Chapter 7: I Am the Only Daughter of the Duke

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"So that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." —Matthew 6:4

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"WELCOME to the Lustrous Boutique! How may we help y—Ah! Mother! Mother! Please come here quickly! There's an angel visiting our boutique!"

As soon as she finished styling the loose dress she chose from Penelope's wardrobe, they immediately departed, wearing a little disguise, inside a plain looking carriage that had no symbol of the family as she let Emily lead her to where she was supposed to enjoy the luxury of her new life.

They went to the plaza of the Montgomery fief and traveled for quite a while using the carriage that made her buttocks numb because of the shaking. Thank goodness, though she didn't feel nauseous nor did she vomit since that would be a really unpleasant experience for her.

When they got there, she was already in awe after seeing the surroundings.

Based on Penelope's memory, the plaza was a beautiful, colorful and lively place where people from different social standing were free to roam and choose anything from any boutiques or stores as long as they had the means to pay for it.

And her memory was right. From the inside of the carriage, Lantana saw the different stores with different sizes; there were some big and some small. Although their position in the society was quite made obvious through their arrangement, no one looked discontented. Some looked too grand and flashy, some looked average while some looked shabby, but everyone was smiling.

Then, while she was busy looking outside, she didn't realize that their carriage had already stopped moving. The first section of the place that they decided to visit was the area of the clothing shops since Lantana had a huge problem with the clothes left in the mansion.

As they got out of the carriage, the coachman parked beside the streets and since they were wearing a brown cloak that had a hood, no one paid attention to them since they really looked like an average commoner.

"My lady, our coachman, will be waiting for us here. Is there any boutique that caught your interest yet?" Emily asked, and she realized, right, there was no cellphone in her current world.

"No. I didn't find anything that particularly piqued my interest. Show me all the boutiques you know, and I'll try to find any gem among them," she replied.

Then, Emily led her to places in the plaza with a lot of shimmering yet too conservative, too bright, and bone wrecking dresses. She didn't try any of those clothes, though. She only glanced at them from the outside of the shops with disgust shown in her face. All of them were uncomfortable just by the look.

The things on display were only made for women who possess a very small and thin waist—those with skin and bones. All of the clothes were made without thinking of other body types. They were made callously and without consideration for others. Aside from that, they all have the same size of a corset—the standard size for the definition of beautiful—that not all types of body could definitely fit in. Because of that, if a woman with a bigger physique wanted to buy clothes, she would have to force herself to lose so much weight just so that she could wear it. She would have to sacrifice so much in order to lose her old self just so that she could be her "beautiful" version.

That was not how and why clothes were made. Clothes were made for people and not the other way around. That was the reason why when she saw the comfortable and modern looking yet stylish and sophisticated dresses of the boutique named Lustrous, she immediately ran towards it, although Emily almost fainted at her impulsive action. She said it was unlady-like—which she just simply brushed off.

Who was the boss anyway? Wasn't it her? So, whose order shall be followed? Hers, of course. In the end, Emily also ran and caught up with her.

But there she was, still bamboozled at the reaction of the young girl who greeted her as soon as Emily opened the door for her.

"Oh my! You are right, daughter! We really have an angel visitor today. Is this luck? Is this a sign?!" a middle-aged woman exclaimed as soon as she saw her.

'Okay, ma'am, aren't you being exaggerated right now? I know I'm pretty, but, hah, I just realized that being always slapped on the face because of that fact is kind of embarrassing. Stop it. I'm shy.' Lantana thought with cheeks as red as freshly picked tomatoes.

"Excuse me, Baroness Leticia, but my lady isn't an angel…"

Lantana turned her head beside her as Emily started to speak.

'That's good, Emily. Stop them from making me feel embarrassed any longer so that we could finally proceed with the real reason why we entered the store.'

"Huh? If she's not an angel, then what is she?" the young girl said with confusion.

"She's a goddess!" she exclaimed, which made her eyes widen in shock.

Then, the mother and daughter pair immediately agreed with her servant's statement as they looked at her tenderly. In fact, she could almost see their eyes forming a heart shape as they stared.

"Will all of you stop making me feel embarrassed?" Lantana turned to her maid. "Emily, we're here for my clothes. Why are they acting like that anyway, as if it's their first time seeing someone with a face like mine?"

"Well, a face like yours, my lady, is a one in a billion. No beauty can be compared to yours."

"She's right, my lady! I bet that everything my mother has made in our little boutique will suit you! I bet my life that even rags would look like luxury items if you're the one wearing them!"

Hah! Such a small girl knows a high level of flattery. Since her ears liked what the girl said, she would give her a reward.

"Emily, buy every piece of clothing this boutique has. Baroness, take my measurements from Emily to make sure that there's nothing that won't fit me. Since it'll obviously take time, just send all of them to the Montgomery mansion once they are done. Of course, list the costs under my account."

After making a bold statement, she heard the three women inside the small boutique gasp. Then, she took the ring that Penelope always wore as a pendant of a necklace out of her cloak, where the insignia of Montgomery was engraved and showed it to them.

Well, Penelope never did impulsive buying before. She always tried to fit in things that were not meant for her because of her self-consciousness, so she kind of understood why Emily was a little shocked. However, she wasn't Penelope. She was Lantana. The girl from earth who likes beauty.

Because of Lantana's claims, the mother and daughter pair were bewildered. Buying everything in the store? Though they were not as famous as other brands, their fabrics were still high quality. How could she buy them all? But because of the legitimate insignia she has shown them which contained the famous . But that was not just a claim. With Montgomery's money, she could buy all the stores in the plaza if she just wanted to.

Even in her past life, Lantana never did impulsive buying. But now that she had the money to burn, why would she even hesitate? With all the duke's riches, she bet she could even buy a whole kingdom without emptying the duke's treasury.

"Aside from that, from now on, I would like the baroness and her daughter to be my personal designer and seamstress. Everything that your store would have in the future should be worn by me first before it could be sold. I also have a lot of designs in mind, so it depends on you if you'll accept my offer or not. You can try to think about it first and send your reply after you finish adjusting the sizes of my clothes since I'm not in a rush," Lantana said coolly.

"Daughter, an angel really visited us today! Madam, we'll definitely accept your offer. Knowing you're from Montgomery, this is definitely a great offer! But if I may ask, what is your name, my lady, and what relations do you have with Montgomery?"

"I am the only daughter of the Duke Philippe. Keep it a secret for now, though," she replied with a smile.

The tears that were about to fall from the eyes of the seamstress were immediately halted as soon as she heard what Lantana replied. Then, both her and her daughter's eyes slowly widened their eyes in shock. The infamous daughter of the Duke Montgomery was that gorgeous!?

Afterward, both of them started to look at her face and then her body without uttering a word. Before they could even interrogate her, she immediately made her way out of the boutique and let Emily settle everything while the mother and daughter pair couldn't still believe the news that was brought to them.

BASED on Emily's knowledge and network, Leticia Reginald and her daughter Jasmine Reginald were the perfect descriptions of nobles in name people that she usually just read from a fiction book. The ones that got noble titles but lived worse than most commoners. Their barony started to decline when the baroness's husband started to get ill. All of their money went for the treatment of the baron, but the baron did not last long, leaving them with a lot of pending debts to pay to the bank and other debtors.

Even before the baron died, the boutique was already existing, but no one paid much attention to it because what it had was not a part of the killer trend of the women in their world.

To be honest, Lantana couldn't really get the point of trying to look good while feeling bad deep inside. Why would they have to force their body into something that was not meant for them? Duh? Would they die if they did not wear a corset for a day? Would they die if they went out not wearing something that would injure their bodies?

Being able to look good was fine, but while trying to do so, the person also had to feel good at the same time.

"My lady, where would you like to go this time?"

"Hmm? Bring me to a pastry shop. I would like to eat sweets. We can also buy takeaways and give them to the people at the mansion. You're bringing enough money, right?"

Upon request, Emily led her to a store that definitely sounded tasty just by the name of it; Caramel and Chocolate.

And her hunch was right. Before they could really enter the place, the sweet aroma of the pastries from the store immediately made her mouth water as her stomach growled in hunger. Emily even laughed at her for having such a childish reaction, but who cared? Could she blame her for being excited about sweets after such a long time not being able to eat what she craved?