Chapter 49 Ari's Turn
By the end of the session, Aria ended up with 3 different outfits.
The first was Milly's prized maid outfit which brought out all of Aria's latent cuteness.
The second was Milly's take on a kimono. It was shortened to mid-thigh level and was baggier in the cut. It was Milly's way of adding an element of cuteness to the kimono design without taking anything away. To match Ari and Earl, the kimono was black in colour with subtle pink flowers. The black colour complimented her dark skin well and contrasted her light hair.
The last was a slight variation of the maid outfit. The skirt length was longer on this one for a more conservative approach and the dress became sleeveless. Overall, this one gave a more mature vibe.
On top of the outfits, Aria received an equal amount of undergarments. They were another one of Milly's speciality.
They were all camisoles with matching panties like before, but with a different pattern in the lace and colour. Their colours were white, black, and cream.
In this world, having a choice in one's outfit for the day was a privilege of nobility. Commoners often had around 2 sets of clothing and at most, 3.
This was because every article of clothing was handmade. Some articles even have the involvement of magic runes, like every piece of Aria's clothing. As such, the luxuriousness of Aria's outfits could be compared to that of nobility.
Even among the slaves of nobility, this would be a rare case. No one would want to spend so much money on a slave on top of the hefty sum they spent to buy the slave in the first place.
But this was not a problem for Ari, who wanted to spoil her son.
It was now her turn to be done in by Milly. Ari stood at the spot where Aria was previously dressed by Milly.
Ari had a slight smile on her face as she waited for the shop owner to act. Like with Aria, Milly took a step back to assess the customer before proceeding to bring out a rack with the items that suited the customer's needs.
"So what do you have for me?" The Court Mage asked.
"You do not suit most items in my shop. Luckily, I'm a competent a craftswoman so I have something just right for you."
Earl observed this interaction with the freshly dressed Aria by his side. Aria was wearing her newly acquired frilly french maid dress. Peeking at her from the corner of his eyes, she looked truly wonderful. The pristine whiteness of her apron highlighted how special her silver hair was.
It was one of those things where by placing something of lower quality on a higher quality object increased the impressiveness of the high-quality object. This was not to say that the pristine colour of the apron was inferior to her hair, but it simply appeared that way because of how beautiful her hair appeared from various angles.
His sneaky gaze was easily detected by her sensitive elven senses. Aria returned a puzzled look to him, in which Earl looked at her in the eyes and smiled.
Was this him treating her as an object? It did not matter. There was no need to justify his actions when he was doing what he wanted.
He took his gaze away from her sparkling yellow eyes and returned to the interaction between Milly and his mother.
Compared to how Milly was treating Aria earlier, she was obviously more reserved now.
This was not just because of Ari's status as what appeared to be a high-class lady who has the means to afford a rare slave like a Dark Elf, but it was also her temperament and projection of attitude.
When one appears to be confident, showing respect for oneself, it would oftentimes be projected and received by those around themselves. It was why those who practice self-love could often be seen taking challenges and overcoming them. Earl knew this from experience.
It was fascinating to him how the nature of humans applied to other races like demihumans as well. It showed him that when associating with other intellectual races, they were all really the same in the end. Earl concluded his monologue and went back to turning his brain off.
"What do you think of this?" Milly pulled a long dress from her rack.
It was a classic, Victorian maid dress. Extremely conservative with Milly's signature frills only appearing on the white apron.
"Oh?" Ari lifted a brow.
A Victorian maid dress was something unexpected in this world indeed. The prominent style of maid dresses in this world would be a modified French maid dress with the skirt lengthened to knee-length.
This trend could be explained by the nobles' well-known lecherous nature and the influence of the heroes of the past, who brought their culture over from their world.
"This is not to your liking?" Milly asked again. "It's popular among the noble ladies as a bedroom garment."
"My my, now I am interested." Ari's purple eyes lit up.
"Give it a try." Milly pulled onto the folding screen while thinking to herself, 'As expected, this line always work on the noble ladies.'
Behind the folding screen, Milly helped Ari untie her black yukata.
The yukata fell to the ground. Milly gawked at Ari's fully naked body, completely forgetting to question why Ari was not wearing any form of undergarment beneath.
She pulled out a three-piece garter set from the rack. It was white in colour, made with the combination of lace and frills.
"Assist me," Ari told her.
It was a way of telling Milly that she was satisfied with the garter set.
"Certainly." Milly picked up the white bra from the set and positioned herself behind Ari. "So soft! Don't these put a strain on your back, dear customer?" Milly mentioned as she finished putting the bra onto Ari.
"No, not at all. I keep my body in top conditions, you see."
"Now that you mentioned that, you are in very good shape, my dear customer! Your waist is so narrow and thin, and you have no extra fat here. I am jealous." The dogkin shop owner poked around after slipping on the panties and garter belt.