I am only a stepmother but my daughter is just So cute!

chapter 4 (part 2)

A week passed since I told the maids to wear whatever they wanted. Most of them seemed wary of my words,but thankfully after a few days,things started to change little by little. Some of the maids even wore the gifts I gave them. Clara,in particular, was so excited about this change that she wore something different each day.The sapphire earrings didn't manage to make an appearance, though. But not everyone was like Clara.

Some of the maids, including Norma, still refrained from wearing anything fancy. I wouldn't have mind it at all if it was their own choice, but unfortunately their distrust on me is keeping them away. Sigh. Well, it's no surprise with all the things Abigail did in the past, they still won't trust me. Abigail's a real piece of work. I would never blame an innocent maid to punish or kill her. Speaking of which, who did kill Abigail anyway? There are more than one people to whom Abigail is an eyesore. First, the supporters of the previous queen, Miriam. After her death, as a child of the Stork family, the family offered up Miriam's sister to be the next queen. But Abigail, the princess of Cronenberg, ended up being chosen as queen. Obviously the Stork family didn't like her for that at all. Another one I was a bit wary of... was Sabelian's half-brother. The man was called Raven, I think. Just like his name, his hair was as black as a crow's feathers. Despite having a different mother, he was the spitting image of Sabelian.

However, along with his golden eyes, his personality was completely different than Sabelian's. So it was very easy to differ them. Not to mention that his hair was long enough to reach his shoulders. They didn't have a very good relationship due to inheritance problems I think. Although he didn't have a bad relationship with Abigail persay, though they should have been enemies politically. After all, if Abigail had a child, Raven's chances of being king would decrease even more. Apart from those people, all the other people who share hatred towards her were kind of a bonus that came with her terrible attitude and treatment of others.

She tortured many people,including her own servants in the castle..

'Ah, Abigail. What am I going to do with you?'

Sob... There were just too many potential suspects. So The first thing I have to do is reduce the number of my enemies! I can't die like in the original fairytale. I must improve my relationship with Blanche!

"Clara, today Blanche is supposed to get measured for her new dress, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"If I were to attend.. do you think she will hate it?"

Today's the day Blanche finally tries on new clothes! I really really really want to go. But I hesitated, considering Blanche was still terrified of me.

" I think,It'll be fine your Majesty!"

Clara's reassurance gave me courage. At the very least, I could use a gift as an excuse to stop by!

"All right then In that case, can you help me get dressed?"

"Yes, your Majesty!"

                                       ***
Clara and Norma each picked up a shoe box to carry. They were the same ones that I prepared for Blanche a week ago. With the two maids by my side, I walked to the guest room, and started to hear voices of multiple people as I drew closer. Before entering, I took a small peek inside. I could see Blanche sitting down on a chair. Seeing her sitting still with her tiny hands laid carefully on her lap she reminded me of a little porcelain doll. Even from this distance, she looked just the cutest. From her tiny little nose, to her mouth, and ears, and even her pink cheeks. They'd looked soft enough to bounce back with a little jiggle if I were to poke her cheeks. The room was filled with several large boxes and a few mannequins. Multiple different types of dresses hung on each and every one of them. Since the seasons were changing from winter to spring, the dresses were all warm and colorful. However, they were all sized for adults.

"Miss Jeremie, what do you think about this dress?"

A man wearing a rather sharp suit piped up from the room. He seemed to be a designer of sorts. The lady called Jeremie was carefully looking at the selection of dresses. I heard Miss Jeremie was Blanche's nanny as well as her teacher. She has been serving Blanche since the princess was young. And if I recall correctly... she was the cousin of Duke Stork. With her family's backing, she wasn't someone to be trifled with. Other than that.. I didn't really know much about her. That was it.

To begin with, Abigail never really talked with the woman. The first and the last time the two met was when Abigail first entered the palace. Miss Jeremie was trying to talk to Abigail about Blanche's education and personality. But Abigail cut the woman off, and said: [It's too annoying so I'll leave the princess to you. And in the future don't come to me about the princess' affairs.]

Sigh, Abigail. Why did you go and do that? I should give Miss Jeremie a gift as an apology at some point, too. As I stood there thinking, Miss Jeremie went through one dress after the other, her eyes inspecting them like a hawk.

"Do you have other dresses apart from these?"

She was currently looking at a reddish brown dress. It looked chic and elegant, but it didn't catch my interest. In fact, none of those dresses looked that much pretty. Children's clothing is a completely different from adults. But the clothing up there right now weren't for a child, but for adults only. They were probably planning on just tailoring it down to fit Blanche. There's no way clothes like those would be comfortable for a child..

My desire to design clothes for Blanche surged even more. I wanted to run in and stop them, but I needed patience.  Instead, I decided to use this as a chance to see what kind of clothes Blanche liked, so I could make one for her later. In the meantime, the designer took out a different dress from a box.

"What do you think about this one, then?"

It was a light blue dress with white ribbons all over it. Would Blanche like that style? I turned to see her reaction. Ah, her eyes sparkled like stars! The girl gave the dress multiples excited glances. Her feet swung to and fro on the chair in anticipation. Oh my oh my, her legs can't even reach the ground because they're so small.. That's so adorable...Thank goodness she found a dress she likes. As I was busy staring at Blanche, Miss Jeremie responded,

"Show me something else."

"Here it is...These are also quite popular nowadays."

The designer took out a different dress. The moment I saw it, I put a hand over my mouth from shock. That was... a dress too early for humanity to see.