The Problematic Prince

✧ Debudante✧

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

The hasty process of Erna’s ‘refinement’ from a rustic village girl into a noble lady good enough to fit in the society’s aristrocrat came to an end with selecting the dress she would be wearing in the formal appearance party at the royal palace.

Brenda Hardy looked at Erna’s dress with discerning gaze. Though Countess Meyer accurately followed the tradition of selecting pure white for the debutante, the silhouette of the dress did not match Brenda Hardy’s agreement at all.  

Would you see how deep the neckline is? 

It was a proper event where she would be making her first formal appearance as the daughter of Viscount Hardy and she was going to appear showing half of her shoulders and breasts in front of everyone?

“Whatever! Why would I care?”

Brenda Hardy mumbled with a sigh and leaned back in the wing chair. It was Countess Meyer who suggested such a dress. In her honest opinion, wearing a pure modest and ordinary dress, Erna would be invisible in the crowd of hundred properly dressed young girls. Would it not spoil their ultimate goal, which was to grab a profitable match for selling her to?

 She is already twenty! If she puts on a dress suitsble for a fifteen year old debutante, that would be more degrading than this! 

With this thought in her mind, Brenda Hardy calmed her anger and did not refute Victoria Meyer’s choice.

In every spring, the girls of the noble families of Lechen who turned fifteen would make their social debut at the appearance party. Though sometimes few of those girls would be delayed for about a year or so due to personal reasons, Erna might be the first debutante who was going to make her formal first appearance so late. 

And they were thinking of presenting a ‘reasonable’ excuse for her belated entrance that she had been living in the countryside till now because of her sickness. But who was going to believe that!  So, if she was going to stand out anyway, they might as well use that as a given opportunity.

The snow white dress with low neckline, puff sleeves that draped slightly over the shoulder and a voluminous skirt was definitely noticeable. The chiffon hem that was padded on the skirt was slightly dyed with a light pink color. That slight hint of pink made the dress, which might otherwise appear simple, look like a freshly bloomed flower!

However, it was not a debutante dress appropriate enough for a  daughter coming from a humble family no matter how you look at it. But Viscount Hardy, the ambitious father venal enough to even sell his own daughter for money, had no consideration for any ‘worthless’ criticism!

Brenda Hardy hardened her heart and rang the bell on the table. A few seconds later a maid entered along with Lisa, the young maid who served Erna.

“I have a job for you related to Erna that you have to take responsibility for. Can you do it?”

“Yes, ma’am! You can leave it to me!” Lisa, hiding her nervousness, answered loudly.

“Alright! Nice to see such convincing attitude.”

 Brenda Hardy slowly got up bearing a sarcastic smile on her lips and walked towards the maid.

“Go and clothe Erna with this dress. If you fail to bring that girl out wearing this attire before the estimated time of  departure, you’ll be dismissed!”

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

Björn Denyster woke up quite earlier than usual, which was a very rare incident. Though it was noon, far from the ideal wake-up time, in his case it should be considered as early morning!

“What a pleasant surprise, My Prince! Thanks to you, the servants of the Grand Duke’s residence were fortunate enough to avoid being rebuked by His Majesty the King!”

Mrs. Fitz flattered Björn, who had just come out of the bathroom, in a very sincere yet teasing tone. Her face, which seldom showed any emotion, exposed a hint of smile. 

Björn threw a strikingly  handsome smile at her in amusement and walked into the dressing room, making the servants, who were preparing his clothes, paused working for a moment and bowed their heads towards the prince. He responded to their polite greetings with a light nod. That radiant smile had disappeared  without a trace in the meanwhile.

After getting changed into his inner clothing, Björn stood in front of the mirror while the attendants started moving around him with parts of his complicated and colorful formal attire in hand. 

The warm sunlight peeking through the window became brighter and illuminated Björn’s sharp yet charming complexion. He absent-mindedly stared at the visible golden dust floating in the light with narrowed eyes. 

The ball would continue smoothly without a hindrance with him not showing up at all. Björn was well aware that his father’s threats were just mere bluffs. 

The well admired King Philip The Third of Lechen, his benevolent father, could not do such thing like pointing sword at his throat! Nevertheless, he decided to attend. The cost of having access to all the existing luxuries and enjoying a smooth life must be paid. 

As the troublesome prince, Björn could easily get away without paying a heed to the responsibilities expected of him. But he always  maintained the minimum  sense of responsibility. It was his way of balancing the proper line of life as a member of the royal Denyster family.

“It’s done, My Prince.” The attendant slowly said as he adjusted the last embellishment on the prince’s attire.

Björn turned around and caught a glimpse of his own flawless reflection in the mirror. A hint of satisfied smile appeared gently pulling up the corners of those moist lips, then again vanished in an instant.

An exquisite carriage was waiting for the prince at the central porch of the residence. He approached the carriage  exposing visible cheerfulness while walking. The faces of the attendants who followed behind were filled with admiration for their prince and satisfaction that they had achived after much effort.

“It would have been better if you went to the capital a day earlier, My Prince. I am afraid you are going be late for the ball in case there’s a roadblock.” Mrs. Fitz, who had followed along all the way to the carriage, said anxiously. The road to the capital would be crowded for sure because of the party. 

“That’s not a bad idea!”

“ My Prince!”

“Should I do something to make that happen?” Without giving Mrs. Fitz a chance to reply, Björn sat in the carriage. Contrary to his  mischievous attitude, his  movements were confident and elegant but not superfluous.

The carriage carrying the Grand Duke left Schwerin Palace. It was a warm and peaceful afternoon. The picturesque scenery at both sides of the road soothed the prince’s gaze and flowed behind as the carriage advanced further.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

“It’s your fault! It’s all because of you!”

As soon as the royal palace appeared in front or their eyes, Brenda Hardy screamed in anger that she could no longer suppress.

“What? You want to blame me and say that I am responsible for other people’s carriage accidents?”  Viscount Hardy exhaled in frustration and glared at his wife with a bitter face.

“You sure are responsible enough for losing our house here in the capital because of your bank debt! If we had that residence, we wouldn’t have entered the palace in such an unsightly manner on the day of the royal party!”

Viscount Hardy, who was tired of his wife’s constant loud voice, couldn’t retort any more and stitched his lips. In the midst of this  commotion, Erna just sat and silently looked out of the window even though it did not seem like she was looking at anything particular. Her still half-dazed face did not show any hint of liveliness.

Schwerin was a city adjacent to the capital, Berne. The capital was not very far from Schwerin, but their arrival had been delayed due to the accident. 

From the Hardy Couple’s reaction, it was obvious that they were very anxious because of their late arrival. But to Erna, nothing that was happening around her really mattered as the place felt like a distant world. 

It would have been better if the road did not open at all. 

Erna looked down to her lap, hiding her eyes that were filled with tears. 

Entering the royal palace wearing such a shameful dress!

She felt like jumping off the carriage. As soon as she saw the dress, she resolutely refused. But Lisa, failing to convince her, started crying. 

She begged her not to go back home, and said that she was going to be kicked out if Erna did not wear this dress. Erna could not refuse her and at the end still wore that dress which looked utterly vulgar in her eyes.

Though she put on the dress to let the innocent maid a way out, she could not go to the ball while feeling almost naked. So, Erna found herself a lace shawl to cover her shoulders with. Although the Viscount was not happy about his daughter covering her shoulders, fortunately he did not raise much objection.

“You have to perform well what you have learned, girl. Do you understand?” Viscount Hardy insisted once more as the carriage advanced towards the grand entrance of the palace, 

Perform what she had learned? What did she learn…?

Erna tried to reassemble her memories. But her disturbed mind, filled with anxiety and fear, did not allow her to.

Meanwhile, the palace was getting closer and closer. Erna’s two hands clutching the lace shawl wrapped around her shoulders were trembling visibly.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

“Viscountess! What the hell is this?” Countess Meyer exclaimed in annoyance when she saw the Hardy family finally rushing up the stairs. 

The royal couple had already arrived, and the introduction session of the young girls who were debuting had ended too!

“It turned out like this because of a carriage accident. Are we really late?”

Victoria Meyer threw a malicious look at the Viscount who asked such pathetic question and hurriedly ran down the stairs.

“What’s with the shawl?”

“I beg your perdon, madam. We failed to persuade her elsewise.” Brenda Hardy quickly made excuses for this ‘incident’. Erna’s upper body was covered with a shawl, also covering up the purpose of the beautiful dress. “I would not have succeeded in hauling this ill mannered girl in the carriage without that shawl! You can not imagine how unbearably stubborn she is!”

 Making lousy excuses! Countess Meyer shook her head in utter frustration. Then she grabbed Erna’s wrist and hurriedly started climbing the stairs pulling Erna with her forcefully.  She couldn’t even handle this little, petite girl!

Brenda Hardy’s incompetence made Victoria Meyer shake in anger and irritation.

“Countess, give me a little….a little bit of time!” Erna breathed heavily and begged, but Countess Meyer did not waver.

“Hey! Miss Hardy! Even His Majesty the King is already here, how much more time do you need?”

She knew it was impossible to get rid of this country girl’s ‘rustiness’ in such a short amount of time. Rather, the chances were higher if the charm of an innocent country girl was to be displayed. 

“Announce.”

Countess Meyer gave orders to the servants guarding the front of the banquet hall. The heavy yet exquisite door engraved with the white wolf crest, which symbolizes the Denyster royal family, slowly opened and dazzling lights and noises poured out.

“The House of Viscount Hardy arrives!”

Following the servant’s loud voice, the eyes of all the nobles who filled the spacious hall focused on them all at once. 

At that moment, Victoria Meyer had a realization that this was going to be beneficial for them. 

They were standing in the middle of the hall with all eyes fixed on them. Appearing in line and being introduced as one of the many young ladies would have never given this much limelight. The crisis turned into an opportunity!

Countess Meyer exchanged quick glances with the Viscount Hardy, who followed them in a hurry. He smoothly slid away the shawl from Erna, and she froze like a statue. 

Erna realized what was happening too late. She struggled to hold onto the shawl desperately but failed.

“Let’s go, Miss Hardy.”

Countess Meyer pushed Erna’s back with all her might. 

The natural unrefined gem stone handed out to her for polishing this season was tossed aimlessly into the dazzling light for grab.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

I can’t breathe! 

That was all Erna could barely think of. She was just standing there silently, still visibly shocked not knowing what to do. She could hear her blood rushing up and her heart pounding.  It was beating so loudly that Erna could not hear the mellow whispering all around and her breath caught up in her throat.

Breath!

Erna reminded herself, then inhealed sharply and raised her head to look around where she was.

The incredibly spacious and splendid ball room was illuminated with dazzling light. And the crowd of gracefully dressed people, flawlessly equivalent to the room, amplified that splendor extremely.

Not even a minute had passed. But to Erna, it felt like an eternity. She barely managed her shaking legs and took a step. But then she stiffened on the spot again before her second step, because she  suddenly recalled how she was almost naked standing in front of all those eyes.

Erna clutched her trembling shoulders and looked around like a wounded kitten as if searching for a shelter she could hide behind. But all that caught her eyes were unfamiliar faces and dizzying lights. After a while, everything started to fade away from her sight like a painting which got smeared.

What should I do?

Erna looked around once more, trembling helplessly like a deer thrown into the den of  wild wolf.

It was at that moment,  the servant’s cry from the door silenced all the murmuring onlookers. He was announcing the arrival of a new guest.

“Grand Duke, His Highness Prince Björn Denyster is entering!”

A wave of utter astonishment caused by that name stunned the entire banquet hall in an instant.

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