Wound Up

Callisto had been humiliated many, many times before.

Failure to learn proper etiquette, [His] parents making her feel like she wasn't good enough to be with their son, hair-pulled, clothes torn, the whole catfight, and more.

She never got bothered by the majority of it though, since in the end, she had what she wanted. That is, until she didn't, of course.

But there was something about the raw naivety of a human that sent her over the edge.

Maybe she was just envious of how someone could be so stupidly innocent while Callisto had to grow up fast to stay alive.

Regardless, she wasn't going to let it continue.

Callisto glided purposefully across the ballroom as the song ended, Nox and Ethyl both bowing to each other as if they were the main actors of a stage play. Callisto wondered if maybe they were.

Was Ethyl's story the main one of this world, with everyone else as supporting characters?

Ugh, was she just a supporting character in some person's story on Earth? She'd have to talk to that shadow monster.

With every step, she took towards the couple, more force emanated from the clicks of her heels. Growing louder, and louder.

With a small magic enhancement, she magnified the sound waves coming off of her and clapped once.

The sound echoed throughout the halls as the party ground to a halt as people looked for the source of the noise reverberating through the walls and tilting chandeliers.

"How wonderful that you have been enraptured by an unknown, uninvited, guest of my debutante. Didn't know the Church of Lux allows for mistresses."

It might have been stupid of her to challenge Nox into a social battle. Nox trained for years to deal with diplomats and ambassadors trying to undermine the kingdom.

Her boyfriend had once needed to bail Callisto out of a conversation because she almost got scammed by a random guy.

In her defense, how was she supposed to know 'anti-aging herb-based lotion' wasn't actually a real product? And why would anyone want to try to give out free jobs with the intention of taking money?

Point is, she wasn't very good at reading social cues. But she didn't need to.

In a lot of elite societies, there are restrictions about what people are supposed to say or do. Words must be carefully chosen, and some topics must not be brought up at all, lest you degrade someone's honor.

However, there's always a vocal herald in that same society who, although looked down upon, gets the privilege of saying things many are supposed to carefully talk their way around.

With her reputation down in the gutter, she might as well take the torch of the herald for herself. It was much more fun to call people out directly, after all.

Nox straightened his posture, as if he could stand any straighter.

He made a point not to look at Ethyl, though the accusation has already been confounded by the fact that he danced with a young, single woman who was not his fiance.

"Welcome back Lady Callisto. After you disappeared off to who-knows-where, I did as what any royalty should do, and extended a hand of courtesy to the young lady Ethyl Pandora of the Baronies."

"Are you not listening? I had just said she was not a guest. No guest of the Azel household would go unrecognized by me. Or does his Royal Highness think he knows more than nobility?"

She spoke in a low, flat tone of voice elongated into a drawl, something she learned pissed people off from the many times [He] would use it. Seriously, that man loved to annoy people. God, did she miss him.

And seeing people fall in love while she was miserably lonely was not something Callisto really wanted to see.

"Nonsense. Don't try to put words in my mouth." He said, smoothing over any problems his actions may have caused with a silky voice and an unchanging exterior.

It almost reminded her of… No, there was no way. After all, [He] wasn't a stick-in-the-mud like the man in front of her.

"Why are you sighing?"

"Oh, it just saddens me that my own fiance would dance with another woman multiple times."

"Oh, but how could I leave a lady unengaged while everyone else had a partner? That would be improper of me."

"You're right. Guards, lock her up."

"What?!" Though she was looked down upon, the guards obeyed her orders, preparing to draw weapons as they descended upon the girl, who looked genuinely shocked that this was happening, eyes darting between the guards and Nox, as if saying, 'Help me!'.

Flurries of whispers among the crowd rippled as the situation unfolded, while the orchestra hesitantly played a sonata at the urging of the conductor to try to de-escalate the situation.

"Callisto Azel! You cannot just lock up a noble!"

"But I haven't done anything wrong!"

Both Ethyl and Nox spoke at the same time, their voices holding a trace of desperation.

"The daughter of a baron sneaking into the private ball of a high-ranking noble? I believe that does warrant an arrest. Of course, we can ask another person more qualified than either of us."

Her eyes dilated, and Nox saw Callisto's eyes dilate into slits once again. She looked insane, grinning broadly as if she had won the battle.

Her eyes honed in on her older brother Blake, who could only be described as aggressively trying to mind his own business, his back turned to the commotion and edging towards a door.

"Brother Blake! What do you believe we should do?" As eyes turned to Blake, Callisto saw him curse under his breath, now dragged into the situation.

"Guards, take her to the farthest guest room in the left wing. It's concerning that an uninvited guest has shown up, but I'm sure Lady Pandora has an explanation."

And the argument was over. When the actual duke wasn't around, Blake had the final say in all things regarding the Azel domain.

And though Nox was the Crown Prince, his authority didn't exactly stretch so far as to order a militia that was not under royal family control.

Callisto watched Ethyl walk away with the guards much more willingly than before. After hearing she wouldn't be placed in the guest bedroom instead, she became much more complacent. Odd.

As a result of the commotion, Callisto's debutante had officially been ruined--in part because of her of course--so Blake went into damage-control mode.

"Well, it is truly such a treat for the prince to grace us with his presence and such an 'innovative' display of kindness,"

Blake turned to the crowd, giving a slight gesture to the conductor as the ensemble hurriedly started back up with a waltz.

"And it would be such a shame if anyone were to have anything other than acclaim regarding your unique entrance, wouldn't be, Your Highness?"

"Ah, yes. Absolutely." Nox caught on immediately, agreeing with a renewed poise.

Callisto threw a bunch of dust in the air, and everyone watched as they grew bigger and materialized into incandescent mana crystals.

"Now, I'm sure this has downed many spirits today, and I sincerely apologize for such an uncomfortable situation so early into the ball. If you're willing to grace our fief with your continued presence, I would love to gift you each a mana crystal, created straight from the heart of our mana forests."

The crowd had oo-'d and ah-d, their guard so lowered they didn't even notice the charm spell embedded into the stones. Nox reached for one out of curiosity, and Callisto stopped, her hand catching his forearm.

"You don't want to touch them. Charm spell. It'll make them forget what happened right now, for the most part."

He retracted his arm quickly, brushing off her hand as well. Striding across the ballroom, he grabbed a glass of champagne and went to converse with other guests, presumably for the rest of the ball.

The rest of the ball went by slowly, and uneventfully. It was well into the morning when the ball officially ended, adjourning with a grand breakfast.

The hours that spanned between the commotion with Ethyl, along with the small charm she had set off, worked wonders regarding crowd control.

The nobles left the ball thoroughly satisfied, and hush-hush regarding the disruption.

Callisto trudged back to her room, noting how close she was to the guest bedroom that Ethyl was put in. There were guards stationed at the door who barely acknowledged Callisto as she walked past them into her room.

The luxurious bed welcomed her back into its abode, though she would have preferred a specific warm body instead of silk sheets and extra pillows.

After the maids changed Callisto into her nightgown, she excused them for the day and crawled into bed, the exhaustion finally catching up to her.

As she drifted off to sleep, she could feel a warm aura surround her in an embrace. It felt familiar, so familiar, though she couldn't place it.

And before she could figure it out, darkness overtook her.