ALL NOVEL 20. On Clothing
I remembered that when Caruncle was taken to Mr. Lopez’s mansion he was unconscious, but now that he was awake, he finally got to see the landscape from the city of Vadorreal to the outskirts of the state. Let me explain a bit about how things were located and all that. So, there was the Basilian Empire, we didn’t live there, so don’t worry about that. We all were in the country of Luciana, which was a colony of the Empire for the last 200 years since conquerors from the old continent came here. Anyway, there was the main capital, Vadorreal, located at the center of the country itself, and around it there were several countryside… communities? Villages? Rural states? Well, it doesn't matter. Custodio and Sebastian lived around 8 to 10 hours away from the main city taking a carriage, Lopez lived 12 hours away. Yes, we had never been that far away from home, I guess.
The road to Sebastian’s manor was, thankfully, different to the one we had taken when Caruncle tried to escape with the woman he had met, they had left south, but Sebastian and the others lived north of the city. The landscape was quite beautiful too by the way, it was all covered in plain, green grass, but it was always so cold and filled with fog to the point of looking enchanted. There was a train railway being built the last 10 years, it was apparently almost complete, or so they said.
“We definitely need a house in the city, I don’t think it’s really convenient to make the trip from the city to the house every time.” I wrote on a piece of paper.
“Well, that’s what I have said, you said we were going to make only a single visit, so I didn’t make any arrangements for other residences in the area.” Sebastian said apologetically.
“Yes, and I apologize. I didn’t think it would be necessary to stay, but I have changed my mind. Do you think you can prepare something so we can go and live in the city in 2 months or so?” I tried writing as little as possible since writing in a moving carriage was a pain in the ass, but I felt ashamed of my silliness, I wanted to act nice.
“I think it can be done.”
“You have a lot of funds on your behalf, right?”
“Ah! Well, yes, I do. Why do you ask, miss?”
“Make sure to get us a pretty house, nothing too ostentatious, but at least classy enough.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Sebastian’s father had been a very successful merchant when he had been alive. I wasn’t really sure what he sold though, since Sebastian always mentioned something different. I have heard about sugar, coffee and… get this, rubber. As long as I could use his funds, things would be relatively feasible.
We entered and I walked up to the balcony on the second floor. I had already healed but I didn’t want to spend any time in the sunlight while I had the appointment with the physician. I sat on a rocking chair and looked at the garden. The garden had white, pink, and red roses. Bellflowers, lollipop plants, orchids and anthuriums. A bit of an odd ensemble, but nevertheless quite the colorful one.
“Miss Elena? This letter is for you.” One of the younger maids approached me with an envelope in her hand. She had startled me and when she saw my reaction, she laughed, I nodded and took the thing. I looked at the envelope, it was from Custodio.
I raised my head alarmed, I was about to take the maid by the arms and try to somehow ask her who had delivered the thing to the house and if she had told them I was there, but when I looked she had already left.
“That idiot!” I thought. I opened the letter and read it a few times, it said the following:
“Miss Elena, you are the woman that I have accepted as my daughter. I apologize for not coming to see you directly, but I sense that at this moment you would rather not see me, and the emotion and joy I feel right now is making it hard for me to contain myself, this letter shall suffice for now. When we first met the situations we were forced into didn’t allow us to know each other properly. You couldn’t trust me, and I couldn’t trust you either. Naturally you will understand if I want to keep to myself the number of people that have gone through the procedure in that body, but trust me when I say there has been a lot. When the person in Elena’s body wakes up, it is a very arduous adjusting process, just like it is for you, it is for me, even Mortimer. I give all my love, all my devotion to the people who take the mantle of Elena, for I consider myself a very caring father. Sadly, this is not something that is easily reciprocated. Most people do not accept their new life or their new place, and they turn against me or simply reject me, which hurts me deeply. Now, while there have been a few people who have accepted to become part of my family, they are simply… incomplete.
Let me explain, by incomplete I mean that they lack true and distinct will, they are, at the end of the day, no more than walking corpses to me. They are always disposed to playing the part of my daughter to me and do not get on my nerves, but they do not have any ambition or anything they feel they want to live for. That is why Mortimer and I have come with the ultimate test of will. In this test, I turn myself temporarily into a villain and I mention the proposal of marriage. As you might know, this proposal is rather shocking and vulgar, it would make everyone’s skin crawl as soon as they heard it. This is something that at the very least, you would want to avoid or escape, this is the basis of our own test. After the donors have been with us for some time, we take them with us to the Island of the Morning Star, and they are given an opportunity to escape. If they do not escape and surrender themselves to their own luck, it means to us that even in the most dire of circumstances, they do not have anything to live for, and after this, they lose the right to keep me as their parent. This, Miss Elena, is the test you just went through, this test that you, and I say this with all the happiness in the world, have successfully passed, and this is the test that finally wins your place for the rest of time as my one and only daughter. Not my wife, not my fiance or anything of the sort, my daughter, and only that.
The light that shines inside you, that light that helped you take the reigns of your own self and helped you go pass your own adversity, that light is what I am looking for, it is the light that I have lost since so long ago when I first lost Elena, the first Elena, and the light that I want to see more of. I know that this revelation might upset you, but right now I want to assure you that you can count with me and Mortimer as part of your family, forever and always. Please, come home.”
“He’s an absolute moron!” I huffed in annoyance, huffed? Is that the right word? Whatever, Custodio could probably be the biggest moron in the history of all morons, ever, more than Caruncle, more than me or anyone else. He was incredibly stupid.
“Miss Elena? Are you alright?” Sebastian appeared out of nowhere and I got startled again, I don’t know, I was usually on the edge, so it happened frequently, sometimes I thought people would just creep towards me on purpose. I handed him the letter.
“I see…” He looked attentively at the letter for several minutes and finally sat at my side on a couch leaning against the wall.
I wasn’t going to think about it any further, not for a while, it wasn’t worth my attention.
***
The reason I had asked Sebastian to wait 2 months to get us a place to stay in the city was because I wanted us to learn sign language so I could properly communicate with him without having to rely on paper all the time. That time ended up extending into 4 months because there were days where Caruncle overwhelmed me and I ended up not doing anything, he would just look at the sky and the garden and feel all mopey and sad, it was a real chore. If we made the math, it had been, 6 months since I was taken by Custodio, one month since I went to Sebastian’s house and visited the city, and then 4 months learning sign language and any other subject matter that I felt would help me out, history, arts, politics, etiquette and other crap like that. I just wanted to occupy my mind while I was unable to concentrate on anything else.
There were days where I abandoned the wheel from the ship. Not because Caruncle was being miserable, but because the maids were being annoying. When people got annoying I just left because I usually never felt in the mood to deal with it. That time the maids were bustling around Elena while holding delicate fabrics—silks and satins that shimmered in the light. The pale lights of the house annoyed me, they were too weak to be actually useful. Caruncle’s gaze flitted nervously toward the full-length mirror that stood waiting in the corner, the reflection it promised both tantalizing and terrifying. It was funny to see him squirm around in Elena’s body, he was ashamed to see her in the mirror and blushed frequently, he was ashamed, so ashamed that it was just delightful.
“Hold still, Miss Elena,” murmured one of the maids as she lifted a corset, her voice kind but practiced, as if she had dressed a thousand women before. To Elena, this was new, almost sacred. He breathed in deeply as the corset was laced around Elena’s waist, the stays tightening, pulling her closer to a form she had longed to inhabit.
“A form she longed to inhabit? Really? Is that what you are thinking about Caruncle? Can you be even more… you know what, nevermind.” I could feel the butterflies as he detailed her waist and hips, everytime it happened I just rolled up my eyes. “You have to make a mountain out of a molehill, every time.”
The fabric of the corset, embroidered with roses, pressed snugly against her skin, a sensation both foreign and welcome. He felt her posture adjust, her shoulders pulling back slightly as if her body was reshaping itself to match the woman in the mirror.
“How does it feel, Miss?” asked the youngest maid, her hands smoothing out the layers of petticoats that would give the dress its shape.
Caruncle shrugged. The maids chuckled their hands moving quickly, folding and pinning the layers of cream-colored skirts that swirled around Elena's legs.
A third maid approached with the dress itself—a deep burgundy gown, rich and opulent. The neckline was modest but elegant, somehow, it was trimmed with lace that framed her collarbones, a delicate touch that made Caruncle’s heart flutter. They lifted the gown over her head, settling it onto her frame with precision, the fabric sliding against Elena’s skin like water.
Once the dress was on, they stepped back, allowing her a moment to feel the weight of it, to sense how it draped over her.
Caruncle stood, almost too afraid to move, as the maids adjusted the gown—smoothing a wrinkle here, tightening a seam there. Her breath caught when they placed a small, silver mirror in her hands, urging her to look at her reflection. But Caruncle hesitated. What if she wasn’t ready to see?
“It’s been 11 months for fuck’s sake!” I yelled.
“Your hair, Miss,” one of the maids murmured, finally breaking her from the trance. Her hands moved swiftly, pulling the waves of Elena’s hair into a loose but elegant chignon at the nape of her neck, leaving a few curls to frame her face. When the maid was finished, she stepped back, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
“Now, Miss Elena,” she said, her tone gentle yet encouraging, “Look.”
Elena exhaled slowly, her fingers trembling slightly as she lifted the mirror. The woman who stared back at her was someone familiar (she had seen her for quite a while already, come on), yet unfamiliar at the same time.
“Let’s face it, Caruncle, it isn’t you, it’s not you, because we know what you are, what you really look like.” I said, he didn’t seem to listen butI thought he probably agreed with my notion. Elena’s hair was swept up, elegant and poised. The burgundy gown hugged her frame, accentuating her curves in a way that made her feel undeniably feminine, the fabric whispering with every small shift of her body.
She blinked, unsure of how to process the emotions swelling within her chest. The corset cinching her waist, the gown flowing around her—it was not merely clothing, for her it was armor, a shield that gave her strength. It was as though the dress itself acknowledged her, affirmed her, declared her a woman. Beautiful, beautiful like no other, beautiful like no other woman she had ever seen.
I was getting dizzy, if I kept reading Caruncle’s tons of endless cheese I would end up throwing up, I didn’t know how, but I was going to throw up.
One of the maids, noticing Elena’s expression, stepped forward and adjusted the lace at the neckline with delicate care. “You look beautiful, Miss Elena,” she said softly, and this time, the words struck deep.
Elena lowered the mirror, a small smile tugging at her lips. She tried to whisper a thank you, but as always, she failed. I was waiting for her to run away in shame so I could laugh, but she was paralyzed in her place. She turned towards the full-length mirror across the room. This time, when she gazed at her reflection.
The woman standing in the mirror was real. He looked at every fabric, every fold of the gown, and every delicate wave of her hair. Caruncle swore to himself that he would do his best to make his lady happy.
“You are a creep, dude.” I chuckled awkwardly as I scratched my forehead, I was the one feeling embarrassed.
“Oh, Miss Elena,” one of the maids said, her voice dropping into a murmur as she stepped closer, straightening the lace on Elena’s sleeve. Her fingers brushed lightly against Elena’s arm. “You’re going to drive them all mad once you go to live in the city, you know. A vision like you…”
Elena’s heart skipped, her lips parting slightly. She glanced away, trying to hide the warmth creeping up her neck. What was going on?
“You’ll be the envy of every woman there,” the other maids looked at the one close to her, a bit weirded out. Her eyes twinkled as she bent to adjust the hem of Elena’s gown. She lingered just a second longer than required, her fingers brushing the delicate fabric as if it were something precious. “And not just the men, if I may be so bold.” What the hell was going on with that maid? I was starting to panic.
Caruncle blinked, her breath catching in her throat. She turned her head slightly, catching the maid’s gaze in the mirror. The room fell into a hush, the air heavy with a tension that was palpable. Elena swallowed, her throat dry as her eyes darted between the maid and her. Her smile was innocent, playful—but there was something more behind them. I didn’t like the look of it one bit.
Elena shook her head slightly, trying to laugh off the moment, but the maid only pressed closer, their eyes dancing with unspoken affection. “You’re far too modest, Miss,” she said, her fingers lightly brushing Elena’s collar as she straightened the lace. “Don’t you think it’s time to accept just how captivating you are?” No way dude, no way, what the fuck, what the fucking fuck. I was about to pass out, that maid was insane!
The words hung in the air, and for a moment, Elena’s heart pounded loudly in her ears. I could swear for my life that the look on her eyes, her look in her eyes was genuine, a moment of endless beauty that seemed to stretch for an eternity, the maid's eyes brightened as she looked at her, and in that moment, that single moment alone, nothing else mattered. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but naturally, the words failed her. Instead, I took over and let out a soft, breathless chuckle, shaking our head as if to dismiss her teasing. I lifted her hand in a gentle gesture, signaling for everyone to ease off, though Caruncle’s blush betrayed my embarrassment. The maids broke in and endless laughter. My eyes widened in surprise, my breath catching in her chest relieved that I had managed to stop their teasing. For a moment, I was utterly still, unsure whether to laugh or frown.
“You people are a bunch of clowns.” I thought. God, they were incredibly annoying, so fucking annoying. I let out a silent laugh, the corners of Elena’s lips curling upward as I tilted her head ever so slightly in mock exasperation. I gestured toward the door, a motion that said somewhat “Enough of this nonsense” or something like that.
The maids, grinning from ear to ear, curtsied with exaggerated formality. “As you wish, Miss Elena,” one of them said, her voice still laced with laughter. I forced a smile and left the body while Elena's heart was still fluttering, Caruncle turned back toward the mirror, finally alone. She smoothed the fabric of the gown, feeling the lingering warmth on it and butterflies inside her stomach.
“Okay, from now on, we are banning dresses.” I said.