BXBX NOVEL Chapter 186 186. Kidnapping, Part XXII
Editor: Aelryinth
"Yap?" It gazed vacantly at the pink mountain with two holes in front of its eyes. ’What is this?’
Looking dazed with less then awakened eyes, the cave under the pink mountain suddenly opened, and a long tongue came out and licked him, and Manny woke up in fright. "Wap, wap, wap, wap, growl!"
The surprise was only for a moment, and Manny barked with all its might. But despite the noisy rebellion, Killian’s cat touched Manny’s face with her front paws. Manny’s rebellion stopped at the cat’s behavior, which seemed to be rather arrogant.
Ki-yi-ying, ki-yi-ying. Suddenly, Manny cried pitifully and snuggled into Julietta’s arms.
"My lady must have liked the dog who is a half-divine animal."
"It is not a half-divine animal, Your Highness. Just call him Manny, please."
"Julie, come here. The dog is neither male nor female, but a creature with a sexual organ. You don’t have to try to charm it."
"Your Highness, I’ll have to agree on that name first. How about Butterfly?"
She gave him a representative name for the cat, but Killian’s face was sour. "Butterfly? I hate it because it sounds like a rootless name."
She didn’t understand what he argued roots with, but Julietta thought that instead of getting angry, she should appease the Prince and change the name. "What about Rita, then? Wouldn’t Rita be better than Julie?"
"It’s a name I am unwilling to call it. No. And I want to give my lady a meaningful name."
Oswald sneaked in on the cat’s name, as the argument was unlikely to end until sunset. "Then, why don’t you name it with the first letters of Julietta and Killian? Kill Jul. Hmm? Is it weird?"
When Oswald tilted his head, Julietta agreed with an appropriate response, as if it were a good idea.
Then, standing next to Vera, Albert who was busy taking off hair attached to his body spoke so low without noticing it. "If you don’t like it, you can pick the end of the names. How about ’an’ by Killian, ’ta’ by Julietta, and ’Anta?’"
"We are naming a female cat, and that’s so weird. I don’t like it."
Julietta got angry with Killian saying he disliked it without much thinking. "Okay, I can’t give in anymore. How’s Lilly? It’s lovely, doesn’t it? I have picked the middle character of your name, Iris, and ’li’ of Julietta. Because Iris is my name."
Killian smiled proudly at Julietta when she said Iris was her name. "That’s all right. I like it. Lilly, come here."
At Killian’s call, the golden-haired cat that was paying keen attention to Manny looked back at him. "Do you like your name? Your name is Lilly from now on. Come here." Lilly leaped over to Killian’s lap.
Killian looked back at Julietta, stroking Lilly. "Get ready to go out. Let’s go see an opera. I’m going to have to reinforce my relationship with the princess before today is gone, and I’ll formally announce my engagement within the week."
"Engagement? My father’s affairs haven’t been settled yet..."
Killian slightly rubbed the middle of Julietta’s furrowed forehead in concern. "Don’t worry, I’ll solve it myself. Come on, get ready. Before we go to the opera, we have to stop by Raefany’s and buy Lilly’s necklace."
Julietta was ready to go out at Killian’s prodding. With the help of the skilled Vera and Phoebe, when she came out after twenty minutes of preparations, Killian’s eyes were focused on one spot. "I guess you’re not wearing it today."
"Your Highness, please remove that haughty eye," Julietta criticized Killian, who was staring at her bulging chest without the corset.
"It’s not haughty. Think of it as an expression of interest. It’s much better after taking off that ugly thing."
Julietta wore a dark purple dress that she had modified from a man’s shirt. It was a dress with buttons from the neck to the bottom of the skirt.
The pointed ends of the raised collar were embellished with vivid ruby and cuff buttons of the same style were attached to the sleeves. Other than that, she expressed her femininity by tying a ribbon of the same color as the dress around her waist, but the skirt was a simple design with no lace on it.
"You’re beautiful, the princess. You are also wearing a new type of dress that impresses Oswald today."
Despite Oswald’s admiration, Killian’s expression was slightly frowned upon. "There’s a reason that you’re wearing that weird undergarment. Is it okay to walk around like that? It’s so different, though."
It was a neat dress with a button on its neck, but it had no other decorations, making Julietta’s sensual figure more prominent. Julietta winked as if not to worry.
"It’s okay because we’re going to sell a new product in the dress shop."
"What new product?"
"Shapely corset." Julietta put her hand in front of her chest, emphasizing the size.
"Miss." Vera was so embarrassed that she grabbed Julietta’s hands and Oswald turned away, clearing his throat, but Killian only had an interested look.
"Shapely corset?"
"Why can’t I make it look bigger when it’s pressed hard? I’m sure many women are not satisfied with the breast volume of a corset, which has been tightened from belly to the ribs. After this fashion show, I looked at the sales patterns of jacket-type dresses and found that people with a slender body shape were reluctant to buy them. So we decided to sell a set of functional shaping undergarments that allows them to wear whatever they want. People will think I’m wearing that shapely undergarment."
Julietta donned a hat that Vera handed her, and then she turned back and took Manny from Phoebe. Dropping the veil over her hat, she spoke briskly, Manny now wearing a vest of the same design as the dress. "Now, I’m ready. Shall we go?"
Julietta signaled as if she wanted to go, but Killian looked down Manny with a glum look.
"Your Highness? We have to leave now if you want to stop by Raefany’s."
Killian remained unmoved even at Oswald’s urging, and said to Vera, "Lend Manny’s clothes to our Lilly."
"Yeah?" Julietta retorted instead of Vera, who was surprised by Killian’s irrelevant command.
"She is not ready yet because Adam brought my lady this morning. We can go and buy some jewelry for her, but we don’t have time to drop by the dress shop, so lend Manny’s cape to Lilly."
Julietta was stunned by the words and her jaw dropped. "Look at the big difference in her figure. It won’t fit."
"It doesn’t matter if it is a cape. Don’t you think it’s just an ornament around her neck?"
Julietta looked at this guy with a bleary eye, thinking he was a person who just would not listen. He was unbelievable, as per his usual character. Prince Killian was begging to borrow clothes for a cat!
The saying ’Men are all children,’ was right. Thinking that there were cute corners, she was laughing inside, but her eyes met Killian’s.
"What’s that look in your eyes?"
Julietta snorted as he returned to his usual arrogant princely form, as her doubt for a moment was put to shame. It had been a long time, and it reminded her of doing things right away when he gave an order. Of course, it was not an order, but a request, but he was a talented man who made a request sound like an order.
"Your Highness, all Manny’s clothes are tailored to my own, so shouldn’t Lilly wear clothes that go with you?"
"But I don’t have that kind of outfit right now."
Julietta soothed the Prince who was not likely to move until Lilly was clothed like a child. "Then why don’t we do this? I have a ribbon that fits your dark blue jacket today. I’ll decorate Lilly with that ribbon."
"Ribbon?"
"Yes. Please wait a moment." Julietta went into the dressing room and brought back a ribbon that looked very much like Killian’s jacket color.
"This is my favorite ribbon. Phoebe embroidered the ribbon with lace. So, you have to use it well today and return it." Julietta tied a colorful ribbon of dark purple lace around the long blue cord and made a large ribbon around Lilly’s neck. "How’s this? It’s so pretty, isn’t it?"
Lilly, wearing a hand-sized ribbon around her neck, was meowing gently, perhaps not liking it. Killian nodded in silence, and turned to see if he liked the look.