Juli wished she could blow off some steam right now with some sparring, but getting out of her dress without damaging it required several minutes and a helper, while getting back into it required two servants and half an hour. It was better to wait until after dinner to take the thing off.<em>I’m definitely wearing a simpler dress tomorrow, if that Prince Henrik can wear a blood-stained cloak I’m not going to be held to looking this ridiculous to please those bastards.</em>And that was even assuming they had noticed or cared how she looked! Maybe they would respect her more if she dressed as a soldier and stopped pretending to be something she was not?<em>I’d never be so lucky, and my own queen would probably be furious.</em><br/><br/>“I wish I could join you two, but it would take too long to change,” Juli said as she watched Lorenso and Lenally. “I never thought I’d long for the days when I wore cloth bags on my feet because I couldn’t afford shoes, but this dress has me almost there.” She felt a bit guilty saying it, given all the effort her mother had put into making the thing, but it was no less true. If Juli had her way, she would only wear dresses to weddings and (civilian) funerals.