Chapter 106 - Dropped Standards

Richard shook his head as he saw Hazel still chuckling over the matter at the palace. Her whole face had turned red and tears started to form in the corner of her eyes.

"Did you see their face?" she asked in between her giggles as she remembered the ashen faces of the maids who did not dare to take a step out of the palace. In the end they have to be dragged towards the staff carriage.

"Mmm, you scared them well!" he replied with an amused face. Everyone had felt scared of his presence since that start, so he never felt that it was a matter of amusement but the girl in front of him seemed to be enjoying it a lot.

She beamed when she heard him complimenting her. Her eyes shone as she sat straighter and then smirked.

"Of course, I am good at acting. I do not think they would have the courage to spy on us now. But we still need to be alert!" she replied as her face turned a bit grim with the last line.

"Hmm, you should have a few loyal servants around you to keep an eye on those suspicious ones or you would be tried if you try to deal with every matter by yourself." she nodded as she understood this point too. But except Elie, there was no one she could trust.

Though many of them had looked at her with sympathy when she had been injured, all of them did nothing in both lives when she had been killed by her family!

"I know, but I do not have anyone else whom I can trust. For money or for living peacefully, they will choose their family in the end!" her eyes hardened and the smile vanished from her face when she said so as if it was never there in the first place.

"If you do not mind, I can ask one of my men to come and serve you as your knight! Just in case, I am not with you, he will take care of your safety and follow your every command!" his mind already started filtering the name of the wolves, he could ask to serve her.

"But you will always be here. Where will you go?" his mind turned blank in between the rummaging of the names when he heard the girl.

"......." his eyes flickered and a strange light could be seen passing though it when he looked at her with intense gaze.

"But I will go with your every decision, so do as you see fit!" she replied as she adjusted in her seat and looked at him with her bright green eyes.

Did she even realise how much she had started trusting him in these years? It was only a few days later that she used to look at him with alert eyes and did not trust his single word. 

Now she was ready to follow his words with closed eyes. What a change! Yet the feeling filled his heart with strange emotions.

"Mmmm" was all he said as he looked out of the window while his mind was lost in the thought of her said words.

"My lord, we are here!" Soon the carriage halted in front of a large building. 

There was hardly any crowd around it though the roads were bustling, the shop seemed to be an exception. 

Anyone would think that the shop was not popular enough, but it was completely opposite. The shop was one of the most popular and most expensive one so not many dared to enter it without having enough budget to buy a dress!

Only higher nobles like the duke and royal family buy dresses from this building. Even the cheapest dress of this building would cost a fortune to them.

Hazel never had the desire to wear such expensive dresses and flaunt but she wanted to see the blood coming out from the eyes of Amelia and having a mini heart attack to her father. So she entered nonchalantly with a big smile on her face.

"Welcome, my lady." Although the staff greeted her in a polite tone, their eyes were already on their clothes and accessories as if analysing whether they deserved to be shown a few dresses or not.

When they looked at the clothes of the lady, their faces turned sour and were about to deny that they were not taking customers at this moment when they noticed Richard entering the shop behind her.

"...." though he was looking at simple clothes with a plain black suit and while shirt but they knew better that it was the finest Glaudia silk that was refined manually and had only one tone in 5 years. It was the most expensive cloth that even a metre of it would cost a treasure. People find it hard to even have a handkerchief.

"My lord, my lady. How may we help you?" a flattering smile formed on their lips when they evaluated the cost of his clothing.

Their whole attention was on the man even when hazel was one to enter first. Just by standing there, his aura was excluding a regal and elegant vibes and they dare not take him lightly even if they knew he was not from the royal family. 

They had their fair share of experience that there were many convoys that keep visiting the royal family and have a lot of power in their hands.

Richard passed a glance at the two girls who were looking at him with starry eyes and replied nonchalantly, 

"I want the best dresses of boutique for my wife.'' Only then did they notice that both of them were wearing couple rings that were looking quite strange.

Since these are not ordinary rings they did not take it as a couple at first glance.

They nodded and bowed at Hazel with respect.

"Please come in, my lady." Hazel could see the difference in their behaviour but did not mind it as she knew that he looked royal in comparison to her.

The staff took them in and offered them seats.

"Please have a seat, my lord, my lady." Hazel felt that it was more of a luxurious inn than a shop with wide plush leather seats and private cabins. 

Once they were seated, a lot of exquisite snacks were served on the table and two girls stood on either side to serve them.

Then a large trolley was brought that had 5 dresses and two girls took out each dress one by one and presented it in front of the couple.

"This is our latest collection. The dresses were made specifically keeping winter in mind. 

The red dress is made up of pure Alphonia silk that is only found in the Alienore kingdom. It is warm enough to not feel even a bit cold.`` She displayed a red dress that was rather simple. It only has a big ruby on its waist area with a small pearl chain, the rest of the dress is plain and dull.

"This one is for the new brides. It had the work of pure gold threat and dust of rare gemstones. Though the dress is a bit heavy it had several layers to give warmth and elegance both to the lady.`` The dress was white with golden thread work all over it and small pieces of gems were embroidered on it.

"And this…" each dress was one after one luxurious and expensive but Hazel did not feel that any of them would be enough to break the pride of her family. 

"Did you not like the dresses, my lady?" sensing the blank gazes of the hazel, the maids tilted their head and looked at her with confusion. 

They were habitual of looking at admiring and worshipping eyes when they show their best dresses, even if the buyer was a royal family yet the girl did not even give a second look to them that confused them.

"Oh! The dresses were nice. But I want a better dress that would be a bit expensive!" she replied and they blinked.

"......" a bit expensive! Was she insulting them? They were right. The girl was not worth their time and efforts. The eyes of the girl filled with disdain when they heard hazel but looking at the man beside her, they did not dare to insult her.

Though cold, they both still talked to her with respect, "my lady, each of these dresses cost around 10,000 gold coins more or less!" As expected the girl did not know anything when they felt her pupil widened and her lips parting in surprise.

Had she thought that the shop would sell cheap clothes like she was wearing one. What a waste of their time and efforts!

Hmph!

"This would happen if you let anyone enter the boutique. I wonder since when had the standards of the shop fallen this much? Now I will even feel embarrassed about bringing my friends here!"

"........."