Chapter 473: Nothing To Apologize For
Felicity’s brain shut down when she heard those words.
She and her work were being praised by one of the strongest, most powerful, most accomplished women in the entire South-Central Region.
As a young woman of the Rockwell Kingdom herself, especially one who lived in the Balfour March, Felicity had always looked up to and admired Celestina Balfour. In fact, when she was a child, Felicity had even dreamed of one day becoming strong enough to fight alongside the fabled Shield of the East.
Alas, all dreams eventually come to an end.
At the age of 10, when she went to the local Town Lord’s Manor to have her Innate Talent checked, Felicity discovered to her disappointment that she wasn’t some great cultivation genius, but rather just another ordinary girl with the most common Low-Rank Mortal Grade aptitude.
Now, to be fair, she hadn’t really been expecting a different result, so it wasn’t too difficult for Felicity to pick herself back up and completely focus her attention on her other great passion, designing and sewing clothes.
Her mother was a tailor, while her father was a peddler, so Felicity had some experience with both professions, and when she turned 16, she moved to Martin to pursue her dream, only to find the fashion industry there to be stale, stagnant, and quite exclusionary towards newcomers like herself.
11 long years bouncing from one tailor shop to the next had destroyed Felicity’s confidence and dampened her spirits greatly, but she had never given up, believing that one day she would find someone who understood her genius and would give her a chance.
Never had Felicity imagined that the benefactor she was searching for would actually appear in the form of an 11-year-old boy, nor had she ever even dreamt that the first client she would be serving in her new boss’ employ would be the Marquess herself!
*Drip drip... drip...*
Before she knew it, tears began leaking from her eyes.
Felicity could not have been happier or more embarrassed than she was at that moment, or at least that’s what she thought before Celestina actually stepped in and hugged her, patting her back like she was a small child and comforting her, "Just cry, you have nothing to be ashamed about."
Like a damn had burst, Felicity let out all the emotions, the stress, the fears, and the exhaustion she had built up over the years.
As for the woman being cried on, Celestina was a mother to 8 children and a grandmother to 46 grandchildren, not to mention all her nieces and nephews, so this situation was actually nothing new to her.
At her age, and with all her various life experiences, if she hadn’t been able to immediately recognize the signs of a child in need of care and encouragement, Celestina might as well have been blind.
The fact that Felicity was practically a stranger rather than a member of her family, a young peasant woman with no strength, status or background whatsoever, didn’t even register in Celestina’s mind.
Celestina genuinely cared for the people of the Rockwell Kingdom and firmly believed that all those who lived under her rule and obeyed her laws were worthy of her protection. Besides, while she couldn’t extend her hand to every one of her subjects, Celestina had never been one to ignore the pain of those right-in-front of her.
Whether she believed in something like karma or not was unclear, but given the fact that she had only met Lucas and Eris because she had moved to help the innocent civilians of the kingdom in their time of need, Celestina’s belief that doing good brought you even greater rewards in life was seemingly validated.
It took a while for Felicity to compose herself again, but once she did, she immediately tried to bow and apologize for her unsightly behaviour, only for Celestina to stop her before she could even begin, "Enough of that. Like I said, you have nothing to apologize for."
Blushing furiously, Felicity nodded meekly before hurrying over to a nearby shelf and fetching a clean towel for Celestina to dry herself with.
It was right then that Eris and Christina knocked and entered the changing room, only to be stunned into silence by the sight before them.
Eris was still a child, one already beginning to blossom and with immense potential, but a child none-the-less.
Christina would officially be an adult in a few days, at least by the standards of the Blue Sky Continent, but that hardly meant she would suddenly become a full-grown woman with a figure to match.
Their Master, on the other hand, was the epitome of femininity, and seeing her standing there in the crimson-red, extremely flattering underwear that not only complimented her outstanding figure, but even seemed to enhance her appeal somehow, the two of them couldn’t help staring.
Seeing her two Disciples so gobsmacked like this, Celestina would be lying if she said she didn’t feel a bit proud.
No one would object to others thinking they were beautiful, even if they were members of the same gender.
"Master looks so pretty!" Eris shouted while clapping her one good hand and her new prosthetic together. This new semi-functional hand was a gift from the former queen that had arrived on the most recent Vast Ocean convoy and was something the young red-head greatly appreciated.
A High-Rank Grade 2 Spirit Tool in-and-of-itself, this prosthetic was the latest model available in the Kore Sovereignty. While it was still a far cry from a real limb, as long as it had enough Spirit Crystals powering it, it could least open and close its fingers, allowing Eris to grip objects with both hands now instead of just one.
Christina also offered her own compliments, even going so far as to say, "Mother would be very jealous if she could see you now, Master."
With Christina’s mother being the publicly acknowledged most beautiful woman in the Rockwell Kingdom, this was high praise indeed.
Laughing happily, Celestina waved her two female Disciples over, "Come and try your sets."
The next few minutes were filled with Celestina and Felicity helping Christina and Eris into their new underwear. It was a joyful, family-like event, one that Lucas was surely regretting not being there for, though it was highly doubtful the girls would have let him in even if he was conscious.
When the two girls stood in front of the mirror like their Master had a few minutes earlier, both of them had to admit that their Senior Brother had good taste.
Not only was this new underwear much, much more comfortable than what they were used to using, it was also much prettier and made them feel womanly somehow, a feeling that caused them to giggle uncontrollably and left them a bit giddy inside.
Once the initial euphoria had passed, however, Celestina moved to the centre of the large changing room, cracked her neck, and muttered, "I suppose I should test this out now..."