Chapter 227 – The Special guests

When the women were let in into the Madam Irene’s entertainment hall they were surprised by the strange arrangements that were prepared in the main hall.

In the center of the room they saw a scene. However, it was quite strange. Unlike a normal amphitheatrical scene in the shape of a half circle with seats arranged in arch around it, the scene in this room was elongated. Looking like a sort of road it stretched from one part of the hall to the middle of the room, as if slicing it into two parts. All around that scene, seats were arranged in several layers pointed at the scene, filling almost the entire leftover space of the hall.

Several girls working for Madam Irene were dressed in elegant servant uniforms and busily ran through the room showing the newcomers to the seats reserved for them before asking what kind of drink or refreshments they would like.

The seats arrangements were of course divided into different parts. The Madams and their representative ladies from all the brothels that Madam Irene invited were placed in one part of the room while Noble women and other rich Ladies acquainted with Madam Irene through their ‘Women’s Club’ sat on the opposite side of the scene.

At the pointy end of the scene sat Madam Irene herself with a few Ladies that other fan club members never met. What they did notice however was that these Ladies sat with postures and mannerisms of true Nobles. Their very expensive looking silken dresses were very beautiful and intricate in detail in ornaments.

One Lady had a complicated pattern of a spider with long legs, while her whole dress had a design of spider net.

Second Lady had a simpler dress but was adorned with multiple very expensive looking accessories that complemented the dress as if made as a part of it, which spoke just how expensive this set must have been. The strange thing about this lady was that she had a very pale white skin.

The third lady had a very glossy green dress with flower patterns in different colors that looked so intricately made that they almost looked alive.

With Madam Irene dressed in her usual beautiful, yet very sexy dress with a deep cleavage, four women were easily the center of attention of everyone sitting in the room.

The Noble women could be heard whispering among each other, guessing as to what house these ladies belonged to. None of them had seen them before, however there was no doubt in anyone's mind that they were indeed from Noble families.

The grace and elegance of these ladies' every movement spoke louder than any riches. One look at them was enough to know that they were incredibly well versed in Noble etiquette. Their status was unmistakable. What surprised the women was that these ladies looked quite young and yet had grace and delicacy in them that their own daughters have not learned even nearly as well at the same age.

“Why are nobles staring at Irene’s girls so hard?” Asked one of the girls leaning forward toward the Madam that sat in front of her.

The seats were arranged so that the more important guests sat closer to the scene in the first row and closer to Irene at the pointy end of the scene. The girls accompanying their Madams and Ladies without noble status sat behind them.

“Among nobles it is considered vital to represent yourself. The honor of family is its power and what gives it the status. So they have strict rules toward themselves. They had to look elegant and graceful at all times, to not dishonor the house. Those who don’t have grace and elegance would be laughed at and not taken seriously. The young generation, those who did not have a coming of age ceremony are an exception. They are still considered kids until they are ready for ceremony. Those who are not ready easily discernible by their less natural elegance. They look garish and theatrical in their mannerism trying to imitate what they were taught, but not having enough skill.

“These girls seem very elegant and natural to me.” Whispered another girl from the second row.

“Yeah. That’s the point. They are young yet look so natural and move so well and delicately. They say that the less the nobles, the less they put importance to this show of etiquette. But with higher status they are more stricter. Imagine having an audience with the King and disgracing the family in front of the whole country. They may even lose their title from that. From the nobles I’ve seen in our town I’ve never seen anyone this young, being so well versed in Noble etiquette. They must be ladies of very high status. But I don’t recognize any of them. It could be that this is why other Noble ladies are so interested. They are trying to guess which high family Irene invited today.” Explained the Madam in half whisper.

At some point Madam Irene stood up, bowing deeply to the girls that sat beside her and walk toward the part of the hall where Noble ladies were seated. The chatter instantly increased as they whispered questions to Irene.

Madam Irene greeted everyone with a smile, thanking them for accepting her invitation, and said that she would introduce them to everyone in just a few seconds.

She then looked at the servants nodding briskly and walked to part of the scene where a set of stairs allowed her to come up to the scene.

Servants hurriedly turned off the magic lights and put out candles all over the room, bringing darkness to the hall except for the top of the scene that was lit with a pointed light of magic lamps shining in beam at the scene from the second floor.

“My dear guests, I thank you all today for coming.” Said Madam Irene surprising everyone, as she spoke into soft voice, holding a small device in her hand close to her mouth. At the same time her voice was clearly heard all over the room, allowing everyone to hear her even from the furthest rows over the noise of chatter that stood in the hall.

“You all no doubt wonder what this is all about. Well I will not hold you long in the dark. I called you all today for a special and quite novel event. A fashion show. It is a show where the best seamstresses and best designers can show off their talents and present the ideas that they wish to share with the world, and in this case present the new line of clothes that you would be able to find in my Madam Irene Boutiques that will soon be opened in all the towns of our Region.”

Several hands of ladies went up in the dark room, showing that the public was brimming with questions.

“Now, I know you all must have a lot of questions, but I will not explain for a long time right now. We will start the show shortly and after it, when the lights in the room will be turned back on, I will answer everything.”

“What you will see today on this podium where I stand would be a group of my girls who will model for you the designs and works that our today's special guests have created. So before we start the show, let me introduce you to those who presented us today with their craftsmanship.

“Coming to us from a distant Northern Region of the Moonstar Kingdom, The Lady of Twin Creeks Volley, The oldest Daughter of Duchess Threadweaver, Lady Priscilla Threadweaver.” Said Irene and the hall blew up with shocked exclamations as one of the young Ladies that sat with Irene before, stood up and elegantly presented herself to everyone in the room under ovation. Noble women immediately jumped up to their feet, bowing in respect, followed by the rest of the women in the room.

The Duchess? The highest status among the present here today was a Baroness. Even though this Lady wasn't yet a Duchess, for everyone in the room she was no different from a princess of the Kingdom.

“Lady Priscilla is a master seamstress and all the clothes you would see today were created by her personally.” Said Madam Irene into the device she held and once again the entire hall could easily hear her over the loud buzz.

“The second, guest of today is coming from the Duchess Vespertine house. Her Highness Duchess Cassandra Vespertine from the same Twin Creek Valley in the Northern Region of our Kingdom has presented several things for us today as well. However, she could not attend this even today, which is why she has sent Lady Vella, one of her nieces, as her representative.”

Another standing ovation blew up the hall as the pale lady stood up presenting herself to everyone.

“And finally as the representative of the Great Tree Labyrinth’s Spirit family, the daughter of the Labyrinth Lord, her Majesty Dryad Queen, Lady Aster.” Said Madam Irene and a deathly silence had spread in the room as the third young lady stood up to present herself.

“Dryad?” Asked one of the ladies in the room, who was first to recover from shock.

Who were Dryads? Even though this was a Labyrinth town on the outskirts of the very Labyrinth where Dryads lived, how many people ever met them? Even among the highest rank adventurers, they could be counted on their hands. They were like myths. Legendary spirit beings, shrouded in mystery and rumors that no one could ever confirm. No one was let into their Core forest. And no one has ever met them outside the Labyrinth. The shock of those who were present was just so great they could not know how to react.

“Irene? Is this a joke? Dryad? Here? Are you serious.” Said one of the Madams and many women nodded in agreement.

“Lady Aster if you please.” Said Madam Irene and just as she said it the woman in green flowery dress has sunk into the floor, reappearing a second later at Madam Irene's side on the podium.

“As you all may know, Dryads are masters of the wooden element of magic. So Lady Aster has helped us today to build this wonderful podium.” Said Madam Irene.

Once Aster appeared on the podium, her skin color instantly began to change and her look slightly changed now turning into incredible beauty with a pale green shade of skin.

“As we will be presenting a line of products created by the Green Tree Labyrinth Dryad family, today Lady Aster decided to do something no one has ever seen another Dryad doing and left the forest for the first time to join us all for this wonderful event. I think that’s worth our applause.” Said Irene and the hall blew up with a new round of applause, this time so loud it was almost painful to the ears.

“Alright then. Let us begin the show.” Said Irene and started to walk down while Aster simply disappeared into the floor of the podium as if she sunk into the water, before reappearing back at her seat.

“Wait! Irene! You can’t be serious!” Said one of the Noble women. “We can’t watch a show like this. At least a few words, please! Lady Priscilla, Lady Vella, Lady Aster.

“Yes! Please!” Exclaimed and the Noble lady and the hall went a buzz with please.

Priscilla smiled standing back up and stepping forward. She waved her hand and another magical device similar to the one Irene used before appeared in her hand.

“Thank you all for the warm welcome and for having us all here today. For me, it is my first time to come this far from my home and my first social appearance since my and my younger sisters' Coming of age Ball a few months ago. As you heard, I and Lady Vella both come from Twin Creek Valley of the Northern Region. It is very far away so most of you, except maybe for the ladies of status, never heard of it. The two Duchess families, The Threadweaver and the Vespertine family, are neighbor families and have a centuries old friendship. My mother and Duchess Threadweaver and Aunt of Lady Vella, Duchess Vespertine, are close like sisters. Today both of our families have cooperated in creating a line of products that you will all see here today. Please enjoy the show, there will be time later for us to have more discussion. Thank you all.” Said Priscilla and everyone once again tore the hall with the loudness of their applause.

After Priscilla finally sat down, the first Fashion show in history began.