Author: M_W Cancer 

Proofreader: M_W Miss Fierce 

"Yeah, prosperous, but at the same time really stupid," Elaine rolled her eyes, she explained, "Can't they just go and buy suits and dresses before the date of the ball is near?"

"Laughable indeed," Sele nodded her head in agreement with Elaine.

At the side, Leo and the other men don't really know whether they should laugh or feel offended about what Elaine and Sele had just said. Analyzing it closely, a few of those people that both of them had called stupid actually also include all of them present here. After all, they didn't prepare suits and dresses for the ball.

"Actually," Ellen can't help but interrupt both Elaine and Sele, making the two of them turned their heads to looked at her. She then continued, "There is a very reasonable explanation for why they can't do that. Because of the really intense nature of the Emerald Event, it is nearly impossible for people to have enough time to spare to go and buy custom-made suits and dresses to prepare for the ball. Not only because all the participants are busy trying to earn as many points as possible for the Emerald Event, for either to qualify to participate in the Emerald Elven Battle Competition or to earn a lot of profit through exchanging their points, but also because businesses like the Pinkston Tailoring store, or big businesses in general, would also be busy helping the participants that they have sponsored,"

"Ummm..." Cassandra can't help but join the conversation, she continued, "As much as your explanation sounding very reasonable, no offense, Ellen, really. But if they don't have enough time to prepare suits and dresses for the ball during the Emerald Event, then why not prepare them before the Emerald Event even begins?"

"That might be possible in other territories, but not in the Emerald Tree Kingdom," Ellen shook her head in response, she explained, "It isn't actually only the Tailoring stores, or let's say the Tailoring Association in general, involved in this business scheme, but also every Noble Households in the Emerald Tree Kingdom and even the Evergreen royal family as well. Who do you think owns the majority of the big businesses in the Emerald Tree Kingdom? Let's say in particular, this Pinkston Tailoring store?"

"Who else but those scheming businessmen!" Elizabeth sneered.

"You're correct, but at the same time also incorrect," Ellen said before letting out a chuckle. After a brief moment, she continued, "In the Emerald Tree Kingdom, only well-established and well-known businesses like the Elves Secret organization could have the chance of becoming one of the big businesses. The main reason for that is because all of the Noble Households, would suppress those medium-sized businesses and prevent them from growing even further, and sometimes even the Evergreen royal family is involved. So, why exactly are they doing this?"

Hearing Ellen's question, Leo formed a mischievous smile on his face as he then replied, "Very simple, it is because they owned almost all the big businesses that exist in the entire Emerald Tree Kingdom,"

"Bingo!" Ellen snapped her finger in confirmation. She continued, "All of the Noble Households would rather share the cake with themselves, rather than share it along with other people. After all, the Emerald Tree Kingdom is their territory and their home, and all of their profits are technically also being used to cover up all the expenses that they have to spend in order to protect this place from any possible invaders, such as the Naughty Elves organization,"

"But naturally, they can't be selfish and have everything for themselves as well, since that would cause a lot of displeasure and disapproval from the masses. That's why they still allow other businesses to rise, but only up to the medium-sized, anymore than that would be suppressed by them, or worst, they would end up getting destroyed and made to realize that they are absolutely not allowed to bite more than what they are allowed to chew," Ellen paused before changing back to the main topic, "Anyways, to answer to your question. With the cooperation of all of those powerful forces, they made it possible for something like this to happen. As for how exactly? One such example of that is by only announcing the theme of the ball a week before when the ball begins,"

"But it is less expensive to prepare a suit or dress for each different theme compared to paying these scalpers to line for them," Angel quickly objected. 

"If you are talking about women like us, then I can undoubtedly agree with you on that because we can indeed prepare different dresses for each of the different themes that the Evergreen royal family could possibly choose for their balls. But we are talking about them," Ellen suddenly pointed towards the innocent Leo and the other men who were currently just peacefully listening to their argument, "Men, which are the majority of participants in both the Emerald Event and Emerald Elven Battle Competition, are nowhere even close to having the same mindset and preparedness as us women, especially with clothes and other similar kinds of so-called minuscule stuff," 

"Indeed,"

"Fair enough,"

"Can't argue with that,"

"Men; they'd rather spend so much money for small things such as clothes than to willingly prepare them in advance and save money,"

"Yet they still call our spending as something waste of money? How dare they!"

"Enough, enough, we understand, we fully understand, okay? From this day onwards, we will give you women money every single month for you to spend in solving problems similar to this one. End of the conversation!" Leo quickly decided to end their conversation since they unexpectedly took a huge turn from blaming everyone for being unprepared to blaming only men, in general. He then quickly changed the topic in fear that they would still no give up, "Does any of you here knows any Tailoring stores that are usually not as populated as this one? As long as they can custom-made a suit or a dress that is considered up to standard for us, it is alright. No need for it to be absurdly fashionable or pleasing to everyone's eyes. We are not attending the ball for such a thing, anyways. And besides, these suits and dresses would probably only be used for this occasion, and after that, we will throw it away and order new ones,"

Taking out a brochure, Veronica said, "According to this brochure, there are only a total of 3 big-name Tailoring stores in the Emerald City. Including the Pinkston Tailoring store, the other two are Pink Dress Tailoring Shop, and Pinkberry Tailoring. But it isn't really that difficult to guess that they also have such long lines like this,"

"I just noticed, why does everything seemed to involved the word pink?" Ash can't help but ask. 

"Because all three of these Tailoring stores are owned by Princess Tifa, who loves pink... Oh wait, I think except for the Pink Dress Tailoring Shop, because based on the rumors I have heard in the past, the real owner of that store is now Princess Tila after Princess Tifa gave it to her as a birthday present," Ellen answered. 

"How I wished I had someone like Princess Tifa as a sister," Sele expressed her envy. 

"Wait, why does the name Pink Dress Tailoring Shop sound so very familiar to me? I think I have heard of this name before, I just can't quite remember when exactly did I hear it," Ethan suddenly said before going into deep thoughts. 

"Of course you did, that was one of the businesses that wanted to sponsor us before. Sadly, it was rejected by Leo in the end," Elaine shook her head.

As soon as Elaine finished her sentence, everyone's attention instantly turned towards Leo. They stared at him in a combination of annoyance, irritation, frustration, displeasure, and last but not the least, anger in their eyes.

"You...!"

Seeing such intense gazes from everyone, Leo immediately put both of his hands up as a sign of surrender, "I didn't know, okay...?"

"Great! Now what?" Charlotte crossed her hands together in front of her before continuing, "We used to have such a good opportunity to not fall in such a ridiculously long line, yet Leo here ruined all of it for us!"

"Ummm," Leo began scratching his head as he then said, "Maybe the Elves Secret organization could actually provide us with the suits and dresses that we needed?"

"If they have one, then they would have long sent it to us, dummy!" Cassandra exclaimed in irritation.

"We won't know if we don't try, right everyone?" Leo quickly defended himself before turning his head to looked at Ethan and the other men to ask for help. Unfortunately though, they all shook their heads to express that they don't plan on helping him, or rather, they can't help him in fear that they will offend Cassandra and the other women in their group. 

In their opinions, it is much better to offend Leo compared to Cassandra and the other women, because they would only have to suffer a single punishment from the former, or at most, two and no more than five, while they might even have to suffer for their whole entire life if they offended the latter, or at least until when they are finally forgiven, which would normally take many days before it would happened.