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Chapter 2 - Debut Ball
A gorgeous ballroom is full of life. Musicians fill the room with beautiful melodies. Servants bustle back and forth, making sure everything goes as planned. Nobles in beautifully decorated gowns and suits either dance or converse with each other about the ball, politics and, occasionally, more mundane things.A lady, seemingly wanting to fade into the shadows, stands to the side of it all. She resists leaning on the wall behind her to rest as that would seem rather improper. Her eyes scan over the crowd, trying to find a particular person, yet she can’t seem to find whoever she’s looking for.
She sighs and decides to go out into the royal garden to get some fresh air.
***
Walking among countless rose bushes, Lata absentmindedly brushes her hand against the rose blossoms from time to time.
“.....did my late arrival mess up the story?” She mutters to herself as she picks a petal off one of the roses.
In the book, there had been an extra chapter simply titled ”Janthe and Lata’s meeting.” The chapter was from Lata’s viewpoint and was meant to flesh out her character a bit more and make her completely unsympathetic in the eyes of a regular reader.
In the side story Lata had shown her intentions of using other people for her gains from the get-go, by reading up on the people beforehand and coming to the ball right at the start to win as many people’s favour as she can - Janthe’s included.
’Oddly, despite the title, the chapter didn’t really go into the specifics of how Janthe and Lata’s first meeting went. It just follows Lata as she flatters and schmoozes on any potentially useful noble until Janthe appears and the chapter just kinda ends at their meeting...’
’Which is very frustrating for me, the current Lata!’
’Knowing what to talk about with Janthe once I meet her would make everything a lot less nerve wracking - especially since I seem to have screwed things up by arriving late to the ball!’
Lata curses at herself in annoyance before letting out a deep sigh.
‘Why did I have to suddenly get so nervous...?’
She had actually been very calm until the night before.
Was it due to the excitement of finally starting down the path of the original story, or the dread that this is essentially the moment that decides how her future in this world pans out - maybe it was due to both - but either way Lata had a hard time falling asleep the night before. That resulted in her waking up later than planned, which meant her preparation time for the ball was set back. As well her travel time in the carriage, which resulted in her ending up stuck in the traffic with all the other nobles that were going to the ball.
All that resulted in her arriving at the ball way after the extra chapter’s original ending.
Not knowing how long Janthe stuck around after the story’s ending, Lata instantly started searching for her, but Janthe was nowhere to be found. Not knowing what to do at this point, Lata ended up in the royal garden, wallowing in self pity.
’Has she already left?’ She thinks to herself as she picks yet another petal off from one of the rose blooms.
“You should not do that or you might get in trouble, you know. This IS the Royal Garden after all.”
Lata’s heart skips a beat at the sudden voice and she drops the flower petal on the ground. She quickly turns to face the owner of the voice. Her eyes widen in surprise as she sees the person.
Instantly sentences from the original book flood into her mind.
[Before Madelief stood a tall and gorgeous woman clad in purple. The dress wasn’t covered in any pricey gems like a lot of other nobles’ outfits, but its material and craftsmanship clearly indicated that this person was very powerful and rich. Her blonde hair was in an up-do that let her bangs freely fall and frame her face. The woman’s face couldn’t be fully seen, since she hid the bottom half of it behind a black fan, but her sharp violet eyes looked at Madelief with such contempt that made her involuntary shudder.]
The eyes are much kinder looking, but everything else describes this person in front of her perfectly.
‘Janthe.’
‘This is Janthe!’
Fighting the temptation to show a goofy grin over the fact that she finally found Janthe, Lata tries to come up with something to say, but Janthe beats her to the punch.
“Forgive me, I seem to have shocked you into silence. Do not worry, I will not speak of this to anyone and this will be our little secret.” She smiles and holds her index finger over her lips as she says the last part.
“I am Janthe Oriana Fiala, the daughter of Duke Fiala. Apologies for the late introduction,” Janthe gracefully curtsies and Lata hurriedly does the same, albeit a bit less gracefully.
“It’s alright! Oh, and I’m Lata Oihana Zelenka, Viscount Zelenka’s daughter.”
“Daughter of Viscount Zelenka? No wonder you seemed foreign to me - you are one of the ladies whose debutante it is today, is it not?”
“Yes, I am,” Lata nods while she’s still trying to come up with any potential conversation topics in case she needs them.
“May I ask, if it is not too forward, why are you alone in the Royal Garden, picking flower petals?” Janthe hides her mouth behind her fan as she tilts her head a little, “Would you not want to mingle with everyone? Make new acquaintances and friends?”
“Uuuh….”
Lata is stumped for words.
‘What should I say? The whole reason I came to this ball was to talk to Janthe - I didn’t have any plans to mingle with the others at all. But telling the truth to Janthe would make her question why I want to talk to her so much and maybe suspect that I have ulterior motives... Well, she wouldn't be exactly wrong about the ulterior motives part, but still... What should I say? Why didn’t I think ahead of time for any potential excuses and conversation topics?! I’ve only been planning for my life after the trial!’
Lata shifts her gaze away from Janthe as she desperately tries to rack her brains for an excuse, but as she becomes more aware of the sudden awkward silence she blurts out the first thing that comes to her mind.
”I’m a bit awkward around new people and don’t know what to talk about with them.”
‘This excuse should do, right?’
Lata hesitantly shifts her gaze back to Janthe again.
“But you seem to be fine with conversing with me?” She tilts her head the other way now.
“You’re easy to talk to.”
Janthe giggles from behind her fan, “I am flattered to hear that. In that case, I could accompany you to help break the ice with other people.”
“You would?” Lata’s eyes widened a bit at the sudden suggestion.
“I would. I do admit that I am partly doing that to get more acquainted with you as you have piqued my interest. Is that acceptable?”
‘That’s oddly convenient. Perhaps the novel just naturally goes back to its original course? That would be quite the load off my heart if that was the case!’
“It is quite acceptable. I’m quite interested in knowing you as well,” Lata answers her with a smile.
“Wonderful! Let us go and mingle!” Janthe closes her fan, showing off a dazzling smile as she turns around and starts heading towards the ballroom. Lata follows closely behind.
Once inside, Janthe introduces Lata to several people, some names are familiar to Lata from the book as side character names, others aren’t. No conversation they engage in - not even the most mundane ones- seems a bore to anyone as Janthe easily steers the conversation and skillfully includes everyone in it.
‘She’s so good at keeping the conversation going - mother would love chatting with her... And afterwards she’d probably complain about me not being like that!’ Lata makes a small groan at that thought before deciding to take a small sip from the champagne glass she’s holding but stops mid-way. She sees that Janthe is suddenly oddly quiet and looking off to the side with sparkling eyes. Lata turns her gaze from Janthe to whatever or whoever has caught her attention.
In the midst of a huge crowd she sees a tall, tanned man with deep red hair and golden eyes. He seems to be engaged in a conversation, but unlike Janthe, he isn’t skillfully steering the conversation along. His natural charms however seem to make up for that as the people surrounding him listen to him with great interest.
Seeing him, Lata’s mind was yet again flooded with sentences she had read before.
[Madelief caught her breath as her eyes fell on the Crown Prince. His tall stature, warm sun-tanned skin, ruby red hair and shining golden eyes grabbed all of her attention and wouldn’t let go. She hadn’t laid eyes on such a handsome man before in her whole life.]
‘Isn’t that the Crown Prince?! The male lead?!’
Lata can’t help but feel a bit nervous about seeing him. She hurriedly turns her gaze back to Janthe whose attention is still grabbed by the prince. Looking at Janthe again, she notices some rosiness on Janthe’s cheeks that wasn’t there before.
A blush.
‘Wait, that’s so cute!’
‘Is she really the villainess of the book? I can’t at all imagine her acting the way she acted in the book... But then again, I did only meet her today, so maybe Janthe just hasn’t shown her wickedness yet?’
“...”
‘Well, it doesn’t matter either way. I’ll just focus on befriending her for now and prepare myself mentally for being a bully...’
Lata lets out a small sigh and finally takes a sip from her glass.