Fooling History?

After reading the letters, Altair understood why so many had arrived at once.

They had mostly received the Royal Family's message after she had already left Bexland. As soon as they returned, they had written to ask about the timing so they could confirm when classes would begin.

They had also written down when they were free.

Altair went by her memory and grouped together lessons with similar content, arranging them like this:

Monday: etiquette, clothing, jewelry...

Tuesday: dancing, music, piano...

Wednesday: painting...

The lessons were scheduled through Friday, with three or four instructors coming to teach each day.

Since they had all taken Potions that enhanced their memories, they could just speedrun the lessons.

She planned to spend Saturday at the Army Club, learning how to use firearms and practicing hand-to-hand combat, and Sunday practicing mysticism with Vivian.

After giving the letters to Hahn to send, Altair headed to Vivian's home as they had agreed.

Once she was in the carriage, Altair passed the time by meditating. She had nothing else to do and was terribly bored. After a twenty-minute ride, the carriage finally reached the address Vivian had given her: Number 3 Wellington Street, West Borough.

Looking at the villa before her, Altair's first thought was, Are all Demonesses this rich?

A servant led Altair inside, where she met Vivian.

"Little Kexin, I didn't expect you to come over so soon. I guess I really am quite charming."

At Vivian's teasing, Altair replied, "Of course. You're the only person who could make me drop everything I'm doing."

Hearing that, Vivian covered her mouth and giggled. "Then should I give you a warm hug?"

Altair scooped Vivian up in a princess carry and took her over to the sofa, where she sat down.

"You're going to get yourself killed!"

Looking at Vivian in her arms, Altair said, "Didn't you just say you'd give me a warm hug?"

Fortunately, Altair had taken a Potion that enhanced her memory. It helped her recall all sorts of tricks from her previous life, enough to handle Vivian. She managed to charm her until Vivian's eyes crinkled with delight.

As for what it was like to flirt with a Demoness...

All I can say is, "The person before me was right about that." I hadn't experienced it properly yet, but even just holding her was hard to describe.

After a round of pleasantries, Vivian led Altair into a room and pointed to five huge trunks.

"These are the clothes I asked you to take back. Make sure you get them home safely, and don't do anything naughty, okay?"

Looking at the five trunks Vivian had mentioned, Altair was a little dumbfounded. "That many?"

"Of course. These are only some of my clothes for this season. Autumn's almost here, and I'll need to change again soon. But those clothes aren't ready yet, so this is all I have for now."

Altair knew women had a lot of clothes, and she had been prepared when she heard she would be moving some. That was why she had brought two carriages. But now she wasn't sure even that would be enough. The five trunks were nearly two meters long and about a meter wide.

As Altair wondered whether she should hire a few more carriages, Vivian said, "Stop staring. Come with me."

Surprised by Vivian's words, Altair turned and followed her out of the room and into another.

Seeing more huge trunks, much like the ones she was supposed to take away, Altair asked curiously, "What's in these? Are they your clothes too?"

Vivian smiled. "They're clothes, but they aren't mine. These are your clothes and jewelry for this season. Your autumn clothes will be delivered to your home later."

At the news, Altair froze on the spot. She had imagined this might happen eventually, but why was it happening so soon?

Vivian spoke gently. "Don't worry. I took your feelings into account, and most of these are fairly modest. But only fairly modest."

"You'll have to face this sooner or later, so you might as well ease into it."

"Come over. I'll help you change."

Vivian's words helped Altair accept that she couldn't escape this. She followed Vivian and picked out a random set of "normal clothes" that didn't show too much skin.

"Come on, take your clothes off. I'll help you change. You can't put these on by yourself without a few people helping you."

At Vivian's words, Altair took off her outerwear and started putting on her "new clothes." With Vivian's help, she successfully got dressed.

Lord of the Mysteries was set in the Victorian era, when women inevitably had to wear corsets and crinolines. Crinolines weren't essential anymore, but corsets were.

And that construction of Roselle's. What a bastard! He hadn't properly pushed industrialization forward, but he'd gone and made such an art out of stockings and high heels!

Vivian looked at her finished handiwork and said, "Mm, now your charming figure can finally shine. Remember to grow your hair out. It'd be a shame not to let those lovely golden locks grow long. For now, we'll just have to make up for it with a Top Hat..."

Altair felt like a doll, as though someone were playing dress-up with her.

And she was the doll!

After changing, she looked at herself in the mirror and thought, I have to admit, I look gorgeous.

While she was distracted by that thought, Vivian reached over and touched Altair's waist. "Your waist is even slimmer than mine."

Looking at Vivian, Altair felt as if she were being teased. She reached over and touched Vivian in return, making her let out a startled cry.

Since Altair wasn't about to let herself be the only one at a disadvantage, she started teasing Vivian too.

At six in the evening, Altair left West Borough and returned to Empress Borough. She didn't stay to have dinner with Vivian.

By the time she headed home, the number of carriages accompanying her had grown to nine.

They were all passenger carriages. A single carriage could carry three of those huge trunks at best. They couldn't find any cargo carriages, so they had to use passenger ones.

The most valuable trunk went in Altair's own carriage. According to Vivian, the total value of all the clothes was less than a third of what was in that trunk.

It was filled with all kinds of precious gemstone jewelry: diamonds of every color, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and more.

At the news, Altair's first thought was, I want to give up the "arms" business. A "synthetic gem" business would make even more money.

The technology was already there. She could reproduce it in less than a month. Then she could save up a few months' worth of production and add a new vein of gems to the world.

She could stage a "Kashin Gem Mine" incident. Would that count as Fooling history?

But the arms business might help her digest her Potion, so she decided to stick with "arms" first and gems later.

When she got home that evening, she had Hahn send people to help her sort through the trunks.

She had the servants take out and organize the clothes, jewelry, and other items inside.

Her things went into her own dressing room, giving her two more dressing rooms. She also ordered them to clear out a spare room and keep it clean. Vivian's clothes would go in her room.

Once everything was taken care of, Altair changed out of her clothes and finally sat down to dinner.

Because of the corset, Altair could barely eat anything!

It was so uncomfortable. Who came up with this thing?

Even after taking the outfit off, she still felt uncomfortable.