The Dress That Wouldn't Fit
"Still, you're being too harsh, Your Grace. I wish you'd comfort her just a little. You have no idea how anxious women get before their wedding." With that, Julia gently patted Chloe's shoulder. "Don't be too upset, Sir Amboise. As you well know, even though the Grand Duke speaks so harshly, he is actually very kind. There are so many rude people in the world, so he's only saying this out of worry for you."
Chloe almost blurted out, Are there two Grand Dukes in this mansion?
Unaware of the truth behind their arrangement, Julia smiled brightly. "Once this wedding is over, I'll make you plenty of wonderful clothes, so please bear with it until then. Right now, the most important thing is tailoring this dress to fit you perfectly, Sir Amboise!"
Chloe's gaze drifted past Julia's shoulder. Standing behind her, Curtis scoffed silently in their direction.
Regardless, Julia began to tighten the lace-up ribbons that bound Chloe's waist and back.
"Ha..." Her breath caught again. She felt a sudden, involuntary urge to gag.
"I don't think this is going to work." Seeing her state, Curtis sighed and held his hand out to Julia. "It seems the issue is a lack of strength on your part. Move the screen and hand those laces to me."
He was demanding the ribbons. Julia gasped, nearly jumping out of her skin. "Eek! No, Your Grace! Sir Amboise is only in her undergarments right now!"
He was not a man to be swayed by such propriety. Curtis snorted. "Sir Amboise. Why don't you give Julia a hint as to how many nights you and I have spent together?"
"Oh my goodness!" Julia's face flushed bright red.
Chloe, the actual subject of this slander, could only gape in sheer disbelief. Reaching out to push the screen aside, Curtis stepped in, his lips curling into a smirk at the sight of her expression.
"Did I say something incorrect?"
"Technically, you are correct." Correct, as in you deserve a correct punch to the face. To describe working overtime in such a scandalous way... This was an insult to the sacred sanctity of labor. Chloe felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to quit on the spot.
Meanwhile, Curtis smoothly took the ends of the ribbons from Julia's hands. Covering her burning cheeks in embarrassment, Julia scurried out of the way. "But... but she's in her undergarments..."
A plain, coarse muslin chemise and a pair of drawers—if wearing those counted as being in one's undergarments, then she supposed she was. Chloe waved her hand dismissively. "I am a soldier, Julia. Do not worry."
Communal living was the baseline of military life. No matter how shabby her time in the Navy had been, sharing a barrack room with twelve other people was no different from the Army. Having enlisted at eighteen and lived with others until she was twenty-four, Chloe was thoroughly desensitized to showing her undergarments to anyone. It was even more true after she joined the Army. Rolling around the training grounds under the scorching midsummer sun under Curtis Shan Berk's command, there were countless times she had wanted to strip off her undergarments and everything else. Had it not been for her duty to maintain the dignity of the Royal Guard, she might have actually done it.
"But... still, in front of a man..." Unaware of Chloe's pragmatic inner thoughts, Julia looked back and forth between her and Curtis with a crimson face.
Chloe merely shrugged. Left with no choice, Julia finally backed away. But that was not the end of it.
"W-we will give you two some privacy."
"Is that really necessary?"
"Absolutely!" Julia answered firmly, ushering the rest of the servants out of the room.
Chloe was taken aback, but she quickly realized she didn't even have the luxury to be flustered. Curtis, holding the ribbons, yanked them tight around her waist as if he didn't have a single second to waste.
"Ack!"
"You sound less like a new bride and more like a pirate being strung up on the gallows."
Her superior, an Army man who had likely never even seen a pirate in his life, dryly critiqued her scream. Chloe gritted her teeth and spun around. "I didn't realize Your Grace was planning to assassinate me—"
She had been about to demand if he was trying to murder her, ask if he was trying to rip the fabric apart by pulling so hard, and point out that he had probably never even laid eyes on a pirate. However, Chloe suddenly lost her voice, startled by their sudden proximity. Because he was tightening the ribbons on her back, the man's face was incredibly close.
His damnably perfect nose. The violet eyes resting beneath his strong brow. For some reason, a sudden shiver ran down her spine.
"You seem to have a lot of complaints." Ignoring her reaction, the man sneered, looking straight down at her.
And Chloe, a proud soldier of Ivanes, realized the exact reason for the goosebumps on her back the moment her eyes locked with those violet depths. This is the perfect position to get ambushed. Shuddering, she snapped back fiercely. "We spent nights together? Us?"
"Did we not?"
Unbelievable. Chloe whipped her head back around and retorted irritably. "By your logic, Your Grace, those reports I stayed up all night writing must have been love serenades."
"Ah, and a terribly dreadful serenade they were."
She had turned her head to avoid his obnoxious face, but it proved to be a tactical error. His warm breath tickled the nape of her neck. Ugh. Unable to bear the strange sensation, Chloe finally snapped. "Could you please not speak right into my ear?"
"Fine, then exhale. And pull your stomach back in."
The moment she let out a long breath, the man yanked the ribbons tight. Chloe gasped, sucking in air once more.
"...Tsk." Curtis clicked his tongue softly. It didn't take long for both of them to reach the same conclusion.
"I think I'd have to break at least one rib to fit into this dress."
"One wouldn't be enough. I'd say at least two."
With those words, Curtis hooked his fingers into the ribbons and unlaced the tight binding. The moment she could finally breathe, Chloe collapsed to the floor. *Thud.* The petticoat worn beneath the dress ballooned out in a wide circle before settling onto the floor. The sight was rather telling.
Curtis looked down at her and chuckled. He had just found the answer to a question that had been bothering him for the past few days. I ordered several women's dresses to be sent to the annex as a temporary measure, so why on earth hasn't she worn a single one? He had wondered. Why did Chloe Amboise keep walking around in her military uniform even though she was technically on pre-wedding leave? The answer was right before his eyes.
"I take it none of the clothes I sent fit you."
"I don't know which noble lady they belonged to, but they were a bit too much for me to handle."
This was the Berk Mansion, once the summer palace of the Queen. The owner of the women's clothes left behind here was obvious. Curtis lightly swept his gaze over Chloe. Her body shared absolutely nothing in common with the petite, delicate Queen Mildred. Her exposed shoulders were straight and squared, and the arms supporting her on the floor possessed a fair amount of muscle forged through rigorous training. Naturally, the late Queen's clothes could never fit her. This meant Chloe had been living in the Berk Mansion for the past four days with only a single change of clothes.
Curtis asked nonchalantly, "Did you sleep in your uniform too?"
"They did have guest nightgowns prepared, at least."
So she had at least slept comfortably. Should he consider that a relief? With that thought, Curtis gestured toward the door of the toilette room. Julia and the maids, who had been hovering anxiously outside, rushed back in.
Curtis crossed his arms and looked down at his prospective Grand Duchess, who was still slumped on the floor. Her cheeks were still flushed pink from how breathless she had been. That dress is out of the question. Having reached his conclusion, he turned to Julia. "The wedding is in three days. It would be impossible to make a new dress in that time, wouldn't it?"
This time, Julia's face went pale. "Your Grace... I am terribly sorry, but..."
"So it is impossible. I understand."
The Grand Duke accepted it quickly. Since he was the one who had set the wedding date so abruptly, he had no right to complain. Julia pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed. "We will have to take a ready-made dress and add embellishments to it."
"Is that feasible?"
"It will be tight, but it is better than making one from scratch. Even if I have to scour every boutique in the capital, I will bring back a new dress that fits Sir Amboise by the end of the day."
"Um, I have an idea."
The one who chimed in between them was Chloe, still sitting on the floor.