Episode 9: Entering the Ballroom, Stealing the Scenes
October of the 418th Imperial Year, the night of the Imperial Foundation Day Ball.
The Imperial Palace, situated in the heart of the capital, shone as brightly as daylight, illuminated by tens of thousands of magic stone lights.
In the massive plaza in front of the palace, carriages of great nobles who had flocked from all across the Empire stretched endlessly in a procession. Inside and outside the ballroom, the atmosphere was already heating up with the laughter and secret gossip of nobles adorned in splendid dresses and jewels.
"Oh, did you hear? I heard Duchess Eleanor of Castillo is bringing her prospective daughter-in-law, Lady Liliana, today."
"Tsk tsk. It is truly pathetic trying to save face. The rumors have spread throughout society. I hear the Young Duke is so infatuated with that wicked illegitimate daughter of the Baron's family that he doesn't even look at his prospective bride."
"That's right. You mean that rat-like young lady from the Werner family? She's probably holed up in a corner again today, wearing a tearful face. Is the position of mistress of Castillo something a fallen noble could handle?"
The noble ladies and young ladies, covering their mouths with omate feather fans, snickered and were busy gossiping about the Castillo family. They were waiting for only one thing: to watch the humiliation that Castillo's old, weary Duchess and her unsightly daughter-in-law would suffer at the ball. Just then.
"The carriage of the Duke of Castillo!"
With the captain of the guard's shout, the noise in the square came to a sudden halt, as if cold water had been poured over it. Sliding onto the red carpet of the Imperial Palace was Castillo's finest carriage, crafted from obsidian and featuring a pure gold coat of arms depicting a roaring lion. Pulled by no fewer than eight black horses, its overwhelming majesty caused the nobles to involuntarily swallow hard and make way.
Click.
The carriage door opened, and the first to step out, holding the hand of a white-gloved guard, was Eleanor
"Gasp."
"Th-My God. You say it's Lady Eleanor?"
A gasp of astonishment erupted from the nobles as they confirmed her appearance. Eleanor was wearing a deep navy dress reminiscent of the deep midnight sky. There was not a trace of her past self, always plain and worn down by estate duties. Her skin was taut and alluring like that of a twenty-year-old, forged by powerful mana swirling through her entire body was adorned with silver hair flowing down and blood-red eyes that commanded the gaze. Making her age of forty-two seem insignificant, she exuded the aura of a cold beauty, more sensual and commanding than any of the young ladies gathered at the ball.
However, the nobles' true shock came next. As Eleanor elegantly reached out her hand toward the carriage, someone inside cautiously took her hand and revealed themselves.
"...!!"
"W-who on earth is that woman? Is she a Princess from another country?"
The eyes of hundreds gathered in the square fixed in unison on that slender figure. A deep green Arachne silk dress that sparkled as if starlight had settled upon it. A set of teardrop diamonds and emeralds shining blindingly from her delicate neckline and earlobes. But what astonished people above all else was her dazzling beauty, which magnificently overwhelmed those magnificent jewels. Her mysterious light green eyes and pure white porcelain skin were so wondrous that they necessitated rewriting the Empire's standards of beauty.
"No, no way, Liliana von Werner?!"
"That shabby little rat of a Count Werner's daughter?! That's nonsense!"
One after another dropped the champagne glasses they were holding in shock. In their memories, Liliana was a timid loser who always walked around looking at the ground and fumbling around. But the Liliana standing beside Eleanor now was different.
"Straighten your back. Keep your chin up 15 degrees, and your gaze cold enough to pierce right through their eyebrows."
Having perfectly internalized Eleanor's teachings, Liliana walked the red carpet with unwavering steps. Faced with her upright posture and cold, condescending gaze, even the noble ladies who had been mocking her just moments ago cowered and cautiously backed away. Eleanor smiled with satisfaction and lightly placed her hand on Liliana's waist.
"Did you see, Liliana? Just by you lifting your chin and meeting eyes, those arrogant ones will lower their tails on their own accord. This is the power of Castillo."
"I will keep that in mind, Mother."
There was not a single tremor in Liliana's voice as she confidently called her "Mother" instead of "Madam," in accordance with the rules of high society.
As the two women stepped into the ballroom, the nobles parted to the left and right like the miracle of Moses, clearing a path. Even though the Emperor had not yet appeared, it was as if the perfect ruler of tonight's ball had already been decided.
***
Meanwhile, at a secluded side entrance at the back of the Imperial Palace ballroom.
"Tch, so picky. How many times do I have to tell you that I am a direct subordinate of the Duke's family?"
With a voice full of dissatisfaction, a man and a woman clad in black cloaks slipped silver coins into the ballroom while handing them to the guards. It was Claude, who had escaped from his father Valdemar's secret passage after being confined in the annex, and Vivian, who had been waiting for him.
"Your Excellency, are you really alright? If the Duchess were to find out..."
Vivian whispered anxiously, linking her arm with Claude's. She was wearing a pink dress that Claude had barely managed to have made with the meager slush funds he had siphoned off from the gambling den.
Normally, it would have been quite an eye-catching outfit, but for a ball like the Imperial Foundation Day, it looked beyond ordinary; it looked tacky. However, Claude snorted arrogantly.
"Don't worry, Vivian. My father, the head of the household, is looking out for me. Today at this ball, I will thoroughly humiliate that arrogant bitch Liliana and show everyone who truly is the center of society. You gather your young lady's friends and shatter her mental state?"
"Heh, Your Excellency. Leave that to me. I will make that foolish bitch run away in tears."
Vicious venom flashed in Vivian's eyes. Unaware of how miserably they would be sliced up at the ball, the two pieces of trash triumphantly picked up their champagne glasses and walked toward the center of the hall.
***
At that very moment, on the second-floor terrace of the ballroom, a man stood leaning against a dark railing untouched by the glamorous chandelier lights, staring blankly down at the scene in the first-floor hall. Pitch-black hair and golden eyes that gleamed like a beast even in the darkness. The nobles of the capital called him the 'Tyrant of the North' and the 'Hidden Leash of the Imperial Family'. He was Grand Duke Caeln Argentus of the North, the behind-the-scenes power behind the Information Guild that ruled the Empire's underworld, and the continent's strongest Sword Master.
"How boring. The hypocritical faces of those trashy nobles make me sick."
Caeln frowned as he gulped down the strong liquor in his hand.
There was only one reason he attended this troublesome ball held once a year. It was solely to catch the eye of one person, the one woman who had made his parched heart beat like crazy for ten years. Eleanor Castillo. The woman who, ten years ago, had looked down at him with cold, blood-red eyes as he lay dying in the battle to subdue the monsters and pulled him up by the collar. Even though he had ascended to the throne of the Grand Duke and seized the continent's greatest military power, she was already the wife of an incompetent piece of trash named Valdemar, imprisoned in the prison known as Castillo.
For the past ten years, Caeln had to secretly grind his teeth as he watched her wither away from a distance. Waiting for the day she would let go of that rotten rope of her own accord, or for a pretext to destroy Castillo entirely on her own.
"...?"
At that moment, Caeln's languid golden eyes instantly contracted sharply like a bird of prey. The massive doors of the first-floor hall opened, and a woman walked leisurely through the nobles parted to the left and right.
Dressed in a deep navy dress, her footsteps were arrogant and overwhelming, like the 'witch' who had roamed the battlefields ten years ago. A blindingly alluring figure that had completely torn away the veil of her weary past.
Caeln gripped the hand resting on the railing with such force that the veins seemed about to burst. Crack, a fine crack appeared in the marble railing.
"...Finally."
A low, deep voice, like the growl of a beast, flowed from between Caeln's red lips.
"You have finally broken the leash yourself, Madam."
Insatiable possessiveness and thirst began to swirl in his golden eyes. There was no longer any need to hold his breath and watch. If she had decided to smash that rotten trash can, all he had to do was become that perfect axe.
The ballroom orchestra began to play its grand opening piece. Caeln lightly leaped over the railing and began to take a straight step toward her.
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