Chapter 72
Billy Anderson was confident in his judgment of clothing. However, that applied to men’s clothing—he didn’t know much about women’s attire. A dress, of all things. While it wasn’t impossible to obtain a dress within Palesa Palace, finding one to fit a man would not be easy.
Moreover, clothes suit different people differently. They’re affected by body type, and different colors complement different skin tones. Now, to cross gender boundaries on top of that? This request was unprecedented. But when ordered to do something, it had to be done.
Arriving at the Duke’s bedroom in the residence, Billy observed the knight who was about his height. Though he knew Adrian Grimaldi had pretty features, he wondered if dressing a knight as a woman might be too difficult. He grabbed Adi’s forearm.
“…”
Though there was muscle, the arm was more slender than expected. No, it really couldn’t be called a man’s forearm at all. At this size, the sleeves wouldn’t need to be too large. As for the chest… since there wasn’t one, they should probably add something inside. Or perhaps clothing that didn’t emphasize the chest… no, better yet, something that covered up to the neck.
Though rare for summer clothes, they could piece things together.
The hair was too long to fit inside a wig. They’d probably need to tie it up before putting the wig on top. With their fair skin tone, brown hair might not look bad. Since wearing a wig over tied-up hair would be noticeable, they should leave the hair down, and wear gloves to hide the calluses.
Since they were tall, low-heeled shoes would be best.
After mentally organizing how to dress Adi, Billy took out a corset. When told to bring women’s clothes and a wig, this was the first thing he’d prepared. Everything else needed to be chosen after seeing them, but any corset would do.
“Have you ever worn a corset before?”
“…No.”
No one in the family had ever dressed Adi up. There had been no need for corsets. Watching others suffer while wearing them hadn’t made them want to try one either. They never expected to encounter their first corset in this way.
“It’s extremely painful.”
“…”
“It’s so tight you can barely breathe. It presses on your ribs. Since you’re male, we’ll need to tighten it more to create a feminine shape. They say it feels like your organs are being squeezed up and down. We should really respect those who wear these daily. Do you have much chest muscle? Sometimes when men have muscle, the corset can push it up to look like breasts.”
“…”
For a moment, Adi wondered if Billy had worn a corset himself. How else could he give such detailed feedback? The thought of Billy in a corset wasn’t one they wanted, but it came unbidden nonetheless.
“If you don’t have any, we’ll focus on covering up and maybe add some padding.”
Billy said. The rest could be managed with concealment and makeup.
“I’ll bring suitable clothes first. You can start by putting on the corset, I can—”
“Give that here.”
Yuls said. Anderson looked at Yuls in surprise. Give him the corset?
“I’ll help them put it on, hand it over.”
“Your Grace…?”
“Is there a problem?”
“N-no, but…”
No, still, for the Duke himself to help his guard knight put on a corset? This was strange. Very strange. Was Joel right when he kept saying things were getting sticky between them, that their relationship was suspicious?
While all retainers wanted the Duke to find someone good…
“Hurry and get the clothes, Billy.”
Well, getting out of Palesa was the priority right now. Billy nodded and walked out quickly. Yuls turned to Adi.
“Adi, go to the side room.”
❖ ❖ ❖
The unlit side room was illuminated only by faint moonlight. Though not pitch dark, it was difficult to read expressions, though objects could still be distinguished.
Yuls didn’t close the side room’s door.
Adi turned around and removed their cape and shirt. Underneath, they wore a chemise and leather armor. It seemed they’d been binding their chest with it. The belt holding the chest armor came loose and fell with a thud. It was quite heavy and made a loud sound.
Moonlight filtered through the thin chemise fabric, revealing body lines. Yuls unconsciously turned his gaze away.
“Your Grace?”
Adi said, half-turning. At their call, Yuls’s gaze automatically returned before he turned away again. Without looking, he held out the corset, and Adi took it, holding it against their abdomen.
“I can’t put this on alone.”
I know. “Turn around,” Yuls said to Adi. Adi turned while holding the corset against their stomach to keep it from slipping. None of the laces were threaded.
“…”
Perhaps this was why they said women’s clothing took time to put on. Yuls grabbed the laces at the top, crossed them, and threaded them through the back. The laces threaded from top to bottom and bottom to top met at the narrowest part of the waist.
Yuls pulled the laces with force.
“Is this enough?”
Having never helped put on or take off anyone’s corset, he wasn’t sure. Worried he might have pulled too hard, he asked, “Can you breathe?” Adi turned their head with an unbothered expression and said,
“I can breathe comfortably.”
“…”
Should he tighten it more? Yuls applied more force.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, no problem.”
“…Are your organs not being squeezed?”
“No. My organs are fine.”
What should he do? He was afraid of breaking something if he tightened it more.
Even for a woman, surely a waist shouldn’t be that thin? Were the organs inside really alright? How could maids and servants tighten waists so mercilessly?
Of course, he’d never seen it himself and had only heard about it, but they said the maids tightened waists until they screamed. Yuls couldn’t do that. It was already so thin he feared something might happen.
It felt like the first time he’d found something scary. The thought of causing harm. Even though ordering deaths or killing people himself had never bothered him.
“Are you really alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“…We’ll stop here. Your waist seems thin enough.”
“Yes.”
Adi answered. Though their chest was slightly compressed, it was no worse than the usual pressure from the leather armor. It actually helped keep their back straight. Perhaps that was because Yuls hadn’t tightened it too forcefully.
“How should I tie it?”
“Please use a fisherman’s knot.”
“Isn’t that a military knot?”
“…I think not coming undone is the important part.”
I suppose so. Yuls agreed. The corset’s purpose was to make the waist look slim, and it would be troublesome if it came loose. But did ordinary maids use military knots too? Or perhaps they had their own secrets.
Adi turned around after the corset was secured. Perhaps because they wore a chemise underneath, only the slim waist was emphasized with nothing else exposed.
“Your Grace.”
Billy had returned. Having just brought the dress, he looked at the corset worn over the chemise and thought it wasn’t bad.
“First, my lord, put on this crinoline and petticoat. Ah, you’ll need to remove your trousers. You can’t wear knight’s clothing underneath.”
Saying this, Billy handed over a strange contraption. Adi looked at it with a bewildered expression. They couldn’t even tell how or where to put it on. Guessing that this must be the waist part since it had ties, Adi stepped into the crinoline.
“This is the only dress I could get right now. The neckline isn’t covered, but since you’re wearing a chemise, we can unbutton it and tuck it into the dress. We’ll make sure the chest doesn’t show, and we’ll put pearls around your neck to draw attention away. …Um, how did you tie the crinoline?”
“So it won’t come undone.”
“That looks a bit too secure…”
Billy said. Joel, standing nearby, quietly said, “That’s a military knot.” Billy looked exasperated.
“Don’t tell me the corset too?”
“Probably tied the same way.”
He couldn’t be certain since he hadn’t tied it himself. Yuls nodded.
“How are we supposed to untie it?”
“All soldiers, pages, and knights know how to untie it.”
“…”
The maids wouldn’t know how. Neither would the male servants. Yuls lifted the dress Billy had brought.
“A blue dress.”
“Being summer, our options were limited. I chose this darker shade since it won’t be see-through.”
“It will suit them well.”
“I brought lace to cover the shoulders too. Ah, the shoes are the same as what you usually wear. Now let’s see…”
Billy moved busily. Adi silently took the petticoat and dress and went into the side room.
Lilina
Adi became their little dressing doll 😔