Chapter 105

Chapter 105

“I’m terribly sorry, Miss!”

The attendant immediately dropped to her knees. I stared at her in open indignation, while the others who were looking over the shoes and gloves appeared equally taken aback. By this point, I had nothing but ice in my chest.

“Is this how the Vertium clan welcomes their guests? How careless of you to wound someone while simply putting on jewelry for them.”

The attendant bowed her head even lower in the face of my ire. “Please forgive me, my lady. I am completely at fault for hurting you, our most-honored guest. Please forgi—”

“Enough. Just hand me something to wipe this blood off.”

Another attendant who had been inspecting the jewelry handed me her handkerchief. I used it to stop the blood dripping from my earlobe. The truth is, I was already feeling less cross since I had deliberately nicked my ear so that it would bleed at the slightest touch.

“The fun’s over. I’ve had enough of playing dress-up for today.” I stood up while my face remained devoid of all emotion.

The attendants scrambled to put away all the jewelry they had yet to try on me.

“If you’ve already selected a pair of gloves, hand them to me.”

“Yes, Miss. Here you are.”

After putting them on, I faced the servant who had touched my ear. “Since it was clearly a mistake, I shall let you go this time. But do be careful in the future.”

“Thank you ever so much, Miss.”

Relief appeared to spread to every feature of her plain face as she glanced up from where she had kneeled. The other attendants seemed just as relieved. Once again, I felt the same odd feeling that came over me when I first arrived. I left the room while frowning in confusion.

* * *

“Miss Roxana, please allow me to escort you to the banquet.” Dante had been waiting outside of my room. Like me, he was dressed up for the occasion.

For some reason, he looked much paler than he had when I first arrived. I supposed it was simply fatigue from our journey. Then I recalled what I had seen of Noel through the butterfly I had sent to his room. “The Gold manor seems to be a rather interesting place.”

Dante was surprisingly quick in his response. “Do you think so, Miss? It will make Master Noel very happy to hear that.”

“Yes, I’ve never been to a place where both truth and fiction exist so precariously side by side.”

With that, the white-haired man abruptly stopped mid-step to turn and look at me. There was something in the look he was giving me, but I couldn’t determine whether it was shock, confusion, or both.

“Surely the present I am to receive won’t be fake or a fabrication.” I grinned for good measure, but I knew that he knew my words were essentially a warning. “I’ve been so looking forward to this day. Just imagine my disappointment if it turns out it was just an empty lie.”

“Well, you know, Miss Roxana...” Dante began to trip over his words just as he had finally found his tongue. “Th-that is something I think you will have to be the judge of for yourself.”

We stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before I responded. “I see... Then I shall.”

I turned away from him to continue toward the banquet hall. We arrived without exchanging any pleasantries or small talk.

Dante finally relinquished my hand as we stepped toward the grandiose doors, then bowed. “I am afraid I must leave you here, Miss Roxana. I do hope you enjoy yourself once inside.”

As he turned away, the gigantic doors suddenly opened without issuing a single sound. I took a soft breath, then stepped into the unnatural lighting inside the hall. Once I did, I felt the door close behind me just as quietly as it had opened. I stood there for a moment in order to take in the scene.

Waves of merry music and laughter floated through the air to greet me, while the silk garments of dancers swayed back and forth like white foam rolling in and out with the tide over a beach.

“Hahahaha!”

Dozens and dozens of couples were laughing and dancing away, each wearing elaborate masks. I had heard of masquerade balls before, but this went well beyond what I imagined.

“Welcome to the Vertium masked ball!” A man seemed to sidle up to me from out of nowhere, then proceed to bow as he addressed me. “A gift for the lovely miss and the star of tonight’s ball.”

He sounded like a stage actor who had just reached the most exaggerated and fun part of his performance. He wore a black tailcoat and a parrot-shaped mask that covered his entire face and head. While still bowing, he extended a red, velvet cushion toward me, and on it rested a butterfly-shaped mask.

Unlike the one he wore, this one was designed to only cover the top half of my face. I picked up the mask with overt disinterest. The parrot man finally stood up only to offer me another over-the-top bow, then quickly disappeared back into the crowd. I suppressed the urge to crush the mask and carefully put it on.

My participation in that farce was key to getting what I wanted from Noel. If it wasn’t for that, I never would have set foot in that wicked place. The Vertium castle was as beautiful as paradise, but an intimidating haze hung over it. It was a haze that seemed to seep through the very cracks of what made the Gold clan itself. Of course, I had a fairly good idea of what was causing it.

It didn’t take long to recognize that most of the “people” in the manor were either dolls or puppets. That included the welcoming party, my attendants, and likely most everyone who was dancing about in the banquet hall. Perhaps even all of them. They were eerily human-like, but there was still something slightly off about them. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the reason I had felt so uneasy around the attendants earlier that day was due to my sensing they were all dolls as well. I had the same feeling around all those dancing people. It was as if they were doing their best to appear human.

As I walked past them, they parted in pairs to make way for me. My focus was on getting to the person at the end of the hum—or rather, the doll parade.

“Luna!” A man wearing a black mountain goat mask shouted in my direction. “I’m so glad to see you again. You really can’t imagine just how much!”

The goat-mask man, who was wearing a white tailcoat, reached out to me while opening his arms wide as if to welcome me into his embrace. “I wish to sincerely welcome you to the Gold Vertium kingdom!”

His rather lovely voice sounded as if he was choking on various emotions. Once he removed his mask, my suspicion that he was Noel Vertium was validated. His carrot-orange hair was shining under the glare of the chandelier hanging above us, while his emerald eyes appeared to be overflowing with as much sentiment as his voice had as he stared at me.

“Did you say, ‘Luna’?” I tilted my head as I questioned who he was addressing.

He had clearly addressed the letters to “Roxana,” so I presumed he was mistaking me for someone else. It was either that or he had decided on his own to give me another label. I then wondered if that was his practice with his puppets as well. Still, what bothered me the most was how he seemed so unbothered by any and everything. I had made a point to glare at him with all the malice I could summon, but he seemed oblivious to it.

“I’m sure you can’t believe just how much I’ve been looking forward to this very moment.” Unable to contain himself any longer, he rushed forward to clasp my hand. It hadn’t occurred to me how tall he was before that moment. In truth, the only remarkable thing about him to me had been his youthful appearance. “Allow me to first present you with the welcoming gift I promised.”

His mention of the so-called gift had just barely kept me from yanking my hand away.

“Dante informed me that you have been looking forward to it. I’m so very happy that you seem pleased at the prospect of receiving my gift.”

It was a relief to see he wasn’t planning to delay the matter at hand any further, nor force me to meet any other of his nonsensical conditions first.

“Nix!” Noel turned to call out to someone in the crowd.

I wasn’t sure when exactly, but the music had stopped playing for quite some time already.

“Oh, Noel...” Someone began to push through the crowd until they were standing before us.

It was the parrot-masked man again.

“I told you I wanted you to save me for the finale. If you play all your cards now, what fun will we have during the rest of the ball?”

“But Luna’s anxious! Just come here and take off your mask.”

“Well, if you say so.” The man sounded as if he was smiling in resignation beneath his parrot mask.

Then with a rather skillful flick of his neck, the mask flew off his head completely. A bush of golden blond hair cascaded over his face as if the mask was a dam keeping them at bay. His smile seemed to lack confidence, but he was a picture of gentle beauty. One of his eyes was crimson while the other was as green as a placid lake. His elegant facial features and the sense of peace they contained were all too familiar to me.

To be more precise, they were in fact features of a face I knew quite well. The reason being that it was Achille’s face. I was staring into the very face that would often visit me in my dreams.

“Hi, Roxana.” My heart almost stopped as he smiled at me. “Oh, how I’ve missed you, little sister.”

Believe me when I say that if Lante Agrece were alive today, I would rip him to shreds with my bare hands.