Prelude of the debutante

After the revelation that her mother was an absolute sadistic lunatic, Dahlia was shocked when the woman had just leaned against the wall, took out some documents, and started doing office work right there in the room.

'What? Is she doing this for the sole purpose of throwing me off my game? I mean seriously, she dropped that bomb of a responce and just cut off the conversation there!'

In all fairness… yes, that was absolutely what the Baroness was doing. She really had been in a good mood recently and after having Dahlia secluded for so long, just interacting with her and seeing the girl squirm was making her day.

So much to Dahlia's dismay, Sabrina had decided to stay. The documents she had brought weren't just props so her attention was divided, but throughout the morning she would regularly give her daughter threatening glances, or suddenly reposition herself in order to see how many ways she could get the girl to freak out.

Unfortunately, despite really wanting to just drag Dahlia off to a location with a whip, doing any physical damage today was probably a bad idea. For that reason, she had settled on psychological torture and was having a surprising amount of fun with it all.

Time passed, eventually the Baroness had to leave for some other matters, and Dahlia and the maids remained. Even by lunch, only half of all the work was done. Considering they would need to leave by five, they were actually behind schedule.

As time progressed and the deadline got closer, the maids progressively got more and more serious. Less having fun trying different ideas and more non-stop rushing to get out a finished product. For her part, Dahlia really didn't care. She had no power here anyway, and the only reason she cared about appearance at all was because she wanted to give a good impression to "Grandma Lukresh."

Time continued to pass until finally all the maids took a step back. They didn't hand her a mirror and ask her what she thought. They truly didn't care. They simply stood back and admired their handiwork. Without even a word to Dahlia, they all turned to leave and notify the Baron and Baroness, both of whom were likely just finishing getting ready in their own right.

After another twenty minutes of sitting and waiting, a servant finally arrived letting her know that it was time to go. Eyes were on Dahlia the whole way. Maids, gardeners, guards, and more all had their eyes following her as she strode past them.

'Gah! This is driving me up the wall! What?! What do you all want?! I get it, I'm dressed up, so chill out! God! You'd think they all never saw a lady before or something.'

The degree to which their eyes tracked her made goosebumps form all over and a shiver went up her spine. More than anything, what really ticked her off was that despite how much everyone treated her like dirt, they still had the gall to ogle her. If anything, her low status in the household likely made them think they could get away with being overt. Men and women both eyed her up like a piece of meat, while some stared daggers made from refined envy.

Trying to ignore such blatant looks as much as possible, after a couple minutes Dahlia had finally made it to the carriage. Unlike usual, where her parents would ride separately, they all rode together as it would be seen to be unbecoming to arrive separately at such an important event.

As she stepped into the carriage, she was met with two quick glances. The first, from her father, was a slight pause with eyes doing a quick up and down before he gave a curt nod. "Good," he said, before turning back to the papers in front of him. In his eyes, ever since her aspect was revealed he found interacting with her was just a burden and nothing good could come of it.

As he looked away though, her mother's eyes lingered and it again made her feel uncomfortable. She recalled what had happened in the morning and she started to sweat a bit.

'Why is she like this? What is this new psychological warfare?! Please just beat me or something!'

She really didn't want to be beaten, but man was this stressing her out. All while she tried to look anywhere but at her mother, Sabrina was smirking. Not only was her daughter gorgeous, but that awkwardness was a breath of fresh air.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath like a sommelier enjoying a glass of fine wine, then finally released it as a contented sigh. Recently, Vincent had been more of an annoyance than usual and she was just getting sick of it all. Although she may not love the idea of her plaything leaving the house, she had to admit that this event would still be a nice change of pace.

After relaxing now that the entertainment arrived, the Baroness chuckled.

"You know, I'm sure people won't be able to keep their hands off you. You must only seduce Lord Alcaster. Any more and people will think you're some kind of loose woman."

Before she could even interject and complain that it wasn't her fault that people were a bunch or horndogs, Sabrina had already cut her off.

"Tut tut tut. Don't you dare try and interrupt me girl. How about this, you do a good job and don't draw attention to yourself like we discussed and you go without punishment, but if I see you stepping one foot out of line and it'll be one lash for every person that looked at you with 'impure' intent. See? You do as we ask perfectly and you don't even get punished. Aren't I magnanimous?"

All the while, her wide grin had made her look like a monster. Both of them knew full well that Dahlia planned to contact the Archduchess today. There was so much waiting and planning behind it that there was no way it wouldn't happen. Not only that, but the Baroness had even encouraged it! So instead of being "magnanimous," what it really was was a promise to deliver countless lashings with a thinly veiled excuse.

Dahlia just sighed, too worn down from her already long day. She really couldn't mentally handle her mother right now, she was just too much.

It was with this mood that time passed. Sabrina teased and threatened her daughter, Vincent looked at his papers like they were the most interesting things in the world, and Dahlia pretended to be air and just acted like it wasn't her that her mother was talking to.

It was seven in the evening when they had all arrived. Their overly compensating carriage pulled up to an extravagant but relatively tasteful mansion, home to Count Clarence Severton. The lawn was immaculate and massive, the gardens were slightly behind current trends and so they were quite lush and beautiful in Dahlia's opinion.

The building itself was the centrepiece of everything though. The outside blended modern stucco and beam construction with a stone brick base displaying the old gothic origins of the building. Considering its location and the origins of the family, it wouldn't be a surprise if the basement were thousands of years old, being built from the ruins of an old Lukreshian castle.

Starting to draw parallels to the family she was already excited to join, she began to notice that their influence was so massive it could be seen in the very masonry of a random family's home. She was well aware that she was in over her head, but was the Lukresh name really so powerful and omnipresent?

As she mulled over her collection of thoughts, she hadn't even realised that they were walking to the doors and were just about to enter. At that time she felt a strong slap to the centre of her back where a welt wouldn't show. She looked up and saw that the sadistic grin on her mother was gone.

"Listen girl. We've already been over what's expected of you and how things are going to go tonight. I'll be watching you like a hawk the entire time. You just go about things properly and don't cause problems. Don't go spacing out like you just did."

'Yes yes. We have an image to maintain and all. If only they all saw you for what you were, then I wouldn't have to put on airs.'

Dahlia sighed, but she still did as she was told. Refocusing on what lay ahead and fixing her posture to a point of perfection, the doors silently swung open as a cryer read allowed.

"Baron Vincent Lionysus, Baroness Sabrina Lionysus, and now debuting Lady Dahlia Lionysus."

His voice rang clearly through the hall and hundreds of eyes turned to look at the family. Dahlia immediately noticed some looks of derision and it seemed as though the Lionysus name was already suffering in popularity.

Those sneering nobles and their derisive glances quickly faltered though as the room laid eyes on Dahlia. It was her first appearance in high society and it was starting to cause ripples. No one even knew her aspect or magic potential but there were already some whispers of parents to their attending children.

'Yup. I guess it begins. Everyone is so full of themselves that they see me as a potential trophy wife without a second thought. Just thinking of it makes me want to strangle them but… I have to be calm.'

Taking a deep breath, Dahlia walked in along with her parents and pretended to ignore the disgusting levels of desire in some people's eyes. Instead, she decided to look for two targets.

The first was one she dreaded interacting with. The golden locked and baby faced son of a duke, Lord Alcaster. The second, she desperately wanted to find as soon as possible.

'Where's my vampire grandma?!! I want to meet her so badly! I swear to god, if she didn't show up…'

Dahlia's thoughts were tumbling around in a bit of a mess as she tried to find what she was looking for. She first started by looking for old ladies and… there were quite a bit actually. It seemed that the rich got to grow old rather comfortably. Go figure.

Seeing how many old women there were, Dahlia began to try and narrow the search by looking for the correct family colours.

'Red and yellow, no. Black and blue, no. Red and gold no. Silver and green, no. Oo! Silver and red! And no black, damnit.'

This went on for a while as she stood alone looking around with her head dipping here and there like she was in the middle of shadow boxing. All the while, plenty of people watched her as she flitted too and fro and many clued in that there might be a screw or two loose in her head. It hardly deterred people, but many were also getting a kick out of the girl's strange behaviour.

On a balcony, there was one noble who seemed to enjoy it even more than the rest. They were wearing a tailored suit that accentuated their lithe figure. The black suit was gilded by delicate designs made of silver thread, and a cape hanging from the shoulder had a crimson underlayer.

The noble wearing it all sipped away at her glass of wine. Perhaps more noteworthy than her clothes were the other accessories she was wearing. Primarily, almost as tight as her clothing, she had a noblewoman under either arm clinging to her, seeming glued to her as she hardly spared them a thought.

There was a new target after all, and this one had caught her eye far more than her typical prey. The young noblewoman smiled and her heart began to race as it got ready for the hunt.

'I thought a debutante was only supposed to have snot nosed brats. Why is a cute little bunny like her here? Honestly, she looks closer to my age than anything; she doesn't fit in at all.'

Continuing to look her over, her mouth was practically watering.

'She was kept hidden all this time? A gem like that? I suppose all the better for me, but also… even from here, I can smell it. Her mana, her blood, her scent… What is up with her? Oh, I can't let her get away now, can I?'

Licking her lips, Archduchess Valentina Lukresh looked down at Dahlia and eagerly began to mull over how to capture her new target.