"This is the vault." The duke spoke plainly. "You can pick a dress from here for the party." He stepped aside to make way for Lysandra. "Go look."
Lysandra looked at the duke and then gathered the courage to step forward. She browsed the closest row of clothes. Carefully looking through all the dresses she could feel her heart sink with each dress she saw. Dress after dress, black after black fabric kept popping up. She couldn't possibly be expected to wear black to an engagement party much less to her own engagement party. Was the duke serious? Did he really want her to wear this? If she wore this, this would be her own funeral. With the emperor and all of high society as her witness. If the duke didn't kill her, the emperor surely would.
There had to be a way to convince the duke to change his mind on her wearing this. This just wouldn't do. It was inappropriate for the occasion. Lysandra steeled her nerves and gathered every ounce of courage to speak up.
"I-I can't wear this to an engagement party. None of this is capital fashion." The duke raised an eyebrow at her, looking almost confused.
"You're not marrying into the Empire, you're marrying into Sornox." His voice was cold. It made Lysandra feel that she was left with no choice. Her opinion clearly didn't matter. He wanted her to wear clothes that would surely turn her into a laughing stock at her own engagement party. She wouldn't live this down. She could feel her breaths grow shallower as she just stared at the man in front of her.
"I don't like any of these. They feel like they wouldn't fit me." Lysandra admitted. The dresses on the hangers so far had been either too large or too small for her.
The duke didn't even respond to her comment, he just stood there stoically with his arms crossed. Tapping his foot impatiently waiting for her to pick a dress and just get it over with. Looking back at the dresses, she went through them row by row. If she ever needed a funeral gown she would know where to go. Lysandra couldn't deny that the tailor work on some of the dresses was phenomenal. Pushing some of the dresses aside, Lysandra spotted a suitcase all the way in the back, hidden in the corner of the vault.
Lysandra reached over grabbing the handle of the suitcase, pulling it to her feet. She knelt down to the ground and let her hand glide over its fine leather exterior of the suitcase. It was relatively new, unlike anything else in the damned vault, some of the dresses looked like they had been made a decade ago. Opening the locks, the suitcase sprung right open. There was a glimmer of sparkles that hit her eyes, the fabric reflected because of the lights. Blinking twice Lysandra grabbed the edges of the fabric as she stood up on her feet. A sheer golden dress unfolded. It was lined with silk, resembling gold. The dress was immaculate. Intricate lace details carefully placed on top of the sheer outer fabric of the dress created an illusion of the dress being see through. It was nothing like the dresses in the vault nor the dresses in the Empire. The dress was its own unique design. With gathered fabric from her hips down and gatherings on the shoulders the dress was elegant, daring and effortlessly chic.
Mesmerised by the dress, Lysandra realised it kind of reminded her of the empress's dresses. Not that she had ever spoken to the empress. She had only seen her at balls and coming of age parties from afar. The dress wasn't something Lysandra had ever worn before, but it would be a statement alright. Looking at the suitcase she noticed a handwritten note in it.
"Dear Duchess of Sornox,
There isn't a dress I could design that would match your radiance. Please accept this interpretation of the concepts we spoke of. May it suit you splendidly.
Kind Regards, Garris."
Garris?!
As in the famous designer from the capital? The man was a legend. Everyone wanted to get a hold of his dresses, but at some point the man stopped designing for just anyone and exclusively designed for the empress. Garris had passed away a few years back. It was only then when Lysandra learned about him. The whole Empire couldn't talk about anything else for weeks.
"This— I will wear this dress." Lysandra spoke bluntly to the duke who still seemed unfazed. The man raised an eyebrow. "That old thing? I don't think I've ever seen anyone wear it." He remarked but didn't deny her the dress in any way. Knowing full well that the dress must have cost an arm and a leg Lysandra was determined to wear it. "You can keep it." He said and that took her by surprise.
"Keep it?"
"Yes, wear it to the capital. I can call Tara over to have you fitted. You will need more for both the journey and the capital. There should be a matching jewellery set to the dress. Tara can find it." The duke then stood still for a moment. "If that is settled I will call Tara and take my leave."
"Wait!" Lysandra called out to the man as he was about to turn around. Seeing the glare in his eyes as he looked at her. A shiver went down her spine. Crap, she blurted out the word 'wait' before she even realised it. Ordering the duke around wasn't going to go down well. "Uhm, I-" she stuttered her hands starting to shake whilst holding onto the dress. The duke raised his eyebrow again, his cold blue eyes pierced right through her. Lysandra couldn't decipher any emotion from his face. "Speak." The duke responded, his voice demanding.
Gathering the bit of courage Lysandra had left, knowing that if she would go to the capital like this she wouldn't make it. "I- I need more than just one dress." She squeezed the fabric of the dress with her hands. "We will have to attend more than just one party. Because of the limitations of the trunks that I was allowed to bring, I could only bring a handful of dresses." She rushed her sentence.
"Don't you have more dresses in the capital?" The duke spoke plainly. "If any are missing, just have them made or pick any from this room. Dresses are trivial." The man seemed to straighten out a bit. After a short pause he coughed. "I mean, we could go visit the village tomorrow to have them made, if nothing suits you from the vault."
The village?
Was the duke referring to the houses she had seen in the far distance behind the estate when she arrived? Looking around the vault Lysandra knew that none of these would fit the imperial standards. "Tomorrow, I'd like to visit the village." She firmly kept her eyes on him. Anything would be better than the dresses here in the fault, no matter how finely some of those had been made.
The duke nodded. "Very well, I'll get Tara." With that the man stalked off towards the hall, leaving the door open. A mere minute later the tapping of small heels was heard. Tara rushed in, she was out of breath. "Milady—Are you alright? Was the duke mean to you?"
Letting out a breath of relief as Tara arrived, clearly worried. "I'm alright, he is just–" she bit down on her bottom lip, not able to usher the word out. After all, Tara reported to the duke. She wasn't Daisy. Lysandra could only hope her maid would be back soon. Tara let out a big sigh. "He's not been himself." Tara commented and huffed again, clearly displeased.
"Not himself? What do you mean by that?" Lysandra questioned as she lowered the dress in her hands wondering if the duke normally would be kinder? Trying to imagine the duke's smile just made her feel nauseous. He probably only smiled when ripping off someone's head.
"Normally, I would say he is—calmer."
The man hardly spoke, did that mean he never spoke at all? "He's been a bit temperamental." The maid didn't seem to be able to put it in other words. "His grace did tell me that you will be visiting the village with him tomorrow. How about you take today off? I will make sure that the dress is dealt with and the jewellery cleaned." Tara smiled kindly as she took the dress in hand.
Unsure as to what the maid meant by the duke being temperamental Lysandra just nodded. "Then I shall be returning to my room." She looked behind Tara at the stairway and realised that there was no way she'd remember the way back to her room. "Do you mind taking me back? I'm afraid I am still not well versed in the layout of the duchy." Lysandra confessed.
"Of course, milady!" Tara answered with a smile.
Luckily, Tara wasn't too bothered with her request. The only reason Lysandra was able to keep her mind calm that evening, was because of the book she was reading 'Midnight lake.' The main character had fallen deeply for the male lead. However due to the family dynamics, her being from a high class family whilst he was only a guard in the royal army, their love would never be approved. She was to be engaged to another but it didn't stop her from seeing the man she loved at the lake almost every friday evening. The book was so cliche but Lysandra adored it.