Dressed (-up) to Kill
"This tea is so good!" You say, savoring the rich, tasty flavor. You weren't a big fan of tea before this, sports drinks were more your thing but if it was this good you'd have drunk it more.
<Sporty> "A quick pick me up drink is the best way to start the day with a lot of energy!"
<Sensible> "As long as we don't overdo it, remember that time we were fidgeting in class for hours?"
"Nothing less than the highest quality leaves for House Claudius," your maid informs you.
"A refill, Young Mistress?" Chiaki asks, gesturing with the teapot.
"Yes please!" You agree readily. Even the aroma as your cup is refilled is appealing. Taking a sip you can feel yourself become reinvigorated again.
It was strange how quickly you could get used to things. It had only been a few days since you woke up as Grace Claudius in the Bloody Valentine series, but already you could feel yourself getting accustomed to a new rhythm. Chiaki would tend to you in the morning, inform you of the schedule for the rest of the day.
It probably helped that it wasn't *too* much different from your past life where you tended to oversleep, and Chiaki often had to wake up in a hurry lest you be late. And considering she kept track of due homework and pending exams for your classes…it could be argued that she was already managing your schedule a bit.
"I suppose I've always been taking care of you Young Mistress," the maid teases you when you tell her that.
"Geeze, you make me sound like I need a minder," you pout then take a sip of the drink.
"Young Mistress you shouldn't slurp, instead take smaller lady-like sips," your maid reprimands you.
"I can't help it, it's so good!" Your maid sighs.
"Who wouldn't like the thought of a maid serving them tea," you insist. There were whole cafes built around the idea in Japan, it was totally appropriate to feel excited over the idea. "Besides, it's tea made by you which makes it even more special."
"Young Mistress," Chiaki says, her face softening.
"And you wouldn't ever make us tea in our last life, even when you were dressed as a maid," you continue, only to see your maid facepalming.
"Of course, that's the reason," she murmurs under her breath. "But it falls to me to make sure Young Mistress grows upright and proper."
You get the feeling she's saying that to pep up her morale more than yours. "I'm not *that* bad-," you start before your maid interrupts.
"You managed to throw a heel into your fiancée-to-be's face!" Your maid counters, putting her hands at her side.
"It was an accident," you answer. "Besides, his horse kicked me in the face. He probably won't even have a scar from this," you protest, setting your tea down.
But your maid is unconvinced. "The former doesn't make it any better. A Lady shouldn't be kicking off her shoes!"
<Sporty> "We really kicked that shoe far didn't we!"
<Sensible> "That's not the lesson you should be taking here…"
<Emo> "I'm telling you our future is the Prince's boot stamping on our face forever."
"And your latter excuse makes me doubt it was an accident, Young Mistress," she continued, clicking her tongue.
You huff, crossing your arms. "Fine, fine," you mumbled under your breath. "Anyways what am I doing next?" You change the subject.
"Lady Claudius has been pleased with your progress so far and says you can choose what you'd like to do today, provided it is 'sufficiently stimulating.'"
You let out a sigh, there go your plans of loading about.
"Now, now Young Mistress there are still a lot of options. For instance, we can practice socializing more-"
"Pass!" You say quickly, after the incident with the shoe and Prince Alteisen trying it again sounded like another disaster waiting to happen.
"Painting perhaps."
"Too boring," you complain. There was a reason watching paint dry was a euphemism for boring. In art classes at school, you didn't find it much more stimulating even when you were the one doing the painting.
"More studying is always an option-" Chiaki continues before you interrupt her.
Between the interesting stuff like learning about magic, you have a lot of boring classes. Most of them your prior education lets you zoom through, like Math and natural philosophy. Even history you can skate through, using your knowledge of the Bloody Valentine series. You want to have fun, not read dry books.
"Lastly we can always have you exercise, or practice dressing-up," your maid suggests.
You're a bit tempted by the first, you always feel relaxed when you go for a morning run, but then you remember the idea you had in magic class.
"Dress up, definitely dress up!" You say excitedly.
"I see the Young Mistress has regained her energy," Chiaki notes amused. "Dressing up it is."
With that, the two of you move to a large walk-in closet. This time instead of waiting for your friend to hand something to you, instead you go looking in the closet yourself.
"Looking for something, Young Mistress?" She asks, perplexed.
"Yeah, I had this great idea in magic class yesterday," you explain enthused as you rifle through the dresses.
"The idea you were daydreaming about instead of paying attention?" Chiaki guesses. You nod automatically only to blush, and turn your attention back to your closet. It was tough to find dresses frillier than the one you were already wearing. But buried behind some winter clothing in the back you find exactly what you were looking for.
It was a
really frilly dress with a poofy floor-length skirt that closely matched the gown you saw Justine wearing, complete with train.
"Help me into this, Chiaki," you ask. Your maid raises her eyebrows, as if confused about where this was going before shrugging and assisting you.
Your first thought after donning the new gown was how unexpectedly comfortable it was. You were used to formal wear feeling stiff and difficult to move in. But despite how frilly it was, the fabric was quite flexible and quite pleasant to wear.
Reviewing your appearance in the mirror, you let out a gasp. while wearing the dress the similarities between you and Justine were even more striking. It helped both you and your mother share voluminous blonde hair, and the same sharp facial features, that gave you a naturally stern resting face.
This went extremely well with the outfit, giving you an elegant aristocratic vibe that sent shivers down you. Combined with the light blue color of the dress it made you feel like an ice queen! So cool! There is so much detail and effort put into it, that you can't remember seeing its like in your prior life.
There was a rightness to the look, as if you were born to wear this. Being a villainess perhaps you even were! You could feel your posture shift, standing up straighter. You'd heard rumors that dressing nice could improve your confidence, but never truly understood it till now!
"Young Mistress…" Chiaki trailed off, also entranced by the sight. You puffed up your chest with pride at her reaction. You decided you would let her in on your idea.
"I was thinking about how if it was best to enchant fabric in layers then the frillier the dress, the more enchantments it could hold. Then thinking of Mother and how our teacher confirmed all the defensive enchantments she has in her outfit."
Chiaki makes a noise of agreement, as if processing the idea. "So I thought why not wear a dress like hers too! That way I can be even better in combat and look nice too!"
"I can see the logic Young Mistress…but those clothes don't have any combat enchantments. You'll need to have an enchanter add them." Your reincarnated friend pointed out.
You opened your mouth to answer before closing it again. Huh.
<Sensible> "Talk about putting the cart before the horse."
Brainy grabs her forehead as if fighting off a headache.
<Brainy> "Just when I was about to unravel the secrets of magic, I hear something so dumb it makes me feel stupider witnessing it.".
<Sporty> "Don't worry I'm watching her."
<Emo> "But who watches the watcher?"
<Sporty> "You, I guess if you want too?"
<Brain> "Ack! I can feel my IQ draining out of my head!"
"W-ell it at least looks nice, you stutter, flushing. "There's just something about it that's really appealing…"
"The outfit
is enchanted, just not for fighting," your maid informs you. "It contains some comfort enchantments, to make the fabric softer and more flexible-
You suddenly felt vindicated in picking magical clothes!
Of course, you were naturally drawn to it.
"It also will be more difficult to stain, and will help you stay cool in hotter weather-"
"Well now that I've picked the outfit I like, we can have the enchanter imbue it for combat," you state.
"Would you like me to have the staff prepare more gowns in the same style?" Chiaki inquires.
"Oh yes, please do. Great thinking Chiaki," you tell her. Looking at your reflection again, you really do enjoy the look. There's this hard to explain sense it's
just right for you.
You can't help but feel more sure of yourself and powerful wearing it, like your channeling Justine's awesomeness. Given the sky-high stats winning Fall from Grace requires, you need to find sources of confidence where you could. Certainly, no one at a costume judging contest would ever give you second place wearing it.
"I think I might be dressing like this from now on," you murmur to yourself.
"Lady Claudia would be touched to hear you're taking after her," Chiaki says politely which somehow makes you feel even more embarrassed.
