Without a doubt, under Elena's supervision, the paper doll project progressed very smoothly. On top of that, she received additional paper doll drafts forwarded by the Duke, greatly enriching the variety of dolls, which significantly reduced the workload.
Since this time they were about to release SR cards, both the refinement of the dresses and the richness of colors had to surpass the R cards—but not too flashy, so as not to blur the distinction from the upcoming SSR cards. Elena racked her brains over this challenge.
Fortunately, because the previous costume styles had been simple for the storyline, most dresses used just two colors. The skirts were mostly formal Empire-style high-waist dresses adorned with small floral prints and lace, giving a pastoral vibe. Of course, after Helen returned home, her dresses became a bit more delicate, but given her family's social status, they couldn't be too extravagant.
Therefore, Elena decided to design the first SR card as Helen's debut appearance at a ball. Helen's parents had long forbidden her to attend balls due to strict etiquette requirements, even though she was already of age to enter social events. But no worries—when the Rhine noble family arrived, Helen would definitely attend the ball.
For Helen's first evening gown, Elena first thought about the color. Colors were not easy to come by, especially precious ones like gold and silver—truly made from gold and silver, the cost was exorbitant. Even more precious than gold and silver was ultramarine, a color derived from lapis lazuli, extremely rare, with many fake products using cheap cobalt blue instead. Then there was orange-yellow, supposedly extracted from concentrated urine of cows that ate mango leaves. As for mummy brown, it was literally made from mummies—Elena certainly dared not use that color, as there were plenty of other browns available.
It was said that when mummies were scarce—an odd notion—art dealers would substitute with criminals' corpses, though no one really knew if they were truly criminals.
Using colors to distinguish card rarity was a great idea, but Elena thought she wouldn't use gold paint unless it was SSR; the cost was just too high.
She strained her memory, recalling costumes from movies, TV dramas, and fashion shows, sketching the dress outline on the canvas.
It was a light brown off-shoulder gown. Puffy sleeves made of layered tulle formed flower-like shapes—light and romantic. An asymmetrical one-shoulder design, with a cluster of beaded flowers on the chest, and the skirt hem scattered with tulle and fabric. Paired with white half-arm gloves and a pearl necklace, and ruby earrings. The dress combined the Empire-style high waist with trendy puffy sleeves and skirt silhouette, blending perfectly with modern fashion trends.
Just as she painstakingly finished, a voice nearby gasped, "It's so beautiful, this dress."
Janet was staring intently at the canvas, her eyes full of admiration and desire.
At the same time, Teacher Susan put down her brush and came closer to admire it carefully, praising, "Wow, this flower sleeve design is outstanding—I even want to add such beautiful sleeves to all my dresses."
Janet nodded repeatedly, her gaze never leaving the canvas. Elena smiled and said, "If you really like it, you can take it to the tailor and order a custom version to wear early."
"Really?" Janet's eyes lit up with excitement, eagerly looking at Elena.
At that moment, Elena had a bright idea.
As everyone knew, during the social season every afternoon, Mrs. Campbell would go out visiting other ladies, chatting and dancing. Sometimes she would host balls or invite guests to dinners. However, since Elena and Janet were not of age yet, they rarely attended such events unless at more private family gatherings.
So almost every afternoon, Mrs. Campbell was not at home. This meant that if Elena could get Janet and Teacher Susan out to order dresses, she could sneak out alone during their absence. Of course, the servants might be an obstacle, but as long as she pretended to be busy and avoided interruptions, she could slip out unnoticed.
Elena smiled and said to Janet, "Since this dress will be printed and sold anyway, if you don't take this chance to contact the tailor for custom orders, you might not get a slot later. After all, if you all think it's going to be popular, imagine how busy the tailors in Luenton will be—there might be a waiting list of several months."
Hearing this, Janet immediately turned to Teacher Susan, her eyes sparkling with expectation. Susan hesitated, still worried about the vampire monsters outside.
"Susan\~" Janet pleaded in a coquettish tone, forgetting Elena was still there, "Let's just go to our usual tailor. It won't be a problem, I promise."
Susan looked at Elena, hoping for advice. Elena nodded solemnly, agreeing with Janet.
"Then, Elena, will you come with us?" Susan still seemed uneasy, "Maybe the tailor needs some of your input since you designed it."
Elena shook her head lightly, saying casually, "I've been too busy lately. I plan to rest at home. You two go. How could the tailor not understand the sketches?"
Seeing Elena refuse, Susan glanced at Janet, who looked disappointed but accepted it. She agreed to go with her tomorrow to place the order.
To buy more time, Elena took out previously drawn paper doll sketches and handed them to Janet. "You can look at these and order several dresses. I think you'd look great in them."
Janet and Susan flipped through the sketches, occasionally gasping in admiration. After a while, Janet returned the sketches and said, "Some are nice too, but none surprised me as much as that light brown dress."
Elena smiled; after all, it was an SR card. If an ordinary R card could easily overshadow it, all her hard work would be wasted.
Time quickly passed to the next day. Seeing Susan and Janet get into a private carriage, Elena called the maid Mary and said she needed a quiet environment to focus on writing, so Mary should tell the other servants not to disturb her. Mary readily agreed.
Elena didn't waste time. She changed into the men's clothes hidden in the carpet bag, put on the disguise badge, carefully observed the servants' movements, waited for the right moment, and slipped out quietly, disguised as an ordinary man.
Luckily, the Campbell family's Soho district was not far from Covent Garden. Elena quickly hailed a carriage and sped toward the Black Horse Inn. When she arrived, the Fat Boss was idly yawning at the front desk.
Though it wasn't business hours yet, seeing him so relaxed made Elena irritated. She slammed the table to wake him up and snapped, "You're really taking it easy."
"Not at all," the Fat Boss was startled but soon smiled with relief and reached out for a handshake. "You're finally back. I've had a hard time lately."
"Really? You look pretty free to me," Elena said with a smirk.
The Fat Boss immediately protested. Since the ghost tours at Whitechapel and Luenton Bridge entered the market, business wasn't as good as before. Such experiential entertainment only earned one-time revenue; customers who had experienced similar tours weren't interested in repeating, so he'd been worried.
Elena didn't have time for small talk and went straight to the point. "About those vampire monsters I mentioned—what's your plan?"
The Fat Boss hadn't been idle. He'd been thinking about how to incorporate vampire monsters into the ghost tour. Hesitantly, he said, "Hmm, I thought of setting up one actor in a small alley to pretend to be a vampire sucking blood. When tourists notice, the vampire would charge at them and chase them. What do you think?"
"Not bad, pretty standard," Elena said. "But aren't you worried tourists might bump into things in the alley? And why only one vampire monster? Start with a whole group."
"Huh???" The Fat Boss looked shocked, repeating involuntarily, "A group? A group of vampire monsters? Mr. Allen, are you afraid the tourists won't be scared enough?"