❦❦❦
YUURI’S infuriated shrieks echoed all over the manor’s guest room.
“You liar! You didn’t say anything about this! I am an adult woman!”
Ernest stood just outside the door, trying to calm Yuuri’s rage, or at the very least, prevent her from fleeing.
“It’s all right. It’ll look perfect on you. You’ll be the cutest—nay, the best looking boy around! You really will be cute in that attire, I guarantee it.”
“......”
“What a horrid thing to say to a lady! Your parents would be ashamed!”
This time it was Tarrah berating Ernest in Yuuri’s stead.
If it were up to him, Ernest would have absolutely preferred Yuuri in a stunning dress. His desire for normalcy paled in comparison to hers.
“I...c-can’t...breathe!”
“Miss Yuuri, please forgive me! Please bear with it a little longer!”
In order to make Yuuri look more like a boy, they needed to bind her breasts with cotton wraps and pad her height a bit. Just imagining what was happening on the other side of that door made the corners of Ernest’s mouth twitch up.
“I bet you’ll be the cutest page there is! Your master’ll be pleased!”
Ernest opened the door in anticipation. Yuuri stood in her boy disguise, trembling in front of the mirror. The blouse trimmed with lace, the brass-buttoned vest, the culottes...and those long legs stretching out from beneath. Her hair had been plaited into a braid, with ribbon swaying from the ends.
“Miss Yuuri, you’re so lovely. You’re a convincing boy, from your head to your toes.”
“You seem more excited about this than the dress you gave me,” Yuuri intoned, her anger having subsided, leaving her eyes lifeless like a dead fish.
✦ ✦ ✦
A page was a young servant tasked with assisting a nobleman and carrying their belongings. Many were expected to reflect the tastes of their lords, and so pages from foreign lands had become increasingly common.
Many of the members of the gentlemen’s club brought their own attending pages and servants. Thus, Ernest thought this would be the best way to sneak Yuuri into the club.
The braid emulated a style he’d seen on an official from Xingka. Most Hylantians wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between someone from Xingka and someone from Hinomoto anyway. At any rate, she looked the part of a page from the East.
“You deceived me,” she hissed.
The problem now was that, girl or boy, Yuuri was no longer a child. She was a nineteen-year-old woman. It was only natural that she would be furious.
“Now, now, I did say I would have everything you needed. I didn’t say anything about it being a dress. If that is your wish, then I can take you to all the fancy parties your heart desires!”
“What my heart desires is to go home!”
“Miss Yuuri, if you help me, we can finish this whole matter up right away. And I will reward you handsomely for your assistance!”
Yuuri couldn’t hide her reaction when the word “reward” was brought up. After hesitating for a long moment, she found she could not avoid the temptation.
“Just this once, all right...?”
She decided this was her repentance for taking his blood.
But Ernest would have given her his blood without anything in trade. Their relationship had taken on a different shape from before. She liked their prior arrangement of witch and client though. It was simpler. So she willingly took on this foolish errand.
“I promise. Ah yes, and since you will be serving as my page, I will need you to refer to me as ‘master,’ got it?”
“M-M-Ma-Mas...te...?” she bit her tongue while trying to get the word out.
It was, after all, what Tarrah called Ernest. But coming from Yuuri, it sounded less like a servant and more like a subservient wife. Her face flushed scarlet.
“You can’t make any mistakes when we’re really there. So you’d better practice now.”
“No! I’ll say it when I have to.”
Ernest and Tarrah then set to work teaching Yuuri the functions of a page.
With his deep connections to Watoh Company, no one would be suspicious of Ernest having a page from the East. And bringing along a new boy would be perceived as the result of previously failed pageships. Noblemen tended to swap out servants as much as clothes.
It was a good thing Yuuri didn’t notice how much Ernest was enjoying having her tie his tie or put on his jacket like a new bride, or she might have fled.