"Please relay this to Her Highness the Princess."
Madam Lauren spoke resolutely, staring directly at the Princess's secretary.
"There are many dressmakers in the world, but there is no designer in this world who can replace me, Madam Lauren."
Madam Lauren straightened her back and left the reception room with a dignified stride.
Even at over forty years of age, she insisted on wearing high heels and never ran in any situation.
Born a commoner, she had acquired her current demeanor through relentless effort to deal with nobles. That included a noble pride akin to that of the aristocracy.
She could have knelt and begged, but her petty pride would not allow it.
"Lancelot & Co."
She shouted to the coachman as she stormed out of the palace.
***
Edgar Lancaster Lancelot was not the kind of person you could meet just by showing up unannounced. Especially not for a mere dressmaker who had broken her trust.
Edgar was not in the Lancelot & Co. office, but in the office of the Lancelot Hotel.
The sunlight that had filled the first-floor lobby now reached the pointed toe of Madam Lauren's shoe.
It was a deliberate act of neglect. A blatant rejection, but if she had given up and turned back every time this happened, she would not be the Madam Lauren she was today. She knew when to discard her petty pride.
By her standards, waiting five hours was enough. Madam Lauren took out a notebook and fountain pen from her tan leather bag.
After scribbling something, she tore the paper and folded it neatly. She approached the front desk staff with a haughty gait.
"Please deliver this to CEO Lancelot."
The employee tilted his head, waited for the manager to arrive, and handed him the note.
Madam Lauren stood firmly in her place until the manager disappeared into the elevator and came back down. After about ten minutes, ding! The elevator doors opened with a chime. It was Edgar's secretary.
"You have quite a knack for blackmail."
Edgar smiled, gesturing with his eyes to the note on the table.
「Anne Gilbert. Olivia Blanchett doesn't seem to know that you rented her.」
"I'll give you ten minutes."
His face, devoid of any smile, spoke coldly.
Madam Lauren opened her mouth with a look of deep regret.
"My mother was a chambermaid for a noble family. I started sewing at the age of ten, helping my mother. From that young age, I made clothes, pricking my fingers with needles."
It seemed he had given her too much time.
"Unless you're expecting my tears, get to the point."
Edgar interrupted the unnecessarily long introduction, staring at Madam Lauren with narrowed eyes.
"I started from the bottom and rose to this position. This position I have now."
His listless gaze, uninterested in the cliché story, turned to the wall clock behind Madam Lauren.
"Royal exclusive designer. This title was me. At least until now."
"So. What do you want to say?"
Edgar cut her off, bored with the predictable flow.
"You've put me in a difficult position, CEO."
"And you've put me in a difficult position."
Edgar said listlessly, fiddling with the edge of a glass of liquor, where condensation had formed. The thought of Anne Boleyn, who had mentioned that damn necklace, brought a sneer to his face.
"I've lost my salon's biggest customer. Soon, the socialite ladies will stop coming."
"So. You want compensation for the loss?"
"No. As you said, I also leaked customer information, so I won't make such a one-sided request."
Madam Lauren firmly denied Edgar's words.
Edgar's eyes narrowed. As he had heard, she was a fox, but not the shameless kind. However, Edgar retracted his hasty judgment the next moment.
"Buy my salon from Lancelot & Co."
Edgar burst out laughing at the sudden proposal.
Buy it?
"Why would I do that?"
"I will reveal that Olivia Blanchett's trouble was due to the necklace. That it was the Marquess's intention."
"You're going to lie."
All Edgar had asked of Madam Lauren was one thing: 'Make it clear to anyone who sees it that it's Olivia Blanchett.'
The two locked eyes intensely.
"I never mentioned that necklace."
"Whether Olivia Blanchett believes it or not is up to her, but I think she probably will. And."
The sly woman fiddled with her emerald ring, stalling for time. Madam Lauren, who had quickly raised her lowered gaze, said in a threatening voice.
"This is just my speculation, but I suspect the scandal is also the Marquess's work."
"So."
A sharp gaze turned to Madam Lauren.
"Unfortunately, Olivia Blanchett doesn't seem to know."
She acted as if she had caught a great weakness. Edgar chuckled at the smooth and skillful blackmail.
"Just a small dress shop."
Edgar's voice was low and heavy.
"Which would be easier, to buy it or to destroy it? What do you think?"
Blackmail with blackmail.
His cold, calculating eyes turned icy. Madam Lauren inhaled at the relaxed yet threatening gaze, like a predator cornering its prey.
As expected, the opponent was not easy to deal with.
If she backed down here, it would be ruin. The lavish, gold-trimmed six-story Eve Lauren boutique would disappear into history.
As Edgar had said, she didn't want to spend her old age as the owner of a small dress shop in a rural backwater.
Wasn't success about getting up one more time than the number of times you fell?
Something hot surged up from deep within her chest.
"It won't be a losing business."
"I thought you just said all your deals were off."
"Mass production and sale of the highest quality at a reasonable price."
Madam Lauren continued calmly and persuasively.
"That's the motto of the newly born Lancelot Lauren."
"You're going to make ready-to-wear clothes."
That meant a huge investment was needed. From factory equipment to a sales network spanning the entire Kingdom of Brit. To make such a brazen business proposal with a dress shop that was about to go bankrupt. She was a fox, indeed.
"We'll target the moneyed middle class."
The times were changing.
"Something commoners can dream of. So we'll make clothes that every woman wants to wear at least once."
That, of course, included Princess Anne Boleyn. Of course, her pride wouldn't allow her to wear Lancelot Lauren, but she wanted to make her crazy with desire to wear it nonetheless. To make her regret what she had done today.
"We're in the same boat. And I can't swim."
But apart from such petty personal feelings, she had opened her eyes to a new desire. In the carriage from the Brit Court to Lancelot & Co., and from there to the Lancelot Hotel, she had envisioned a new future.
Not just a royal exclusive designer, but a designer for the people of the Kingdom of Brit.
With the wings of Lancelot, already a national enterprise, there was nothing she couldn't do.
"Whether my mouth becomes heavy or light is entirely in your hands, CEO."
Madam Lauren gave a meaningful smile.
"Whether Lancelot Lauren thrives or fails is also in your hands, CEO. The decision is yours."
Madam Lauren smiled silently with a confident expression, staring directly at Edgar.
What a fox.
She was as skilled a negotiator as she was a dressmaker. Also, by giving Edgar the power to decide, she was building up his authority while lightly passing on the enormous responsibility for any potential business failure.
Silence stretched as they smiled at each other.
Edgar turned his head to the window. Beyond the glass, it was already late evening. Among the lights illuminating the city, the brilliant lights of the Leopold Hotel, which was about to open, caught his eye.
The fashion industry.
It was the first field he was jumping into before Yohan. A strange sense of challenge stimulated him.
"Bring me the business plan. I can't afford to embrace losses and sink."
"Of course. The times are changing. Lancelot Lauren will definitely succeed."
Madam Lauren's eyes burned with fighting spirit. She couldn't let the gold tower she had built up for nearly thirty years collapse because of one arrogant customer. Not even if it was the Princess of Brita.
Madam Lauren was about to get up, satisfied with the result, and was adjusting her clothes.
"That necklace."
"Are you referring to Anne Gilbert?"
"Let's buy it together."
Madam Lauren was taken aback by the sudden proposal.
"With all due respect, that is classified as my personal asset."
"That's right. So I'm saying let's buy it together this time."
This time, the power of decision returned to Madam Lauren.
"I had to set a condition to be fair, didn't I?"
Edgar's smiling eyes turned to the wall clock. It was just past six ten.
***
Olivia visited the International Bank again with Anne.
"It's an honor to have you."
The employee, who jumped up as soon as he saw her, greeted Olivia with a polite bow. He had realized how big a customer Olivia Blanchett was through the previous incident, so his changed attitude seemed a little obsequious.
Olivia had keenly realized the need for a vault due to Count Blanchett's attack. Olivia glanced over the personal vault application form presented by the bank employee and carefully filled in the blanks.
It was the property she had protected by being embroiled in another scandal with Edgar before the Rose Ball scandal had even subsided. Fortunately, she had avoided becoming penniless, but she couldn't just be happy.
'There's a condition.'
'…….'
That day, the man had given a strange smile as he said this in the carriage asking for a personal guarantee.
She had only made a wish as a reward for winning him in a betting game, but the man had attached a condition to that wish. It was unfair, but Olivia decided to listen for now.
'Please tell me.'
No matter how absurd the condition was, Olivia was not in a position to refuse. He must have known that very well.
Because Edgar Lancaster Lancelot was her only salvation right now.
