Leisure

Today, Ara wanted to go to the town along with his brother, Aeneas, and friend, Felix. It is to look for an outfit that they're going to wear for the royal banquet.

'Why do I have to wear a dress? These are killing me! What about...'

"Brother, can I wear men's clothes?" Ara asked innocently.

All of them (Aeneas, Felix, and the woman serving them) were shocked about her remark.

"Excuse me? Did I hear that wrong? Men's clothes?!" Felix asked.

"Yeah? Well, I wanted to wear something more comfortable than wearing a dress. I thought that maybe I'll look good in men's outfit-"

"Ara, you can't wear that in a royal banquet," Aeneas said.

"Why? Is there a law declaring that women can't wear men's clothes in a royal banquet?" Ara asked.

"W-well, no-"

"That's why I thought of wearing them! You see, brother. No one said that women had to wear this and men had to wear that! If a person wants to wear something that the opposite sex wears, it's okay. It's just the judgemental society thinks it's improper when it's actually not."

"That's also why you should wear those! You'll attract more attention, and people would start thinking badly of you if you did that!" Aeneas argued.

"So what? It's not as if I'll die! Can't nobody show everyone who they wanted to be? I'll be wearing men's outfit, and that's final." Ara said with a sweet smile and told the woman to prepare the outfits.

Aeneas sighed, and Felix tried his best not to laugh.

After that argument, Ara told them to stay in the waiting room, and she'll pick her outfit on her own. And a few minutes later, the woman came out with shining eyes.

"I didn't expect that my lady's idea would be this good!" She said and opened the curtains.

Felix was getting ready to laugh, but they got mesmerized when they saw Ara wearing it with a ponytail.

"How do I look? Isn't it pretty? I think it's much better than a dress, right?" Ara asked, but they were too busy looking and admiring her.

"I... didn't expect that you'll look good on it," Aeneas said, still surprised.

"See? But I noticed that this would look bad if I wore it just the way it is at the royal banquet, especially when dancing. Well, it's not that I want to dance, but just in case..."

"I agree, my lady," the woman said.

"Do you have a pencil and paper? I want to draw it because I don't know how to explain it to you."

The woman nodded and gave her a pencil and paper. Ara started drawing the suit.

'I didn't know Ara could draw like this...' Aeneas and Felix thought.

'Wow, my lady could draw as a professional would!' The woman thought.

Then she started adding her ideas.

"Woah, my lady. How could you think of this?" The woman asked as she started to see the outcome.

'Well, I've read it in a manhwa I've read in my past life. I wish I saw the ending~' Ara thought, pouting.

After finishing her drawing, the woman left. Meanwhile, the designer of the dress was coincidentally there and saw Ara's drawing.

"Who drew this?!" The designer asked.

"M-Mr. Miller?! Oh, um, one of our customers. She wanted to wear a suit for the royal banquet because she found dresses uncomfortable to wear. We thought it would look bad for a lady, but she wore it and even changed her hairstyle that perfectly matches the outfit that she's wearing. If you saw it, you'll never stop admiring how beautiful it looked on her!"

"A lady?! Is she still there?" He asked.

"Oh yes. We do not yet finish with her outfit. I was actually on my way to a tailor to discuss this."

"Take me to her! I want to see what this genius lady looks like." Mr. Miller said with a smile.

The woman showed him the room, and they went inside.

"I didn't mean to disturb our valuable customers-"

Mr. Miller quickly stops when he saw Ara.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you, sir. Are you perhaps one of the designers? You look beautiful!" Ara complimented him all of a sudden.

'Beautiful? Ara, can't you see he's a man?' Felix thought.

"Oh! Not only my lady has good looks but also smart! How did you know I prefer to be complimented as beautiful instead of being called handsome? All people who saw me for the first time said that I was handsome." Mr. Miller said.

"Well, judging by how you walk and talk, you don't seem to be a man who wants to be called handsome, sir...?"

"Call me Jaq, my lady." Mr. Miller said.

Ara nodded and smiles at him. Mr. Miller started to talk to her about the outfit she drew, while the two men were a bit puzzled and amazed by how Ara acted.

'She knew that he was gay? And even managed to win him over?' They thought.

It took them an hour to talk about the outfit, and Jaq agreed on tailoring her suit. After that, they finally left the boutique to go to a cafe.

"I can't believe that you're an observant person, Ara. Did you really judge him based on his actions? Did you really just met him today?!" Felix asked, amazed.

'Well, I met and had gay friends in my past life, so I'll quickly notice if a person is gay or not. I guess during this time, people aren't that open about it.' Ara thought.

"We just met today. I wouldn't ask for Jaq's name if I knew him already. And maybe it's just women's instinct. He's great as well. I wish we became closer." Ara said while enjoying her lemon parfait.

"Well, I'm also surprised that you liked him," Aeneas said.

"Um, what made you think that I wouldn't?" She asked.

"Um, because it's new for you? And you're the type of person who wouldn't like something or someone for the first time?"

"Well, that is because I felt that they're fake. I can't let myself get bitten by a snake, right, brother? At our time, we must learn how to judge any kinds of people so we won't suffer later-"

"Oh? I didn't expect to see you here, Princess Arabella! I thought you're still recovering?" Someone annoying came.

'And of course, many people would try to ruin a heroine's mood every once in a while.' Ara thought, starting to get annoyed.