Chapter 109: Chapter 109
’Home! Sweet home!!!’— Melting on the nearest couch I could find as I entered our bedroom, I said relieved in my head.
It was now time for the sky to become dark during the night shift, and thankfully, we made it to the Castle before it did and hindered our return.
Today was a very fun day of shopping with the Duke, and the best part of it was when the cloth shopping ended and we could finally go to the main attraction. The dessert shopping.
We had lunch at a very luxurious Restaurant that seemed to be owned by one of the Duke’s vassals since they were very excited to serve us with extreme hospitality.
I say extreme because the tone of the servants when speaking with the Duke was quite different to the one used with other customers... Which is totally fine with me.
’Show off that power, Sir. No need to hide it.’
We ate a delicious meal.
Steak soaked in a wine sauce accompanied with a warm potato salad decorated with cilantro and basil was the main dish, which I must say was delicious. The plates were the gourmet kind, it seemed to be a little amount of food at first but once you are it, you knew it was enough with that quantity, a tasty one at that.
Though, it wasn’t that different to the one served in the Castle, when it comes to awesomeness.
Either way, we enjoyed the meal and the fruity dessert they served, and then, we went to a famous designer’s shop.
Their name was Madame Fannie Moody, which fits the woman quite well since — no pun intended — was very... funnily moody.
Her quick changes of mood while seeing that I was slow at choosing, were so interesting that at some point I was purposely taking a long time to show a response only to see her funny reactions.
"Ah! Mamma Bella!! Do say if it suits your tastes!"
"My~... Ah, No! That’s outrageous Young Lady!! Fair skin with this colour!? Nonsense!"
"My Lord~ Your daughter is so elegant... I believe a dress like this one would suit her beauty.
... Lady??..... Ah! Porca Miseria~! Have I, Madame Fannie, finally found a difficult youth to please?!"
"Madonna!!!"
’Heheh... What a funny Lady.’ — I chuckled as I remember a few of her lines while I intentionally tried to make her frustrated.
Still, in the end, we ordered a pair of dresses finally freeing her from my mischievous teasing and were clear to go do what was truly important.
We went to the same shop we bought desserts last time and, to my good luck, they had a new product being displayed.
It seemed to be a kind of creamy cake since it had a white topping. I signalled the Duke to ask about it and apparently, I wasn’t that wrong. It was a mousse contained inside a biscuit foundation, the consistency seemed quite firm and it was also decorated with slices of chocolate. It was pretty and appetising to the eye, so once I heard the clerk’s description I nodded to the Duke telling him we were taking that one with us.
I wanted Anne to choose another one but she didn’t seem pleased with any of the other sweets being displayed. Therefore, the sharp Duke suggested to visit other shops since we still had enough time. That’s how we ended up visiting two more pastry shops even though we got Anne’s dessert at the second one.
Although I’ve had that desert before, I teased Marianne because the name sounded very sophisticated when the clerk said it.
’Oh yeah~ a Lady must have her good... ahem... Mille-Feuille~~ Haha! Mill~~e-Feu~ille~~~! Pfft!! He sounded so aristocratic!! I love it~’
She didn’t get the joke, but I still laughed at her cute confusion.
The Duke also chose one in that shop, though I didn’t get to know which one he chose since he went on his own to order it.
When I gestured to be curious about which it was he had chosen, he playfully said it was a surprise.
"Hmm? I wonder~ Should I tell the secret?"
In my head, I glared a bit at him since he was being stinky, but it was still nice to have something to look forward to, so I shrugged and didn’t press further for a reveal.
We went to the last shop only out of curiosity since it was only a few steps away from the second one.
Seeing how the showcase displayed quite elaborated confectionaries, we decided to come back and make sure to buy some desserts there the next time.
The way back was as peaceful as the one we took there, although I was wasted from all the dress shopping.
We looked at a whole mountain of dresses and, to begin with, I’ve never enjoyed going through all the shops to buy something I like. Usually, I have a clear objective of what I want and go look for it straight away, but being in a different era.....
It won’t work if I have that mindset.
I don’t even know what’s trendy here, so it’s a must to be thorough while picking the choice.
It’s a relief the Duke took me to a famous shop where I could be at ease knowing that whatever I chose, it would not be outdated. Also, since it was a big sh... No, I should use the word the Duke used.
Since it was a renowned "boutique", there was no need to go to other places because it had a huge variety of dresses, accessories, shoes, hats... Basically, everything to make a complete outfit be bought or ordered there.
In the end, after looking through the dresses, Marianne’s father told Madame Fannie to design a pair of dresses according to the style I had found a liking to, making sure to tell her that they should be "adequate to use in front of the Royal family"...
’Heh... Hearing him say that, reminds me of what’s to come...’
Drama.
We’ll see some good drama once we start staying at the Royal Palace.
’I’m actually looking forward to it~ hohoho... Oh, Theressa... I know I can expect good material from my little dwarf sister~’
It’s exciting. This is a new development that didn’t make it to the original novel... that is if we are still following the original course of the events before the start of the story.
Either way, as a reader who did enjoy the novel until the Chapter updated by the time I read it... I’m totally in for some side stories hehehe~
"...."
’... You’ll understand my delight once you see it, Anne. Don’t be hasty, it won’t be fun if I give you spoilers~’
"...~..."
’Don’t pout cutie~ We had so much fun today didn’t we? I wonder how the dresses will come out? The drafts Madame showed us were very outstanding, even though I don’t know much about this world’s fashion, I’m sure they will look awesome on my pretty girl ~ Ain’t I right?’
"~!" — Sending a shrugged sensation through my chest, Marianne transmitted an "of course!", kind of answer.
’Phwahaha, that’s right! We will look terrific!! Hahaha! Oh, girl... How funny...’ — Proud of her, who finally was getting the idea about the shameless narcissistic jokes I’ve been trying to teach her, I laughed pleased at how well she had conveyed the sensation to me in her usual silence.
’Phew~..... That was good...’
"..."
’Sigh, should we get changed now? Dinner will be served in a few hours so we should make ourselves comfortable...’
Ah! That’s right!! The Duke has our post-it notes!!
’D*mn... I guess we will have to retrieve them at dinner...’
After handing the first note today to the Duke, he took it upon himself to keep them safe, and whenever I wanted to say something, he would take them out for me to write.
Being so accustomed to having them with me, I guess I forgot he had them.
Still, there’s no problem since I can just ask for them later.
Breathing in, a long heavy whiff of air, I stood up and called for Paige to help me get changed.
Resting while having a warm bath, and then, dressing up comfortably in my homey dress, we waited for dinner time where the Duke handed over the post-it notes.
The day continued like any other and, once night came... Paul’s visit was also announced by the dreary knock on the door he usually gave.
He was pissed about the outing with his father, but for some reason, he didn’t do anything much besides throwing frustrated sentences and some of his usual nonsense, which I don’t really want to even think of thinking to try to understand.
I was tired, so maybe he noticed that and told me to sleep early... But... He wouldn’t leave although he told me to sleep.
After seeing he had no intentions of leaving any time soon, I feigned falling asleep while maintaining my eyelids slightly open, enough for him to think I had them closed and enough for me to be able to see his blurry figure seating by the edge of my bed.
Having him stay there frozen for what I believe was more than an hour... Was nervewracking.
My exhaustion multiplied, but even though I was this tired now, it would certainly take more than usual to get myself to fall asleep.
I was on alert the whole time, and ultimately, he slowly stood up after he had his fill of... Watching us.
Despite it being a great day today...
He had to come and ruin Marianne’s peace again...