Chapter 95: Looking Back

“I didn’t expect them to be that friendly.”

“No, seriously… neither did I. Though I’m grateful for it.”

After concluding our audience with Harl, Emma and I had returned to the guest suite assigned to us, where we now sat reflecting on the meeting.

“It gives us at least a little peace of mind,” Emma murmured.

“Yes. And the resource support is huge for us as well. Truly, thank heavens for allies.”

“I’m also grateful we don’t have to waste time probing each other for hidden motives.”

That, more than anything, was refreshing.

The Austin Empire had moved astonishingly quickly.

My trading company—which had already been operating within imperial territory—had apparently been contacted almost immediately after the meeting, and preparations for the transfer of resources were already underway.

Personally, that part pleased me quite a bit.

A direct business relationship with an empire meant my company’s standing within the Austin Empire would rise dramatically from this point onward.

That was no small benefit.

“Well then,” Emma said brightly as she stretched her arms overhead, “formal greetings with the empire are finished. Which means from here on out, we’re free.”

A mischievous smile spread across her face.

“And since His Majesty himself told us to enjoy ourselves, shouldn’t we do exactly that?”

“You’re planning to go sightseeing?”

“Yes, of course.” She nodded enthusiastically. “We’ll disguise ourselves and head into the city.”

“Disguises?” I blinked. “Do we really need to go that far?”

“We absolutely do! Don’t you want to walk around town like ordinary commoners for once?”

Well…

It wasn’t as though our faces were widely recognized throughout this country to begin with.

Personally, I didn’t think disguises were all that necessary.

“I don’t even want to bring guards with us.”

“That’s pushing things a little too far, isn’t it?”

“Which is why we’ll use proper disguises!” Emma declared proudly. “The public safety in this country is excellent. As long as nobody realizes I’m a princess, we’ll be perfectly safe!”

“…Will we?”

“We will! For example—perhaps I could disguise myself as a man!”

“…Your Highness?”

My eyes instinctively drifted downward toward her chest.

“Wha—!? H-Hey! Where exactly are you looking!?”

Emma immediately crossed her arms over herself defensively, her face turning bright red as she shouted in outrage.

“Ahem! Actually, perhaps I should cross-dress instead.”

“Huh?”

Not wanting to dig myself any deeper into that particular topic, I smoothly changed the subject before she could continue yelling at me.

“If I dress as a girl, that should be enough. As for Your Highness, simply changing that flashy hair color alone would already help quite a bit…”

As I spoke, I walked over to the luggage that had been brought into the guest suite and retrieved a compact disguise kit from among my belongings.

“Alright then.”

Sitting down in front of the standing mirror, I immediately began preparing the tools with practiced familiarity.

“W-Wait… hold on. You can actually cross-dress!?”

“It’s a disguise I use fairly often, actually.”

My height was small.

My face still looked young.

As annoying as it was to admit, I was naturally suited for it.

“Still, cross-dressing takes a bit more time, so let’s start with Your Highness first. Yours should be finished quickly. Please sit here.”

Emma obediently sat in the chair before the mirror while I stepped in front of her and began working.

“…I-It’s oddly embarrassing having Noah stare directly at my face like this…”

Her cheeks flushed faintly as she averted her gaze, unable to sit still beneath my focused attention.

“It’ll be over soon, so please just close your eyes.”

“Hyah—! A-At least warn me before touching my hair!”

“Does touching your hair normally make people scream like that?”

Ignoring the fact that Emma had become strangely restless, I continued working efficiently.

First, I concealed her beautiful golden hair beneath a long brown wig that flowed all the way to her waist—completely different from her usual short hairstyle.

Then came the makeup.

I subtly lowered the appearance of the outer corners of her eyes to soften her expression, adjusted the overall impression of her face, and even added a scattering of freckles to further disguise her identity.

By the time I finished, the refined royal beauty she normally possessed had transformed into the appearance of an ordinary young woman one might find anywhere in the city.

“After this, wrapping your chest slightly with a sarashi should be enough, I think. And choose shoes with shorter soles so you appear a bit shorter than usual.”

“O-Ohh…! That was so quick! You’re right—I barely even look like myself anymore!”

“Though honestly, I only changed your face, so it’s not that impressive of a disguise. You can go ahead and change clothes on your side.”

The guest suite was spacious, and thick curtains allowed the room to be divided into separate sections.

Handing Emma the sarashi, clothes, and shoes, I practically pushed her behind the curtain.

“Even with the curtain separating us… changing clothes in the same room as you still feels embarrassing somehow.”

“…Says the princess who once tried to sleep in the same bed as me?”

“T-That was different! I was desperate back then! Now that I’ve calmed down properly, I can actually feel embarrassed about these things…”

“…I see.”

Ignoring the increasingly flustered princess behind the curtain, I turned my attention toward my own disguise.

We’d go with the appearance of sisters.

I placed on a brown wig similar in color to Emma’s and began carefully applying makeup designed to make my features appear more feminine.

“Hm… subtle makeup really doesn’t suit me.”

Once I started trying to make myself look convincingly female, the result inevitably leaned toward “cute.”

There was no helping it.

The makeup ended up far more eye-catching than I had originally intended.

“Well, whatever.”

My cross-dressing makeup usually ended up like this anyway.

It was fine.

After finishing the makeup, I changed clothes and slipped on a pair of hidden-height boots to increase my stature slightly.

“Alright.”

I spun once in front of the mirror, checking my appearance from every angle before nodding in satisfaction.

Then I called out toward the curtain.

“I’m finished over here. Are you done too?”

“Yes! I’m ready. You can open it whenever you like.”

“Thank you.”

I pulled the curtain aside—

—and revealed my fully cross-dressed appearance to Emma.

“…C-Cute…! SO CUTEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!”

The instant she saw me, Emma’s eyes practically turned into hearts as she let out an explosive scream loud enough to shake the entire guest suite.