Chapter 46
A premonition that I was about to hear something unsettling made the tears vanish from my eyes.
“Tonight is our… night together.”
Gasp! I’d completely forgotten!
Between promoting Pushike and worrying about the divorce law revisions, I had utterly forgotten the most important day. Looking at Margaret, I realized she had too—she had her hands over her mouth in surprise.
“Ahahahahaha… Callis, really… you could’ve done this at the duke’s mansion… but it has to be here… right here?”
I needed time to plan, so I tried to see if we could postpone it even by a day. I poked his chest lightly with my index finger as I spoke, testing him.
But he grabbed my hand that was poking him and spoke with a frightening expression.
“They say a couple’s night is sacred, so we’ll stick to the date. Come to my room tonight. If not… I’ll leave what happens to your imagination.”
With this half-threat, Callis left the room calmly.
“Leave it to my imagination…?”
My mind, already aware of how lewd he could be, was now filled with things rated 18+—absolutely things that should never happen.
Callis doing this and that, doing who-knows-what… no! Absolutely not!
“Margaret! We need to plan our strategy immediately!”
“Yes, Mistress!”
Margaret and I dashed into my room, grabbing a quick sandwich for lunch while devising our plan.
+++
Filina and Margaret realized there wasn’t enough time to strategize properly, so Margaret found the hardest-to-remove dress—the one with fabric so tough it couldn’t be torn easily.
She also prepared another pair of pants that fit so tightly, you’d have to skip dinner to wear them.
Swish… swish…
Filina crossed two daggers and sharpened their blades meticulously.
“Hmph. Callis! You don’t know I learned self-defense, do you? Today, I’ve got two daggers ready!”
Holding the well-sharpened daggers in her hands, she waved them around, giving a slightly clumsy self-defense demonstration for Margaret.
“Perfect, Mistress! Anyone within range of those daggers will die!”
As the two of them exchanged determined glances and prepared for the decisive night, Stella suddenly rushed into the room.
“Mistress! The princess is calling! Everyone must report to the princess’s office by 3 o’clock! Right now… our Pushike has been accused of displaying obscene materials!”
Startled by Stella’s words, they abandoned all formalities and dashed straight to the princess’s palace.
+++
Silas and his group saw off the Nebula Empire’s envoys returning on the first flight and headed to their private palace.
“Really… where did etiquette go…”
Seeing Filina and her group running at full speed down the palace corridor, everyone except Silas gaped in surprise. Even palace staff were staring blankly.
Filina had always been running through the palace in the Luna Empire, so Silas, having seen this a few times, smiled as he kept walking.
“Filina… keep acting so conspicuously… I hope Lucas keeps noticing you. Filina.”
As Silas smiled at Filina while moving forward, Dennis matched his pace and came closer. Silas gestured subtly, and Dennis began speaking in a low voice.
“It seems Ian is set to become emperor within a month. And that rumor has already reached his ears.”
Silas raised an eyebrow slightly and then relaxed it. Seeing his deepened smile, Dennis smiled too as they continued toward their palace.
+++
When Filina and the group arrived at the princess’s office, the other members almost simultaneously opened the door, panting heavily.
Belita instructed the maids to bring each member a cold drink, then had them sit at the large conference table. Although she still felt the tension of the meeting, she took a deep breath and began.
“As you all know, our lingerie shop Pushike has been reported for displaying obscene materials. We must explain ourselves tomorrow morning before the high-ranking nobility.”
The members’ faces hardened, filled with anger.
“Obscene? After seeing my work!”
Among them, Vivian was the angriest and forgot that Belita was a princess, raising her voice.
“Now, more than ever, we must remain calm. Time is short, so we need to quickly devise countermeasures and divide tasks.”
As the head of the group, Diana reminded the members of reality, despite their anger and excitement.
At first, Filina felt angry, excited, and worried along with everyone else.
But soon, a smile appeared on her lips. As she calmly sipped her drink and looked at each member, all eyes turned to her.
“You’ve got something, haven’t you?” The members eagerly waited for Filina to speak. Enjoying their anticipation, Filina clapped once and opened her mouth.
“Everyone, this may seem like a crisis, but it’s actually a golden opportunity for us to promote ourselves widely without spending a penny.”
At the word “opportunity,” Belita’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Filina. An opportunity? Tell us quickly.”
“Princess, tomorrow our news will be published in every newspaper in this empire. What a wonderful opportunity! A perfect chance to promote Beautiful Lady Pushike without spending a single coin. We must seize it.”
Noise marketing. Filina had seen many companies use this tactic in her previous life. What others paid for, they could do for free—and she intended to make the most of it.
Everyone agreed with Filina, but practical Stella raised her hand to ask a pointed question.
“Mistress… but if our explanation fails tomorrow, we could face huge fines, close the business… or in the worst case, go to jail…”
Everyone nodded slightly at Stella’s words, beginning to consider how they would defend themselves.
Filina cleared her throat, redirecting their attention back to her.
“Everyone. We have done nothing wrong. Selling lingerie or displaying it is not a crime; if it were, the authorities should never have approved this business in the first place. We need to frame this as improving the perception gap between men and women.”
“Improving the perception gap between men and women?”
A member, worried that the situation was escalating too much, questioned her.
“Yes. Why can men go topless without it being lewd, but if women show a little skin, it’s obscene? Discard those prejudices!”
“Prejudices…”
“Yes. This is our chance to show that displaying women’s lingerie is not a crime and that our designs are beautiful!”
Filina’s words reignited the passion of the members, who had been oppressed and prejudiced against in society.
“Now… everyone… we must plan carefully. Time is short, so divide the tasks and prepare individually.”
Diana calmed the excited members and began assigning tasks.
Already energized by Filina’s words, the members added their suggestions and held a two-hour strategy meeting.
“You’ve worked hard today.”
“Don’t worry, Princess. We will succeed! To eliminate the prejudices of this society!”
Before dinner, they parted ways, pledging to fulfill their roles thoroughly.
At the same time, they created a fitting slogan to shout, forcing Diana and Stella to shout it too:
“To eliminate the prejudices of this society!”
To hurry the members along, Diana and Stella shouted the embarrassing slogan themselves.
“You’ve taken on the hardest task.”
Belita encouraged the four who had the toughest responsibilities.
“Don’t worry. Tonight, my secret readers will read that article and gain a new perspective on lingerie.”
“We will immediately pack the lingerie with Heine’s story and deliver it to the ladies.”
Heine, Vivian, and the members familiar with the noble ladies, Alisa and Erica, ran to the Pushike store. They packed lingerie according to each noblewoman’s size.
And Heine’s short story How to Stir the Northern Duke—a 18+ story that could never be openly sold in the empire—was packaged along with the lingerie.
+++
Just before dark, Alisa and Erica appeared at a high-end salon frequented by noblewomen. As they removed their hoods and slowly opened their eyes, the noblewomen’s maids on the terrace went outside.
“Here you go. The small ones are for the maids.”
“No… thank you. We’ll make sure they are delivered.”
“Countess Jasmine’s maid…”
“Don’t worry. My friend is the countess’s maid. I will personally ensure delivery.”
“Thank you.”
Alisa and Erica handed the boxes with the story and lingerie to the maids, making sure to include a promotional piece of lingerie for each maid.
How to Stir the Northern Duke: In Heine’s short story, the Northern Duke—who had remained unshaken even when naked women appeared—meets a lady wearing beautiful, modest lingerie, and his heart and body are stirred.
Heine focused on describing the lingerie over the heroine’s body in detail.
And a shocking detail that would make Filina faint: the heroine was depicted with black hair and black eyes.
“Realism makes it more enticing.”
That day, Heine used Filina for the first time.
+++
I instructed Stella to rent two life-sized nude female paintings from the capital’s museum for a day.
“Stella, go with my maid. If you say my name, the museum won’t refuse.”
Belita gave the maid a princess’s pass as a backup, in case they needed authority to enforce it.
“Princess, please prepare a few sculptures from the royal collection that we can transport.”
I wanted a famous large sculpture but couldn’t move it, so I asked Belita to select a few pieces from the royal collection.
“Understood! Let’s make this work tomorrow!”
Belita, Stella, and I clasped hands, reaffirming our resolve.
Tired from the meeting and giving instructions, I hadn’t eaten dinner yet, and outside, it was already pitch dark—almost midnight.
Back in my room, I was whisked away by the waiting head maid and servants to be washed and prepared.
“Hurry!”
After the head maid left, I put on the dress Margaret had pre-selected—the one made of tough, durable fabric.
“Wishing for a safe return.”
Margaret handed me the two daggers with a solemn look.
