After staring at the excitable tailor for what was probably a bit too long, I moved to exit the store. Veronica was just behind me, closing the door behind her before motioning farther down the lane. “If you would follow me miss, we should get you some clothing to look presentable in while Jenevelle does his work.” I offered a nod and gestured for her to show the way, which she promptly began to do.
The market street became busier as we went, and I was stunned by the sheer outfits and beautiful figures that were traipsing to and fro. If I was not underneath the red sky of the outdoors, I would think I was in the middle of a gala for the ages. Even those who would be considered marred or ugly by my former kingdom’s standards were showcasing those imperfections like they were a badge of pride.
People occasionally stopped to talk in the streets like they were all old friends. Perhaps they were, but I heard murmurs of people introducing themselves like they had never met before. Compliments on the other’s choice of outfit and remarks on the parts of their body they chose to showcase mixed with the usual pleasantries and small talk one would expect in a marketplace.
I bumped into Veronica, who I now realized was turning towards another store. “I’m so sorry Veronica, I wasn’t watching where I was going,” I quickly explained to myself.
The maid just gave a curtsy after dusting her apron off lightly. “It’s perfectly alright, miss,” she said, completely unfazed by what had just happened. “It is understandable you may be overwhelmed. You are not the first new citizen to be caught unawares by the cultural differences, and I doubt you will be the last.”
I gave a timid nod, finally looking towards the storefront. The welcome sign on this one was a simple stone carving, but at least had the name of the store written upon it. “Welcome to Madame Rosebush’s Clothing Boutique.” Perhaps the places for more custom pieces weren’t labeled. It felt like this was where the typical citizen would go to shop for their clothing.
Noting my confusion once more, Veronica provided a simple answer. “Rosebush is a fine seamstress, though she works more for efficiency of creating her pieces instead of sculpting each creation to its owner.” She opened the door and gestured for me to go inside. A gesture I was becoming quite familiar with being presented to me by now.
The interior was filled with rows upon rows of clothing, all of which looked quite revealing and almost scandalous to me. The ladies of the king’s court wouldn’t dare be caught wearing any of these. Near the entrance was a counter, staffed by a lovely strawberry blonde, middle-aged woman wearing what almost appeared to be nothing at all. Upon closer inspection though, I could see the tinting of the fabrics providing additional shape to her womanly figure while still leaving nothing to even the wildest of imaginations. My blush at the sight of her was almost immediate.
Veronica walked up behind me, and must have seen my blush. “I should have mentioned she is also rather eccentric in her own choice of clothing.” It seemed even here, she was out of the norm. That was a relief at least. I’m not sure I would be able to adjust to people leaving themselves bare to see in a public place.
As Veronica spoke, the lady turned towards the pair of us, immediately noting my out of place clothing and her maid uniform. “Ah, I see we have a new customer. And one of noble bearing at that.” She offered a small curtsy, likely out of professionalism before gesturing to the selection at large. “Do take a look around and choose whatever is to your liking my dear. If you’re looking for the more conservative options, you’ll find them towards the back of the store.”
Veronica could likely tell what I was going to want, as she quickly led me towards the back. “Feel free to take a look around the dresses while I get some skirts and blouses for a foundation to your wardrobe. Anything listed as a small should be adjustable to fit you quite nicely. If you have any other questions, you may call for me, miss.” I gave a nod to her before starting to look at the selection of outfits available to me.
Stolen novel; please report.
It was a staggering amount of options, a far cry from what I was used to. Before, I had only the option whether I wanted an outer layer or not. Now, there were all manners of colors, styles, and cuts. It was overwhelming. There seemed to be some manner of sorting system to the clothes as well, organized first by size and then I thought by the parts of the body it was meant to highlight. Being so unfamiliar with feminine clothing to begin with though, I couldn’t be certain of it.
I sifted through the many dresses waiting for one to catch my eye, unsure of what exactly was special about my body to highlight. Eventually, I managed to pick out a few dresses that I didn’t think were too revealing to me. Coincidentally, it seemed I had managed to also pick out primarily darker colors, with multiple dresses being black with some other secondary color for highlights on it.
Unsure where Veronica would be expecting me, I waited in the aisle for a couple more minutes. When she didn’t come back, I began to go looking for her. Though the store was spacious, it was a simple process of eventually tracking down which row of immaculate clothing she was in. Walking up to her, she spotted me and had a small look of surprise upon her face.
“Ah, I hadn’t expected you to be so quick in your selection. My apologies, miss, I’m not quite done providing you with an ample selection of pieces.” I turned to see where she was keeping a stack of boxes almost as tall as her, presumably all filled with clothing for me.
“I think that you’ve found quite a bit already, Veronica. I wouldn’t want you to get too much so that we can’t carry them out of here.” I tried my best to smile at her, though it was still a strange gesture for me to make.
The maid seemed a little frustrated that she wasn’t living up to the high standard she had set for herself, but relented after selecting what looked like two pieces of ribbon attached to each other and adding it to the topmost, open box. “As you are complete with your own selection, miss, we shouldn’t tarry any longer.” She placed a lid upon the top box and went to pick up the entire stack.
“Please, Veronica, let me take a couple of those boxes for you,” I quickly said while going to take the top three of the pile.
“No no, it wouldn’t do to have someone of your standing seen carrying her own boxes of goods,” she remarked, attempting to shoo me off.
I was tempted to tell her how no one was supposed to know who I was anyways, but decided it would be better to not incidentally humiliate her by implying she couldn’t do the job she was so intent upon doing. “If you insist then,” I relented, placing the boxes back upon the stack.
After Veronica struggled a bit longer with the pile of boxes, we made our way to the counter, where Rosebush began tallying up the costs of all the outfits. “Shall I hold this for your house dear?”
“Yes, please,” responded the maid, “put it under the Blight name. They’ll also have the payment for them.”
The store owner nodded in understanding, scribbling what I presumed to be the amount upon a piece of paper and handing it to the maid. Taking it as well as the dresses I was holding, Veronica gave a bow of her head before turning to me. “We’ll need to get you some matching footwear, miss, after that we can return home.”
“If you have the items already in mind, I can ferry a request to the cobbler for you,” Rosebush chimed in, “it seems like your charge is frazzled enough from being out and about.” I breathed a silent sigh of relief that the seamstress spoke what I was too nervous to state.
Veronica looked at me, “I suppose that would suffice. May I borrow a paper and quill?”
The store owner nodded and handed the requested items to Veronica, who began to quickly jot down a large list of items. I didn’t think I would need that many shoes in my life, however long it was going to be now. But, I knew better than to question what the maid was doing at this point.
Handing back the quill and now covered in writing paper to Rosebush, I was finally escorted out of the store and back onto the busy street where we turned directly back to the castle. The trip back was rather uneventful, but I did chirp up once the streets had cleared up and no one was likely to hear us. “The Blight name? Is that some code or something?”
“It is the family name we use for royal affairs we do not wish to officially label as such. A step removed from directly mentioning the queen’s interests, even if many of her older subjects have pieced together what it means. It will likely be changed after your coronation, as her majesty tends to for major events.”
I nodded, deciding to keep my silence for the rest of the trip back to the palace.