Chapter 25: All Dolled Up


    Evelyn should have known something wasn''t right the moment Amara left to call her mother and the others for help, instead of just bringing some clothes out of her closet.


    By the time she realized, however, Vivian and Ruru were staring at her rapidly changing clothes with shining eyes as Isabe and Amara seemed intent on cycling through the entirety of her wardrobe.


    She never even realized she had so many clothes before today.


    At least her aunt wasn''t here to witness her humiliation, probably being busy with some preparations for the ceremony.


    Things started out pretty tame, with different types and colors of overalls, and Evelyn didn''t actually mind dressing up for them at first.


    Then the two of them cycled her through abination of dress pants and skirts, along with vests, to jumpers, and then to hoodies.


    By the time she went through what felt like the hundredthbo, Evelyn''s face was almost permanently set in a pout. The amount of clothing she had gone through on this day was already more than everything she had in herst life!


    Is clothing really so cheap in this world? Howe there''s so much?!


    "Mooommm can we not hurry up? Won''t we bete if you''re like this?"


    But even if she tried to reason with them, neither Isabe nor Amara listened to her at all.


    "Don''t worry, mama will make sure we''re done before the ceremony starts. The sun has barelye up, and the ceremony is in the evening, so we have plenty of time."


    A shudder ran through her body as she looked at the multiple piles of clothing Amara just heaved out of the closet. It looked like... sundresses, miniskirts and even ball gowns?!


    ----------


    Thankfully, they didn''t actually make her go through ALL of the clothes Amara had brought out.


    "It''s a shame that it has to be something that doesn''t restrict her movement."


    "I guess that means we''re left with just these ones, right?"


    "Mm, although you should definitely set the blue spruce empire waist dress aside, okay? We can have her change into it after the test."


    "Makes sense. So which one do you like from these two?"


    Evelyn, who just wanted it to be over with as soon as possible, pointed at the dark blue short halter dress that she knew her mother had taken a liking to.


    "Ohhhh, mine and my little baby''s choice match so well! Alright then, let''s get you all dolled up!"


    The pink haired girl could only numbly follow their instructions as they finally moved on from the dresses and onto essories and footwear.


    Thankfully, there wasn''t as much to go through this time, and Evelyn had to admit that while the process was tedious, she did look better than she thought she would.


    The halter dress seemed to be made from a material that was not only soft and silky, but also remarkably resistant to tearing. But it only came down to her thighs, and since she would probably be moving around a lot, her mother covered her legs with snow white stockings.


    Evelyn thought they would surely get very dirty very quickly, but her mother insisted that they matched her getup too well and it wouldn''t matter if they got dirty or torn up anyway. It was more important to not scratch up her legs while running around.


    Combined with white pearl earrings and dark blue sheepskin boots, Evelyn felt slightly shy as she looked at her reflection.


    "Fufu well, is my little baby happy? Looking good?"


    "Um, thank you, mom."


    Unfortunately, her happy mood dissipated like smoke as she watched her mother flip through a notebook she was all too familiar with. Something that had never left the privacy of her room, and had never been exposed to anyone''s eyes but herself... her drawing practice book!


    ----------


    "I''m sorry, baby. Mommy wasn''t making fun of you, okay?"


    Evelyn wasn''t actually crying, but her eyes were red and pooling with tears that she was barely holding on to.


    She had just gotten the ''Artist'' talent, and hadn''t even started improving drastically. She wanted to show it to them once she made something good, but now her good image is probably forever destroyed in their mind.


    "I-I told you not to look! You even showed Amara!"


    Isabe chuckled. Her petnt little daughter always kept trying to show them a perfect image, but it was when she saw her deepest ws that she felt that her child was most adorable.


    But of course, she has to at least pretend to be sorry. The baby can''t explode on the day of the ceremony, right?


    "Hah, I said I''m sorry, okay? How could I resist looking at the results of my tutoring? My baby must have worked so hard, you got so much better!"


    "Ugh"


    Evelyn could only sulk as she thought about it again. Okay, what''s done is done. Even if they saw it, it''s not like she can erase their memories, right? At least Vivian and her little fox were fawning over her while the two adults went through her doodles, so they didn''t see it.


    Isabe picked the dolled up little girl up and plopped her down on herp, holding her close as she stared at their reflection in the vanity mirror.


    "Let''s forget everything else now, okay? How is my little Eve feeling? Ready for the test?"


    The pink haired girl bit her lip as she looked up at her mom''s face. The Gilmore sisters had silently left the room, and her little fox also seemed to have fallen asleep on the bed.


    She normally wouldn''t let them see herself as anything but perfect, but it felt like her image in front of them had already cracked a bit today.


    "I-I don''t know, mom."


    "Fufu don''t be so nervous. Do you remember all the numbers daddy taught you?"


    Evelyn''s mind nked as she tried to remember. Wasn''t it just an hour of basic addition and subtraction her father had told her aboutst year? Did that even count as teaching?


    He even tried to make sure she could count correctly! How humiliating was that?!


    "Ohh? I guess he must have taught you pretty well if you look so haughty, huh."


    "I don''t look haughty! Stop making fun of me, mom!"


    "Ahh, don''t try to bite mommy, or I''ll have you wear lipstick, alright?"


    "Ugh."


    Isabe chuckled as she looked at her daughter''s disgusted face. In her opinion, the natural color and texture of her lips matched well enough with her getup already. But it didn''t cost money to make empty threats, right? And little Evelyn''s teeth were deceptively sharp!


    Evelyn didn''t know if it was just the way it was in this world, but the lipstick didn''t taste good at all!


    She didn''t know if it was so disgusting just in this world, or if it was the same even in herst one. But the way the models licked their lips in advertisements back then, Evelyn was sure it must have been delicious!


    So along with a better water heating system, a delicious brand of lipstick was added to her ''get rich quick items'' list.


    Her mother held her tighter as she buried her face in the girl''s fluffy pink hair. She didn''t seem to care if she''ll mess up the waterfall braid she had spent so much time meticulously preparing.


    "You must remember that no matter how dangerous things look during the test, you''re always safe. Don''t get scared no matter what, okay?"


    Evelyn nodded, even though she felt a little unsettled at her mother''s words. After she talked about numbers, she had started to wonder if it would just be a dumb test, which would make sense given her current age. But it looked like that was just a small part of it.


    ----------


    Evelyn was left on her own once her mother left the room, with only little Ruru to keep herpany.


    She didn''t dare to go out, because in the past few weeks she had felt that things seemed to be getting stranger and stranger in the Knox estate.


    As the time for her ceremony had drawn near, the mansion seemed to be almost under constant watch of the two elders. Even her grandfather, who was almost never around, showed up from time to time.


    She wasn''t nave enough to wander around at a time like this, so she could only stare out from her window and wait.


    Today, the Knox mansion was bustling with guests, and the numbers were honestly a big surprise for Evelyn. When Amara told her that her ceremony was cancelled due tocking numbers, she expected at most a few dozen guests at her own, given that the Knox family didn''t seem to be very influential either.


    However, although she couldn''t see everything through the window, the number of guests should be at least in the hundreds, and each of them seemed to look more ''prestigious'' than the other. It felt more like they were going for a huge royal ball than a five year old''s birthday.


    "Ugh just looking at so many people makes me want to puke"


    But even if she wanted to throw up, she couldn''t. She could only close her eyes and try to calm herself so she didn''t look like a fool when she actually went out.


    Some of the guests seemed to have noticed the little girl staring out from the window in the mansion, and pointed at her from time to time, but Evelyn pretended not to notice.


    If she reacted and tried to hide now it would just make her look more awkward. It was better to just ignore them. Besides, since her mom already dolled her up like this, might as well just let them look.


    If she thought about it this way, all these hours of suffering being a dress up doll weren''t in vain. Looking at all the overdressed people in their evening gowns and three-piece suits, she felt slightly grateful that she hadn''t picked out her clothing herself today.


    Her gaze was suddenly attracted by a little boy in a brown three-piece suit who had been staring at her without blinking for who knows how long.


    Even though his eyes didn''t seem to contain the same unconcealed hostility as thest time she saw him, who else could it be but that little bastard Tristan?!