Chapter 211: Clueless and stupid.
Everyone stopped what they were doing. Their eyes fell on Sienna, narrowed or wide, in confusion.
Lina squealed like an excited rat, and she raced to grab her phone. "Hold that position, Sienna. Hold it. This is a royal command."
Sienna did not indulge her, but rather lowered her hand. "Young royal lady, the top half of your dress is already falling. Can someone first explain to me why everyone is suddenly unbuttoning?" She looked at Serenya, the only other sane person in the bridal shop.
Serenya gracefully took a sit on a large white couch. "Right, humans don’t often shop in exclusive beast men shops like this one." She patted the spot next to her. "Join me Sienna, I will explain. Beast men are not as touchy when it comes to nakedness as you humans. It doesn’t mean we run around showing each other our privates all the time. We are a civilized race now.
Shops like this, that cater to exclusive clientele do whatever it takes to maximize the comfort of the client. So, if the client needs to be fully naked before trying on a dress they paid for, the attendants will do the same, to make the client feel at ease."
She said it as if it was normal, and the attendants looked on with smiles, as if this was just another Sunday at work.
As Sienna settled next to the queen, she couldn’t hide the half-judgement, half-distress in her eyes. "One, that is crazy and two, I don’t want to look at naked women. If Lina wants to flaunt her body, she can do so but everyone else, keep your clothes on or I am gone. I have a lot to do after all. A sick cub, laws to amend, a saboteur to catch."
"You are no fun." Lina declared, shrugging off the rest of her dress. "But I don’t want you to leave, so stay. I need someone to prove my point that I need a purple pearl bracelet to go with this dress." She stood confidently in total nakedness as the attendants draped her in the gown.
Sienna couldn’t help thinking of how heavy it look. It was not silk, the material was thicker, but still had the look of silk.
Lina twirled, her confidence radiating. "Isn’t it gorgeous? My waist looks twice smaller, doesn’t it? I have been on a diet for a month to get this look. Oh, you should have seen Danny Cranstone on her wedding, her back looked bigger and her waist had gained three whole inches. I was kind enough to point it out, but some of our friends said it was not appropriate." She looked at Sienna. "Was it really inappropriate?"
"Yes." Sienna in utter distress for this Danny, she had never met. "You probably ruined her day because she spent all of it worried about her appearance."
"I said the same thing." Serenya muttered. She also recalled how Lina’s mother had quickly come over to express her own distress because her daughter had missed a meal, sulking, as a result of that event.
Sienna didn’t expect much understanding from Lina. The young woman was so out of touch with the rest of the world. But, she didn’t expect Lina’s next blunt statement. "If she didn’t to be called fat, she should have laid off fatty meat towards her wedding. I am not to blame if I tell the truth as I see it. This reminds me of my friend Faith’s marriage. Actually...she is more of a servant than a friend."
"Faith is married to your uncle, stop calling her a servant!" Serenya warned.
Lina snorted. "Once my maid, always my maid. She climbed into my uncles bed two days after his wife died, taking advantage of his drunken state to defile his body. And then, she used that to demand for marriage. She thought marrying into our family meant instant prestige and we would be on the same footing. But now, she spends her days cleaning stables. My uncle married her to punish her. The other day, I went by their home to visit my cousins and noticed she had missed a spot while cleaning, so I pointed it out and she was told to clean the stables again, from the entrance to the exit. I was being kind. But she told aunt Jasmine that I was being mean. How was that mean?"
Sienna blinked. The attendants exchanged glances which they tried to hide, the queen shook her head. But Lina prattled on, oblivious.
As the bodice was adjusted, she didn’t even stop to catch her breath. "Do you know why Lord Drexler, the deer lord married three sisters at once last month? It was because he could not decide which one had the better ankles. I don’t know why he failed to make a choice, I saw those ankles and let me just say I would rather become a monk than marry those sisters."
Sienna grimaced and whispered to the queen. "Does she ever shut up?"
The queen replied with a tired smile, "Yes. There is medicine that is put in her food daily to make her vocal cords itchy when she over talks. It forces her to control herself. Not my idea, it was all my husband’s doing. But Lina has been eating less lately so she is very active vocally."
"I suggest you start pouring that medicine into her mouth while she is sleeping." Sienna whispered. "Does she even hear herself? Is she simply clueless or just a natural mean girl?"
Serenya laughed. "Clueless is more like it. She doesn’t set out to be unkind, truly, and I am not saying this because she is family to me. Lina is just..."
"Stupid?" Sienna phrased it as a question. "Lacking emotional intelligence and common sense. If the royal family is filled with people like her, then I am afraid for myself because my pan is going to have many targets. I can’t stand stupid people Serenya, I am allergic to them."
The queen coughed into her hand, torn between amusement and horror. "Then I suggest you don’t attend Lina’s wedding."
Lina struck a pose, hands on her waist. "Serenya, you may be a rare beauty but I am undoubtedly the jewel of the family. Look at me! This dress was made for my figure." She looked at Sienna and said casually, "You are the most inspiring woman I have ever met, so proud while carrying around a belly that giggles when you laugh. One of your thighs is enough to split my dress apart. Don’t you agree bestie?"
Sienna raised her brows. "Can I hit her now, Serenya?"
The queen stifled a laugh, covering it with a delicate cough. "Not yet. She has not tried on her shoes or jewelry. We still have a long way to go."
Sienna slid down, like a sad worm. "This has to be Cadelaria’s plot somehow." She groaned. This kind of annoyance could not have been conjured up by anyone else.
When would it end?
