Knock. Knock.
"Yes?" Vaille called out as a maid entered the room. "Oh, Sera. What is it?"
"Is the Lady ready? Commander Ray is waiting outside." Sera said, fidgeting with the apron on her dress.
"Lillian! Are you ready?" She called out to the partition where Lillian is getting changed and struggling with the petticoat as well as the dress.
Fortunately, she didn't have to re-wear all her undergarments. That is another problem in itself.
How do they wear all these layers and still move around so elegantly?
She huffed, trying not to lose her balance while the long, flouncy dress made it hard to see where her shoes are.
"Lillian?" Vaille called again, her voice getting closer. "Are you alright?"
"Yes!" Her voice came out squeakier than she anticipated. "I mean, yes. I'm alright."
"Are you sure? I could come and help you." As she said this, there was a hint of playfulness in her voice.
"Nope! It's ok. I'm fine, princess! Please don't come in." Lillian begged, holding the wall for support as she tried to put on her other shoe.
The princess is almost on par with Lillian in terms of dressing up, though she is a little more clueless. She doesn't know left from right most of the time and Lillian almost got injured from her tightening the corset to compete with her ribcage as the one surrounding her lungs.
"Alright. But you best hurry! Commander Ray isn't known for his patience." Vaille teased.
"Right!" Lillian gasped out as she finally wore her shoe.
I'm sure there is a more practical way to do this and an even easier way but I really have no idea at the moment. I'm just glad I'm able to wear this without too much of a hassle.
She finally stepped out of the partition, the corset is doing wonders for her posture with its strong steel boning preventing her from slouching over.
She wore a white high necked blouse with a delicate eyelet lace yoke and Victorian lace cuffs along with a simple long baby blue walking skirt and low heeled Oxford shoes.
"You look lovely, Lillian." Vaille complimented as the maid fixed her skirt and handed her a bonnet decorated with soft baby blue ribbons decorating the side.
"Thank you." Lillian took the bonnet and put it on her head, on top of her perfectly done low bun. Of all the hairstyles in the world, a low bun is the only thing Lillian knows how to do but she does it exceptionally well.
She released a deep breath as her hands trembled at her sides. "I'm suddenly so nervous, princess. It's like when you cosplay for the first time and can't bring yourself to walk out the door of the house even though you know that everyone is also cosplaying with you."
"Pardon, Lillian. I could not understand what you are saying." Vaille looked very confused and rightly so.
"Never mind, princess. I just want to say that I am extremely nervous. Maybe I will just cancel it." Lillian said, smiling awkwardly.
"No."
"No?"
"I won't allow you to. After all, you are the one that invited him so you need to keep your word." She said, smugly.
"You are just using my words against me, aren't you?" Lillian narrowed her eyes at her as they made their way out of the room and down the hall.
Lillian carried a leather handbag with the notebook Jasmine sent to her and some extra papers and ballpoint pen she conjured up. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't use the ink pen without a mess and now they will be moving around so she doesn't want to risk anything.
"Perhaps." Vaille gave a playful smile before she covered her face with her fan, though her eyes still twinkled, "Now get going. We would not want him waiting for too long. He has quite the temper you know. Well … he may be patient with you though."
For some reason, Lillian felt slight discomfort with how Vaille looks at her when she talks of Ray. It is a look she knows a little too well from all the books, comics, movies and dramas she's seen.
The Shipper Look™.
"Princess, you aren't thinking of paring me and the commander up, are you?" Lillian asked, glaring at her from her bonnet. "Because if you are-"
"Oh, look, there he is. Commander Ray!" Vaille sidestepped Lillian and walked to the man waiting at the door with a wave of her hand, still holding the fan.
Lillian huffed in annoyance, she has this bad feeling brewing at the back of her mind but she didn't want to act on it. Sometimes her mind just goes a little overboard and she overreacts so she doesn't want to do that right now.
It might be nothing. She thought to herself while her mind paved out a hundred different ways on how everything could go wrong.
Who needs a time stone when you can have a mind like this? Brilliant.
Lillian slowly walked to Ray, who was wearing a white dress shirt with suspenders and dark blue trousers with Prince Albert shoes.
Damn it. It looks like we are twinning. Is it too late to change my outfit?
Lillian tried to turn away but paused when she made eye contact with the boy. Poor thing, his face became almost a red as his hair as soon as he saw her.
I'm not going to lie, this feels nice. Lillian thought, walking towards them.
"Hello again." She greeted Ray, looking up at the tall structure of the boy with flaming hair.
Lillian felt her eyes tear up seeing how he dressed and carried himself. Slight blush on his cheeks but he maintained eye contact. He gave a soft smile at her with one hand stretched out to her and the other in his pocket.
He's the perfect boyfriend material. If only he was older! Why must life be so cruel to me?
Lillian gave him her hand and he placed a soft kiss on it. "Pleasure to meet your acquaintance. I am Commander Ray from the kingdom of Lurais."
"Hello, I'm Lillian." She giggled, even though he is younger than her, she can't say she isn't enjoying being treated like a lady for the first time since she came to that world.
"The King has provided carriages for you two," Vaille stated, pointing to the lavishly decorated carriage with all the gold reflecting sunlight, blinding her.
"Uhhh … Princess, I don't exactly … well, the carriage is fine. It's very considerate of the King to provide this for us but … well …" Lillian struggled to tell Vaille what she wanted to, seeing her excited expression.
"I know, to think father would go out of his way to arrange this for you two is so kind of him." She beamed up at Lillian.
"Yes. He is very kind but, princess … I can't accept it." Lillian quickly said, pausing, afraid to see her reaction.
"What will you go with then?" Vaille asked, bewilderment in her face.
"We can walk?" She said hesitantly, looking at Ray who had his attention somewhere else.
"You will be exhausted, Lillian." Vaille said, grabbing her hands, "You needn't worry. Just accept father's gift. It will be an easier trip for you to visit the people."
That's the problem, princess. We are only visiting the town and it is just outside the palace walls. It's going to take three hours at the most. This carriage is just too much.
"Uh, well …"
"I'm sorry, Princess. We will have to decline." Ray finally stepped in and whistled to one direction, doing strange hand movements. "Lillian asked if she could ride Orion with me."
"She did?" Vaille asked, not buying what he said.
"I did?" Lillian bit the inner corners of her mouth as soon as those words escaped her lips, "Oh, right. I did. How could I have forgotten? I hope you don't mind, Princess."
"I'm glad you remembered," Ray said, smiling as a long clump of cloud came from the sky and landed on the ground. Lillian stared at it with confusion when the cloud shook and showed a foxlike creature, except white and fluffy.
"W-what?" Lillian gasped staring into its cloud colour eyes as it looked at her curiously. Ray held his hand out and pulled Lillian to the large fluffy fox.
"This is Orion. Orion, meet Lillian." He said proudly. "Don't worry, he is very friendly."
"C-can I touch him?" Lillian asked, already making her way to it. The creature was a few inches taller than Ray but much taller than Lillian in comparison.
"Of course. Here." Ray took Lillian's hand in his own and led her to Orion's fur. It was softer than she thought it would be, almost making her squeal with happiness.
This is it. My daily boost of Serotonin.
"Hello, Orion. It is very nice to meet you." Lillian said, smiling as she continued to stroke his fur, going on to scratch his neck.
A soft purr came from his throat, causing the ground to vibrate as it leaned closer to her and rolled to the ground.
Just like a puppy. She laughed, scratching behind his ear. He continued to make little sounds while she did that.
"He likes you," Ray remarked, standing behind her with the princess watching them, eyes twinkling.
"I like him too." She said, finally pulling her hand away. A whimper came from Orion as soon as she did that, tearing at her heartstrings.
"Now, Orion. You can play more later on. We have important business to take care of right now. Alright?" Ray commanded softly.
In an instant, Orion stood back in attention, looking as professional as it could. Lillian couldn't help but smile at his professionalism.
"Good boy, Orion." Lillian couldn't help herself as she talked to him in a baby voice. "Very good boy."
Orion seemed pleased to hear this because he stuck his tongue out and gave a big smile.
She could feel her heart well up and tears threatened to spill out of her eyes as she scrunched up her face to prevent herself from actually crying.
"Best boy." Lillian sighed out, brimming with pride as she forgets all about Ray and the princess.