A Noble Marriage - Chapter 22
Chapter 22 – A Ball’s Grandeur (1)
Their way back to the hotel was quiet. Anna held Karenin’s hands on the horse carriage.
“Holding hands is a compulsory lesson.” She winked at him happily.
In his circle of friends and relatives, Karenin rarely saw people holding hands the way she was, her fingers interlocked his. It felt very intimate.
Seeing that she was so delighted over it, he decided that there was no point to trying to understand her weird hand-holding behaviour.
When it was bed time, as Karenin walked out of the bathroom after washing up, he saw someone patting away at his pillow. “Even though I am no longer having a fever, but I think it’s best for my body if I stay warm,” she explained.
Karenin saw through her excuse, but chose to keep silent. If he was one of those learned in the ways of flirting, this would definitely be the moment to speak of endless sweet nothings. However, Karenin was never such a person. And thankfully, his wife never minded that about him.
As he lay down in bed under the blanket, a small and soft body came cuddling deeper into his chest, and closer and closer to his heart. Karenin thought to himself that it seems like being illogical every once in a while wasn’t too bad.
“Goodnight, Alexei.”
“Goodnight, Anna.”
Anna did not forget about the dinner and dance event on the evening of the second day. The dinner and dance would start at 6pm. As Karenin had to visit some officials for a meeting in the day, Anna used the time to prepare her evening dress.
She rumbled through the wardrobe. Despite the multitude of dresses available, none was to her taste. Most of the dresses required the lady to wear a tight corset, and Anna felt that they were a painful punishment for their female wearers.
It was not possible for her to make much changes to her dress last night, but now, she definitely had sufficient time to alter to make it more comfortable and fitting.
She really liked the texture of the swan feathers; they felt so smooth to touch. However, sleeves were not very suitable for evening dresses. Anna thought about it, then she took a scissors and cut the sleeves off. Using the sleeves material, she snipped a little more here and there, and changed them to become gloves—at least they looked like one—instead. At where the dress touched her thighs, she used a needle and thread to sew them to give a little tighter fit.
The collar area did not require any alteration; it was sufficiently low cut.
Anna looked at herself in the mirror. She unloosed her bowl cut fringe, and let them part to the sides a little.
Although having a bowl cut fringe was the popular look at the moment, but to Anna, she did not find it a beautiful look. She pleated her hair before placing them into a loose bun up-do, and decided to wear some lustrous looking pearl earrings.
Touching her collarbone, Anna decided to wear a pearl necklace to match.
Finally, she will need a coat that will provide sufficient warmth while wearing over her dress.
The coat made using fox fur was furry, and looked very expensive. Anna had noticed this from early on, it appears that women, regardless of whether they came from the past or the present, or from the East to the West, their love and chase for beauty doesn’t change.
After she was done preparing, she took a look at the time; Karenin should be returning soon.
Anna lifted her long dress slightly as she walked to the door of the suite. Indeed, she could hear the familiar heavy yet stable footsteps.
The sound of the footsteps had a clear rhythm to them; the steps were not too big or small, and each step was stable. This meant the person walking was very focused.
Just as the person was about to open the door, Anna opened the door. Her eyes curved slightly as she smiled widely and said, “Welcome back”.
The man was stunned for a moment, before regaining his calm again.
“How did you know it was me, Anna?” Karenin asked immediately as he walked in. “It’s not very safe to do that.”
“First, not may strangers will come by to knock on the door. Second, I could hear that it was your footsteps.”
“Your footsteps have their own character.” She added.
Karenin looked over at Anna. His brows furrowed as he said, “You are wearing too little.”
“Don’t you think that instead of saying that I am wearing too little, you should share your views on whether I look good dressed like this?” Anna was a little disappointed.
Upon hearing that, Karenin looked at his wife once more, and said, “From the way I see, there isn’t much difference, you always look this good.” After which, Karenin immediately took the coat left by the side and helped Anna with putting it on.
At this moment, he noticed that his wife was looking at him joyfully.
“Did I say something that made you happy?” Karenin was confused.
“Oh my, yes, you did say!” Anna laughed.