A story about the decision to walk the path of destiny.
Cidolfus Telamon x OFC
- Erie Murdoch has witnessed the power that has brought the Duchy to ruin and plunged Rosaria into political turmoil. Stripped of everything she once knew, now a fallen p...
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"Carmen..." Her maid pulled the strings of the corset tighter and Erie gasped. "Carmen, I can't breathe," Erie complained harder. She propped her hands against the wall and tried to pull her stomach in a little more.
"It's supposed to do that, Erie," Carmen replied, pulling the strings tighter again.
"So lovely to be a woman." Erie breathed heavily and finally put her foot down, "That's enough!" She pushed herself off the wall and whirled around to face Carmen, who in turn let go of the corset's strings and raised her hands appeasingly.
"All right, all right. We'll just leave it like this now, surely no one will notice if it's a little looser." She commanded Erie to turn around again and knotted the strings together before pulling the dress hanging over the room divider over her.
Since Archduke Elwin was due back from his expedition today, they had chosen a special dress that made Erie feel like a real princess. Her red wavy hair flowed down her back, hiding the comparatively low back neckline of the floor-length dress. The eggshell white with a slight purple tint flattered Erie's rather pale complexion, and the hem of the dress was tinted with a fiery red. Perfect for the handmaiden of the Archduke of Rosaria, whose son was Dominant of the Phoenix. Erie sighed with relief when she finally wore the dress on her body and there would be no more corset torture.
"Shall we go over the procedure again for when Archduke Elwin returns?" asked Carmen, handing Erie her notebook as well as her quill.
"Are you serious?" Erie made a bored sound. "Let's better go down to the training field, my father and Clive are training today."
Carmen furrowed her eyebrows in irritation. "But that's not befitting for a future princess."
"It's not befitting for a future princess to assist her promised spouse in his training to become the best first shield of the next Archduke possible? I strongly disagree with you on that." Erie grinned and offered her maid her arm. Accustomed to Erie's antics with the sword, Carmen sighed in resignation and hooked up with her friend.
The two strolled leisurely through the castle, through the gardens, greeting with all the grace they could muster all the oncoming servants and nobles. They also greeted the Bearers, some of whom Erie knew by name.
Under Archduke Elwin, the Bearers were still serfs, but at least in Rosaria they were treated like humans and not kept in stables and only provided with bread and water. That's why Erie, as a future princess of Rosaria and thus Elwin's daughter-in-law, wanted to set a good example as well.
She had often heard Elwin talk to her father about freeing the Bearers, the slaves, and she intended, after Clive and she were married, to support him in this endeavor. She just had to wait for a moment well-timed to talk to the Archduke about it. Finally, Carmen and Erie arrived at the unpaved paths leading to the training field. Carmen made a disgusted sound as she stepped on the damp earth.
