Episode 7: High Society Is a Battlefield Without Gunfire
That afternoon, after Claude and Vivian had been soundly chased out of the entrance. The Duke's office, having been swept by a storm, was quiet and peaceful as if nothing had happened.
"Madam, a messenger has arrived from the Imperial Household."
Hans, the head butler, approached with cautious steps and placed a fine parchment envelope bearing a golden seal on a silver tray. Eleanor put down the fountain pen she had been using to sign documents and tore open the envelope with elegant movements.
"The time has come already."
Inside was an invitation to the Imperial Foundation Day Ball, bordered with splendid gold leaf. Held only once a year to commemorate the founding of the Empire, this ball was the flower of high society, the most grand and extravagant gathering where the Empire's most prominent nobles came to flaunt their power and solidify their connections. The date was exactly three weeks away. It was exactly one week before Claude and Liliana's arranged wedding.
"Liliana."
Liliana, who had been engrossed in searching for a hole in the estate ledger on the opposite sofa, suddenly looked up.
"Yes, Madam."
"They say the Imperial Ball for the Foundation Day will be held at the Imperial Household in three weeks. An invitation for distinguished guests has arrived for the Castillo family as well."
'An Imperial Ball...'
Liliana's light green eyes trembled slightly. Back when she was the young lady of the fallen Count Werner family, an Imperial Ball was a story from another world, something she could never even dream of. Even when she was occasionally lucky enough to attend a party on the outskirts as a Countess, her worn-out dress and timid personality meant she was always stuck in a corner like a pattern on the wall, usually becoming the target of people's subtle ridicule.
"Um, Madam... I am clumsy with social etiquette, and it has been so long since I last danced. I am afraid that if I follow you, I might tarnish the name of Castillo. I would rather just stay at the mansion and the ledger."
Liliana fidgeted with her fingers and offered an excuse in a hushed voice. However, Eleanor rose from her seat and approached Liliana.
"Not at all. This ball will be your most important debut stage, where you introduce yourself to the capital's social circles as the 'true heir of Castillo."
"A-a debut stage...?"
"Exactly. Do you intend to hide in this mansion and just look at the ledgers? If you want to completely swallow up this family, you must firmly impress upon the Empire's haughty nobles what kind of presence you are. So that they would not dare even step on your shadow."
Eleanor's red eyes held an uncompromising sternness.
"But Madam... The noble ladies of the Empire look down on fallen nobles like me as if they were vermin. No matter how much I carry the name of Castillo, I do not have the confidence to endure the mockery and contemptuous stares pouring down from behind."
Liliana's shoulders were hunched as if reliving past wounds. Looking down at that pitiful figure, Eleanor gently lifted Liliana's chin with a soft yet firm touch.
"Liliana. A man of Castillo never bows his head."
As their eyes met, a cool yet alluring curve formed on Eleanor's lips.
"High society is a battlefield without gunfire. It may not shed blood with weapons, but it is a cruel place where a single tongue or a fan can sever a person's social lifeline. There is only one way to survive there."
Eleanor whispered, gazing straight into Liliana's eyes.
"To look down on them first. To choke them with your overwhelming dignity and arrogance before they can slander you. That is the Castillo way."
"Me... looking down on them?"
"Yes. And for three weeks, I will make you the most perfect and arrogant lady in the Empire."
From that afternoon, Eleanor's ruthless 'Spartan social training' for Liliana began in the drawing room of the Duke of Castillo's estate.
"Straighten your back! Imagine the Imperial crown resting on the crown of your head. Keep your chin 15 degrees up, and maintain a cold gaze, as if piercing through the space between the eyebrows rather than the eyes."
Eleanor corrected Liliana's posture by lightly tapping her hunched shoulders and back with a slender baton. Walking through the drawing room with three thick hardcover books balanced on her head, Liliana broke out in a cold sweat.
"Your gait is too hurried. The composure of a noble comes from a slow and elegant stride. Walk like a cat, touching the ground to the tip of your toes, but with the weight of a tiger."
As soon as the posture correction was finished, speech training followed immediately.
"If someone approached you and mocked your background by saying, 'Oh, young lady, your dress is truly simple and adorable,' how would you answer?"
"Uh... I... I'd say, 'Thank you for the compliment,'..."
"Wrong. If you answer like that, you will only become their prey."
Eleanor unfolded her ornate feather fan, covering half her mouth, and curved the corners of her eyes elegantly.
"In that situation, you must cover your mouth with the fan, smile lightly, and say this: 'I appreciate the compliment, but I hadn't realized your taste was so narrow. The true jewel of Castillo shines not in the splendor of the garment, but in the dignity of the one wearing it. I hope you will realize that difference someday."
"..."
"Point out the other person's rudeness without ever revealing your emotions. Breaking someone's bones with a smiling face that is the perfect art of a noblewoman's speech."
Liliana swallowed hard. The elegant venom flowing from her mother-in-law's mouth had truly reached the realm of art. Although Liliana had never once properly sworn in her life, she absorbed Eleanor's teachings like a sponge, and her gaze began to change. As the night deepened, the final training, the 'Ball Waltz,' remained. However, Liliana's expression was grim.
"Madam. A waltz requires a partner, but isn't His Excellency Claude confined in the annex? Even if he were to come out, there is no way he would dance with me."
At the mention of Claude, Eleanor's eyes narrowed fiercely. For the crime of insulting Liliana yesterday, Claude was currently imprisoned in the annex, undergoing a miserable period of confinement, receiving only bread and soup rations without a single penny of allowance.
"I have absolutely no intention of letting that scoundrel's hand touch you. I will be your partner."
"Huh...? You mean you would follow a male partner's steps, Madam?"
While Liliana stood there flustered, Eleanor lightly lifted her skirt and wrapped her arms tightly around Liliana's waist. With her other hand, she gently held Liliana's small hand.
"Don't be surprised. You must know every step of the men in high society to be able to lead elegantly when your partner takes a wrong step. Now, imagine the music is playing and follow me. One, two, three."
Rustle, rustle.
In the quiet drawing room, only the faint sound of the two women's dress hems brushing against each other echoed. Eleanor's lead was far more powerful and stable than that of most knights of the Empire. Liliana, who had been stepping guided by Eleanor's red eyes, soon became deeply immersed in the dance, forgetting even the fact that she had no male partner. Eleanor's strong arm supported her waist. And the ceaseless stream of affectionate yet strict advice.
'Ah, she is truly my great shield and my tree.'
Respect and love for her mother-in-law were growing rapidly in Liliana's heart. Although beads of sweat formed on her forehead, Liliana's pale green eyes shone more brilliantly and confidently than ever before. After the long waltz ended, Eleanor smiled broadly as she watched Liliana, who was breathing heavily.
"You are magnificent, Liliana. To achieve this level of result in just one day. You possess the qualities of a perfect lady of the house."
"Haa, haa... It is all thanks to your excellent teachings, Madam."
"Starting tomorrow, we will move on to the second stage of training."
Eleanor added, tapping the bundle of golden checks on her office desk.
"Early tomorrow morning, I have summoned 'Madame Marcel,' the capital's premier dress designer, and all the jewelers of the Empire's First Avenue to the Duke's mansion. I will strip away that dull and unsightly shell placed upon you and arm you with the most expensive and beautiful weapons in the Empire."
The Castillo family's true capitalist bombardment was about to begin.
***
At that very moment, in a dilapidated annex on the outskirts of the Duke's estate.
"Damn it! Bring me a steak with meat! Are you telling me to eat this bland soup?!"
Crash!
Unable to control his rage, Claude slammed the tray of his dinner against the wall. Hot soup spilled, staining the wallpaper, but the knights guarding outside didn't bat an eye.
"It is the Duchess's order. She has instructed that only rye bread and vegetable soup be served until His Excellency the Young Duke sincerely repents."
At the knight's dry reply coming from outside the door, Claude tore at his hair and screamed. His mother had clearly lost her mind. Immediately after being kicked out of the front door with Vivian yesterday morning, he had been confined to this annex. Even his father, Valdemar, who had been deprived of the safe key, did not come to help Claude, wary of his mother's reaction.
'Vivian... My poor Vivian, how much humiliation must you have suffered in front of that vulgar Liliana.'
Claude banged on the wall and gritted his teeth.
"Your Excellency, are you inside?"
Just then, a small, secretive voice was heard through the gap in the door.
He was a trusted servant sent by his father.
"Rumors are circulating in the capital's social circles that invitations to the Imperial Foundation Day ball are being sent out. Madam Eleanor intends to take Lady Liliana to that ball. I hear that he has summoned the capital's best designers to the mansion tomorrow."
“W-What?!”
Claude's eyes widened like lanterns.
He himself is trapped in this cramped annex, chewing on scraps of bread, while that rat-like Liliana is making her social debut wearing a dress worth tens of thousands of gold?
Besides, isn't that the very Imperial Ball that Vivian had begged to be taken to, calling it her lifelong wish!
"...Mother. Just you wait. I won't just sit here and take it."
A vile and venomous light flashed in Claude's eyes.
He had to escape this annex somehow and meet Vivian.
And at the Imperial Ball, he vowed to put that arrogant bitch Liliana in her place and show society clearly who the true successor to Castillo was.
The spectacular, desperate struggle of a stupid piece of junk speeding toward ruin without brakes was being prepared.
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