Chapter 9: The Debutante Ball (3)

Author's note:

Important distinction!

"..." means dialogue that is being said out loud.

'...' means dialogue inside their heads.

When I write, '...' blank said, it meant they said it in their mind so please don't be confused.

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The attention was still on Bridgette and it was clear she wasn't done speaking.

"Please, everyone. Let us move to the ballroom to correctly start our evening."

Taking the lead, Bridgette and the Royal Family went back up the stairs and toward the ballroom. During this course of events, Arisanna saw a few young gentlemen courting the young noble ladies. They would lightly take their hand and ask to court them up the stairs as if they couldn't climb by themselves. Some even boldly kissed the hands of a few ladies, implying that they were deep in the route of courting already.

This trivial act seems to be the first test of sorts for nobles to find a partner to walk with up the stairs, which is actually entertaining to watch seeing young girls desperately try to act calm even though they didn't have a partner.

Now, Arisanna gets to avoid this graciously through her brother as he courts her everywhere she goes during events like these.

While walking, she took keen notice of a brown-haired young lady. She was dressed elegantly, her dark purple gown must probably cost a fortune. She seemed to act arrogantly in a dignified manner, flaunting her social status.

Arisanna heard rumors about the girl. Her name was Emberlynn Levin and was widely known as someone who regularly threw tantrums. She seemed to go out of her way to disrespect other young noble ladies and exude a furious aura that scares girls to their wit's end. Of course, she has never had contact with the young girl and so she can only base her character on the rumors. However, she knew of the Levin family. They seemed to be an influential household on the rise as their business started to gain traction. It seemed like they rose to fame from nothing and the people trust them.

However, to Arisanna, they don't mean much to her household as they never came into contact with each other. She was curious about their quick rise to fame and found that they only have influence in name but no real power. Therefore, they don't pose an actual threat. She did find that Emberlynn's siblings had blonde hair instead, a trait from their mother. Only she in the family had brown hair, besides her father, which was a unique distinction.

Nonetheless, Arisanna only found her behavior entertaining and didn't think much of it.

Walking into the ballroom, Bridgette then walked to the center accompanied by her father and they started to dance. The hostess, or host, would usually dance first and everyone would watch their performance. Since this was her debutante ball, usually the first dance would be given to the father as a sign of respect.

Arisanna saw how beautiful Bridgette's footwork was, it was truly fitting for the title of 'First Princess of the Empire'. She was nothing but grace and elegance, her heels certainly did not get in the way of her dancing. They danced around the room in perfect coordination while showing off their cheerful smile. They seemed to whisper as they danced and Bridgette lightly chuckled at something her father said. They ended it with both of them bowing and the room applauding at their wonderful performance.

After the hostess had her turn, it was then the people's turn.

Arisanna has never been so glad her brother was a man before. It is a common courtesy for the ladies to dance at least once at an event. Nobles really pay attention to others and would take note if someone wasn't asked to dance once over the course of the entire evening.

To avoid dancing with strangers, Arisanna and Reynold have sworn to always dance with each other once every event just to make sure both meet the standards of the social world. However, Arisanna always felt her brother was a bit more pitiful when it comes to these events. Men are usually the ones initiating a dance and therefore had to endure the torture of bravely taking the hands of a young noble lady asking for a dance. But due to their agreed-upon contract, Reynold never had to do so since he was guaranteed a dance from his sister.

Thus, sometimes when Arisanna wanted to torture her brother, she would simply avoid him in order to force him into asking other ladies. To meet her requirement, she would typically have Theodore dance with her if he was present during these events.

There was a small setback in her plans, as Theodore is of the Rosenvelt household and seldom attends these events. The noble community also never bash them for doing so because of their bloodline and shuts up about it. Therefore, on the off-chance, she reluctantly has to admit that she doesn't have anyone else to dance with and usually regretfully dances with her brother.

However, today is not the day to act petty. Arisanna really doesn't want to accept anyone's request for dancing and so she readily accepts her brother's.

'Be careful of your footwork, you stepped on me last time,' Reynold commented.

'Hey! I was young back then, of course, I had to make mistakes. I am more worried about your gigantic foot stepping on mine. I might break a bone!'

'I am much better at swordsmanship than you are. My footwork is flexible and balanced unlike yours. I would never make such a trivial mistake.'

'Please. Your all brawn no brain will cause you to make a mistake.'

'What do you mean "all brawn and no brain"? I'm sorry but you need to have more brawn to balance that giant head of yours.'

'If you keep chatting, I might really step on you. These heels are nothing to scoff at. The pressure in which my heels will pierce into your feet would actually make you break several bones.'

Reynold rolled his eyes and changed the subject, 'Are you going to dance with anyone else?'

'Why would I?'

'What if someone asked?'

'Who?'

'For example, Theodore or the princes.'

'I know Theodore would ask me but I am not really sure the princes will.'

'You know more than anyone you and the princess are our scapegoats right?'

'When have I become their scapegoat?'

'Well, we should probably dance with people who are not family as well just to make sure. Besides dancing with another household would mean that the said household can mooch off of our influence. It would become annoying to deal with.'

'Aren't there other dukes and duchesses? Even soccerers and sorceresses.'

'Don't know them, will be awkward.'

Just then, the first song ended and they both took their bows, their poker face still intact.

As if going in a system, Theodore walked up to Arisanna and lifted her hand.

"Care for a dance Ms. Arisanna Blanchette?"

She lightly curtsied, "My pleasure, Sir Theodore Rosenvelt."

She then glanced at Reynold and he gave her an 'I told you,' look.

She immediately telepathically reached out to Theodore, 'Do you all have a rotating system?'

'Yes. We have discussed amongst ourselves the problem of who would dance with who,' he responded.

'Who is "we"?'

'Me, Rey, Alex, and Art.'

'So who would be dancing with me next?'

'I believe Art would be the next one to dance with you.'

'You really love using us huh?'

'There is the honor of dancing with the hostess and then the matter of dancing with someone else. Besides, aren't you the lucky one?'

'How so?' she asked while he spun her.

'Well, you get the honor to dance with the two princes of the empire. On top of that, you get to dance with the future Grand Duke of the Empire. No one can top you.'

'I will be your aide in the future. It would be strange if you didn't dance with me. Second, dancing with the princes can sometimes mean nothing. They also must dance with other ladies too.'

'Only those that will benefit them.'

'Won't I also benefit them? If the Blanchette household supported one of them, they would gain the support of the people.'

'Yes, but the Blanchette would follow the Rosenvelt household,' Theodore said while bringing her closer to finish the dance.

'In theory, yes. But we basically still get liberty in who to stand with.'

'But they won't view it that way. Gaining my favor would also be gaining the Blanchettes' favor. Therefore, they are only dancing with you because they want to.'

'Wow, how touching.'

'Never show this side of you to the public,' Theodore smiled.

'I am not dumb enough to do so," she returned his smirk.

They both curtsied and were about to part when they hear a commotion.

"Please mind your manners Ms. Emberlynn," a young noble girl chuckled while holding a fan to cover her face. She then "accidentally" spilled a drink over her head.

"Oops, my hands slipped."

The people surrounding them went nuts as silent chuckles could be heard surrounding them.

'Wow, what a sh*t show.'

'Language,' Reynold jokingly replied.

"I won't forgive you!" Emberlynn screamed as she wipe the drink off of her.

As Bridgette made her way over the scene with a displeased face, the hall suddenly was blown apart.

The debris of the ballroom flew across the hall. The smoke enveloped the room as if reminding the nobles to panic. Screams were heard and incoherent shouting followed. People were trying to run towards the corner of the ballroom, far away from the explosion.

Arthur, the second prince, flicked his hand and the smoke dissipated.

Standing there was clearly a human figure yet their aura said otherwise. Strangely enough, the man standing before them had a tail that flicked in excitement at the panicked scene in front of him. His face had two black horns that grew out of his face. With a delighted look, his back then grew wings and he proceeds to float mid-air.

He laughed and the vibrations shook the ballroom.

"Everyone! My name is Benford!"