After buying that picture book, Evelia left the bookstore with the volume in her arms, its cover still mostly intact.
The shopkeeper naturally knew what was inside that book.
It had something to do with “becoming a cute girl,” but not that much.
Still, the customer had paid, so there was no need for him to say anything else.
He sent Evelia off with a professional smile, and only after the air around him eased a little did he let out a breath of relief.
As for Evelia, she was fairly familiar with the layout of the royal capital.
After only a few steps, she arrived at a decent women’s clothing store nearby.
It wasn’t luxurious or high-end, but compared to the other commoner boutiques, this place had far more styles to choose from.
Evelia walked in carrying the slightly heavy lingerie catalog.
Very soon, a sweet-looking young girl came up to her.
Her creamy, fluffy short hair looked like a delicious cream puff, and the pale pink hairpin in it was like a little candy piece set on top of a cake.
Looking at her, Evelia more or less understood what people meant by a sweet-type girl.
“Beautiful miss, what kind of clothes are you looking for today?”
The shop assistant gave Evelia a curtsy.
Her fluffy short hair bounced as she moved, making Evelia think of stretchy cotton candy again.
“Are you selling the outfit you’re wearing?”
Evelia pointed at the girl’s pink-and-white lolita short dress.
“Oh my, this is my work uniform. This one’s not for sale.”
The girl gave a playful smile. “Could it be that you like this kind of style?”
Evelia nodded without the slightest hesitation.
“Hmm... let me see. Are you trying to change your image?”
The clerk led Evelia over to the guest sofa, then brought over a plate of pastries.
As she sized up Evelia from across the table, she kept looking her over from head to toe.
With the way Evelia was dressed, this girl was thinking the same thing as the bookseller from before.
A girl this dashing choosing a cute style really was such a waste.
“Is it because you have pink hair, so you want to pick pink clothes like these?”
“No.” Evelia handed the book in her hands to the girl. “I just want to become a sweet, cute girl.”
There wasn’t a trace of emotion in Evelia’s voice when she said it.
When she spoke the words “sweet” and “cute,” the clerk felt like she had slammed straight into an ice-cold wall.
“Oh?”
The girl did run a clothing shop, after all.
The moment she saw the cover, she knew what kind of book Evelia had handed her.
She politely flipped through it for a moment, then set it neatly on the glass tea table.
“You want to pick out lingerie?”
“Not just lingerie. But this book can be used as a reference.”
“I see. Then what kind of style do you like?”
“Something cuter.”
“Cute, huh...”
The girl flipped through the sample catalog in her hands, then opened it to a page with cute cat-themed lingerie and placed it in front of Evelia. “What do you think of this one?”
“...”
Evelia, who usually showed almost no expression, visibly frowned this time.
She was actually going to wear something like this?
This kind of... clothing with cats on it?
“Ah... looks like you’re not too impressed. Then—how about this one?”
This time it was a strawberry-print set.
The design was technically for adults, but no matter how Evelia looked at it, it felt like something only a child would wear.
“Mm... then... let’s switch again. This one?”
The next set was fluffy.
Rather than lingerie, it looked more like sleepwear.
The part Evelia resonated with most was probably that the bottom this time was a pair of bloomer-style shorts instead of panties.
She really missed boxers.
After that came cherries, little rabbits, little bears.
No matter how she looked at them, they all gave off the feeling of toddler wear.
It was clear that although Evelia said she wanted to become a cute girl, she was instinctively resisting this kind of thing.
“Then... let me ask you first. What’s your reason for buying lingerie?”
“Reason?”
“That’s right. Why do you want this kind of lingerie?”
“There’s a reason behind that too?”
“Of course there is.”
Looking at the bewildered Evelia, the clerk excitedly raised a finger and began explaining.
“Buying lingerie is just like buying regular clothes. Either it’s for the season, or you want to change your style, or you want something comfortable, or you’re following trends and buying what’s popular. Which one are you?”
“I want to change my style.”
“Style, huh...”
The clerk seemed to realize something, and a subtle smile appeared on her face.
“Changing the style of outerwear is one thing. But changing the style of lingerie... is it for someone you love?”
“No.” Evelia answered cleanly and directly. “It’s because I want to become someone he loves.”
“...?”
The clerk kept her standard smile, but a question mark practically appeared over her head, as if Evelia had just said something she couldn’t process.
“Wouldn’t that make him the person you love?”
“No.”
“...Hm? But aren’t you planning to become that gentleman’s beloved?”
“Yes.”
“Then wouldn’t that make him the person you love...?”
“No.”
“...?”
Evelia’s answers left the clerk completely unable to sort out what kind of relationship she had with this man she was talking about.
She thought for quite a while before suddenly slapping her forehead in realization.
“You... you mean... um... are you trying to... seduce a man you don’t love, and who doesn’t love you either...?”
“Yes.”
“...Dear heavens.”
Evelia’s approach clearly shocked the young clerk, whose values were still rather traditional.
“Then why not just use **...?”
But that didn’t mean the girl couldn’t say something fairly bold.
Even though there were only the two of them in the shop, she still lowered her voice carefully when she said it.
“It’s still too early.”
“Eh? Too... too early...? Ah... is that so...”
The clerk felt like she had stepped into some incredible territory.
Blushing, she put away the sample catalog in her hands and took out a new one.
“Um... take a look at this.”
As if she were trading contraband, she sneakily pulled out a sample book with an utterly plain cover and handed it to Evelia.
As she flipped through it page by page, Evelia discovered that the contents were far bolder than the lingerie catalog she had bought.
There was even a cow outfit, a dog collar, and one thing that was basically just a piece of cloth with a hole in it hanging from the neck.
Not to mention the completely transparent ones.
Still, a few of the designs could at least be loosely connected to the word “cute.”
They were something like sweet-style sexy lingerie.
“...This...?”
But no matter how she looked at them, Evelia didn’t really think these things could be called “clothes.”
Anywhere that actually needed covering was left completely uncovered.
Even a bandage would hide more than these did.
“You... should choose from these instead. They ought to help you.”
The clerk was still blushing, but her expression had become much more serious than before, as if the two of them really were carrying out some kind of underground deal.
