Chapter 132

The Tailor Shop and Bossy-Boots [Part 1]

Do nobles eat such dreamily sweet and delicious sweets every day?

Just as Hannah was about to sigh, the girl before her smiled brightly as she finished the last bite of a sweet that both looked and tasted exquisite.

A situation like this where Hannah, a mere commoner, was having tea with a noble girl, should have been impossible. Even so, that girl looked incredibly happy as she listened to Hannah’s story and seemed very content as they exchanged bites of sweets with each other.

She was so different from the nobles Hannah knew of.

“Alright, shall we go?”

While everyone finished their tea and got ready to wrap up, Hannah was pondering on what she should do from now on, when the girl called out to her.

I wonder where we’re going. Even though I said I no longer have a place to return to…

♠♠♠

“H-Hannah!!”

The place they brought Hannah to turned out to be where she called home until just a few hours ago, the tailor shop.

The shopkeeper rushed over in a hurry.

“I was so worried! Hannah!? Are you alright?”

“Shopkeeper…… Um…… that……”

Looking at the working area that had gotten messier since Hannah dashed out, it seemed that the shopkeeper was trying hard to do something about those dresses himself.

“Haha…… I’m sorry for always depending on Hannah. If I had just been more reliable…”

The shopkeeper’s hands were so full of cuts, worse than the scrapes on Hannah’s which she had suffered from her fall, that it made her wonder what had happened in the short one hour since she left. Hannah had heard that the shopkeeper used to do some tailoring work before she came along, but she still felt sorry at the thought that she was the one who pushed the shopkeeper beyond his abilities, thus causing those wounds.

“I was just about to reject the orders. Hannah, please take a break. I also think I was being ridiculous earlier. Five dresses are… impossible, indeed.”

If they were to cancel an order from a noble even once, not only the shop, but even the shopkeeper’s life would be in danger. Besides, they wouldn’t have fallen into this predicament if they could have refused it in the first place.

“Shopkeeper! If you do that…!”

“No… We’re already at our limit… I will make sure absolutely no one causes any trouble for Hannah, so rest assured.”

The shopkeeper gently put his hand on Hannah’s shoulder, and fixed a serious gaze straight at her and her alone.

“You can’t, shopkeeper! If this goes on, you will…!”

“Hannah………”

The two stared into each other’s eyes………

” ” “………………” ” “

………

………

………

Those two, in a world of their own from the moment they stepped into the store………

Huh? What’s this?

The feeling of once again turning into a sand fox from the faraway Tibet………

A strong sense of déjà vu struck the three siblings.

Hannah did say that it wasn’t the shopkeeper’s fault… Eh? So they were like that? Hm?

“Ummmm… Excuse me… May I speak for a moment?”

George swiftly cut through this ‘nobody could come between us’ atmosphere.

“*gasp*! You are?”

The shopkeeper finally noticed the three siblings, who they had clearly been oblivious to until now, and looked visibly surprised.

“Ah, shopkeeper, I bumped into them earlier… They treated me to tea, took care of my wound, and brought me with them to the shop!”

“Wound!? Are you alright? Hannah? Let me see…”

*ahem ahem* It felt like the pair would enter their own world again, so the three siblings coughed deliberately.

“M-My apologies… We owe Hannah’s care to you.”

The shopkeeper hurriedly took his hands off Hannah’s waist and faced the siblings.

……..I think I have it roughly figured out. Emma looked at the shopkeeper’s face and asked,

“May I ask? Is the shopkeeper always the one to deliver the finished dress?”

“? Yes. I do order taking, delivery, and shop management, while Hannah makes the dresses. Um, as you can see, we are just a small shop and already have our hands full. If it’s about a dress for a Young Lady… I deeply apologize, but I’m afraid we cannot accept more orders.”

The shopkeeper lowered his head.

Apparently, their style of dress even when returning from the academy made it clear that they were nobles. On Melsa’s admonishment that ‘if they didn’t dress up to a certain extent, the academy’s security would stop them at the gate’, they had been commuting to school in their best clothes ever since, so it would be more baffling if they had not been recognized as nobles.

“No, I’m not ordering a dress…… I’m giving you a suggestion regarding part-time jobs.”

“Huh? Part-time jobs?”

Emma answered with a smile.

She is planning something again…… George and William exchanged looks and sighed.