How a Realist Hero Rebuilt The Kingdom

Liscia: Picking an Outfit

“Augh! What should I wear?!”

In a room in the castle in Parnam, capital of the Elfrieden Kingdom, Liscia was going over the contents of her dresser while muttering to herself.

This was Liscia’s bedroom. Because of her long years in officers’ school and military service, along with her own strong-willed and too-serious personality, it didn’t look anything like what you would expect from the room of a seventeen-year-old girl.

Technically, she had once been this country’s princess, and so she did have gorgeous dresses, and because she tended to take good care of her possessions, the dolls her parents had given her long ago were safely stored in her dresser, but it was very true to Liscia’s personality that she didn’t leave such things out in the open.

Yet Liscia, with her level-headed personality, was now scattering her clothes all over the room. The cause of this lay in the words from the man who was the (provisional) current king of this country, as well as Liscia’s betrothed, Souma.

“We’ve got a day off. How about we go on a date in the castle town?”

Ever since Souma had been given the throne by her father, Albert, he had been grinding his bones to dust, working his very hardest. She knew that was why Prime Minister Hakuya had to force him to take a day off. Even from what she had seen herself, Liscia knew Souma was working too hard.

But, still... suddenly being asked on a date had left Liscia in a state of confusion and disarray.

Liscia had never had any serious romantic prospects before. In her years at the Officers’ Academy, there had been many sons of the nobility who had cosied up to her because of her status, but their ulterior motives had been plain to see, and so none of them had ever measured up to the straight-laced Liscia’s expectations. Before she knew it, she had become more popular with the girls than the boys, and her status as an unattainable romantic conquest had earned her the nickname “The Golden Ice Palace.”

Honestly, Liscia thought that reputation was overblown. She wasn’t pushing the boys away. There were just no worthwhile boys. As proof of that, now that she had been asked out on a date by a boy she was starting to develop feelings for, she was losing her head over it.

“Hey, Serina, Tomoe, what outfit do you think would look good on me?”

Liscia held up two outfits for the two of them to examine. Tomoe was a mystic wolf girl who had recently become her adopted sister, and Serina, her personal maid, was like a big sister to Liscia. The two of them had been watching Liscia, and Serina had found the scene half-heartwarming and half-exasperating to see.

“Um... Everything looks good on you, Big Sister,” Tomoe ventured. “And I think... no matter which you wear, Big Brother Souma will say you look good in it.”

Tomoe had offered some harmless and inoffensive words of encouragement. Serina, on the other hand...

“If you are clinging to a ten-year-old girl for support, that is truly pitiful.”

...her words were blunt.

“Urkh...” Liscia muttered. “Fine, you choose for me, Serina.”

“What are you saying? You choosing the clothes for yourself is what gives them meaning. Your feelings for the man in your heart, and how you wish to be seen by him, will make themselves evident in the clothing you select.”

“Th-The man in my heart... Souma’s not like that, not yet...”

“If you dawdle too long, your position as his first queen will be snatched away by another wife he takes later,” Serina said briskly. “I know... perhaps I should present myself before His Majesty? Dressed up in an outfit that I selected myself?”

“Y-You can’t!” Liscia exclaimed.

“Hee hee, I was joking. Look how flustered you are. It’s simply adorable.”

“Geez!”

Serina was a capable maid, but she had a bad habit of bullying cute girls. In other words, she was a total sadist. But rather than inflict physical pain, she preferred to toy with them psychologically and embarrass them with her words. These days, the one who received the most of her “affection” was Liscia.

“H-How does this outfit look?” Liscia asked, holding up a brightly colored women’s military uniform. It was something that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a theatrical production about the French Revolution.

Serina buried her face in her palm. “Why... Why is it a military uniform?”

“B-Because Souma said... I look good in them, maybe?”

The embarrassed way Liscia said that was full of maidenly charm, and a feast for Serina’s eyes, but...

“A military uniform simply will not do,” Serina said with a sigh. “It is true that you look good in them, but that’s no outfit to be wearing on a romantic tryst. Besides which, on a special day like this, rather than let him see you the way you usually are, do you not think it would be better to show him a different side of yourself?”

“A different... side of myself...” Liscia murmured.

“Tomoe. How does the princess look from your perspective?”

“She’s brave and cool,“ Tomoe said, her eyes sparkling.

Serina nodded in agreement. “Yes. That is how other people see you, princess. Now, if the cool, brave princess were to show a side of herself that was different from usual, do you not think that might seize His Majesty Souma’s heart?”

“A side of myself that’s different from usual...” Liscia murmured.

“For instance, I know... Why not go with something more sensuous?” With those words, Serina pulled out a red cocktail dress. It had an open back, and had quite the risque neckline, as well.

While she owned dresses like these for social events, Liscia couldn’t imagine that they suited her, and she had never once worn it. “Y-You want me to wear this?!”

“Normally, you have yourself wrapped up so tightly,” Serina said. “That does make it fun to get you undressed later, but why not try keeping his eyes glued to you by showing off some of that sexiness you normally wouldn’t?”

“I’m sensing an indecent aura from every word you say! And, hold on, I’m worrying about what to wear on a date here! I couldn’t wear a thing like this around town!”

“Well, true enough, they would mistake you for a lady of the night, I’m sure,” Serina nodded.

“You recommended it knowing that?!”

“In that case... What do you think of this one?”

Ignoring Liscia’s protestations, Serina pulled out another outfit. It was a pink one-piece dress with lots of white frills.

“Th-That’s...”

That one-piece had been something her mother had practically forced her to accept as a present about half a year ago. Probably, she had been worried for the masculine Liscia, and “Become a girl who will look good in this” had been the message she had wanted to give her out of motherly concern. However, because it wasn’t to Liscia’s taste, she had buried it in the back of the closet without so much as trying it on.

“It’s cutesy, I suppose you could call it,” Serina said. “This could help to develop a whole new side to yourself, princess.”

“I don’t want to let it do that! All those frills are absolutely dreadful!”

“I think you would look adorable in it, like a doll...”

“No! Never!”

After that, they pulled out many outfits, arguing back and forth over them. At last, Tomoe, who was hesitantly watching from the sidelines, raised a hand to speak.

“Um...”

“Ah, what is it, Tomoe?” Liscia asked.

“Um... You two are both very famous. If you’re going to the castle town, don’t you need to wear clothes that won’t stand out too much?”

Liscia was silent.

Now that she mentioned it, she was right. Hakuya had been saying something about showing off how close they were to the people, but if the future king and queen were just walking around in broad daylight, it would cause a stir. In other words, she shouldn’t have been picking out a suitable outfit for a date, she should have been picking out clothes that wouldn’t make it obvious who she was. Liscia’s legs gave out, and she collapsed to a floor that was littered with clothing.

As she looked on, Serina, who had realized this the entire time, wore a beaming smile.