Lady of the Lord From the East

It is not a simple matter for nobles to go abroad, especially to attend the queen's birthday party. Not only must the size of the territory be suitable, but also the team to travel, not only to protect safety, but also to reflect the noble style. , To put it bluntly, it is ostentation.

Of course, the most important thing is to prepare a birthday present for the queen.

In the past, on the birthdays of the king and queen, even if they were not qualified to participate in the banquet, nobles from all over the country needed to prepare gifts for them. The Williams family was not very prominent in the empire. It's not intimate. Every year, the king and queen will not invite their family to their birthday parties, and the standard etiquette will not be used.

But this year is different. Felix himself has been appreciated by the king at the knight stage. Coupled with the recent period of brilliance, it is very natural for the king to think of inviting him.

However, the gifts that people don't give to people before and the gifts that are given to parties at the banquet are definitely different.

If it was the king's birthday party, Felix knew how to choose gifts. When he served the king, he still knew this person's preferences very well, but Felix had little contact with the queen, so he didn't have a deep impression on her. I didn't want to think about preparing gifts for Wei Wei's unexpected woman, so I pushed this task to Wei Wei in an upright manner.

Wei Wei wanted to postpone, because she also needed to arrange a lot of things. Among them, the problem of wintering the plants in the garden was very troublesome. They left in November and came back at the end of December. Two months are exactly one year. In the coldest time of the year, if Felix hadn't indicated that they were already a fiancée, she would have to be present in the face of the king's invitation, and Wei Wei would have preferred to stay and take care of her own experimental field.

Moreover, if the gift is not chosen properly, it will affect the reputation of the Williams family. If it is too good, it will easily attract others' coveting. If it is sent on a business trip, it will be said to be disrespectful to the royal family. It is a troublesome errand no matter how you look at it.

However, Felix, on the grounds that she is the (future) hostess of the castle, said that the task of giving gifts should be her responsibility.

"And you see that I have so many things to do, I can't find time at all. Besides, do you want to see me carefully selecting gifts for other women?"

Wei Wei was really not happy.

Seeing that Felix was really busy, Wei Wei had to agree.

She called Butler Patton and Mrs. Nancy and asked them what gifts the Williams family would prepare in the past.

The housekeeper and his wife are very familiar with this, because they have experienced it before: "It's basically jewelry, some are specially made and some are handed down from the Williams family."

In fact, most ordinary nobles give gifts like this, the difference is only in the preciousness of the jewelry.

Madam Nancy told Wei Wei, "Do you want Miss Wei Wei to visit the countess' jewelry store?"

Wei Wei shook her head. Recently, every move in Sardinson County has been watched by the outside world. If you still send jewelry as before, unless you send precious jewelry that can be regarded as family heirlooms, not only will you not be able to please the king and his wife, but I am afraid they will also being spoken of badly.

After all, everyone can see that their business makes money, and there are not a few who are jealous.

But if you really want to give a very expensive gift, not only will she be missed, but she will also feel distressed.

Watching the housekeeper couple leave, Wei Wei took a sip of warm herbal tea, adjusted her posture to make herself more comfortable, and then began to think about what would be more suitable for her.

About the queen, Wei Wei had inquired about it when she asked Felix to send perfume.

The queen, Mirabelle Bordeaux, is the princess of the neighboring country Bordeaux. She is the second wife of the king. She is twenty-six years old this year, fifteen years younger than the king. She has been married to King Prady. For four years, there has been no children. If it wasn't for the former queen who left two princes so that everyone would not have to worry about the uninherited throne, I am afraid that the queen would have been forced to divorce long ago.

As for why the princess became queen at the age of twenty-two, the story is even more complicated.

In fact, both the king and the queen are second marriages. Mirabelle was sent to Prady by the king of Berdeau at the age of sixteen. Her father sent her to Prady to marry, and she married Prady's cousin, the In order to inherit his father's title of duke, his cousin entered the army to obtain military merit - the title of duke is different from other titles. On the one hand, it is a title that can only be owned by the king's younger brother. Very few will be conferred the title of commander of the army with outstanding military achievements. In order to inherit the title of duke, one must possess sufficient military merit or make great contributions to the country. If this is not possible, he will be downgraded to earl (in the 13th century, the rank of nobility was only duke, earl, and baron.) - the result is unfortunate died on the battlefield.

Twenty-one-year-old Mirabelle became a widow in this way. It was even more unfortunate that her husband had not obtained enough merits before her death to inherit the title of duke. Children, her husband's count and fief can only be handed over to others, so Princess Mirabelle not only failed to become a duchess, but even the title of countess is just a useless and false name.

This level of decline is really thorough, and Mirabelle, who has a huge gap, is of course not reconciled, so she turned around and hooked up with King Prady by her beauty.

At that time, the former queen had been sick for many years, and everyone knew that she would not live long. Originally, the ministers had already begun to discuss the candidate for the next queen. Mirabelle hooked up with the king, occupying her own identity and pillow style, and finally let the king Promised to marry the former queen after her death.

I don't know if the former queen was already running out of oil, or she was angry at the news. A few months after the rumors about the relationship between Princess Mirabelle and the king, the former queen died of illness, and then it passed. Within half a year, Mirabelle successfully became the new queen.

The period after the wedding was definitely the most beautiful time for Mirabelle, but the good times didn't last long. Mirabelle was still not pregnant after marrying King Prady, which reminded people of her previous marriage to King Hall. The younger brother was also childless, and soon the news about the queen's infertility began to circulate in the court and eventually became a well-known secret among the royal capital's aristocratic circles.

And King Prady was originally a person who likes the new and hates the old. After a few years of marriage, after the novelty disappeared, his feelings for Mirabelle were not as good as before. In addition, Mirabelle has never been pregnant, so in the past two years There are rumors that the king seems to have plans for another queen.

Although I don't know if this news is true or not, since such rumors can spread, I am afraid that the current situation of the queen is not very good.

Wei Wei heard very early that this Queen Mirabelle was very concerned about her appearance, not only because she loved beauty herself, but also because only beautiful appearance could make her retain the king's heart.

After clapping her hands, Wei Wei thought about what gift to give.

For a woman who loves beauty, what is more suitable than giving her a set of effective cosmetics.

Wei Wei got up, strode out of the room, and went to Felix to discuss the decision.

"Send cosmetics? Will it be too common? The queen probably won't be short of these things, right?"

That kind of thing that can be bought everywhere, if I really want to give it as a birthday gift, I am afraid it will anger the Queen Mirabelle, who is actually not very temperamental.

He thought that Wei Wei couldn't think of any good ideas, so he said he wanted to send this, and persuaded: "It's really not possible, let's send jewelry, plus a whole set of essential oils, I think Her Royal Highness will like it too."

"Of course it's not the toxic cosmetics sold outside that are bad for your health." Wei Wei rolled his eyes at him, and didn't expect him to understand the importance of cosmetics to women—that's okay—but asked him a question: "Last time Did you see my makeup at the prom?"

Speaking of the last dance, Felix immediately thought of Wei Wei's stunning outfit.

But when it comes to makeup, Felix's mind only has the whitened faces and red lips of the other noble ladies, and Wei Wei seemed to be no different at that time except that she looked a little more charming than usual, right?

In the end, he could only be uncertain: "Do you mean the flower on your forehead? It's beautifully drawn."

"No, I wore makeup at that time, but it was light makeup, you can't tell." Wei Wei muttered to herself that Felix was probably a straight male aesthetic, and explained: "My makeup is all made by myself, I promise. It is natural and unique, and the effect is many times better than those of lead powder. Since Queen Mirabelle loves beauty so much, it is impossible not to like it."

"However, what if the things you sent her are treated as ordinary cosmetics? Those things should look the same, right? If she didn't find the benefits of those things, she might be angry because of it. Although it can be explained later, one does not know the benefits. Be careful or easy to make her jealous, the queen's temper is not very good."

It's possible, Wei Wei thought.

Felix then said: "Why don't you add something and send it together, I think the essential oil is very good."

"Essential oils are too common. That's our commodity. If we can send out different varieties, it's easy to be attacked and say we're not sincere."

Wei Wei pondered for a while, then suddenly asked him, "How is the queen's usual clothing taste? Does she like to wear something simple or gorgeous?"

Felix thought for a while and said: "Gorgeous, the queen's clothes are always bright and extravagant. Her country advocates colorful matching, which is much more fancy than ours."

Wei Wei nodded and asked again, "Then do you think she would like it if I gave her a dress like Dolores?"

Dolores' dress was the one she wore to Wei Wei before, but Felix thought it was a child wearing an adult's dress.

At that time, Dolores' dress was really ugly, but Wei Wei asked a blacksmith to make three iron rings of different sizes, which were thin and not easily deformed, and then sewed them with fine linen, and then put a layer of the same material on the outside. The thin skirt was finally made into a fishbone brace similar to the modern LO girl likes to wear, and she put a set into the skirt for the little girl, and the clothes that seemed to be wearing the wrong before became very fit and good-looking.

Even Felix couldn't say that such a skirt he had never seen before was not good. On the contrary, after the skirt was propped up, the little girl looked more elegant.

"It should be. It is always known that the queen loves beauty, but we are going to leave soon, is there enough time?"

"If it's too late, I can definitely make it before departure with the help of the maids, but I am afraid that the blacksmith will have to let them help me make the iron ring for the skirt support first."

Felix had no idea about the pannier, but nodded and said, "This is fine. It won't take much time for a few blacksmiths to make one in turn."

"Then do you remember the queen's size?"

Felix didn't have much contact with the Queen Mirabelle, but he still remembered her general shape. He called a few maids and pointed out the one with the most similar height and shape to Wei Wei.

Although there is no guarantee of a 100% fit, it is almost the same as the approximate model, especially now that I have to wear winter clothes. In order to keep warm, I have to add clothes inside. It is better to make it bigger.

Wei Wei has already started preparing for winter clothes. Rather than letting the tailor do it, she prefers to do it herself. First, she can make it according to her own preferences, and secondly, she can save a lot of production costs.

So she bought a lot of woolen and cashmere woolen fabrics and various treated furs early in the morning, but because of personal preferences, both the fabrics and the furs are relatively plain colors, and the only red fabric is still ready. The pattern is ready to be cut, and the rest is obviously not in line with Queen Mirabelle's preferences.

Of course, in addition to fabrics, there are many things to prepare for making cosmetics, so although she doesn't like it very much, she still has to go out to buy it once.

After writing down everything to buy, Wei Wei called Dolores and her two maids and went out.

It has been several months since she last went to Dingle, and it has become very lively here. In addition to the people from this town, there are more caravans from all over the world and people from other villages and towns who come to work and sell things. The roads in the town have become congested, and there are more shops on the side of the road than before, and there are many stalls directly on the side of the road.

When the carriage belonging to the Felix family entered the town, it naturally attracted everyone's attention. Whether it was the style of the carriage or the family crest on it, they told them that there was probably something they had always wanted to see but never saw. Castle owner.

But those foreign businessmen did not catch up and try to sell themselves immediately, because the person sitting in the carriage at the moment may be the earl, but it may also be his family. unnecessary trouble.

They followed silently, and when they saw the carriage parked in front of the tailor's shop, they had a bottom line.

Sure enough, there were only a few female relatives who got off the carriage. The first one came out were two maids, and the other one, one big and one small. Although they couldn't see their faces, they could tell they were noble ladies just by looking at their clothes. other people.

After the girls entered the tailor's shop, the manservant sitting beside the coachman stood guard at the door. By looking at his posture, he knew that no one else was allowed to enter at this time.

A subordinate of a noble who just arrived here asked the local townspeople: "Who are those two ladies? Didn't it mean that Earl Williams isn't married yet?"

Townsman: "Your news is out of date. Lord Earl has been engaged recently. Have you seen that taller lady? She is Lord Earl's fiancée. I was fortunate enough to meet her before. She is a very outstanding person. Beauty, I heard that the wedding is being prepared."

"Is this news true?"

"Of course, the servants of the castle are doing big purchases for this these few days. Many merchants have sent their things to the castle and sold them at a good price. The lady must come here to customize a wedding dress. "

"That's a pity."

The noble subordinate from out of town shook his head regretfully. His master had previously revealed the idea of ​​marrying the Williams family. Before sending him here, he repeatedly told him to find out what Earl Williams likes. Already engaged.

The townspeople who heard his words rolled their eyes in a corner he couldn't see, saying what a pity, everyone in Sardinson County vaguely knew that the recent changes in the county were more or less related to the foreign lady, Earl Everyone couldn't be more happy that the adults could marry her.

After Wei Wei entered the tailor's shop, she found that there were still several guests here, but after seeing Wei Wei, the old tailor came over as soon as possible: "Welcome, Miss Weiwei, Miss Dolores, the two of you are actually in person. I'm here, what can I do for you?"

The old tailor did not expect them to come back. In the past, he went to the castle for any need.

"Good afternoon, sir." Wei Wei said hello to him: "I need to buy some fabrics, just ask the apprentice to show me."

She looked at the few guests who seemed a little restrained because of their arrival, and saw that they were not aristocrats in their dress, but to be able to come to the tailor to make clothes, the family should have some assets.

She smiled at them, and then motioned to the old tailor to go over and do her work.

The old tailor who had dealt with her several times nodded clearly, called two apprentices, and went back again.

Wei Wei said to the apprentice, "I need some more advanced, brightly-colored fabrics and animal furs. You can help me find them."

"Please wait a moment, we'll get it now."

High-grade fabrics must be stored properly, but they are not available in the store. Apprentices have to go to the warehouse behind to find them.

Wei Wei thought for a while, then turned around and took out the folded paper and a few silver coins from the purse hanging around her waist and handed it to Dolores' maid: "You help me find the things on this, and see if you can buy them all. already."

"Okay lady." The two maids bowed their knees, took the shopping list and money, hid the money, and left with the shopping list.

After that, Wei Wei, who was waiting for the apprentice to come out, took Dolores around the store and asked her if she liked anything.

"The fabrics in this store are very good and the prices are affordable. You can buy more if you like."

Compared to Wei Wei, Dolores went out only a handful of times, not to mention coming to Dingle. She grabbed Wei Wei curiously and timidly, and stared at the containers in the store with her beautiful blue eyes. of fabrics, and occasionally glanced at the ladies on the other side who were taking measurements.

There was also a young girl who was going to make a dress over there. She seemed to be only a year or two older than Dolores, but Dolores could vaguely hear them saying that they were here to make a wedding dress for that little girl this time. .

She nervously held Wei Wei tighter.

Wei Wei heard it too. She patted the little girl's head soothingly and laughed softly: "Don't worry, we Dolores are still young. If you want to get married, you must at least be as old as me."

Wei Wei had promised Dolores before that she would not get married so early. At that time, she said that Felix would not do that, but now, she can honestly say that she does not agree.

Compared with her brother, Dolores obviously believed in Wei Wei more. When she heard this, she calmed down, but she still looked to the side from time to time.

Fortunately, the apprentice had already taken out the fabric, and Wei Wei took her to the side.

The apprentice stammered and told Wei Wei that these high-grade fabrics were purchased last year, and only from other more prosperous counties, so no matter the color or style, they were actually not very popular.

If it were someone else, they would still dare to brag that this is a new style from the royal capital, but they are the ones who came, so they would not dare. This is the earl's family. If it is found that it does not match the facts, their heads will Not enough to cut.

Wei Wei didn't understand the popularity of Prady Capital either. She just looked through all the fabrics and saw a bright red woolen fabric and a fine linen fabric with golden patterns.

The apprentice introduced on the side: "This fast wool is woven with the finest cashmere dyed and woven, which is very comfortable and warm, and the patterns on this fine linen cloth are all woven with gold wires drawn from gold, to ensure that the goods are genuine at a reasonable price. ."

The color of the wool is very pure red, and the dense gold thread pattern on the fine linen completely covers the color of the fabric itself, and the existence of the fine linen is almost invisible. Those patterns are not embroidered, but woven with gold thread mixed with fine linen, so the fabric is not as soft as ordinary linen, but very stiff, and the feel is even different.

The two kinds of fabrics are pure and gorgeous in color, and because of the high cost, they are indeed fabrics that only nobles can use.

It is precious enough to use such a piece of fabric to make clothes for the queen, even if it does not conform to the fashion.

Because just to buy a piece of fine linen cloth woven with gold thread that can be used to make a skirt, it costs six hundred gold coins. If European nobles wear such expensive fabrics, it is no wonder that their clothes are not changed frequently. Even if the precious skirt is damaged, it can continue to be worn for more than ten years.

However, although the price is indeed very expensive, both the workmanship and the pattern are very good, so Wei Wei did not bargain, and directly asked the apprentice to wrap the two pieces of cloth. According to the size of the two pieces of cloth, two pieces of cloth can be made completely. In addition to giving away different styles of skirts, she can keep one for herself.

After all, we are going to get married. If nothing else, how can a wedding that is only once in a lifetime be sloppy? Since the wedding dress cannot be made into a pure white bridal wedding dress, then make it a gorgeous Rococo style in "Gone with the Wind". The skirt is also very nice.

——And after using it, it can be disassembled to make other clothes, and it can be matched with other fabrics to make a few more different styles of party dresses.

Wei Wei, who is conscious of being diligent and thrifty at home, nodded her head in satisfaction. She didn't think that it would be unlucky if she really took off the wedding dress.

I'm afraid, let alone Felix, no one else would allow her to do this.

The author has something to say:

The clothes of the European nobles in the Middle Ages would not be discarded after wearing them once or twice. In time, the mothers may wear them for their daughters. Even if the royal clothes are torn, they will continue to be worn after they are repaired, because they were good at that time. The fabric is very expensive. It seems that a princess has a velvet skirt. The production price is hundreds of thousands of pounds at the current price. Of course, this kind of clothes must be well maintained for future generations!

The title system in this article mainly refers to the United Kingdom. Therefore, before the 15th century, the marquis was not a formal aristocratic rank, but a special title with the same status as an earl. The title of the marquis at that time only indicated that their territory was close to the border, not that its status was higher than that of the earl. Earl, so our Lord Earl can actually be called Lord Marquis.

In addition, there is no viscount in this article. The viscount was originally the official name of the Frankish kingdom. It was first named by King Charlemagne in the eighth century, and later spread to other continental countries in Europe. At first, the viscount was the earl's deputy, and later it existed independently and could also be hereditary. The title of viscount was not introduced to England until the fifteenth century, and Beaumond John was the first to be named a viscount in England in 144, and its status was above the baron.