Saina did not waste a single word. She casually pressed down with her wrist, and the iron bar bent directly into an outrageous folded shape.
Then she seized both ends in a death grip, exerted force outward and yanked hard. The ruined iron bar was forcibly pulled straight again.
"What did you just say was wrong with how I sit?" Saina tilted her head and stared at the etiquette officer.
The old woman's hardwood teaching cane clattered onto the bluestone slabs. The wrinkles on her old face were scared flat.
"Exceptionally martial!" The old woman's knees went weak, and she nearly dropped straight to her knees in the mud. "This unconventional sitting posture is brimming with wild vitality! It is simply the absolute benchmark for a new generation of noblewomen in the Orenda Kingdom! Sit however you please—even if you squat on the table gnawing on a giant bone, that would still be the very height of elegance!"
The old woman's attitude took a sharp turn. She did not even want the cane on the ground anymore, hurrying over to pick up the teapot and bowing and scraping as she poured Saina tea. Her fawning, doglike manner was even more outrageous than the manor servants'.
Su Li nearly laughed aloud as he reclined in his chair. Those old hands in the royal capital truly were masters at trimming their sails to the wind.
In the afternoon, the royal capital's finest female tailor entered the western courtyard with more than a dozen nimble-fingered female apprentices.
Behind them, over a dozen sword-bearing guards carried armful after armful of precious silk and lace fabric.
The three women were to have their measurements taken in the spacious hall.
Elena changed into an extremely thin silk nightgown. The old tailor held a soft measuring tape