Chapter 60: The latest fashion from Kreamore

Percival Peregrine

In the short span of a few months, Percival had gone from the useless only son of a well-off merchant family to the most praised and beloved member of his community. Nowadays, when he walked down the streets of the harbor side people would smile and wave, start up conversation and try and get into his good graces. He was no longer just useless old Percival, he was now Sir Percival. He was now the young man who had brought his family to riches by closing a deal with Sophie's cafe and becoming their exclusive distributor.

He was no longer the weak incompetent son of a merchant family, he was now the esteemed sir known for his good business tact. What gave him the most pleasure was his status within his family. At first his father had made it a point to chastise him about his lack of prospects and favor his little sister, but now whenever he walked into a room, his father would throw up his hand onto the air and exclaim.

"Ahh! My precious son has arrived!"

Above all things that made Percival smile the most, that and all the women who would wink at him as he walked the streets as he was now the most eligible bachelor on the Harbor side.

As Percival walked the streets, on his way to the café for his morning marshmellow hot chocolate and waffle, he smiled happily and greeted everyone on his way.

When he walked into the cafe he was greeted by the wonderful sight of the waitresses in their pink dresses and the cute bunnies hopping around in the yard.

"Good morning! Briony, Matilda, Henrietta, Blarthy, Verity, Suella and Roslynia!" He called out happily. He came to the cafe everyday and had naturally learned all of the girls names.

"Good morning Sir Percival!" They chimed back at him with smiles, their high pitched voice ringing together in harmony, only Matilda's croaky old tone stood out. All the women working at the cafe were so lovely with their big smiles and pretty pink dresses, Percival knew that quite a few of the customers came for the girls just as much as they came for the cake.

Percival took a seat at his favorite table and waited for Henrietta to bring him a newspaper and his hot chocolate like she always did while his waffle was cooking. Right on time, Henrietta walked over with the hot chocolate and Gismeadian on a tray. She carefully placed it down in front of him and gave him a happy smile.

"How is little Soren getting along at Godfrey's?" Percival asked while picked up the newspaper.

Henrietta immediately blushed as a small grateful happiness spread across her face at the mentioning of her son.

"He is doing so well, he even learned to read and write and has made lots of friends. It's truly wonderful everything Lady Delton has done for us." Every night Henrietta made Soren send a prayer to the gods for Lady Delton. Since Soren was young he didn't quite understand the scope of what Lady Delton had done for him but he was a good son and listened to his mother, so every night when he prayed to the gods of magic, he put in a prayer for Lady Delton too.

Percival smiled, thinking about how many people Lady Delton had touched, how many lives she had saved. She was truly a saint. A gift from the gods.

Percival opened his newspaper and instantly spat out his hot chocolate as he read the headlines.

"Heavens above..." came out his shaky shell shocked words.

"Whatever is the matter?!" Henrietta asked completely shocked that the man had just spat out his drink halfway across the cafe. She had never seen Percival break form like this.

"L-Lady Delton... a chosen child." Percival managed to say in between his stutters.

Henrietta's eyes bulged out of her skull and fell to her knees as the words sunk in. All this time she had thought all of it had been too good to be true. In a single day, her and her little son had been taken off the streets, given a beautiful home, fed delicious food as well as a respectable job to earn a living. All in a day. Many days Henrietta woke up in her warm bed and wondered how any of this was possible. How could one second rank noble be so kind and generous...? Now she knew the answer. Lady Delton wasn't just a noble... no, she was a gift from the gods. He kindness and generosity was the will of the gods.

Tears slipped down from Henrietta's face, pure joyful tears. This news was like peace to her, news that finally set her anxious mind and shaking heart to peace. Lady Delton, her savior, was a holy person, of course.

Percival was just as happy as Henrietta but for a different reason. He thought of how well people had begun to treat him since he had managed to strike a deal with Lady Delton and let them exclusively distribute her products. When people found out that Lady Delton was a chosen child and that Percival was a business associate of hers, his status would reach a new even greater level. He might even be promoted to a noble. Percival sighed contently. He knew it was wrong to think of his status at a time like this. He should've been more focused on thanking the gods for sending her than grinning over his own good fortune. But he couldn't help it, after years of being looked down upon, he was finally rising up from the bottom, all thanks to the mysterious and generous Lady Delton.

"I'm eternally grateful." He whispered under his breath as he thought of Lady Delton.

Meanwhile those two were rejoicing, Briony had walked out of the kitchen to see what the ruckus was about. She had walked behind Percival to see what the newspaper said, only to be so shocked that she instantly fell to her knees and touched her head on the floor.

"GODS PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!" She screamed out.

Percival and Henrietta were completely shaken by Briony's sudden yelling. They turned to her and tried to get her off the floor but she simply refused to move.

"No!" She cried out. "I must bow here and ask the gods for forgiveness!" She yelled while she sobbing.

"What on Arteria for?" Henrietta asked confused. Trying to console Briony.

"You don't understand!" Briony cried.

"When my mom and I first sold this shop to Lady Delton, we tricked her. The price I told her was much higher than what it was actually worth! Of course Lady Delton didn't fall for it, but still! I tried to trick a chosen child!" Briony began to sob violently.

"The gods will surely punish me!" She wailed.

Henrietta and Percival tried to soothe her by telling her the gods had probably forgiven her by now if nothing bad had happened to her yet, but deep down they were a little anxious being around Briony since the gods might smite her at any moment... they didn't want any of that smiting directed at them.

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Riley

As soon as I woke up that morning the memory of the newspaper flooded my mind, the realization that everyone knew that I was a chosen child started eating away at me. So far I was prepared for my staff and closest friends to know, but how would my employees at the cafe react and how would everybody in the safe house react? How would Edgar react? How would the rest of the Marcellus family and the Von Esterheim's react?

The anxiety was starting to flood in and I wondered how I had even been able to fall asleep last night.

"Good morning Milady!" Mellie yelled as she busted through my bedroom door with a huge grin on her face.

"Good morning Mellie." I chuckled, completely forgetting about my worries once I saw Mellie's toothy grin. She looked absolutely overjoyed for so early in the morning. "You look very pleased this Morning...?" I questioned her.

"Oh..." she skipped gleefully to my wardrobe, "I'm just happy to be serving a chosen child!" She brimmed with happiness as she opened the cupboard doors as started taking out a few of my garments. I started to frown when I saw how many garments she was taking out. Far too many for me to wear for the day and all of them were my lounging dresses, super comfortable and easy-to-wear dresses that I used for lounging around the house.

"Why are you taking all of those out Mellie?" I asked curiously.

"Oh well..." she began.

"It's for your best interest Milady." Came the proud tone of Agnes as she walked into my bedroom.

"My best interest?" I frowned confused.

"Milady, while we were away on holiday, the renowned Madam La grange had a fashion showcase. In this showcase she introduced a new kind of dress, and as such set the new standard of fashion within Girannon and the entire world. A standard that Milady, a precious chosen child and a godsend for this great kingdom, must adhere to." Agnes said very firmly.

Although what she was saying seemed fine, I had a feeling that I wasn't going to like this new standard of fashion that had been set.

"Last night I wrote to all the major heads of fashion in Kreamore and asked them to send their most beautiful dresses for you..." I blinked feeling quite amazed at Agnes. Really I don't know what I would do without her, she was always so on top of things and she was probably the reason I hadn't become a social outcast by now.

"The garments as well as your dressers will be here shortly. Milady, try and keep an open mind about the garments, although they may be uncomfortable please remember that as the chosen child of Girannon you now represent the kingdom even more than before, so for the Kingdom's sake you must look your best."

I nodded, she was right in a way I guess. The title of a chosen child came with a bunch of other expectations, especially since the Church of magic had made it a rule to teach the entire kingdom about the chosen children. I had attended a few church services and each one had given blessings for the past and still to come chosen children. My position now was even more important than before. And if I wasn't going to act the part and play by all the rules, I should at least look fantastic while doing it. That being said, I wouldn't compromise my comfort or health for restrictive corsets or ridiculously large hoop skirts.

"Don't worry Agnes I'll be open minded. But I won't compromise on my internal organ's safety for a tight corset."

Agnes only sighed before heading over to the cupboard and pulling out one of my fancier dresses.

"You must look good today for the experts who are coming to dress you." I smiled as I watched her carefully lay it out.

"As for these..." she said as she roughly grabbed my lounging dress. "I would never be able to down live the embarrassment if the fancy dressers from Kreamore ever saw your lounging dresses."

She said the phrase lounging dresses as if it was the most foul thing she had ever said, I knew that she had never been a fan of my comfortable fashion choices but come now, that was a bit excessive.

"I'm moving them to the hallway closet where they can't be seen by anyone." She said hotly before quickly retreating into the hallway before I could protest. I could only chuckle at Agnes' antics.

By the time she came back into my bedroom Mellie and Edna had already gotten me dressed. They were now in the process of brushing out my hair and applying oils to it to make it smooth and shiny.

"Milady." Agnes addressed me with a curtsey. "I have been meaning to ask you for a while, but I think now would be a good time to hire more staff..."

"More staff?" I asked surprised. To be honest I wasn't really a fan of the idea of being more people. I felt so safe with my current staff, letting someone new in would feel like a disruption. But then again, I'm sure there were lots of people looking for jobs out there, so not hiring because I didn't feel like it was probably a pretty weak excuse.

"Milady, your mansion is quite large and although we all try our best, there are days when we cannot make it to all the rooms. Now that is known that you are a chosen child, I really cannot stand to have the house unkept. Thus we must hire more staff to fully take care of the mansion."

She laid forth a perfectly reasonable point and I didn't have any words to argue with her. Even if I wasn't so thrilled to let new people into the house, that was much better than having my current precious staff worrying because they couldn't keep up with all the chores. It would be selfish of me not to agree, especially since I definitely had the money to take on more staff.

"I agree Agnes, I'll leave you to decide who you want to hire. I trust your opinion, but how many people do you plan on hiring?"

"Well, in the esteemed houses of other second rank nobles, the usual practice is for the lady of the house to have between five and seven handmaidens."

"Five and seven?!" I choked on air as the number bewildered me. If I thought about it properly, when I was living with the Marcellus's, Alice and Lady Marcellus had about six handmaidens each. While I on the other hand had two handmaidens and a head maid that acted as a handmaiden over the time. Suddenly the feeling of guilt and shame crept up into me. Had I the great chosen child of Gismead been overworking my staff? The idea made me feel quite bad.

"Due to Milady's interesting personality, I think only four handmaidens would suffice." I flinched at the way she said interesting, like she had just hit the back of my head.

"Cecile and Anthea will need to be hired full time to clean the house and I wanted to hire an additional five cleaners for the house. A gardener or two as well to tend the greenhouse and the lawns. Two more cooks to help Augustus and Illsa feed everyone. Although Auberon is an excellent butler and so is Bard, Rudyard is quite rough around the edges so I think we'll need quite a few more butlers, especially if Milady plans to throw more parties and have guests over..."

I sighed at the amount of new people who would be coming into my home, my precious sanctuary. At least I knew I could trust Agnes to choose good people.

"... and we will definitely need to hire some guards to guard the grounds..."

"Guards?" I frowned.

"I don't think guards are necessary Agnes?" I don't mean to boast but I'm kind of an overpowered one woman army.

"I'm a chosen child remember?" I tried as hard as possible not to sound smug when I said that but failed miserably.

"Well Milady, it's still highly unusual for the house of a second rank noble not to have guards!" Agnes huffed indignantly.

"Alright, Alright..." I sighed. This sounded like I would have to spend a lot more money on my house. Although I made so much money that I really didn't have to worry about it anymore. Each week I was getting a full trunk or more of gold from the royal family for the potion sales, while I was getting half a trunk per week from Sophie's cafe and the new restaurant was already starting to show a huge profit.

"But Agnes when you hire, please choose people who you think would fit in well here. They don't have to necessarily be the best or the highest rated, but the people who would fit the best into our little family..." I said to her softly before turning back to face my dresser to allow Edna and Mellie to put on my makeup.

"Very Well, Milady. I'll leave now to conduct the interviews and hire only those I deem suitable." With her short announcement she quietly left the room.

"Milady," came Edna's soft voice. "I will stay to help you dress and undress while Mellie goes into town to do some chores. Do you feel comfortable with this?" I nodded happily as I could see Mellie's pleased expression from the corner of my eye.

"Are you excited Mellie? This will be your first time on a solo outing right?" I giggled at her toothy grin.

"Yes it will!" She grinned excitedly.

"Of course Agnes and I told Mellie to be mindful of her duties and not to stray from what she is meant to do..." I could tell from the way Edna spoke that she was extremely nervous about Mellie going on an outing by herself.

"Agh! Don't be such a worry wort Edna! I'll be fine. I'm simply going to take the carriage into town and buy the potions the Hestia family are selling."

Yes, the errand she would be running was one I requested. In order to sell out the Hestia's vile healing company I needed to make a better version of every single product they sold. My task to help Lucian in running the Hestia's out of business was interrupted by the appearance of the evil reincarnated cloaked man during our trip to Hadrian. Now that I was back, I would put my plan into full motion. Put an end to the Hestia's crimes and help Lucian seek the clarity he need about his missing father.

"Now that you are all dressed I'll be off Milady!" Mellie said as she dashed out of the room.

Edna rubbed her temple as if a severe headache was coming over her, it seemed Edna had taken on the roll of Mellie's big sister, worrying about her and everything.

"She'll be fine." I prodded Edna trying to reassure her.

"I hope so."

It wasn't a long wait before the dresses from Kreamore arrived along with some very well dressed people called 'dressers' who would assist me in choosing dresses that suited me.

We decided to set them up in one of the second floor living rooms that had a small en-suite bathroom where I could change.

Once everyone was all set up, and I was seated, the dressers were still faffing about and laying out their equipment. To be honest I didn't have high expectations of what the new standard of dresses would be like after Agnes's warning, I just hoped that there would be something I would like.

"Your holy Ladyship, we will now bring out the dresses." I blinked at the new word in my title. Before I was announced as a chosen child, I would have just been called 'Ladyship', but just now the man had said, 'holy Ladyship'. I guess being a chosen child came with a whole set of new etiquette and greetings.

I watched intently as the dresses were brought out on elegant golden hangers and hung on long wooden carved racks. My eyes scanned over every dress and it was surprising to see how familiar they all looked. The style of frills and ruffles, accompanied by corsets and large hoop skirts were ringing bells in the back of my mind. Suddenly, the lightbulb in my head lit up as I recognised these dresses as looking like the dress from a movie I had watched a while ago. Marie Antoinette starring Kirsten Dunst.

These new dresses looked almost exactly the same as the costumes I had seen from that movie. There was no doubt about it. Somehow the rococo style had travelled through time and space from Earth to arrive at Arteria to land in Madame La grange's head and then settle in my upstairs drawing room. It was such a surreal experience, to see something from Earth just randomly and without my influence, pop back into my life.

"Your holy ladyship..." Began the young woman who would be helping me today.

"Please just call me Lady Delton." I interrupted her. It felt wrong to hear people call me holy. I was just the same old Riley Delton I had always been after all.

"Very well, your Ladyship." She curtseyed to me with a prim smile on her face.

"For the latest fashions from Kreamore and by Madam La Grange, a new trend has been set. There is now a distinction between day dresses and evening dresses..." as she said this a new rack of dresses was wheeled into the room. These dresses looked completely different to the Rococo style she had brought out first. They looked like very loose slender dresses with very little poof at all.

"This collection is of day dresses..." she said as she gestured to the rococo dress. "While this collection over here is for evening dresses. An esteemed lady such as yourself would wear the day dresses until afternoon tea and then change into these more loose and streamlined dress during the evening."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. So now women were required to purchase two sets of clothing in order to fit in. They would start off with the high maintenance rococo dresses and then change into the very streamlined loose gowns. Was this a ploy for the dress shops to get women to buy lots of clothes or was this so that women didn't have to suffer the entire day in the rococo dress, after afternoon tea they were allowed to put on a more loose fitting evening dress.

Nevertheless, in the end I suppose it didn't make much of a difference. The ladies of this country usually changed into a new dress in the afternoon anyways. It was just me who had such jam-packed days and wore the same dress throughout because I didn't have an opportunity to change.

"May we begin the with the dresses, Your Ladyship?" She asked in a bright tone?" She seemed pretty excited so I nodded along. I don't know why but I was pretty excited to see everything too.

"This first dress is a white hand painted satin day dress, and this is it evening counterpart."

"A slim fitted white satin evening dress, with long sleeves."

I honestly liked both of them, even though the day dress looked like a nightmare to wear. If it got too uncomfortable I would just change into my evening dress a bit before the evening.

She then showed me a set of three day dresses, each filled and puffed to the max. Even though they looked uncomfortable I was excited to wear them because it would be like wearing a costume I've always wanted to try on.

The next day dress she showed me was quite a bit fancier than the others. It was made with rich blue fabric with an absurd amount of floral ruffles. The idea of wearing it also seemed quite cool.

Another yellow satin dress caught my eye. The bright fabric stood out quite a bit from all the other pastel colors. It seemed I was now attracted by bright colors after months of wearing mostly white clothing.

I also quite liked this black an white 'outing dress' as she called it. It's long sleeves and buttons made it stand out from the rest. Plus I thought it's accompanying hat was cute. It kind of strayed a bit from rococo and looked a bit more like a 19th century English dress.

She also showed me a variety of different ponchos and coats before getting into the evening dresses.

The evening dresses thankfully didn't come with any corsets, but I was meant to wear a kind of body suit underneath that would help 'sculpt my body'. I probably wouldn't end up wearing those though.

After a grueling session of trying on outfits, I purchased a bunch of dress as well as hats and shoes they had to offer. I bought a few of them as gifts that I could send to my friends as well. By the end of it I had spent at least 100 gold coins, approximately enough to buy a house. It made me shudder just to think about how much I had spent.

After I had given them the coins, the dressers were all smiles as they left and bid me a good day. After such a long morning, I was tempted to take a nap but decided against it because Agnes would moan at me if she came back and I was sleeping. Instead I went to the drawing room where I kept my uldreyin. It had been a long time since I had played anything, so at first the notes were rusty and I felt that I had forgotten some stuff. But the longer I played, the more my fingers and voice seemed to remember. The more I played the more I got into it, and for a while I forgot where I was and didn't feel time passing by at all. At some point, I stopped playing the songs Dimitri had taught me and started with my own tune.

Something was stirring within me, as my fingers strummed on the strings of the harp-like instrument my mind was lost in a melody I had created on the spot. It was a melancholy tune that I embellished with flourishes against the strings and an eerie transition between parts. It was so emotive somehow, the music was making me feel things I hadn't felt in a while. A sense of loss and sadness was creeping up into me. Memories of my family in New York. Thanks giving dinners. My mom kissing my cheek before bedtime. My dad tucking me in. Christmas. Family gatherings. Beautiful but painful memories I had been avoiding since I came to Gismead. This tune was pulling them to the front of my mind, one by one.

It was painful to think about how my mom and dad must have mourned my death. It must have been such a shock to them, to have sent me off in the morning, thinking they would see me again later for dinner, only to have a phone call from the hospital telling them I had died in a freak accident. Even though I had asked the gods to allow me to be able to use my phone in this world, which included looking on my social media. I had not once looked at my Facebook or Instagram feed since I had died. Of course I wanted to see how my family and friends were doing but at the same time I dreaded the thought of having to read the RIP posts they had put up for me. For me, my death had not been a sad experience. Instead it had been filed with a world of magic and wonder to distract me from the fact that I had died and left people behind. Going onto social media would be a sore reminder of all of that.

It was this bloody song that was making me think all these sad thoughts. Immediately I jerked my hands off the uldreyin and sat back into the chair. Instinctively my hands reached up to my cheeks to wipe away the moistness that had been cause by my tears. It was such a sad song, beautiful though.

I gasped as I felt my phone vibrate in my dress pocket, completely waking me from the spell my music had put me under. I smiled when I read the notification though.

Musician skill advance: Your are now a master musician, your original music can incite emotions and memories from those who listen to it.

"Incite emotions and memories..." I repeated after I had read the notification. "Even in me..." I realized that my own music had made me cry. What a crazy cool skill advancement.

"Milady, I am sorry to disturb you." Came Edna's quiet voice from the doorway. "But Lords Alucard and Sinjin Von Esterheim have come to see you."

I turned around startled to see the two intimidating and beautiful silver haired gentlemen standing in the doorway. It had been a while since I had seen them both. They looked as cold and breathtaking as always though.

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Sorry guys this chapter was getting a bit too long so you'll get to see the Von Esterheim's reactions to Riley being a chosen child in the next chapter.

Please vote and comment. Lease also go back and vote on my other chapter did you haven't already ❤️💪😜