Chapter 1098: Manuchehr
Fiddling with the buttons on his coat, Leon growled, “I hate it.”
“You don’t,” Elise replied, her voice lilting in a sing-song manner.
“I do,” Leon shot back as he glared at his reflection. “It’s too much.”
“It’s not enough,” Elise countered. “You should be wearing more.”
After a quiet sigh, Leon murmured, “They should be grateful if I showed up at all. What I’m wearing has no bearing on anything at all.”
He was bedecked in pants and a tight doublet of blue silkgrass, images of the Thunderbird embroidered all over the doublet in silver thread. About his shoulders hung a cloak made from one of the white snow lion pelts Torfinn had gifted him, and around his neck hung the lightning bolt-shaped necklace with inset sapphires that Elise had given him as his wedding present.
All of this he could tolerate. Perhaps a little more ostentatious than his usual style, but acceptable. Had his attire consisted only of this, he wouldn’t be complaining.
Over his doublet was a long coat made of dark leather so weighed down with silver embroidery that Leon almost felt like he was wearing armor just from how it sat upon his shoulders. His boots were of fine make, and plated in silver embossed with designs that evoked a raptor’s talons, while dozens of tiny storm crystals blazed with contained power in the rivet heads of every plate. His arms were likewise covered in arm rings, and more rings adorned his fingers, which were themselves obscured by silkgrass gloves so finely woven that they shimmered in the light of his portable villa. Three more amulets hung next to Elise’s around his neck, one made of gold with a large sapphire set in the middle, another of platinum forged in the shape of the Thunderbird’s head, and the final amulet was a disc-shaped storm crystal that glowed blue-white with power.
‘At least no one’s trying to make me wear a crown,’ he thought cynically.