17 Chapter 17: The Cold Brings Clarity

Arena passed maids lined up on each side of the red carpet leading to the queen and it only remained a few stairs to get to the top when she suddenly felt faint as her head began to spin.

Unable to stop herself, she slipped without knowing the true cause and felt herself fall face-first against the stairs and was surprised to feel someone catch her before her head connected with the ground.

Her eyes were barely open enough for her to see the various people that surrounded her and she wasn't surprised when she failed to see Fawna and Parona.

"I'm sure they are currently discussing how they shouldn't go too close to me in order not to catch whatever it is I have," Arena thought as she laid stiffly on the floor unable to move as the blood in her veins turned colder and her joints felt deeply frozen.

A royal mage was swirling his hands over her and although she could barely make out his features, Arena was surprised that in the condition she was in, she was still able to find him attractive.

Slowly, she was able to feel a change and after a while of hearing him whisper and cast magic words underneath his breath, she was shocked to find out that she suddenly felt better, and was able to freely open her eyes.

"Done," said the mage as he hurriedly stood up, and in less than a second he had disappeared away from her line of sight, as he most likely went to either report to the queen or back to wherever he had been hiding.

" Can you stand? No, let me help you up," said the debutant wearing a red gown, who had smiled at her, as she bent down over her, stretching out her right hand for her to take.

"Thanks," said Arena taking her hand quickly knowing fully well that it was embarrassing and unladylike for a lady to lie down on the floor and it would be even more embarrassing for her to fall while trying to get up on her own.

On getting up on her feet, she was surprised to suddenly feel various hands of different maids descend on her as some tried to straighten some parts of her wrinkled gown as best as they could, while others fiddled with her hair.

In less than two minutes, without looking at a mirror Arena felt that she probably looked even better than she was before.

Smiling a little at all the fuss that was made, she was thankful that whatever was wrong with her had been solved, even though Arena was sure that her mother would still insist on a full checkup when she heard of what had happened to her.

"A disadvantage of being an only child," she thought lifting her head up to look around.

However, she was shocked to see the Queen standing a few steps above her.

"How do you feel Arena?" asked the queen.

"I feel better, your highness," Arena replied with a straight face trying her best to courtesy in the best way she knew how refusing to jump for joy or delight at the fact that the queen knew her name.

Rising up, she noticed that everyone had gone back to their former position including the debutant who had helped her stand, and even now it was a different maid that beckoned to her to climb the stairs to be blessed by the queen.

Apparently, the queen had decided to ensure that the banquet went on as usual and since Arena felt fine, she was happy that no one was making a huge fuss about all that had happened even though she still felt uneasy not knowing why she had fallen.

The Queen blessed her drawing the line of the eternal mother on her forehead and another line that she didn't recognize but pushed to the back of her mind, as she decided to do some research about it later.

"She's the queen and her mage just helped me, it's not like she would have anything to gain by hurting me," thought Arena burying whatever doubts she had about the queen's intentions for making another mark on her forehead.

After making another perfect courtesy, Arena descended the stairs and went back to stand below the stairs along with the other debutantes.

One after the other, Arena watched the seventh person, which was the girl wearing the red gown whose name she didn't know yet and the eighth to tenth person ascend and then descend the stairs after being blessed by the queen.

The queen then gave a short speech and as usual, Arena saw no need to really pay attention.

When it was over, the trumpeters blew their trumpets and the queen took her leave imploring the nobles to enjoy the rest of the banquet.

Arena had planned on leaving the moment the Queen left but taking a single look at the banquet table made her stomach growl.

Annoyingly, Athena's mother believed that not eating would give a woman a slim stomach making her belly appear slimmer while wearing the corset and while Arena didn't really care about such things but her mother did, hence the reason why Arena stomach rumbled in hunger and why her feet moved towards the banquet table hoping to take a bite or two before leaving regardless of what her mind wanted.

She got there taking a small dessert plate and a fork hoping to fill it up with different kinds of delectable and juicy desserts when from the corner of her left eye, she spotted Fawna and Parona moving towards her in their deep blue and golden yellow gowns.

She usually allowed them to treat her terribly because her mother liked to see her with friends and didn't like the idea of her spending so much time alone and like the good daughter she was, not wanting her mother to worry about her, she became closer to Fawna and Parona since her mother was friends with their's but after being on the floor less than an hour ago when both of them had decided to avoid her like a plague, Arena decided that it was better not to have any friends than to have them.

"I might as well get this over with," thought Arena as she stuck her fork into a blueberry tart taking a huge piece of it, the kind Fawna considered inappropriate, and Parona was bound to complain about before placing it on her plate with a smug smile on her face.