Kotori was led back to the parlor room where they were first met the Madame Dupont. They were served tea once again with Kotori using the proper manner for such an occasion. Umi and Layla were absent for some reason.
Dress, were not just fashion statements but were supposed to reflect the personality of their wearer. Madame Dupont was insistent on this and said that dresses were the weapon of women and that there were many complicated layers to how to wear a dress. Kotori thought it was rather ridiculous, but the concepts were still beaten into her head.
She gracefully bit at a biscuit while waiting for her dress to arrive. Eventually, mannequin was wheeled in, and Kotori finally got to see her dress,
The dress was a corset time. The back of the corset was held together with white satin ribbons. The skirt portion laid flat, although Madame Dupont told her it would be held up by a skirt frame. The dress had exposed shoulders as well. Kotori wondered if the dress was even suitable for winter. On the dress, there was a large gem embedded inside it.
Kotori was about to enter the dressing room. Madame Dupont's attitude seemed to change.
"Stop." She said
She quickly ordered all the maids to leave the room and soon room Kotori was alone in the room with Madame Dupont.
Once all the maids had left, Madame Dupont gave a disdainful expression.
"Normally, I let this client do what he wants, but I've taken a liking to you." She said smiling.
Kotori was very confused.
"What do you mean?" She asked Madame Dupont
"This dress is inlaid with a slave collar," Madame Dupont said pointing to the large gem.
"That Mr. Gerard was planning on enslaving you." Madame Dupont said.
Kotori was shocked.
"Why would he do that?" She asked.
"I have no clue; my only orders were to make sure to install that slave collar on the dress" Madame Dupont said
[How bold] She thought looked at the dress. If Mr. Gerard wanted to capture her it would be much easier to just report her to the kingdom and reap the benefit that way. This collar suggested that he want to control her for his own benefit.
[Well not like that's much of an issue, still it's such a shame to lose such a pretty dress.] Kotori said
She walked over to the dress and touched the magic crystal.
She activated [Gourmet] and the slave magic in the collar disappeared. The gem still glowed brightly, but there was no sort of connection between the gem and the original owner now. Kotori could safely wear the dress with no issue.
"There should be no issues now," Kotori said
"Can I still have the dress?" Kotori asked.
Madame Dupont raised her eyebrow. Madame Dupont was very reserved emotional, which meant that this was enough emotion for Kotori to realize that she was quite surprised.
"I see, I was planning on tossing the dress but I guess, it's okay if you take it now that the slave collar is neutralized."
Kotori was led to another dressing room where there were instead of ladies in waiting Umi and Layla were both there. Their hands were politely folded in front of them as if they Kotori's maids.
They began to help her into her dress as if they had been doing it their entire life.
The moment they brought out the dress frame though Kotori had to stop them. The dress frame was a wicked abomination of iron that looked like it would give Kotori tetanus and probably a rash. The iron looked like it was hammered together and pound with mallets with portions of it jutting out where it looked like it was cut improperly.
[No way!] Kotori thought upon looking at it
Layla and Umi both protested the decision.
"Kotori you have to wear this or else the dress will look bad," Layla said.
Layla was right and it was not like Kotori was trying to be a petulant child. She was fully aware of the sort of fashion nobles wore. When she was in the capital city and the border city of Feran she had seen many nobles and the kinds of clothing they wore. Elaborate dresses were popular and the dress that Kotori was given to wear was no different.
[This is troublesome] Kotori thought before she had an idea.
After relaying her message. Hikari extended out from the tiara on her head.
Hikari wrapped herself around Kotori's waist and extended her form into something like a skirt frame.
Kotori slipped herself into the dress and was pleased to see it was a perfect fit. It seemed like Madame Dupont had secretly taken her measurement at some point.
Kotori observed herself in the polished metal mirror. The dress was quite good-looking on her. Her exposed shoulders made her figure look more mature, but the styling on the dress still gave off a girlish feeling.
Without warning, another portion of Hikari broke off and began to style herself on Kotori's dress.
Hikari seemed to accentuate the dress even further making it even prettier.
Since Kotori was originally male she felt slightly off seeing herself as a woman but it was quite nice in a way.
[I could get used to this] She thought.