It is said that a young lady can never have too many dresses or attend too many balls. These are fewer of the few pursuits that interest us, considering that we do not have the calibre in our brains to seek performance at anything else. Needless to say, it brings us a lot of free time. If one makes an exception of being terrible at needlework, they have no point in life. However, I do.
Wilius.
Wilius had never really managed to hold meaning in my thoughts for an extended period of time, if I was being rather honest. He was just so despicable for even a single worthy, conversation. But for the first time ever since he had been a toddler. I-
"Amber." The Queen said rigidly. My gaze swiftly returned from the dark scenery outside of our carriage into the inside. I had practically got lost into thought.
"Yes, Your Majesty?" I asked, pasting a smile.
"Your lack of attention exasperates me everytime." The Queen rolled her eyes. "Now," she said fluttering her fan gracefully. "You do remember our conversation from a morning ago? I expect you to make amends with His Grace at tonight's Soirée."
I nodded quite hesitantly, unsure of how I could convince the Duke otherwise with hollow words and false compliments. If only the Queen knew that it would be none less than impossible to make 'amends' at all. Any gentleman does not take it well when they are disrespected upfront.
"Of course, Your Majesty." I replied with a clipped voice.
I returned my sight back towards the roads outside and tried to match my memory of whatever I generally see during my endeavors. The more I revelled into them, more the sparks had started to ignite. It had been a few evenings since I had stepped out. If it hadn't been for the recent revelations and mind's conflicts.....
"Whatever you do, make sure the Duke makes his intention to call on you tomorrow." The Queen eyed me with a stern expression.
I could barely stop myself from rolling my eyes as a disagreement. "I would try my best, Your Majesty." Oh, I detested how frivolous I was regarding this whole situation. Note this: I had no interest into marrying at all, no matter what anyone would say. This makes me the Foe of the family, I'd state. The number of balls I have attended throughout the years has prepared me for the most gruesome of challenges. Tonight was just another one to endure.
The carriage rattled over the cobblestones and slowed down to a stop infront of the house where tonight's Soirèe was supposed to be at. I breathed and prepared myself for what I always deemed inevitable. The matter of Wilius would have to wait, unfortunately.
As we entered the Ballroom, everyone present curtesied and noted our presence. All eyes were on me, noting the most recent mention of my person in the scandal sheet. The music soon resumed but I could hear The Queen's voice very clearly.
"I acknowledge that you have a astute mind, so I expect you do whatever you deem fit today and emerge victorious at finding a partner." She said and left me to myself.
Before I could intrigue myself with the various possibilities of making these so called amends, I was approached with a swarm of ladies whom I could call my companions. However, each of them were an entire gossip sheet themselves. Their breaths of scandal reached their destination even before themselves. Every single one of them were either daughters or sisters of Earls, Counts or Barons. This big pool of blue blood offered nothing else to the society other than the marvels of needleworks and wedding gowns. In any sense, I was supposed to do the same.
"Your Highness." They all greeted in unison and I nodded. "I thought you would need some respite after your most recent...incident." One of them stated, completely barefaced.
I gulped down my irritation and picked up the most imitating high pitched voice of my being. "Respite? You must jest, Miss Sandra. It is not I who needs it, someone else does and very desperately so."
"No one in this room has got the hair to cut down a dance abruptly, Mam. Whoever apart from you can it be?" Another lady slurred with a smug smile.
"I believe them to be those who take mere gossips quite seriously. It so easily blankets their nature of simply having nothing to do otherwise. However, I must inform you that the entire situation is misunderstood. Just like all your lives are." I blurted out and stepped away.
Their whispers rose and followed me like hounds trying to pull me into their merciless grasp. But I cared no less. My vision for the night was not to succumb to some comments. It was the Duke, which would not be an easy feat to achieve.
After preparing myself thorougly to face the criticism of the Duke, I was disappointed greatly. Not because my attempt was rejected. Because it was accepted, and that too almost very immediately.
No sooner had I approached him with a request of supposed forgiveness, he had composed a demeanor that nothing had happened in between us at all. His smile had not faltered by an inch since our last meeting. I had never before meet someone with such low self-esteem. Perhaps he has been in a dire need of a sizable dowry. An amount that only a Princess could offer.
"Amber," he said gracioulsy, still making no effort to properly address me. "I would like to call upon you tomorrow. I believe we should get to know each other better."
The air in the ballroom had become difficult for me to breathe. The music had gone from melody to loud screeches, my head felt as if some stone was kept over it. The prospect of being called upon by the Duke of Dunwell actually scared me. Whenever the Queen would get to know, she would practically start planning the wedding. Had I unknowingly stepped on my own foot by sorting things with the Duke? My only intentions were to make sure my behavior won't result into any judgement for Ruby. Have I just so casually set grounds for something I do not like at all?
My foosteps found myself on the cold floor of the terrace upstairs with my mind racing with thoughts. My sight had become blur and I heaved, taking in the cold but refreshing air.
"Is everything alright?" A voice murmured from besides me.
After having to socialise and play pretend all evening, my energy was drained to do anymore. If it had not been for basic mannerisms, I wouldn't have entertained the carrier of the voice.
"My lord." I turned around. "I am quite well, thank you for asking."
It was one of the multiple gentlemen that attended the Ball. "What brings you here into the cold air, leaving such a pristine Ball behind?"
"Something I would like to question you as well for that matter." He walked and leaned against the parapet of the terrace, looking out to the darkness of the sky above.
Answering a question with a question. Witty.
"Well...." I walked near him. "The melody of the music had turned into screeches for me. This is better and..."
"Quiter." He respnoded, completing my sentence. We looked at each other and smiled lightly before looking back into the sky and the pattern of the stars. It felt like it was just us here, even if just inside the door there were swarms of people. But everything had seized to exist in the quiet. We were by ourselves.
"These stars are beautiful. Have you the idea of what constellations are?" The man asked with a warm voice.
"Yes. I do. They are a certain arrangements of the stars which when linked form patterns of various beings. Astrologers say they hold great depth of meaning." I replied.
"They do." He smiled again. "Do you see the Scorpius?"
I tired searching for a faint pattern of the mentioned Scorpius in the sky. I had viewed it once a very long time ago, but I couldn't decipher it at the current moment.
"There?" I asked, pointing out to a similar looking mass.
"Just besides it." He said gently.
The man's presence filled some weight in the air and his careful touch that redirected my arm sightly the the right felt like an envelope of strange warmth.
"There," he said softly, his voice near my ear. "Do you see it now?"
Thanks to him, I did see it. The upper arc of it's body, the rest forever lost beyond the edge of the sky.
"It's beautiful. But it seems rather incomplete, does it not? It can be misunderstood for something else very easily." I whispered.
"As all things appear from too far away." He replied, his gaze fixated into the heavens.
My thoughts opened suddenly and I stepped a foot away from him. The screeches and irritation came hurling back into my ears as I realised the risk I was taking by standing on terrace alone with a Man.
"My Lord." I curtisied and left the scene abruptly, leaving behind the stranger of a Lord, as embarrassed as I was.
No one could match my level when it came to being a dissapointment.
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