âYouâll need a swimsuit if youâre going on a cruise, right?â
Rafina asked after the boys left.
âHm? A swimsuit, you say?â
Mia gave her head a scratch. She didnât know what the word meant.
âYes. Itâs clothing made to be worn in the water. I think youâll want to change out of your usual clothes. It would be very unpleasant to try to swim in this,â she said, pulling up the bottom of her uniform to make her point.
âYouâre right.â
Mia agreed, thinking back on the times she almost drowned and remembering how hard it was. There was the time she fell into the lake, and there was the time she fell into the river.
She felt cold.
âYes, I do think you need some new clothes. HmâŠâ
She probably wouldnât have much luck in Tearmoon looking for swimwearâŠ
âMiss Rafina, do you happen to know any tailors who make clothes like those?â
âWell, I sometimes go on trips to Noelige Lake, so I got a swimsuit for those times.â She said, âMaybe I can show you that store,â as she chewed on her lips.
âYes, I think that tailor will be fine. Itâs important to pick the store carefully, because the designs are different, and Iâve heard that some of them are very indecent.â
âI-Indecent?â
Miaâs eyes got bigger.
âYes. Some of them, it seemsâŠâ Rafina moved her hands around her stomach. âDonât put anything in this area at all.â
âMy! So, itâs bare at the stomach?!â
What a horrible thing to do!â
Miaâs hands naturally rubbed her stomach, where they felt the comforting feel of fabric against her skin. The material wasâŠtighter than she thought it would be. A lot moreâŠ
âUnbelievable! How rude of them to show their bellies!â She was very angry and said, âThat kind of behavior shouldnât be allowed!â
Rafina nodded firmly to show that she agreed.
âBecause of the nature of swimming, you canât avoid showing some skin, but showing too much skin hurts the moral fabric of our society. Weâll need to check out the design carefully firstâŠâ
âI completely agree. Hmph, showing my stomach? Itâs unthinkable! Why would I ever wear those clothes?â
âRight? Oh, Iâm so glad you understand, Mia!â
Others in the room must have thought that the two girls were talking about something they both understood. Most likely, the two people talking about it thought the same thing.
But none of the people there knew that there was a major difference in how upset they were. One was about morals and was critical of society and its habits. The other was a lot more realistic and had to do with a rather annoying part of metabolism.
No matter what, they kept talking.
Rafina said, âNow that I know weâre all on the same page, Iâll call the tailor for us. Iâve been meaning to order myself a new one, too⊠Oh, but what about the other people? If you want, we can all do this together.â
So, it was decided that all of the girls on the student council would get their own swimsuits made.
Three days later, Rafinaâs favorite tailor showed up.
âIâm grateful for your business. Now, letâs get started.â
She was a woman with a short temper and a careful look who got to work right away. She didnât start by taking precise measurements. Instead, she had the girls try on some swimsuits.
âSizes can be changed in the future. First, Iâd like to get your approval on the designs. Lady Rafina told me to show as little skin as possible, so if you could take a look at these, Iâd appreciate itâŠâ
She put several swimsuits out on a table.
Design-wise, they were similar to the dress Mia had worn to the evening ball, but the skirt was shorter and what looked like shorts were worn under it.
âLetâs see⊠I think this one might fit Princess Mia better because she is smaller,â the tailor said as she pulled out a pair of pants. âThese would be worn alone, close to the skin.â
âAh, you mean like undergarments?â
âItâs a good comparison. As for how big it is⊠The better you can swim, the tighter the fit. To make sure it does its job, Iâve made it feel a little tight.â
Mia nodded as she tried to put them on after hearing what was said. Sheâs not joking.
In all honesty, I think this is more than 'slightlyâ tight. It fits like a corset. I wonder if all of them are this way.
As she struggled to get the thing over her hips, she had those thoughts.
She heard the tailor say âHuh!â in a surprised tone just then.
ââŠHm?â
She gave the woman a quick look.
âIs there something wrong?â
âOh, no, no, Your Highness. Donât mind me. Thereâs nothing wrong. Hm, hm⊠I see, I see. That would definitely make it feel tight⊠All rightâŠâ
The tailor started to talk in a shaky mumble.
Mia looked at her for a while and then nodded to show that she got it.
Aha. Rafina likes this womanâs designs, so she must be a good designer, but she doesnât seem to be very good at figuring out sizes, does she?
But what the tailor said next made her stop and think.
âDoes everyone elseâs fit fine? Yes? So the princess is the only one who needs a slightly bigger size. Hm, hm, okayâŠâ
Mia made a frown and didnât understand what the tailor was saying until she saw how sad Anne looked.
âThat reminds me,â the maid said to herself, 'some of the dresses have been feeling a little tight lately. No, but Milady is still growing, so itâs always possible that itâs not.â
Miaâs mood changed when she heard the worry in Anneâs voice. She put her hands on her stomach and gave it a pinch.
A big ball of meat rose up in her hands.
ââŠAnne, tell me what you really think. Am IâŠfat?â
âOf course not, no way⊠Milady is getting bigger! Yes, you still are growing. So it makes sense that your body would growâŠâ
âHmm, Iâm aware that Iâm still growing. But if my horizontal growth is faster than my vertical growth, doesnât that mean that most of my gains are in weight and not height?â
She looked at her maid with a steady eye and said it again.
âYou are my loyal subject, Anne. I believe you wonât lie to me. So, Iâm going to ask again. Tell me the truth. Am IâŠfat?â
Anne couldnât meet her eyes, so she turned away and gave in.
âMaybeâŠkind of. Only a little bit. But thatâs probably because youâve been eating so many cakes and sweets lately. I thought it might have been too muchâŠâ
She knew it was true.
She had been the one to ask, after all.
But hearing it from her faithful maid made her feel like she couldnât breathe. She gave a short gasp as the weight of a fact that couldnât be argued with sunk into her mind, both figuratively and literally.
In her mind, she saw scenes from the recent past.
She saw herself getting on a horse, and she remembered how the animal seemed to tighten up as she did. She saw herself roll across her bed, and she remembered that the creaking of the wood was louder than it had been before.
More and more memories kept coming back to her, and they all pointed to the same terrible truth. She put her cheeks together.
They seemed too big.
She patted her stomach.
It looked like it moved.
Thatâs all. There was no way to get around the clear evidence.
It was all to do with the food she ate. Her body was showing a lot of tummy-fication in her abdomen. In other words, she was going through what is called F.A.T.
âPrincess Mia, umâŠâ Chloe said with worry. âBooks say that you can lose weight if you work out.â
She looked at Chloe, who had no trouble getting into the swimsuit the tailor had given her. It fit her perfectly.
Mia scowled because she felt very betrayed, but her anger soon turned into sadness.
âAll right⊠I guess thatâs just the way things go⊠I havenât been practicing dancing as much as I should have, now that I think about it. Most likely, that didnât helpâŠâ
Mia turned away from Chloeâs stuttering words of comfort because she was worried.
âDonât worry. I know. Iâll ride horses more and try a little bit harder at dance practice.â
âThat is a very good way to act, princess. Keep going, and youâll see results for sure.â
The tailor said yes in a tone that was a bit condescending, like a teacher telling a struggling student what to do.
âAlthough it has nothing to do with swimsuits, I should also tell you that your upper arms are also a little bit fat. Still, itâs not too late to change this trend. Even a small increase in how often you work out may be enough. Riding will also help you get your legs and behind in shape, so itâs good that youâre doing it as part of your routine.â
Even though the tailor spoke in an arrogant way, her words had the authority of experience, which Mia found comforting.
She felt her motivation come back because she knew that the things she was doing were already on the right track and only needed minor changes.
âOkay, then. I will do it. Iâll ride every day when I get back to the empire. As well as dancing⊠In any case, Iâll see to it that it gets done!â
In the end, Mia chose to have her swimsuit made according to the current measurements, trusting that she would make the necessary changes to her body to fit it.
Now that the clock was going, the race was on.
Could she lose enough weight to fit into her swimsuit?
Time would have to tell!
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