♚Chapter 8: The Trickster Tailor Is Back in Business

 

 

 

♚Chapter 8: The Trickster Tailor Is Back in Business

 

MICHAELA arrived at Mateus Manor around nightfall. Already informed about what had happened, she followed Ludovicus to Guido’s room with her face set in a hard mask. Ebel and Rock trailed behind her. Rock sobered right up when she saw Michaela. Gloom took the place of her slight intoxication as they proceeded down the wrecked corridors.

Guido was sitting up on the guest room bed in human form. He wore nice, tailor-made clothing, likely Ebel’s, and waited in the room with his head hung like a prisoner awaiting his sentence.

His head shot up when Michaela swept into the room. “Michaela…!” he called hoarsely, blanching.

“Brother!” Michaela cried and ran to his side. She fell to her knees at his feet and firmly held his shaking hands. She impatiently questioned, “I heard what happened from Ebel. Oh, Brother, why did you…?”

“I’m sorry, Michaela,” he rasped, gravely shaking his head. “I can’t erase what I’ve done with an apology. That is how great a crime I’ve committed. I brought the werewolf curse upon myself and hurt many people.”

Michaela saw the damage he’d left behind on her way to this room: the butler greeting her at the door covered in red bandages, shattered doors, claw marks on the walls and floors, ripped rugs, shredded paintings, and broken vases strewn about the corridors and halls. Time was necessary before Mateus Manor regained its former splendor.

Unfortunately, even after everyone recovered from their injuries and the manor was repaired, Guido’s curse would remain. He stared at his sister with different-colored eyes—eyes the same luminous gold as Ebel’s.

“I had been concerned for the longest time over your strange behavior.” Michaela’s emerald eyes wavered like a sad wind through a dark-green forest. Until last night, Guido’s eyes shared that same color. “But it never crossed my mind that you were trying to become a werewolf… You were the most grief-stricken of us all when you learned of Ebel’s curse! How could you want that sad fate for yourself?!”

Rock silently cast down her eyes at Michaela’s anguished cry. At one point, Guido had sympathized with Ebel’s suffering. So what changed him?

“Michaela, we believe Guido was manipulated by the curse,” Ebel interjected, placing a hand on her quivering shoulder. “His intentions weren’t the only thing at play in all of this. Understand that—”

“Enough. Don’t protect me, Ebel,” Guido cut in, bringing his free hand to his face. “The burning desire I had was real. You were beautiful as a werewolf and had enough willpower to control that mighty power. When I brooded over who would protect my unmarried sister after you broke off the engagement—the thought definitely crossed my mind that I could do it if I had the same power as you.”

He spoke in a flat voice devoid of emotion up until a moan wrenched free of his throat. “But…I don’t understand it either. At a certain point, my desire became like an insatiable thirst. I needed that statue—I needed it so bad I didn’t care how much money it cost or who I had to sacrifice to obtain it. I couldn’t resist the call.” It had become a dreadful memory for Guido. Involuntary shakes racked his body. “Now I’m not even sure if that rapacious desire was my own. And that’s nothing compared with the confusion hanging over me about wanting to become a werewolf… Did I truly want this? Me?”

“I sensed someone else’s will coming from that cursed statue,” Ebel said, continuing that line of thought. “Didn’t I mention I heard it calling to me before?” he asked Rock. She nodded. “It’s no ordinary statue, and I don’t just mean because it’s cursed. It may very well…have a will of its own.”

“A will?” Rock repeated.

Ebel silently nodded, threading a hand through his hair. “Yes. Guido wasn’t searching for the statue—the statue was calling to him.”

“How can that be?!” Guido choked, letting out a stifled moan. A single night of the supernatural had aged him and made him haggard.

Rock had drawn the same spooky conclusion before. The werewolf statue in Lady Trilian’s shop had definitely called to Ebel. And hearing its voice rendered him incapable of controlling the werewolf inside.

In the same way, that statue might’ve detected the thirst for power lurking in Guido’s heart and steered everything in the direction that would grant him power. But to what end? What were these statues after by cursing nobleman after nobleman? Fear of the unknown was the greatest fear of all.

“I’m going to continue searching out those statues,” Ebel asserted, his expression bleak. “And I am going to destroy every last source of the curse that exists in this world. That is my calling.”

His words didn’t harbor the same sorrowful twinge as before. That empowered Rock to continue after him. “I’ll help you with that, Ebel.”

He turned toward her, some of the harshness slipping from his face. “Thank you, Roxy. You are my rock in this.”

So far they had discovered three statues. Phoebe had uncovered the first, and the last two were brought into Lady Trilian’s shop by mercenaries. In which case, their best bet was to search for more in the slums crawling with improvident mercenaries who took on any job to eat their next meal.

If their fates were really entwined with these statues, then they would surely come across them again.

“…Where do I go from here?” Guido let out a harsh breath as if he were collapsing under the pressure. “Do I have to live with this body?! Live cursed as some beast that’s neither human nor animal?!”

Michaela pulled his trembling shoulders into a tight embrace. “Brother, get a grip on yourself! Ebel has lived through the same suffering!”

“I have, Guido.” Ebel’s golden eyes coolly lingered on Guido. “I have lived these past eight years with a cursed body. Anything I can do, you can do too.”

It wasn’t as easy as he made it sound.

Rock watched as Ebel didn’t reveal any of the suffering he went through. That was his show of kindness to an old friend. No matter what was said, troubles came hand in hand with life. All the more so for someone who lived with a curse.

Cursed as he was, he was not alone in his suffering.

“He’s absolutely right, Brother. You have me.” Michaela hugged him and squeezed her eyes shut in prayer. “From here on out, I shall protect you and the Linus family. Let’s walk this road together.”

“Michaela…” Guido called his sister’s name with the complacent look of a man who had just been exorcized of a malicious demon.

From his expression, Rock finally felt as if the curtain had closed on this trying incident.

♚♚♚

ONCE the siblings finished their touching reunion, Michaela changed rooms, saying she wished to speak with the others. She invited Ebel and Rock to talk, much to Rock’s surprise. A plaintive expression overtook Michaela when she faced them in the relatively undamaged reception room.

“I know what my brother has done cannot be swept under the rug with an apology.” Her clasped hands trembled as she forced her pallid lips to move. “However…in order to protect my brother who has become a werewolf and the Linus name, I do not want his crimes brought before the public.”

Rock didn’t know how the Empire’s laws applied to nobility. But even a duke’s family wouldn’t walk away unscathed from a direct heir committing a crime against another noble. Michaela wouldn’t be able to protect Guido if he were expelled from their ranks or if their family was publicly ruined.

“I fully realize I am making a selfish request of you.” The pleading Michaela no longer looked her twenty years of age. “Can we please settle this matter through reparations? I assure you we will pay any price you name. Payment may not be immediate, but I give you my word we will make amends,” she swore, flattening her blue lips into a firm line and fixing her steely gaze upon Ebel.

Ebel, on the other hand, appeared to have known what she was going to say. He replied immediately. “I can agree to that. I’d only be placing myself in danger as another werewolf if judgment is passed on Guido.”

Michaela stopped shaking and heaved a long sigh. “Ebel…thank you.” Tears shimmered in her relieved eyes as if she had expected the worst to come from him.

After that, Michaela and Ebel came to an agreement over the reparations to be paid. Ebel wrote up the contract with practiced ease and Michaela nervously signed it. Little conversation passed between them, nor was there room for their former joking relationship; they only solemnly determined the terms of the contract.

Even Rock, with her love of money, felt uncomfortable with this mood. The amount recorded on the contract was eye-popping, and she had a hard time believing that sum was real. She didn’t understand why she was even called to be a part of this settlement between the Linuses and Mateuses.

Her doubts were cleared by Michaela after she finished signing.

“Miss Roxy Floria,” Michaela addressed her as such.

“Y-Yes?” Being formally addressed caused her to fix her posture.

Michaela spoke to her with the same solemnness she had used with Ebel. “We have caused you a great deal of trouble too. If there is anything I can do to compensate you—”

“No! You don’t have to compensate me for anything!” Rock spluttered.

Guido certainly had picked on her, and that inconvenience caused her shop to stay closed for a day and a half, so she had sustained losses. But not only had she been paid for that luxurious dress, but she was allowed to keep it. While she had been injured and feared for her life, she didn’t feel right accepting reparations.

“I cannot accept your money. The gesture is enough for me.”

“But…” Michaela naturally couldn’t accept that.

So Rock thought of someone who had suffered greater losses.

“Rather than me, there is a woman, Selina Trilian, who runs an antique shop under her name in the slums,” Rock said, speaking on behalf of the other woman. “Burglars after that statue broke into her shop, wrecked the place, and beat her up. I would like you to ask after her instead.”

“…That is another foul deed my brother committed, isn’t it?” Michaela buried her face in her hands. But she promptly dropped her hands, set her mouth in a hard line, and made peace with what she had to do. “Thank you for informing me. I promise to make amends to her as well.”

Deep down, she probably wanted to break down crying. But Michaela wrapped up the reparation talks without becoming emotional, fulfilling her role as the Linus’s representative.

Brave as she was, an expression befitting of her age flickered across her youthful face before she left. “…Miss Roxy…how I wish we could have met under different circumstances.” Her lashes fluttered shut. “I longed to have a nice long chat with you when we met last night.”

Rock couldn’t stay quiet when she heard the regret coloring those words. Bearing such hardship at her age would surely fill Michaela with sadness and anxiety. Rock sincerely hoped that some of her anguish would be healed and that peace would return to the Linuses by the next time they met.

“I would be happy to chat with you any time you like. Please call on me once things have settled down,” Rock offered, earning wide-eyed stares from both Michaela and Ebel.

Ebel quickly replaced his surprise with a gentle smile. “Michaela, Roxy means what she says.”

For the first time this night, Michaela tearfully smiled. “Thank you, Miss Roxy. Someday for sure, then…” She wiped away her tears, and some of the anxiety left her tensed face. “You are so kind. I wouldn’t expect any less of the woman Ebel chose as his sweetheart.”

“Wha—? Um, well…”

“Right? Isn’t she a marvelous woman on the inside and out?” Ebel proudly boasted over Rock’s hesitation.

Neither of them denied their relationship.

♚♚♚

ONCE they finished their discussion, Michaela left Mateus Manor with Guido in tow. Guido was still a husk of his former self, but Michaela stoutheartedly supported him. No one doubted that they would continue to walk through life supporting each other like that.

“Ever since we were kids, Guido was Michaela’s whole world,” Ebel murmured after the Linus siblings left. “Guido was always her number one. That’s one thing that has never changed.”

Phoebe picked up on his nostalgic tone and decided to tease him about it. “Heh. Sounds like you had your heart broken by the fair lady, Your Excellency.”

“I didn’t. Michaela has always been like a little sister to me.” Ebel laughed it off and anxiously added, “There’s nothing between us, Roxy. So you don’t have anything to worry about.”

Rock wasn’t worried about anything in that department. She was mostly brimming with curiosity over how Ebel spent time with his friends as a boy. She planned to ask Michaela all about it when they finally sat down for that chat.

As for worries, Phoebe’s lay elsewhere as well. “Was it smart not to accept compensation, Roxy?” He hadn’t been around for the negotiations, but that was the first thing he said after hearing about it afterward.

“I couldn’t accept her money.” Rock quickly shook her head, whipping her short hair into her cheeks.

“They’re responsible for you shutting down your shop for a whole day and a half,” Ebel said in unusual agreement with Phoebe. “You have every right to be compensated for your time.”

“Logically, sure…”

Not wanting to take money from Michaela was one reason, but she also didn’t know how much of a loss she had sustained from being closed for a day and a half. Without being there, she had no way of knowing if she would’ve made a killing because lots of customers came by or if business would’ve been slow.

Besides, a shrewd businesswoman shouldn’t be blinded by a one-time compensation.

“It’ll all work out. I turned Lady Michaela into a repeat customer, after all.”

“How did you do that?”

Phoebe and Ebel both raised their eyebrows at her.

As a matter of fact, Rock had secretly sold Michaela on becoming a customer before she left. “His Excellency often makes use of my services to tailor clothes for when he transforms into a werewolf. Please stop by if you would like to place a similar order for your brother,” she had told her.

Michaela happily jumped on the opportunity. In due time, the Linuses were very likely to become golden customers as well.

Guido’s reaction was anyone’s guess, but as long as he was going to live with the werewolf curse, the day he needed Rock’s assistance would surely come.

“Your shrewd business practices never cease to amaze me,” Ebel said in awe of her. “I’ll also stop by once things settle down. I need to pick up my cloak and place an order for a new set of formal wear.”

“Please do. I will happily await your visit!” Rock naturally answered him with a full smile.

Phoebe looked as if he had something to say, but he kept it under wraps behind his smile for now—either because he knew lots of money was involved or perhaps because of something else altogether.

♚♚♚

ROCK and Phoebe returned to the slums early the next morning. They mounted the horse they borrowed from the stables and trotted back at a much slower pace than they had come. Thanks to Ebel sending word ahead to the constables, they were able to pass through the gates unhindered, leading to a most peaceful ride indeed.

But people understandably worried when a shopkeeper was gone for more than a day in the slums.

“Where in the world did you go?! Goodness gracious, you’re going to make me go gray with worry…!” Justia broke down crying when Rock dropped by the hash house before opening shop for the day.

Cargus rushed over from the stove, relief coloring his sleepless face. “I’m glad to see you’re safe and sound.”

“I’m sorry for worrying you. Phoebe and I are both fine.”

Justia calmed down when she heard Rock’s earnest apology. She sniffled as she said, “Word on the street says that you and Phoebe took off to beat some sense into the burglars who hit Lady Trilian’s place.”

They were pretty close with that rumor. She was coming home from having just knocked some sense into the man who hired the burglars. After debating whether she should tell them that, Rock went with a vague answer instead.

“Lady Trilian should be getting some good news soon.”

“For crying out loud, child… Phoebe is one thing, but you don’t have to go be a hero too.” Justia pinched Rock’s upper arm. “Don’t do dangerous stuff when I’ve made pudding tougher than you. If you want to go thrill-seeking, do it after you bulk up.”

Rock cracked a dry smile and glanced down at her arms. They were too slender and unreliable for a man. But there was so much these arms and hands were capable of. Gender had nothing to do with her worth. What she needed to do next wasn’t bulk up to better pose as a man. She needed to polish her skills as a tailor.

“I’m going to shelve the dangerous adventures for a while and concentrate on the things a tailor should be doing,” she insisted, to put the couple’s mind at ease.

And then she thoroughly reveled in the joys of having people in her life who cared about her and in the freshly baked potato bread they gave her.

♚♚♚

LADY Trilian received her good news several days later.

The constable who brought the news informed her that they had apprehended the burglars, who then confessed to breaking in, so reparations for damages and losses sustained by her shop would be paid out of their savings. Rock knew that wasn’t the true story, but Lady Trilian didn’t care about the truth.

“It’s not half bad receiving a huge chunk of coin just for being broken into,” she crowed, despite the scar left on her head. “I might welcome them the second time if this is what I get in return.”

Since she was that happy about it, Michaela had to have paid her very well. It was wise of her not to inform the older woman that the money came from the Linus family. Lady Trilian definitely would’ve squeezed every last gold coin out of her.

At any rate, Lady Trilian was in remarkably good spirits over the small fortune that had come her way.

“I gave you a scare, didn’t I, laddie?” She spoke to Rock first, and rare as that was, something even rarer happened—a broad smile etched into her thick wrinkles. “I’ll reduce your rent to half price next month. A good businesswoman knows when to give a discount.”

How very like Lady Trilian not to just make the next month rent-free.

“Thank you, Lady Trilian.” Rock thanked her despite the complex emotions swirling through her.

Those emotions had nothing to do with Lady Trilian’s healthy obstinacy. She hadn’t said anything about it yet, but she actually planned on moving out soon. Her current room was conveniently close to her shop on Market Street, but it was a little too small for father and daughter to live in together. Phoebe also resided in a small house, so the father-daughter duo had been discussing finding a place where they could live together.

Would she find a new place to live first? Or would she pay next month’s rent first? Wherever the dice may fall, Rock would be content with it.

As for Rock, she continued living her double life as a trickster tailor.

She decided to because Phoebe was still stressing, “You’re safer running your shop in the slums as a man.”

Rock was of the same opinion. It wasn’t easy getting by in the slums as a woman. She intended to continue her act as a cross-dressing tailor as long as she lived and worked in the slums to avoid burdening herself with extra troubles. Sure, everyone would continue to mock her for being weak and a lightweight, but she had no plans to bulk up this late in the game.

As for Phoebe, he, too, showed up at the shop with perfect makeup and amazing hair and in beautiful dresses.

“I’ve been helping out while wearing this look all along. I’m gonna go with it as long as I’m at work,” he said in a throaty purr. Wearing the dress Rock tailored, with his golden tresses down, he looked like any other big-boned, beautiful woman out there. Though he seemed to be at odds with himself over it. “I’m this old and I still don’t know how I want to live,” he told her with a wistful smile. “Since there’s nothing holding me back, I’m just going to do everything I want to. I’ll wear dresses at the shop and do fatherly things when we get home. I’ve finally found something to live for.”

He patted Rock on the head with his large, angular hand. His hand was completely different from her mother’s, but it brought the same warmth and joy.

Rock wanted Phoebe to live in whatever way made him happy. She had a dream she wanted to make come true on top of that.

“How do you feel about saving up and buying our citizenship?” That was the dream Phoebe had never reached. “Once we’re bona fide citizens, we’ll open a shop in the business district. Doesn’t that sound like a great plan?”

The slums were good enough for etching out a living, but they were far from safe. In the business district, Rock could run her business as Roxy Floria without fears of repercussions.

“It’s good to have big dreams, but you need to prepare yourself for it mentally,” Phoebe advised. “Citizenship is something you can’t buy just because you have the money—you need to curry favor with the nobles.”

“We can just have His Excellency speak for us,” Rock said, completely set on relying on him.

It’d be a waste not to make use of the connections she had gained. Furthermore, opening a shop in the business district would make it easier for Ebel to stop by. The slums were too far of a distance from the aristocrat district for the werewolf count to constantly walk to see her. Was it a tad calculating on her part that she wanted to make it so easy for him to visit that he would even drop by for window-shopping?

“We’d better think up a name for our shop, then.”

Rock tilted her head and put her finger to her chin. “How about ‘Floria-Berwick Clothes Shop?’”

Phoebe buckled over laughing at the first thing that came to her mind. “Why don’t you put a little more thought into it?”

“I’m bad at brainstorming. Do you have any ideas?” she asked in return.

He answered without a second thought. “‘Roxy’ works for me.”

“This is supposed to be a shop’s name.” Rock was baffled by the name he suggested.

Phoebe’s rouged lips curled into a boastful smile. “Isn’t it a good name? Your father here came up with it.”

Rock gaped at him and blinked several times. She’d never thought about who might’ve come up with her name. She vaguely assumed it was her mother because she never even knew what her father looked like.

“I think it’s an amazing name. I love it too,” Rock agreed with a broad smile. “Thank you for such a lovely gift, Father.”

Phoebe bashfully poked Rock’s cheek. “I told you to call me Phoebe at work.”

“You’re the one who called yourself father.”

“Did I?”

Amused by Phoebe’s feigned ignorance, Rock burst out laughing too.

Knowing that it was the first thing her father gave her made Rock fall all the more in love with her name. It was a little embarrassing naming her shop after herself, but she could get used to others saying that name. She had a feeling Ebel would love it too.

“How about ‘Clothing Shop Roxy’?”

“‘Tailor Roxy’ sounds good too.”

“Oh, I like that. We’d better work hard to buy our citizenship, then!”

Rock’s goal was set. She was going to achieve the dream her parents had come just short of and own an even bigger shop. Then, as a tailor, she was going to bring happiness to a great many people.

That was Rock’s true dream.

Meanwhile, Phoebe seemed to have some concerns about her goal. “I get the feeling His Excellency is going to say you don’t have to buy your citizenship when you tell him…”

“Oh? You think so? Why?”

“Obviously he’ll say there’s a faster way to get it. Listen to me well—do not, by any means, ever consult him about it until you have the money saved up,” Phoebe stressed.

Rock was trying to figure out why when the bell above the door jangled, informing her of a welcome visitor. In the doorway stood a handsome young man with burnt sienna hair and golden eyes. A fond smile reached those golden eyes when they met Rock’s.

“Hello. Is business flourishing, shopkeeper?”

“Welcome, Ebel.” Happy to see him, Rock ran over to the door and lifted her gaze to the face she was starting to miss.

Ten days had passed since that daunting night. During that time, Ebel had been busy tending to his manor’s repairs. He was dying to see Rock but had held off until things settled down.

The face she finally got to see after all this time looked a little more worn down than in her memory.

“Did you lose some weight?” she asked, worried about him.

“A bit, yes,” he reluctantly admitted. “I was just too busy to eat much.” He promptly followed that with a cheerful note. “Thanks to all that hard work, my home is perfectly back in order. Come over any time you want, Roxy.”

“Call her Rock at work, Your Excellency,” Phoebe corrected.

Ebel’s eyes rounded. “Oh, right.” After taking in her appearance, he understood Phoebe’s request.

Today she wore her usual male tailor attire of a shirt, vest, and slacks. Nothing should’ve changed from before, but Ebel’s gaze lingered as if he were impressed by how she pulled it off.

“I can only ever see you as a woman. You’ve become even more beautiful than before.” These were the words of the werewolf count with keen senses. He was probably telling the truth, but it made her shy away from him.

“I can’t have that. I’m a trickster tailor, after all.”

What was the point of being a trickster if she couldn’t trick people? But there would always be someone out in the wider world capable of seeing through the trick to the truth. Strange as it was, Rock felt blessed to have met that person.

After they exchanged greetings, Rock led Ebel to the fitting room. She needed to measure him for a new three-piece suit to replace the one he ripped on the night of the party. Phoebe hovered behind her, but Rock wanted to be the one to measure Ebel. Measuring tape pinched between her fingers, she carefully measured around his neck, shoulders, chest, and waist.

“…I was right. You have lost weight,” she worriedly noted after writing down his numbers.

Ebel chuckled to wipe away her worry. “I’ll get right back on track if you dine with me.”

“In that case, I would be happy to join you anytime,” Rock consented, expressing a thousand feelings in that one acceptance.

She felt as if her routine had finally returned to normal since everything that happened that night. Of course, it couldn’t be called peaceful, knowing more of those statues were out there and with Ebel having unfinished business left to resolve. It was for those reasons that Rock strove to brighten Ebel’s day-to-day life and add a flourish of joy to it.

“How would you like me to tailor your new formal wear?”

“The one thing I know for sure is that I want it to pair well with your dress,” he cheerfully answered.

“My dress…?”

“Your evening gown that looks like it captured the dawn within its folds. I want to gaze upon you dressed in it once more.”

Rock still had the silk dress she made for Michaela in her possession. She couldn’t hand over an article of clothing she had worn herself, not to mention one that Guido rejected. She had carefully stowed it away, thinking another opportunity to wear it would never arise.

Would she have another reason to put her arms through the gown’s lacy sleeves?

“I want you to make me a suit that will go with your gown when I stand next to you,” Ebel said, taking hold of Rock’s hand that was gripping the measuring tape. He planted a soft kiss on her fingers.

Heat rushing to her cheeks, Rock answered, “You will look perfect next to me no matter what you wear, Ebel.”

“Then I want something that will make me look even better. I want you to make it in such a way that you will fall in love with me all over again.”

How was she supposed to answer that when she was the tailor and the lover?

But Rock wanted to meet her customer’s demands as a tailor. Plus, she had only just learned the joys of dressing up for someone else. Nothing could be happier than allowing the person she loved to enjoy the same experience.