The Villainess Will Not Bring Dishonor To Her Family

173 - Afterwords

By springtime this had taken quite hard on Ristaze's economy, but the Ristaze that appeared that spring had already changed drastically.

Once again, letters were sent to Ristaze's business partners. An invitation for a party, and wishes to continue their cooperation.

---Spring---

When the foreign dignitaries arrived the sight that met them was far from the war ravaged land they had expected once they were forbidden entry during the winter.

Their favorite shops were still open and the buildings were intact, but the amount of flowers was without a doubt lessened compared to usual. There were many gardeners working on new arrangements to take over the old ones, but everything still seemed somewhat the same. The first thing that truly stood out to them, was spotting groups of highly visible guards in the streets in stylized uniforms matching the district. Ristaze had always prided itself on having no need of guards. The number of guard squads they spotted on the way to the palace was quite high as well, far higher than they were used to from their own homes.

In the end, the capital didn't actually change that much other than that. The belly of the capital wasn't a place for many nobles anyway, and though now under supervision, both the black market and the red district still exists. It's shrunk a lot, but still runs. Those running the black market are of course nobility, but both quality and quantity is both in small controlled percentages of what it had once been.

The only things gone for good were drug dens, actual organizations and the 'cleaners'. A surprisingly large part of UCOR had been getting money to get rid of the immense number of people overdosing from drugs. A shadow number that would only truly be felt over the next few years as Ristaze went into a baby boom.

The biggest change was with the pleasure cities along the river.

They were still cities of pleasure, but the number of restaurants, herbalists, beauticians and wellness stores had exploded in the absence of the less well seen businesses. The casinos that did remain were quite high class and offered gambling for both real and false money.

Crime was never entirely eradicated, but whereas you before could walk down just about any alleyway, you started needing to know where to look.

As the yearly tourists carefully expected the changed city, many left with disappointment, while others enjoyed the slight change of scenery and focused on the displays of research directly from the academy.

Business did far from as well as it used to. It was without a doubt the worst economical year Ristaze had seen in centuries, and it would never return to the same standards. However, the production and research of medicine in general would explode, mostly in the direction nutrition and general health.

In case you worry for the general civilian, you don't need to. Those living outside the cities neither heard or noticed the difference, until their semi-large villages had their local guard squads replaced or put under strict orders. If anything, their payments decreased and became regular.

Another change was fashion among the ladies of Ristaze.

Over the next decade the look of seductive opulence and extravagance was replaced by two general styles. The look of innocence, and the look of elegance.

Idealized by the future Prime Minister's Fiance, Claire Talwen as innocence, and the future Lady Tepet, Lily Celeste as elegance. Large gems and ruffles were replaced with intricate lazing and simplified designs, adding ribbons or small details to style it sweetly, and no matter the style, far less skin would be shown than had been custom.