Honest and True, I Am Kang De

"..."

"..."

Knight Cleveland, a novice at cross-dressing, found himself in a predicament.

He was just like a condemned man standing before the gallows.

He had long known his fate and prepared himself for it, only for the executioner to take his time cleaning the instruments, checking the rope, and even chatting and laughing, leaving him standing there all alone.

The feeling was enough to drive a man mad.

At that moment, the knight finally saw a little of Mr. Kang De's true nature.

He was the sort of somewhat mean-spirited fellow who liked playing tricks on people.

In his more than twenty years of life, he had rarely met anyone with such an awful personality. He couldn't help recalling one of Her Highness's older sisters, and he had a feeling the two would get along well.

The corner of the knight's eye kept twitching.

He and the princess had followed the animals deeper into North Island and met up with Kang De near a crevice in a canyon. In that short time, the Cathayan had not only solved the problem of the boat but also brought back many things.

Then he placed one of the small bags in front of the knight and opened it at a leisurely pace.

He took the contents out one by one.

With every item he pulled out, Knight Cleveland's burly frame trembled.

And Her Highness's reaction... was much like the knight's.

The difference was that the knight was trembling with horror, while Tina was trembling with excitement.

She had barely heard of, much less seen, any of the things Kang De brought out. But relying on a woman's nature and intuition, she could still sense something in the complete set of women's products and clothing he had produced, something that would make any woman tremble with excitement.

The capitalists of modern society would do anything to earn women's money. With consumerism running rampant, clothing and beauty had seen rapid developments and changes, from the various designs, materials, styles, and weaves of clothing to the ever finer subdivisions of cosmetics. Never mind anything else, a single company's fucking lipstick shades could be numbered in the triple digits. It was downright insane.

Girls on Earth couldn't resist these things, and neither could girls from another world.

The princess's body trembled slightly.

She suppressed her curiosity and a woman's innate love of beauty, her heart pounding.

There was a Chinese saying: "One fallen leaf heralds autumn." There was also a Western saying: "The devil is in the details."

There were similar sayings in this world, too.

In these items Kang De had brought out, things Tina had never even heard of, she saw something else.

These are all everyday cosmetics for women...

She thought to herself, And Kang De looks completely unconcerned, which means they aren't rare, even though the sheer variety would make an elven royal etiquette master want to die of shame and indignation...

That raises a question.

If a country goes to such lengths over the private matter of women's makeup and dress, coming up with so many variations, it can mean only two things. First, the country is steeped in extravagant luxury and isn't far from ruin.

The second possibility is...

Tina clenched her fist.

That country had already grown powerful enough to devote its spare energies to such trivial matters.

Was Cathay really that powerful?

While Tina's thoughts ran wild, Kang De took out the last two items: a pair of long black high-heeled boots and a pair of black stockings as thin as cicada wings.

The knight was still trembling, but when he saw the two items, he couldn't help freezing.

Kindhearted as he was, he couldn't resist making a sarcastic remark. "What, did you prepare these two things to leave me with the last of my dignity, Mr. Kang De?"

Kang De also froze for a moment. What did he mean?

The princess looked over at his words and was surprised as well. "Kang De, if you're having the knight pretend to be a girl, why does he need to wear high heels and stockings? And..."

And why were the stockings so thin? The way the boots looked... why were they so beautiful?

In modern society, high heels and stockings were practically synonymous with feminine allure. Tina's gaze was drawn to them at once, and her heart fluttered.

For some reason, she really wanted to try them on.

Without meaning to, she pictured herself wearing nothing but a vest and those two items. Her face turned red at once, but the thrill lingered in her heart for a long time.

Kang De, however, was shocked.

From the knight's expression and Tina's words, he had gotten one piece of information.

Fuck, in this era in the other world, are stockings and high heels exclusively men's clothing too?

How did that happen?

He did know that in Earth's history, high heels and stockings had both originally been men's clothing. But the popularity of any particular garment was closely tied to the trends, culture, customs, social demands, and even the preferences of those in power at the time. It suited its era and didn't appear out of nowhere.

For example, high heels were first invented by the Persians, mainly to help cavalrymen keep their feet in their stirrups during battle. After reaching Europe, they were hailed as a marvelous invention by the malnourished European hobbits of the time, whose average height was extremely low, and were used purely to make the wearer taller. Louis XIV eventually popularized the shoes. After all, the king led fashion trends, and what those above favored, those below followed. That was determined by the preference of the person in power.

Of course, aside from these factors, the needs of the common people were also important. Another reason high heels became popular was that sanitation in Europe was terrible at the time, and shit was scattered all over the streets. Wearing high heels made it less likely for one's entire foot to sink into it-another important point.

The history of stockings was much the same. Nobles at the time were accustomed to wearing knee-length breeches, and stockings were created to cover their excessively thick leg hair. They were then embraced by the nobility, growing longer and more elaborate until they became a fashionable aesthetic among noblemen.

And one of the biggest pieces of hard evidence used to find Saint Joan of Arc guilty was that "she dressed like a man": she had always worn a pair of long stockings and refused to take them off even in prison.

On that point, at least, the Frenchies had been quite faithful to history.

Of course, there was another account, which claimed that stockings did not originate in Europe but possibly in China, and could be traced back at least to the Ming dynasty. Strong evidence was that when a Ming writer wrote Water Margin, Song Jiang and the others would curse Li Kui with words like "you black stockings."

That was roughly how it went.

So this other world had actually followed Earth's old path too. It was... an assault on the eyes.

He took a look at the knight. Judging by Cleveland's expression as he looked at the high-heeled boots and stockings, he clearly didn't find them quite so objectionable.

Fuck, I really want to laugh...

Kang De couldn't help thinking of those portraits of nobles from the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries he'd seen on Earth. One grown man after another deliberately lifted his robes to show off a long pair of legs in white stockings, all while striking a valiant, imposing pose... Fuck, it was so ridiculous.

At the thought of Cleveland striking that kind of pose too, he nearly laughed out loud.

He couldn't be bothered to puzzle over why that sort of thing was popular in the other world too. After all, compared to that, he was more eager to see the cross-dressing incident about to unfold before him.

"Well then, Mr. Cleveland, it's wonderful that you don't object to this kind of clothing."

Kang De gathered up the rest of the clothes in his arms, with two apples sitting on top. "Anyway, please go inside and change... Do you need help?"

"No! I! Don't!"

Perhaps he knew he couldn't escape his fate, perhaps the familiar yet unfamiliar high heels and stockings had lessened his resistance, or perhaps it was for some other reason. Looking grimly resolute, he gritted his teeth and accepted the outfit.

"You should know how to put on the rest. This is called a bra. You can tell from the shape, right? Figure it out yourself, and if you really can't..."

Kang De rambled on until the knight interrupted him.

"More importantly..."

The knight glared, his eyes beginning to grow bloodshot. "Mr. Kang De, my abilities are limited and my wits inadequate. I couldn't think of a better way. For the safety of Her Highness and everyone else, I gave up a knight's honor and self-respect to do this, and what happened today..."

Kang De understood at once and said solemnly, "Don't worry, I absolutely won't tell anyone."

Tina had mixed feelings and had been lost in thought. The things Kang De had produced one after another had made her increasingly suspicious and uncertain, setting her imagination running wild.

But when she heard the knight's words, she too said solemnly, "I give you my word on the blood of the Taidariel Family."

Cleveland had nothing more to say.

He hugged the clothes tightly and retreated step by step toward the cave behind him, looking every bit like a hero about to march to the execution ground. At least, the nature of it was much the same: once he went, there would be no coming back.

He slowly backed into the cave.

Kang De immediately took out his phone, switched it to video mode, and casually placed it in his breast pocket, leaving only the camera exposed.

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PS1: Today's first update... The second will be a little later, so everyone should get some sleep first.