Bambi and the Duke

Vivian couldn’t stop gawking at the clothes in this particular store. Every one of the clothes was made up of expensive fabric and mostly silk that felt soft on the skin. Having heard about the dressmaker before, she avoided touching any of the clothes and kept her hand to herself. The white was indeed something that suited Leonard. Though she would have gone with red too, remembering what Eleanor had said about her matching outfits with Leo, she decided to pick the white silk shirt for him which was what Nicholas had suggested.

Lord Nicholas himself took his time in running his hands across the clothes, making the workers in there work doubt the time as he shifted from one shirt to another unless it was something that caught his eye. Every once in a while the female workers would eye both the men making Vivian think that if they were to ask them for blood the women would happily bring their neck forward as an offer to take.

There was one very pretty worker who eyed Leonard, asking him what else he was looking for and assisting him. Vivian stood with her arms crossed silently looking at them. The girl was pretty, her hair tied up in a bun and her cheeks rosier than her own, she couldn’t deny she was quite a looker who might have been hired to bring in more male customers into the shop. She was well spoken, her eyes hazel in colour.

The most amount of stares she had seen directed towards Leonard had always been around the rare soiree which she was mostly oblivious too. Even the time when they had last time walked down the valley she hadn’t noticed. A feeling of jealousy rose in her chest when the female worker touched Leo’s shoulder to grasp the length and the coats fitting. She tried to look away, looking at Nicholas who had been swarmed with three female as they tried to please him.

Internally she sighed when the emotion began to churn in her chest. As if brewing the feeling of anxiety which she hadn’t felt before. Vivian hadn’t felt it much before because of the fact that Leonard had always been in her sight, always around her and filling up space. The last time she had been unsure of what relationship both Leonard and his second cousin shared.

She knew Leonard loved her, yet why was it that another woman’s attention directed toward him didn’t settle well with her? They were married and she was his wife and he, her husband. Leonard was a handsome man, anyone could tell from a far distance without looking into his eyes that he belonged to the elite society.

The more she saw the woman smile and interact with the aloof Leo, the more her heart sank. Her face dulled down and she turned her face away from him to put her concentration on the clothes that were placed in the open. Similar to how the shop kept female workers to get the male customers attention, there were a few male workers who used their sweet tongue to get the ladies to buy things from the store.

”Excuse me, milady. Is there something you would like to see?” asked a male worker who had seen the lady dilly dally around the dresses.

Vivian who had been keenly looking at the designs turned to her right to find a good looking vampire talking to her, with his attention placed on her, ”Ah, no thank you. I was just...seeing,” she explained to see him smile.

”Pardon me but I overheard that you bought a dress for Winter’s ball. I am sure you would like to keep another option if you were to change your mind,” the male worker might have been right but Vivian didn’t want to buy another one as the gown she had decided to wear was something Leonard had given her, ”You can continue to look while the masters are busy.”

”Okay,” instead of standing in one corner of the store, it would be better to look and pass her time and with the thought, she followed him to the opposite side of the store.

The male worker was a lowly vampire, who had nothing but sweet words at the tip of his tongue. He praised the clothes and the compatibility on her skin. Pulling one dress after another, until one particular one made her heart skip a beat. The gown was gold and white in colour, a combination which wasn’t uncommon but it stood out among the rest of the collection which she had seen. The man seeing Vivian’s reaction smiled.

”Beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked looking at her. He pushed the gown closer to where she sat so that she could touch it, ”I have an excellent inseam skirt and stockings which will go well with it. Give me a minute,” he said to go get what he was talking about.

Leonard had been getting his clothes fitted with the coat which he would be wearing for the Winter’s ball. When he turned around, Vivian was not where she last stood to look at the clothes instead his line of sight followed the voices where he came to look at one of the male workers of the shop who was talking his wife showing skirts. He pulled out a skimpy looking cloth that looked like stockings that were usually worn by women inside the gowns.

As the men hadn’t come into the store with Vivian the first time today, it was taken by everyone that the lady was an acquaintance but nothing more than that as she hadn’t come to the store to buy anything in particular on her mind. At one point his eyes narrowed when Vivian laughed softly, hiding it with a cough for something the man said, his eyes looking at his woman lovingly.

Vivian was a lovely creature who appeared to look like someone who needed to be protected but the way things were going, he didn’t like the interaction between them.

”Would you like to try the bow, Sir?” the girl who was attending him asked showing the bows as she held it in her hand.

”Hmm,” responded Leonard with no actual words. The girl’s smile faltered, unsure if the Duke had listened to what she had asked or not.

”Let me get you some more that we have,” she said with a bright voice, but Leo didn’t heed any attention to her as he had his eyes trained on the couple who were on the other side of the room. Not saying anything, he was quiet keeping his jealousy tame.

The male worker who had been talking to the lady tried to get in her good favours. Like many servants in and about the lands, the lowly beings always tried to get on the good side of the high elites in the hope of getting a better position and life. Seeing that the lady hadn’t arrived with the Lord and Duke earlier, he believed that the woman wasn’t taken due to the fact that Vivian wore her black gloves on her hands which hid the family heirloom ring which Leonard had given her. And even if the woman was taken or married, it didn’t matter as he would be able to milk her with his charms and be her side lover.

Bringing the gown to her, he placed it at the top of her, to tell, ”You should try this, milady. It would be a shame for a dress like this to not be worn like a lady as beautiful as you. Why not look at the mirror?” he suggested looking at the wall of mirror.

Vivian stepped forward and went to stand in front of the mirror but the male attendant instead of handing her the dress, he stood behind her and later placed the dress on her front as if a lover would which made her uncomfortable. Not taking more than a second to look at the mirror she turned away to maintain a good amount of distance.

”It is a beautiful gown,” she praised the dress knowing well some of the eyes that were trained on them in the room, not wanting to offend the dressmaker she praised it but also added, ”I think it would suit a vampiress much better than a human as myself.”

”You look nothing less than one,” the attendant seemed persistent in pleasing her which had turned out to become a little troublesome with the way he had put across his actions, ”I am sure Mr Kaguya would be pleased and would tell the same. Why not try it out? You can ask the Lord and Duke for their opinion.”

Wear them now? Vivian shook her head, ”I am fine, thank you,” she replied back, keeping a polite smile on her face.

One of the female attendants who had been standing nearby found Vivian to be rather pretty than the vampiress who all had the same red eyes with different shades of colour and pale skin. Being a lowly vampire, she was used to looking at the red eyes than when she saw Vivian the girl appeared different than the rest. She had been looking at her co-worker trying hard to impress the lady but in her personal opinion, the gown that was made for vampiress would suit the lady here just fine.

”Milady, you should try it,” the female attendant piped in, ”It won’t cost you money and you might not know how it would have looked on you,” Vivian gave it some thought and then sighed.

Both the men were busy and she doubted it would hamper their time of day and with that thought in mind, she took the gown along with the skirt and stockings that came with it. Most of the low-end stores had a wooden partition to part the room so that it could be used as a change of dressing area. This store being one which was fully furnished, there was a small room of its own with mirrors being placed on all the three sides leaving the door mirrorless.

Closing the door and making sure it wouldn’t open, Vivian began to remove the clothes that she wore until she was only in her underwear. With a seat that was there, she sat down and wore the stockings, following it with the skirt and then with the gown which momentarily she had to struggle to find the sleeves.

When she had been looking at the gown she hadn’t realized it but her chest showed more skin to emphasize and push her breasts out which made it look fuller in a very sexual way. Now she understood why it wouldn’t suit a human, it was very rare for a human to wear something so confident that would ooze with sex appeal.

The gown showed a lot of skin and Vivian was used to wearing dresses that usually covered her skin. It wasn’t that she wasn’t comfortable wearing them but she wasn’t used to it. Adjusting the dress as she wiggled into it and pulling the bottom on her skirt and smoothening the inlines so that it would sit right, she started pulling the strings from her back which wasn’t as many as she was used to. Like the front that showed her chest and the cleavage, her back was bare which plunged deep for her smooth white skin to be seen.

Just as she struggled with the strings, one of the female attendants came to check on her, ”Miss, would you like any help?”

Vivian replied back with, ”I am fine, thank you,” she wouldn’t want any of them seeing her like this. Though she didn’t get the strings tight, she looked at herself in the mirror where the lantern was placed above for light making her glow along with the golden gown.

The door and the curtains suddenly moved away to reveal Leonard standing there looking at her. Vivian twirled around to look at the sudden intrusion for her heart to settle down to only rise up when she saw his eyes look glassy and blank.

”Leo?” she whispered to step back further into the room when he stepped forward and closed the door, shutting the curtain close to see her stand there with both her hand in front of her chest.

Leonard had one minute been looking at the ties and bow and the next second when he looked for Vivian she had gone to the dressing room.

Not too subtle with his intentions to not be known by the staff there, he had gone to find her to only find her looking like an enchanting vixen who had stolen his heart but was also bent on stealing his soul without returning it back which he didn’t mind. But the issue was that this enchantress was going to steal many other hearts which he wasn’t too happy about. It brought a damper on his mood as he continued to gaze down at her.

Vivian looked absolutely stunning and the dress, oh sweet Lord, thought Leo to himself. It hugged her body tightly, bringing out the shape and curve to be seen which was usually hidden with a layer of clothes. Her neck looked leaner, and the collar bones visible. His eyes trailed down to look at her swollen breasts that had begun to make his slacks tighter.

”How is it?” she asked him an innocent question waiting for his opinion but everything right now had heightened Leo’s senses to reply back to her question which very slowly sank into Vivian on why he wasn’t speaking and looked at her star struck.

”It’s okay,” he responded with lack of emotion which made her heart sink. He wasn’t used to seeing her like this and it was somewhat understandable thought Vivian to herself.

Seeing him not speak, she said, ”Are you done? Give me a few minutes to change my clothes,” she went to pull the string behind her but her hand was quickly caught in Leo’s hand. A gasp escaped her lips when he turned and pushed her so that both were facing one of the mirrors.

”My sweet, Bambi,” he whispered in her voice sensually that made her body shudder deliciously, ”We might not appear as husband and wife in public...but have you forgotten you are my wife?”