When Matthew arrived at the dressing room, he saw Eileen sitting before a vanity while her maids styled her hair and put on her hair ornaments.
Eileen wore a vivid red gown, its color like the blazing midday sun in midsummer, fiery and radiant, making her look dazzling.
Expensive...
That was Matthew's first impression of Eileen's dress.
He could tell that the gown had been made using complex magical craftsmanship.
Across its hem, fiery red streams of light gathered into budding roses. Once the roses bloomed, they vanished from the skirt, and the light gathered into buds again, repeating the cycle endlessly.
"Your Highness Eileen," Matthew said.
"Alsha, you're here." Eileen looked at the person behind her through the mirror. "Why are you still wearing wizard robes?"
"Is there something wrong with wizard robes?" Matthew paused in surprise. He wore burgundy wizard robes, the standard robes of a Court Wizard, and this particular color was reserved for administrative officers.
"The auction we're attending is being held as a banquet. You'll need to change," Eileen explained.
"Then do I have to go back and change?" Matthew frowned slightly, intending to find somewhere private and resolve the problem with the Shapeshifting Technique.
"There's no need for all that trouble! I've prepared an outfit for you too, Alsha!" Eileen gestured for the maid working on her hair to fetch it.
"..." Looking at the dress Eileen had brought out, Matthew could not help suspecting that whatever he had worn today would have been declared unsuitable.
I've been ambushed...
Now he had no choice but to put on the dress Eileen had provided.
Still, he was disguised as Alsha anyway. As long as he was not wearing his own face, it did not really matter.
The little incident did not embarrass Matthew much.
With