Sister, I'm The Queen In This Life - Chapter 44
After the first waltz of the ball with the Prince, Isabella seemed to be flying high into the sky. It was a pity not to be in the center of the stage, but while Ariadne danced the first official waltz of her life with only Count Cesare, Isabella herself danced hers with Prince Alfonso! Isabella's friends flocked to her in twos and threes to hear her story.
"Isabella! How wonderful to dance with the Prince!"
Although rough, she was the daughter of Viscount Leonetti, who always followed Isabella wholeheartedly. Isabella tucked her hair behind her ears in her pride. Baroness Camellia de Castiglione also praised Ariadne earlier and praised Isabella subtly as she forgot that she was shaming Isabella.
"The dress is also very pretty. Is this, by any chance, Collezione's costume?"
Isabella's nose rose. No Collezione, baby! It was a new organza dress she had managed to get on time after asking for more than 50 ducatos because no one could book it. The round skirt piled up in layers was like precious candy.
"I heard it was difficult to make a reservation, how did you get it?"
Embarrassed, Isabella lied softly without saliva on her lips.
"Well, I thought I wouldn't be able to make it because I made my reservation a little late. But Madame Clemenza said to me, 'It would be nice if Lady Isabella de Mare would wear our clothes, so why don't we match them?"
Isabella, in fact, called the Collezione as soon as the date for Ariadne's debutante ball came out. However, what she received from Collezione was a reply saying that it would be difficult due to overdue reservations. But Isabella did not give up.
She separately contacted the Collezioni side, and instead of the usual 2-30 ducato (about 2-30 million won) dresses, if you match the top line of 50 ducatos (about 50 million won), they will make clothes for you.
They asked if she would like it, and she agreed and managed to get a slot. But she kept her mouth shut about it. The girls, unaware of this, expressed their envy towards Isabella by screaming in a group that sounded like dolphins.
"Whoever sees it will think that Lady Isabella is the main character of this ball!"
The lady of Viscount Leonati, who brought up this story, said it as a compliment, but Isabella shrewdly sensed that she might be criticized and responded with humility.
"No, no. How pretty is my sister Ariadne? Something like me can't even go to my feet!"
"I said that the Gwagong is proportional!"
"Ah, if the lady does that, what will happen to the little de Mare lady?"
The praise was thrilling. It seemed to feed her soul. Isabella pretended to be kind to her friends, enjoying her emphasis on 'I am superior to Ariadne'. At that time, the young lady of the Marquis Julia de Baldesar asked a sharp question.
"By the way, Lady de Mare, it's your sister's debutante ball. Can you wear a white dress?"
She didn't like quick-witted opponents, but Isabella had a perfect alibi. She smiled as sweet as cotton candy and recited the correct answer like a parrot.
"My sister and I are so friendly, so my sister asked me to match her white dress first because she wanted to match her color with her sister."
What will a third party say if she says it is fine? Isabella gave a warm smile and she added a word.
"Our Ariadne is so sweet."
On the surface, this seemed like Ariadne's compliment, but in fact, it was a compliment to Isabella herself. She's a great sister, Isabella, whom her sister loves enough to give her own. Julia couldn't answer Isabella further and shut her mouth.
It was impossible to ask Ariadne directly, who was not close to her. Alas, it was a really good day to be able to shut up that high-nosed Lady of Marquis of Baldesar.
Everything had an end. Ariadne's first waltz, which seemed like it would never end, barely ended as the orchestra's bow stopped. Ariadne paid her respects to Cesare by bending her knee to salute him and hurried away from her partner. She must have hated being with Cesare, but it was because the front of her dress was uncomfortable.
'Should I go to the powder room?"
Ariadne, who was contemplating whether to go back to her room on the second floor and rest comfortably, saw Prince Alfonso. At the same moment, Alfonso also noticed Ariadne and approached her with his bright face.
"Ariadne!"
"Alphonso!"
When Ariadne found the Prince, she smiled brightly in sincere gratitude.
"I thought you would go back."
It was true that the appearance of Cesare made the Prince's position difficult. He could, strictly speaking, have been humiliated. For a picky nobleman, he would have gone home with all his rage. However, Alfonso remained silent at the party. It was a consideration for the organizers.
"I haven't even danced a waltz with today's star, but I can't go anymore."
Alfonso smiled brightly and held out his right hand.
"How are you, lady? Would you like to give me the honor of dancing a waltz with you?"
The clothes that Alfonso was equipped with were also pure white, the clothes of her debutante partner. Ariadne couldn't say to him, 'Let's dance next time because I have to go to the bathroom', so she had to hold his hand. Just then, the band started playing the second waltz piece, and they slipped into the center of the main hall and started dancing.
"Wasn't Count Cesare bullying you?"
He seemed to remember the time Cesare bullied Ariadne in the garden of the Marquis of Chibo. Ariadne shook her head, following Alfonso's lead as he glided through the steps.
"No, today he was strangely gentlemanly."
Sensing something suspicious, Prince Alfonso frowned. Ariadne's reverse question flew to him.
"By the way, how did you do your first dance?"
"Me? I danced with your sister."
A dark cloud hung over Ariadne's face. Beautiful Isabella. She is a demonic woman that no man can come to his senses.
"How is it? Isn't my sister pretty?'
She thought it would be distasteful to ask it, but these were the words that spontaneously left her mouth. Ariadne was the fiancée of the regent, and for nine years she reigned in the social world, and The leisure she had acquired would disappear without a trace if it was Isabella's business.
Alfonso's answer came back to Ariadne, who reprimanded Ariadne for her own poverty, saying that she would look unattractive.
"Is she pretty? She didn't look like you."
It was a much drier answer than Ariadne had expected. Ariadne couldn't stand it and added another word.
"Everyone says my sister is very pretty."
"Okay? Oh, she did look a little different from normal people."
Isabella had a particularly slender body line, large puppy-like eyes, and elaborate facial features. Even standing in a chapel filled with 10,000 people, she stood out by herself. But she didn't seem to be very impressed with Alfonso.
"I don't know,"
Alfonso saw countless beautiful things while living in the palace. A pretty face, a pretty wardrobe, a pretty fan, and pretty jewelry. You may be able to like it because your eyes are happy when you see it, but for Alfonso, formative beauty was only something that could be replaced in the end. Beauties eventually grow old, and more beautiful young beauties appear. Just as risking one's life on a wardrobe or a fan is foolishness, so too is beauty.
Alfonso liked it a little higher. A noble spirit, lofty pride, chivalry that does not compromise principles, and noblesse oblige that sacrifice oneself. Only values that do not deteriorate over time fascinated him. The infinite wit of the dark-haired girl in front of him was also one of the things that fascinated him.
But is that all? Ariadne took a big turn to match the music. Alfonso held her hand up to make room for her to turn around, and Ariadne held her hand up high as well.
Snap!
Ariadne felt something was wrong. The moment the hook on her back received the force, it couldn't resist the force at all, and it opened like a candy toe. Ariadne felt like the cotton cloth was coming loose. At the same time, it felt as if the seam at the center of the V-shaped fine dress had been ripped off, unable to overcome the pressure surging from within.
Crunchy!
With a loud noise, the front of her clothes burst open, exposing her beautiful breastbone. Ariadne was so flustered that she stiffened like a stone statue amidst the waltz.
Standing alone among dozens of couples spinning round and round, it was even more conspicuous. People soon noticed too.
"Omg!"
"Her clothes are torn right?!"
"Oh my God, you can see the breastbone all the way through."
"Omg, that's great!"
In the meantime, there was a great man who openly whistled. It was Zanobi de Rossi. Zanobi's behavior was unlearned not only by the San Carlo society but also by the standards of the entire Etruscan Kingdom.
Not only the noble ladies but also the gentlemen's eyes were all on Zanobi, a country boy who whistled.
"Who is that rude person?"
"His attitude seems like a complete noob."
Zanobi seemed to realize that she had made a big mistake, and he hurriedly left the ballroom.
The ballroom was very chaotic. It was then. Alfonso pulled off his ceremonial cloak and wrapped Ariadne in it. The snow-white cloak embroidered the ballroom as large as petals, and then, in an instant, became smaller like a flower bud and wrapped around Ariadne.
"Excuse me. Let me pass."
Alfonso, holding Ariadne in one arm, was trying to make his way through the crowd to the powder room behind the ballroom.
"There are a lot of people in the powder room. Shall we still go over there?"
As soon as Ariadne heard that there were a lot of people, she was wrapped in a white cloak and slashed. As usual, the powder room on the first floor was filled with Isabella's friends and was boiling over.
"On the second floor, let's go to my room."
Alfonso took Ariadne and went upstairs to Ariadne's room at the end of the west wing. When Ariadne opened the door to Ariadne's living room and entered, Sancha and Ariadne's entourage of maids hurriedly ran to Alfonso's arms and took Ariadne away.
"My lady, I'll bring the gown for now!"
As soon as Sancha sat Ariadne on the sofa in the drawing room, she ran into the dressing room, and seeing Ariadne's tear-stained face, Anna hurriedly went to get cosmetics, and Maria ran out to get tea to calm her down. Alfonso finally realized that Ariadne was crying so hard that she couldn't breathe.
"Ariadne, are you okay?"
Alfonso looked for a piece of cloth and couldn't find the right one, so he hurriedly wiped the tears from Ariadne's face with the hem of his sleeve. Ariadne wept to the point of groaning, barely uttering a word.
"It's a shame......!"
Isabella's words were buzzing in Ariadne's head.
"They thought your breasts were so big and sagging that you thought they were cows."
She ended up revealing a secret part that a decent lady should hide in front of everyone. Besides, that part was really ugly in Ariadne's opinion. Ariadne was automatically replaying in her head the accusations of others she hadn't actually heard.
"Really ugly."
"Because she's a woman with nothing to look at, she hangs herself like that."
"The daughter of a lowly maid who knows no shame!"
"Does she seduce Duke Cesare with her breasts?"
Ariadne, who had lost her mind and was crying, was embraced by Alfonso in his arms. When Prince Alfonso was young and cried, Queen Margaret always hugged him like that. Delivering warmth was the best way to comfort someone Alfonso knew.
"Don't cry, Ariadne. It's okay. Everything will be fine."
Ariadne's cries gradually subsided in the rhythm of Alfonso's regular pats on Ariadne's back. When she seemed to have calmed down, Alfonso stared at Ariadne's tear-stained face.
"Are you okay now?"
Ariadne whimpered and nodded. But he couldn't stop worrying.
"Have you all seen it? It must have been ugly...!"
Alfonso's answer to both questions was 'no'.
"It was really quick. They won't see many. And ugly? What ugly?"
Ariadne couldn't get the word 'sagging breasts' out of her mouth. Alfonso comforted Ariadne one after another.
"Selling your breasts to that extent is what many older wives do these days! It must have been fashion."
Ariadne lowered her head through her cloak to see how torn the collar was. Alfonso blushed and turned away and pretended not to see. The neckline was torn all the way to just above her navel. Through the ripped seam, a voluptuous sternum peeked out over skinny ribs. Ariadne was crying again. Alfonso inadvertently let his heart out of his mouth.
"Yes, it was pretty."
So he covered it with a cloak. He can't let anyone see it. He wants only him who can see. He doesn't want to show off her pretty face to others.
Ariadne lifted her head and looked at Alfonso. Alfonso's face turned red, even to the lobe of his ear, and Ariadne, too, forgot what to say and kept his mouth shut.
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