ITTWACP • NACP

Chapter 11

-Chapter 11-

"Hello, I'm Emily Ruayal of Ruayal's boutique. It's an honor to be invited by you."

Emily, the owner of the boutique, has soft brown hair, and appears to be in her early forties.

She brought with her a stack of colorful fabrics and laces, as well as a style book full of various designs.

"Shall we start with the Duchess?" She asked.

Madame Ruayal took out a style book for older ladies and opened it in front of the Duchess.

After flipping through a few pages, the Duchess looked up and smiled.

"Hmm... as I get older, I seem to end up picking the same designs every time. So why don't you ladies pick one for me this time?" asked the Duchess, looking back at me and Lizé.

'What a surprise, this is an unexpected situation! Why are you giving me a test without warning?'

A cold sweat ran down my spine.

I know what will happen. Either she will prefer Lizé's design choice over mine, or she'll accept both with Lizé's design getting more compliments.

I'm on pin and needles, but Lizé seems rather pleased.

"Are you sure I can do this?" Lizé asked.

"Of course, Lizé." The Duchess encouraged.

With that, we each had exactly the same style book in front of us.

I calmly looked through the style book, sweating profusely.

This test was clearly stacked against me.

Lizé has lived in this house for five years, so she has a good idea of the Duchess' tastes, and I...

'I've been in this world for less than two weeks!'

I had no idea that my style battle episode with Lizé would play out like this...

The flow of the original was much stronger than I expected.

After much searching, Lizé pointed towards a page in the book. "I'm thinking about this design, I think it would look very elegant on you."

Lizé picked out a blue silk dress.

Madame Ruayal quickly took the sample fabric and draped it over the Duchess' shoulders, cooing that it was an excellent choice.

Not only that, but she thought it would look very good on the Duchess with a set of pearl earrings and a necklace, as illustrated in the style book.

'That's a very good choice.'

With her wheat-colored hair, amber eyes, and very fair skin, the Duchess would look good in any color, but blue seemed to be the closest to perfect.

"You've chosen very well, Miss Lizé. It's the latest design from our boutique. This silk is also the finest available to the imperial family..." Madame Ruayal was pleased and praised Lizé's discernment.

The Duchess also smiled in satisfaction, as if she liked Lizé's recommendation. "And which one did Edith choose?" She asked.

"Uh... I um..." I trailed off.

As Lizé's buoyant mood subsided slightly, the Duchess' gaze shifted to me.

Is this also the flow of the original?

I laid out a picture of a dress with a more ornate design that the original Edith might have chosen.

Of course, no matter what I chose, I think the Duchess would prefer the blue dress Lizé chose but...