Henrietta's Self-saving

Chapter 16

Not satisfied with this. Will probably revise this chapter.

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I prevented myself from cringing as I stared at the outrageous ball gowns on the mannequins.

When I got back from the knight's training ground today, these ball gowns were already placed inside my room, lined up on one corner. There were five dresses made from different shades of red fabric with exaggerated cuts and all were overly decorated with crystals and jewels. They were all designed to outshine everyone who gets near the wearer. Something a circus clown would wear.

The sides of my face twitched and I was finally unable to hide my distaste.

“Where did these come from?” I asked while pointing at the gowns.

“Milady, these are the dresses sent by the boutiques you always visit, along with these letters.” The head butler placed a tray with five cream-colored envelopes on the table. “Would you like to read them, milady?”

I sighed and finally averted my attention from the flamboyant dresses. I took one letter from the tray and accepted the small knife from the head butler.

The first letter has a white wax seal with a fancy letter 'J' stamped into it. After cutting the seal, I started reading it.

The letter was short and was full of praises for Henrietta. Then at the end, the sender expressed their real intent. Asked if Henrietta would like to check out the new dresses in their boutique. The rest of the letter was all the same, full of Shakespeare-like praises for Henrietta's fashion sense and reputation.

I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry after finding out that there were still people in the entire empire who 'admires' Henrietta. But all of these were obviously just fronts.

I asked the head butler why did these boutiques sent me samples of their dresses and apparently it was these boutiques who made Henrietta's dresses in the past. She was their biggest customer and was known for buying everything the boutique has to offer. It's no wonder why these businessmen adore Henrietta despite being the empire's madwoman. Her magnanimous spending is rather... "praiseworthy".

I returned the opened letters to the tray and turned to the head butler. “Send these dresses back and decline their offers.”

The head butler couldn't hide the astonishment on his face. It took him a moment to internalize the words that came out of my mouth.

“M-milady, what made you suddenly change your mind?” The head butler couldn't help asking.

I gave him an uninterested look. “I still have many unused dresses. Those will do.”

The head butler's mouth gaped but he immediately closed it. He didn't ask any further and just clumsily took the tray from the table. He then bowed his head before ordering the other servants to remove the dresses from my room.

The room quieted down a few minutes later and I was finally able to let out a long sigh. I massaged my shoulders hoping to ease the numbness. I didn't know sitting the whole morning, watching the knights train was this tiring.

“M-milady, w-would you like s-some tea so soothe your fatigue?” Giselle's soft voice rang out.

I looked at her. “That would be nice.”

Her face lit up and she lowered her head. “I-I will prepare it immediately.”

“Bring milk and honey along with it,” I added.