The Boutique

As soon as they arrived in the town square, of course Feny and Helen immediately went off somewhere. Aria already told them that they should return before noon, so now she could only pray that the two girls wouldn't lose track of time or even get lost.

"Well, although it seems like I don't need to worry about Feny." Aria muttered while looking at the road where the two girls had gone.

Leaving one more problem. "Then we should go too." Said Mrs. Genia who already walked to another direction.

"Where are we going?" Aria asked.

The woman looked back at her, but she seemed to think of something else. "But come to think of it, you two don't look alike either. Is she your sister?"

"Ah, you mean Feny? No, she's just the daughter of the ship owner I was on when I went to the capital. So I just met her a few days ago." Aria answered. "But because her father was taking care of other things right now, for the time being Feny's helping me."

"By the way, how old are you?"

"...Nineteen. Why do you ask?"

"Hmm..." But Mrs. Genia just muttered with a strange look. She seemed to be analyzing whether there was anything strange about Aria's answers, but in the end she just shrugged her shoulders slowly. "Well, it's nothing. Then let's just go to the boutique."

Aria was honestly starting to feel uneasy about whether going out with Mrs. Genia was the right decision or not. But she couldn't back down anymore, so she just followed Mrs. Genia.

And finally they arrived at a boutique.

Unlike the shops around it, this boutique is more similar to a mansion. With the large size of the building and the strange statues on the terrace, Aria even felt like she could smell gold everywhere.

And in an instant, Aria immediately felt so small.

She didn't think her clothes were bad at all. But the thing was, as soon as they walked in, all the clothes on display and worn by the model dolls looked much better and sparkling! Rather than selling clothes, this shop seems like a place to show off clothes!

"Wow, Mrs. Genia! What surprise is this?" Greeted a man suddenly. He looked a little older than Rei, but his smooth skin made him look like he's even younger than Aria. With long blonde hair that flowed perfectly, the pretty man in the yellow suit smiled brightly when he approached them.

"It's so unusual for you to come here without telling me first." He continued. "I must be very lucky today."

"Well, today I was asked out suddenly, so..."

Suddenly being pointed by Mrs. Genia, Aria immediately became awkward by herself. "Ah, that, n-nice to meet you." She tried as best as she could. "I'm--"

Aria was about to say her name too, but it turned out that Mrs. Genia had already spoken first. "This is Aria. She's a herbalist who's staying at my house for the time being." She said.

"Oh! How rude of me." The man said while bowing his back to Aria. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Heli, the owner of this boutique."

"Ah, yes--" Aria was about to reply, but the man grabbed Aria's hand first and kissed it.

"Just tell me everything you need. My boutique is very honored to welcome such a beautiful woman like you."

'Oh my god…'

Aria's face was just starting to turn red, but then the man continued with a smile, "I usually put clothes like that in the trash can. But because you're the one wearing it, turns out the appearance is still worth a little glance. Wow, your charm is truly amazing."

"…"

Seeing Aria starting to put on a gloomy face, Mrs. Genia was about to reprimand Heli. But well, he wasn't wrong. "Since we're here, why don't you go get some clothes too?" She said.

"Uh, me? No, you don't have to--"

But Heli, who seemed to have been waiting for that proposal, immediately snapped his fingers and summoned his subordinates. "Find the best clothes for her." He ordered them. "Hm, the dresses we got yesterday might be good. Also, the bright colors definitely look better on her. With some cute accessories too--"

"B-B-But…" Aria wasn't even finished being confused about the situation, but Heli quickly pushed her away and the other employees immediately dragged her to another room.

Unlike the front room which was mostly decorated with interiors to welcome guests, the room Aria entered was completely filled with hundreds of dresses that shone so much as if they were begging to be worn!

"In this section, please. These are the dresses that just arrived from the Livira Kingdom. Would you like to try them all?" Said one of the employees.

"And it looks like most of the dresses here already fit your body size, so--"

"I-I don't think I need them." Said Aria who was trying to go back outside.

"Ah, I'm so sorry." Cut to the employee while pulling Aria back. "You seem to prefer a more precise size. If so, let me first measure your body. Let me help you tear--I mean help you take off your clothes--"

"W-Wait, no--I can do it by myself!"