There were five male mannequins placed by the wall inside the shop. They each wore a different style of formal attire, naly a Royal Doublet, a Velvet Frock Coat, a Tuxedo, a White Tie, and an Imperial Jerkin.
On the adjacent wall, nurous coats, shirts, and formal pants were hanging. There were only two ladies in the shop—one at the reception, and the other, wearing office attire, stood in front of us.
"Good morning, Ma'am and Sir. Welco to the Tux Shop," the lady greeted.
We greeted her back before Nyria ordered, "Take us to the upper floor."
The lady assistant flinched at Nyria's demand but didn't lose her composure. She turned and moved closer to a mannequin, rotated a brooch on its coat, and the mannequin slid sideways. The wall behind it slowly sank into the floor, revealing an inclined staircase.
"Please follow ," the lady assistant said, climbing the stairs.
"What's on the first floor?" I asked Nyria.
"The type of clothes that you need," she replied, keeping in suspense.
The first floor was unexpectedly an empty room with white walls. At the center stood a large counter with three n around it. One of them was on the other side, so I assud him to be the seller, while the other two must have been custors.
As we arrived, Nyria and I beca the center of their attention.
One of the two n standing before the table turned and walked toward us. He had short blonde curtain bangs, wore a stylized red long coat, and seed to be in his late twenties.
"I'm Victor Kale, son of Henry Kale from House Kale of Forlorn City," he introduced himself, with one hand at his back and the other parallel to his stomach, bent at ninety degrees from the elbow. "It's a pleasure to et you, Lady Nyria. I was unaware of your visit to the city, so please forgive for not welcoming you properly."
"No problem. I'm here on personal business," Nyria replied coldly and moved toward the counter, passing by him.
I quickly followed her and whispered in her ear, "Is it fine to ignore him like this? He sounds like soone important."
"He's the mayor's son," Nyria said nonchalantly.
"Then we should greet him properly," I gasped. "What if his father gets mad?"
Nyria chuckled, grabbed my chin between her thumb and index finger, and said, turning my face forward, "Show the attires for this man."
"How dare you ignore Lord Victor when he even greeted you first?" the man standing beside Victor shouted.
Before we could respond, a sharp slap landed on the man's face, and he fell to the floor.
"Do you even know who she is?" Victor snapped, then imdiately bowed his head at forty-five degrees toward Nyria. "Please forgive for not teaching my guard better, Lady Nyria. He is unaware of your status. If you wish, I shall offer you his tongue for disrespecting you."
"What use do I have for the tongue of a re guard?" Nyria replied.
"And also..." She glared at Victor as she spoke further, "I ignored your transgression once, yet you again addressed by my na. Even your father wouldn't dare to show such audacity."
The air inside the room turned cold, and a strong pressure fell on Victor, slamming him to the floor.
"F-forgive , Snow Princess," Victor pleaded under gasps. "Th-this will never happen again."
The pressure faded, and the air in the room returned to normal.
"Get lost," Nyria muttered, and the duo vanished in the blink of an eye.
"Sn–Snow Princess, I'm sorry if I ever offended you," I stamred, joining my hands.
"Stop ssing around," she chuckled, rubbing the hair on my forehead.
She thought I was kidding, but I was actually serious. From how everyone trembled before her, I was sure she held a very high social and political status. anwhile, I was a nobody with no background or connections in this world, so of course I was afraid. What if she took revenge for all the teasing I'd done in the forest? Just the thought sent shivers down my spine.
While I was lost in those thoughts, the man behind the counter spoke, "It's a pleasure to et you, Snow Princess. What style of dress do you wish to see?"
He was a middle-aged man with a large, elegant mustache and wore a White Tie suit.
"Show all the three-piece suits you have in the store," Nyria replied instantly, as if she had already planned how to dress . "And they should be of A-class quality."
"Forgive , Snow Princess," the mustached man explained. "We don't have many custors in Forlorn City. Except for the nobles from House Kale, hardly anyone visits the store. So currently, we only possess clothes up to B rank."
"Do you think I care?" Nyria asked coldly. "Arrange them!"
"Pr–Princess—"
"It's fine, Snow Princess," I said, joining the conversation. "Please show whatever you have."
He gave a quick glance to Nyria, asking for her permission. She didn't respond, so taking her silence as acceptance, he traced his finger along the counter.
Followed by the sound of moving gears, a secret door opened on the wall to our right.
"The suit is in there. You may try it," the man with the mustache said.
I walked into that strange room and, after a couple of minutes, walked out wearing a skin-fit three-piece black suit with a white shirt.
"I've never worn sothing like this," I murmured, adjusting the sleeve of my blazer. "How do I look?"
Nyria was sitting on a white chair that seed to be connected to the floor, which wasn't even there when I went inside. She glanced at for hardly a second, then turned her face to the shopkeeper and said, "Arrange one white, one magenta, and one royal blue suit in a similar design."
"I shall arrange them at once."
The shopkeeper slid his finger on the counter again, and the sound of gears echoed. A white chair erged from the floor beside Nyria.
He slightly bowed his head before us and went down the stairs.
"Umm... hello, pretty lady," I called, standing before her. She aggressively turned her face sideways, folding her arms.
"Are you angry at ?" I asked, bending down so my face was level with hers.
She pouted and turned her face to the opposite side again.
"Fuck... she's so cute," I shouted inwardly.
"What cri did this commoner commit that made the Snow Princess so furious?" I asked, kneeling on one knee in front of her.
"I don't like it," she muttered.
"You didn't like the outfit?"
"Not that, idiot!" she snapped. "I don't like it when you call Snow Princess."
"Oh, but you got so mad when that Victor guy didn't call you by your title."
"He's not Raj," she murmured. "And also, it feels like I'm a stranger to you when you call that."
"I only did it because I didn't want to disrespect you in front of other people."
"I don't care what others think!"
"Alright, I understand," I sighed. "This won't happen again, so can you please look at now?"
She slowly turned her face forward and looked at , still pouting.
"Why is the little hamster still mad?"
"I'm not a hamster," she frowned.
"You don't want to call you Snow Princess, and now you're mad if I call you hamster. This isn't right. Choose one between the two," I demanded, standing up straight.
"Call either Nyria or pretty lady like you always do."
"That's a given, but I want to add a third na. Now it's your choice—Snow Princess or Hamster?"
"You're so an and unfair," she sulked, putting her hands on her waist before murmuring, "the second one is fine."
"Which one?"
She gave a side-eye, warning not to push my luck further.
"I got it, I got it," I said with a wide smile.
She stood from the chair, grabbed by the collar, pulled close, and whispered in my ear, "But you're only allowed to call hamster when we're alone."
User Comments
0 comments from readers