyond the reach of ordinary citizens to buy ready-made clothes at department stores.
The kingdom’s people, when food ran out, were busy buying food; they had no leeway to buy clothes. They were grateful just to mend and re-mend their worn garments and keep wearing them.

Did people with a bit of money go to tailors, then? Not really.
Department stores were full of high-quality luxury items, and for an extra fee one could order brand-new goods.
In other words, except for a very few high-end ateliers, tailors all over the capital were facing closure.

“Rogia! You’re here!”

At the loud jingle of the chime bell, the shop’s owner came running and greeted Vivian. Seeing the thick needle tucked into his arm looking dangerous, Vivian removed it and placed it on the table as she spoke.

“It’s been a while, Brother Jay.”

Jay’s tailor shop was among those in the most dire condition.
After the war of conquest, prices had soared. Most tailors were forced either to raise prices or compromise on materials. Of course, if they raised prices no one would come, so many chose to compromise on materials.

‘No! This is my pride!’

Jay, however, insisted that the quality of the clothes he made was his pride, and stubbornly upheld it amid the insane inflation.
And this was the result.

A creaking wooden floor, a table with chipped corners, flickering lightbulbs.
He scratched his head awkwardly.

“It’s daytime, so we don’t need the lights, right?”

Guiding Vivian inside, Jay only noticed the man behind her after she had stepped in. As always, the governor went to the seat indicated and sat down with an expressionless face.

“But who on earth is this—huh?”

Like many who live alone, Jay devoted all his attention to his livelihood, the tailor shop. Who the newly appointed governor was, or what he was like, meant nothing to him.
He barely had time to think about today’s fabric prices or new designs—how could he spare attention for anything else?

“He’s my client,” Vivian said.

Shut away in his shop, slow to hear rumors, Jay had only just—very belatedly—heard the stories about Vivian’s reckless actions and the governor’s looks. Just the day before, in fact.

“Are you okay, Rogia? I found out too late to even comfort you. I didn’t even know you had a younger sibling.”

After hearing all that, Jay’s one thought was:
‘I want to see the governor just once more.’

Of course, he had attended the speech ceremony, but in the chaos he’d been so absorbed in an inspiration that struck him that he’d ignored everything else. Now he was beating his chest in regret.
The fleeting glimpse he’d had of the governor’s face was long gone from memory.

After briefly asking after Vivian’s well-being, Jay revealed why he’d rushed out barefoot to greet her.

“But, Rogia. You really went into the governor’s office? Then you must have seen His Excellency up close. What was he like? I only heard of his reputation late… If I’d known people called him a ‘perfect creation,’ I wouldn’t have looked at him so casually during the speech.”

If only he could see that insanely beautiful face up close just once…

Huh?

Jay, who had been firing off words like a machine gun, alternated his gaze between Vivian—sitting stiffly, thoroughly flustered—and the man beside her. His face was the same as when he’d entered, but now that he looked closely—

Narrowing his eyes and stroking his chin with thumb and forefinger, Jay stared at the man, then clapped his hands.

“Ah, never mind. Of course someone like that wouldn’t be holding the position of governor. You don’t just slap the phrase ‘perfect creation’ onto just anyone.”

“Just anyone.”
Just anyone. Just anyone.

Vivian stared in silent shock and glanced sideways at the man beside her. The more she silently mouthed Jay’s words—“just anyone”—the more her mind went blank.

“The real perfect creation is sitting right here.”

With the loud jingle of the chime bell ringing again, Vivian stepped out of the tailor shop.
The sky was unnecessarily blue. On a normal day she would have welcomed the warm sunlight, but now it only felt harsh.

Was it an illusion?
She wished it were, but unfortunately it wasn’t.

If that vivid gaze boring into her back were just an illusion, then everything in this world could be an illusion—
being happy because you ate delicious food in an illusion, happy because you rested comfortably in an illusion, happy because…

In such a world of illusions, one could live very cozily. But Vivian was clearly living in reality.
Her empty purse proved just how cruel that reality was.

While Brother Jay was off finding items, continuing his long praise of the “perfect creation”—

‘You’ll pay.’
‘…! Your Excellency, I’m sorry to say this, but this place is really expensive.’
‘…’
‘There’s no discount for acquaintances or anything like that…’
‘…’
‘Still, it shouldn’t be so expensive that even Your Excellency would find it costly.’
‘…’
‘Earlier you said you’d buy everything and I should just guide you…’

He silenced Vivian with his wordless stare. Soon Jay returned with his arms full of items, and after the man had finished trying them on, he stood at the counter staring straight at Vivian.

‘Please pay, customer.’

Thanks to Jay, who had gotten a real taste of capital,
several of Vivian’s precious gold coins were briskly extracted from her forcibly opened purse.

Looking at the suddenly emaciated purse made her heart ache. Shoving it roughly into the small bag she always carried, Vivian turned around.

She saw a man with golden hair—deeper in hue than Vivian’s pale blond—leaving the shop. While someone else was on the verge of starving, his expressionless face was infuriating.
The moment she thought she wanted to punch him on the nose, he smiled again. From time to time, he would look at Vivian and let out that light smile.

“Let’s go somewhere else.”

The governor, now wearing a wig and a white shirt instead of his dull black one, looked different. When everything around him had been black, his cynical image stood out, but now, smiling like this, he gave a different impression.

In any case, at this moment, that man was Governor Feron Edwin. She knew that clearly—yet seeing him smile made that clear fact feel as though it were slipping away.
With the distinct traces of the Trahaput Empire erased, he almost gave off the air of someone from the kingdom.

“So this time, am I really just guiding you?”

From the start, Vivian hadn’t even imagined that Jay would take an interest in the governor just from hearing rumors. Once he fixated on something, he rarely even left his shop.

‘It’d be troublesome if more people recognized him. Is there a tailor who wouldn’t realize who he is?’

So the governor’s condition had been met. Jay really hadn’t recognized him.
She just hadn’t expected him to gush about “perfect creations” and the like right in front of the man himself.

Vivian had barely managed to stop Jay when he finally tried to grab pencil and paper to draw the man’s face. Seeing him so excited, rattling on nonstop, was also a first for her.
So, in a way, Vivian felt rather wronged by the whole affair.

“As long as nothing like that happens again?”

Knowing full well that her flushed face was from frustration, the governor still replied with a faint, teasing smile.