Having just admired the unconstrained display of feminine beauty in the painting of Aphrodite, Winters found the painfully cinched waist before him to be a cruel and pathological treatment of women.
"You unbind the cords at the back of the skirt first, then undo the ribbons inside the corset, and I'll take care of the rest," Anna blushed, not knowing what had come over her to allow a man to unlace her corset.
"Oh, right," Anna said, and Winters immediately understood, expertly unfastening the ribbons of the skirt and gradually loosening the crisscrossed slender cords.
"Why are you so adept at this?" Anna asked, alarmed to find that Lieutenant Montaigne could untie the cords faster than her own maid.
"Aren't these just like shoelaces? I've worn boots for over a decade—tying and untying laces, I could do it with my eyes closed," Winters answered with pride.
