It has been a long day, but I wasn’t done. Tonight there was a dinner at Duke Pendragon’s villa. All of the noble students were invited, and we could bring along a companion. I, of course, chose Elaine to accompany me. Right after afternoon classes, there was a mad dash to the dorms as everyone wanted to be the first to use the shared facilities. It was first come first serve, and I wasn’t shameless enough to take advantage of my status as the highest-ranking female student in the Academy, so I had to wait almost an hour before I could take a short bath.
Elaine was horrified when she entered my room with her maid Lucy and saw that I had washed my hair. “Oh no, you shouldn’t have done that. It will be hard to dry it in time.”
Lucy grabbed a towel, ready to rub my hair dry, but I held up a hand and they watched in amazement as Ashara dried it for me.
“Being a summoner is so convenient,” was all Elaine said.
I let Lucy do her magic. She worked fast and after a few minutes I had an intricately twisted updo. Elaine almost burst into tears when she saw the dress that I was going to wear.
“No, no, no, you can’t be serious.” She sat down on my bed and put her head in her hands. “This is a disaster!”
“It’s fine. You don’t really know the aristocracy. People will understand.”
“Are you kidding? Everyone will be laughing at you.” Elaine turned to her maid. “Go to my closet and find a few clothes that might fit her.”
I placed a hand on Lucy’s sleeve to stop her. “No, don’t bother. I don’t need it and her clothes would never fit me.”
“No… This is terrible,” said Elaine.
Shaking my head at her, I put on the dress with Lucy’s help. “Actually, I look great.”
Lynette was quite beautiful. She wasn’t on the same level as Arthur, but she had flawless skin and a pretty face as well as a voluptuous figure with a small waist and… huge tracts of land as Monty Python would put it.
“Your dress is at least five years out of fashion.”
“Relax. Everybody there knows that I’m saving money for my mother’s treatment. The good people will understand, and the nasty people don’t matter.”
My dress was made of blue silk and had a fitted bodice with a plunging neckline. The full skirt flared outwards in a graceful bell shape and the sleeves were long and fitted, with delicate lace trim at the wrists. The bodice and skirt were decorated with an intricate beadwork design of small, delicate lilies and periwinkles. The overall effect was one of elegance and femininity. Lynette had bought it two years ago for her engagement party.
“Why don’t you just get a small loan? You’re sure to get a good match, so paying it back later won’t matter,” she said.
“I have a plan.” I twirled in place and admired the way the skirt moved. “Money won’t be a problem very soon.”
“I hope so.” Elain was wearing a lovely gown made of heavy silk fabric in a rich burgundy color. The latest fashion dictated that she had longer and fuller sleeves than mine as well as a slightly lower waistline.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that only upper middle-class people always wore the latest fashion. Prythian nobility thought that frugality was a virtue, and people liked to wear their best gowns many, many times. Brides would wear their wedding trousseau for years after their wedding ceremony, and older nobles were often seen in decades-old clothes.
One of the most amusing insults I have heard was when one lady said to her daughter, “Their house has all new furniture.” Old families, of course, always had plenty of antique furniture they received from their parents or grandparents. Even at the Academy, the noble students used hand-me-down uniforms and books.
When it came to the highest levels of nobility, what mattered most was your social standing, not what you wore. I’ve even heard that it was now the fashion to use one’s grandmother’s wedding dress, to differentiate themselves from the “new money” types whose wealth was so recent that their grandparents were commoners.
“Ready?” I asked.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” said Elaine. This was going to be her first formal dinner at the Academy.
We made a pretty pair as we walked arm in arm to the Duke’s house. Regular students such as I lived in the college dormitories, but the members of the royal and ducal families had their own villas that they used when they attended the Academy.
The house was nearby, so we hadn’t bothered to hire a carriage.
“There it is,” I said when we saw the house, a two-story mansion surrounded by a lush garden. Made of brickwork with a plaster finish, the exterior was adorned with ornate cornices, balusters, and finials, though it could be considered relatively modest for a Duke’s residence since it only had eight bedrooms in total.
What it lacked in size, it more than made up for in lavishness. Its elegant interior was said to be full of antique furniture and paintings by famous artists. A staff of twenty tended to the house and gardens.
We met a few groups of students as we walked, and we had formed a huge group by the time we arrived. The women were dressed in lavish ball gowns while the men wore exquisite suits with waistcoats and cravats. Just as I thought, not everyone was in brand new gowns, and I even spotted a few that had dresses in the same two-year old fashion as mine. They weren’t the poorer nobles either.
When we arrived at the reception room, we exchanged greetings with the guests who were already there. I reckoned nine out of ten of them were the sons and daughters of nobility who all knew each other, which included Lynette but not Elaine. I made sure to introduce her to everyone I could find.
Unfortunately, Duke Marius hadn’t yet made an appearance. I really hoped that he would show up at dinner, at least, since my main goal tonight was to meet him. It was essential to my plan that he knew who I was the next time we met.
“I can’t believe the Duke hasn’t even shown his face,” I whispered to Elaine. “It’s really quite rude not to greet his guests.”
“He’s so eccentric,” she whispered back to me.
When the Duke arrived a few minutes before dinner was to be served, he went around the room to greet everyone, and I finally got the chance to introduce myself to him.
As described in the book, the Duke was a tall, slender, aristocratic-looking young man who was full of nervous energy. I assumed this meant he was a bit twitchy, but he seemed normal to me. His face was that of a typical inbred nobleman, with high cheekbones, a sharp nose, and thin lips. Apart from having a chin that was a little too pointed, he was reasonably good-looking. The Pendragon family’s famous white hair and red eyes gave him a somewhat unusual appearance, which was only to be expected given that he was a tragic fantasy novel character. The Dusk Mark on the center of his forehead was a dark gray, almost black color, signifying his status as the second-strongest summoner in Prythia.
Chaos Blood Summoner had given me the impression that he was a rather unfriendly man, and I was right. He barely spoke three words to me when we were introduced.
Because the Duke had arrived late, dinner wasn’t served on time. By the time we were given the signal to enter the banquet room, I was so hungry that I was afraid other people could hear my stomach growling. I hoped that dinner wouldn’t be a disappointment.
“See you later,” I said to Elaine.
We were to enter the dining room according to rank, so Elaine and I had to be separated. The Duke offered me his arm, and we walked inside together.
I searched Lynette’s memory to check if she had ever seen such a lavish room. She hadn’t. It was sumptuously decorated with rich tapestries and gold-framed paintings. Heavy velvet drapes framed the windows and the large mahogany table was set with the finest china and crystal, lighted by candles in silver candelabra as well as electric light bulbs on the ceilings until it was almost too bright.
As a countess in her own right, I was assigned the place of honor at the Duke’s right hand. Cuthbert, the eldest son of a marquess, was on my other side. Getting the Duke to talk was like pulling teeth, and midway through the second course, I just gave up and spoke almost exclusively to Cuthbert, who had a lot to say about ophidology.
“What is ophidology?”
“Ophidology is the study of snakes.”
“That's interesting. I didn't know that there was a whole field of study dedicated to snakes.”
“Yeah, there's a lot to learn about them. Their anatomy, their habits, their ecology.”
“It must be fascinating.”
“It is. I've been studying snakes for years and I still feel like there's so much more to learn. Did you know that there are over 3,000 species of snakes in the world?”
Not once did he ask me about myself. If I was being charitable, I would have chalked that up to Cuthbert trying to be tactful by not bringing up my family circumstances, but I rather suspected that he was simply not interested in human females. I would’ve had better luck if I had been a snake.
At least the food was good. The first course was a thick, creamy soup made from chicken and vegetables garnished with a sprinkle of parsley. The second course was grilled salmon, garnished with lemon and dill.The third course was an absolutely delectable roasted leg of lamb, served with a mint jelly. By the fourth course, steamed pudding made with raisins, currants, and spices served with a brandy butter sauce, my stomach was already satisfied. The fifth course was a variety of cheeses, served with water biscuits. Lastly, the sixth and final course was a selection of seasonal fruits, served with a sweet wine.
The dishes were served by immaculately dressed, white-gloved footmen, and conversation flowed freely as the night wore on. It was already past midnight by the time we finished.
Slightly tipsy from the alcohol that had been served, I met up with Elaine after dinner and we walked back to our dorm with the other students.
All in all, I was satisfied with everything I had accomplished today. I planned to wait a few more days before springing my trap on the Duke.
[https://i.imgur.com/VrvcJ90.png]