Published: August 10, 2026
Even after leaving Giovanni's shop, we visited several others on foot.
Most of the shops were familiar to Lord Cyrus, so their reactions were generally favorable: "It can't be helped. We'll manage somehow too, so you do your best," that sort of thing. But at times, they treated us as if we were a nuisance and more or less shooed us away, or made sarcastic remarks like, "We common folk can only obey the lord's decision."
Even so, Lord Cyrus didn't complain once, and visited each shop in turn, explaining everything honestly.
By the time the sun was beginning to set, and we had finished touring all the stores and taking care of everything on our list, Lord Cyrus was finally able to rest. He sat down on a bench in the plaza, the shopping district's little rest area, and stretched his back with a long "Uuunn."
I bought him a drink from a street stall and handed it over.
"Good work, Lord Cyrus."
"You too, Marie. Thanks for putting up with me."
I shook my head. It was work I was involved in too, and honestly, I enjoyed hearing about things from the ground level. Maybe that was a little improper, but still.
"It really was a refreshing change of pace. Thank you very much."
"What are you talking about? That was the work part. The change of pace starts now."
Lord Cyrus stood up.
"I invited you on a date, after all."
After that, the two of us slowly walked through the market together.
Just like before, we browsed the street stalls, enjoyed a little bargaining, and bought things as we went. Last time we had mainly purchased accessories and small goods, but this time we intended to buy a lot of clothing.
Mostly wool clothes. We were going to wear them ourselves, and also give them to Anastasia so she could use them as design references.
We stopped in front of a large shop and called out to the middle-aged man at the entrance.
"Pardon the intrusion. Do you carry women's woolen clothing?"
Apparently, the shopkeeper didn't know Lord Cyrus's face. He looked us up and down with a suspicious expression, then snorted mockingly.
"Yes, but ours isn't cheap. Since you're such a handsome young man, you don't need to put on such a show in front of your lady, do you? Just be yourself."
Between the lines, he was clearly saying, "Do you even have the money? And no window shoppers." Well, how rude. That's what I thought, but Lord Cyrus just smiled.
"Not at all. I'm desperately trying to hold onto her heart. I sold off my household goods, so please pick out some clothes for her."
With that, he plopped down a bag full of gold coins. The shopkeeper nearly jumped out of his skin and rushed into the back warehouse. That, too, was a kind of merchant spirit. The two of us exchanged glances and giggled.
Lord Cyrus was not only knowledgeable about business matters, but also very fashionable by nature. When choosing gifts for me, he always looked so happy. It seemed he loved not only selecting things for himself, but also styling others.
He immediately picked up several outfits himself and brought them over in front of me.
Holding the clothes up against my body, he nodded again and again.
"Nice. It suits you. This one suits you too. That one looks good as well."
"Um... shall we try them on?"
"Yes, let's. Shopkeeper, do you have a changing room? If you have these in different colors or styles, bring those too. If they feel good to wear, I want to buy them all."
"Yeees, right awaay!"
As soon as he said it, the shopkeeper ran around the store and in no time at all brought out twenty outfits exactly as requested. I took a few and headed to the fitting room.
I'm actually known for being very fast at changing clothes. I quickly changed outfits, and each time, I stepped out in front of him.
The first one I tried was an off-white tunic. There must have been some clever knitting technique used, because the hem curved into a rounded shape that was absolutely adorable. The soft texture unique to wool felt lovely against the skin, and it was light, stretchy, and incredibly comfortable.
"Yes, it suits you very well. That's definitely a buy."