- - -

Before Catherine went to her first ball, Father had told her to report to him the next morning. Thus, after breakfast, she stood outside the door of his office, the familiar fear of disappointing Uncle rising, for she knew he would be standing next to Father, making sure she was good. She took a deep breath and forced herself to knock. 

“Come in.”

Catherine entered, closing the door behind her. Whenever she saw Uncle, the room always felt stuffy with her nervousness of not knowing his mood, and today was no exception, especially after not seeing him for a while and not knowing how he felt at all. 

Luckily, Uncle seemed pleased. He sat at a desk to the side of Father’s, reading a book, and smiled as he glanced up and saw her. She beamed back. 

“Good morning, Uncle! Good morning, Father!”

Father was looking over papers behind his own desk, rubbing his forehead and shaking his head. Catherine instinctively wanted to ask him if everything was all right, but stopped herself, in case it wasn’t appropriate. Uncle got less angry at the lack of action than improper action, especially asking too many questions. 

Father shoved his papers aside. He motioned for her to sit, and she did. 

“Good morning, Catherine. How was your ball?”

“It was great. I danced with a number of kind gentlemen.”

“What of the prince?”

Catherine swallowed and bowed her head to avoid Father’s gaze. 

“Father, I’m so sorry! He was surrounded by the daughters of ambassadors, and I couldn’t approach him.”

She held her breath, preparing for a reprimand that never came. Slowly, she peered at Uncle, but he seemed to be focused on his book. Finally, she stole a glance at Father, who merely drummed a finger slowly. He sighed, and she felt a pang. Had she disappointed him?

“It’s all right, I didn’t expect much success anyways, not on enemy territory.”

“Thank you so much, Father!”

Father was the best in the world! Catherine felt a rush of relief and again appreciated that she was the daughter of such a caring and compassionate man. 

“Anything else?”

“Oh, yes! I met Lady Valentina, and we became friends!”

Catherine had been so excited to have a friend, so when Father sat up straight and leaned forward, she was startled. She inhaled, her heart pounding as her mind raced to figure out if she did anything wrong. 

“What do you mean? Did she approach you? About what?”

“U-um, she knew the first gentleman I was dancing with, so she came to greet him. He left, and we chatted. I-I asked if we, if we could be friends, and s-she agreed. A-actually, I was w-wondering about something she said…”

“Later, write down as much of your conversation as you can recall. What did she say?”

“T-that Prince Oscar was her fiance, and they were going to get married one day.”

Uncle threw his book aside and was about to say something when Father held up a hand, and he stopped. Catherine tensed, her heart leaping, wary even at Father’s soothing words. 

“Don’t worry, it’s only for the present. You’ll marry him and be queen one day, like I promised, but did you tell her that?”

“No, I remembered what you said! And I told her I was happy for her.”

Father exchanged glances with Uncle. He nodded approvingly, and Catherine smiled a little, proud, and desperate to make up for whatever she did. 

“She said she would invite me to a tea party sometime. Should I not go? I won’t be friends with her, if you want!”

“No, there’s no need. It’s good you’re friends with her, so we know what she’s up to. Just remember to not tell her anything. Don’t worry, and be good, like your uncle taught you. I’ll take care of everything else.”

“Thank you, Father!”

Catherine wondered what would happen to Lady Valentina if she married the prince. Wouldn’t it make her unhappy? Catherine wouldn’t like that, so she dismissed the idea. Father would sort it out, right? As long as she obeyed Father, everything would be all right!

“Are you ready for your debutante ball?”

“Yes! I’ll definitely do better this time!”

“Good. I’ll have servants watching, and they’ll tell you if there are changes to the plan. Now, here’s what you have to do…”

- - -

Ah, the heroine’s debutante ball. 

It was the second event in the novel, the first being the debutante ceremony, where Catherine and the crown prince felt something at first sight. Unlike that one, I could interfere in this personally. After all, this was where I made my first appearance in the novel. 

The evil villainess was bullying the poor and shy Lady Sophia, when the righteous Catherine stepped in. As Lady Valentina proceeded to bully her too, the prince swept in and saved the day, leaving Catherine with admiration and warmth. 

‘How romantic. Heh.’

Sophia was on the other side of the world and wrote to me regularly about her studies and how grateful she was for my sponsorship. Catherine and I were already acquainted with Annalise’s ball, defying the fate of the novel. In fact, I hadn’t even the intention of going to this ball, except for my irritably unpredictable fiance. We had a bad habit of not communicating. Mostly him. 

I stood in Oscar’s drawing room, and it was about time to leave if one wanted to arrive at her ball on time. He came in, and as I unfortunately expected, he was dressed for a ball. 

“Are you going somewhere?”

“Yes, to Lady Catherine’s debutante ball. Will you accompany me?”

“I didn’t know you were going. I thought we were spending time together this evening.”

‘We’ had made no such plans. I had mentioned it in passing, very briefly, and he likely didn’t remember. I couldn’t make any other arrangements, since it would’ve been rude of me to openly not go, since I was apparently friends with Catherine, and because most of high society would likely be at the ball, ogling the newly returned lady, so there was nowhere else to go. If Oscar felt guilty for forgetting ‘our’ arrangement, he didn’t show it.

“I’m sorry. Would you like to come to the ball, and we can spend time there?”

“Why are you going? Why does a baron’s daughter warrant the crown prince’s presence?”

“Because I want to.”

I shook my head. Of course he did! He just couldn’t resist her, could he? Like fate. Still, this strange attraction he held for her was peculiar. It wasn’t logical, when everything else about him was cool and rational. Surely it was impossible for her to have overwhelmed him so quickly. 

“And it’s more important than your fiancee?”

“Won’t you come?”

“I don’t want you to go.”

“Noted.” 

I took a deep breath, keeping my annoyance in check and remaining cool, matching him. I appeared positively unconcerned, for two could play this game. 

“Would you go without me?”

“Yes, but I’d rather you come.”

“Why?” 

“I told you. I like you.”

I sighed, wanting to laugh at the irony. I had to go, to keep an eye on him and to limit the damage, but I had a plan if anything went wrong. Best case scenario, we would come home as soon as possible. 

“All right, I’ll come, but I have to get dressed. Will you wait?”

“Certainly.”

He came back with me to my manor, where I took my time striding into my room and getting changed, making sure to go extra slowly. I had planned an outfit, but I tried on a few others for fun, and made Tia redo my makeup. 

At last, I wore a gorgeous purple ball gown with perfect jewellry and makeup. Oscar regarded my beauty with no comment, something only he was capable of. 

We set off and arrived at the Bryant mansion fashionably late. 

“Good evening, Your Highness! Good evening, Lady Valentina! I’m so happy you could come!”

I was glad to see Catherine still hadn’t found her style yet. She wore a pale yellow dress, too graceful for her, and the colour clashed with her hair instead of complimenting it. I smiled. 

“Me too, Lady Catherine. I’m delighted to be here.”

“As am I.”

I glanced at my fiance. His stoic expression didn’t reveal any trace of excitement, though I thought I detected traces of gentleness in his gaze towards her, which I found alarming. This was the first time they were meeting, so I must make it right.

“Ah, I don’t think you’ve met yet! Your Highness, this is Lady Catherine, my new friend. Lady Catherine, this is my fiance, Prince Oscar.”

To my horror and disgust, their eyes met and they were lost in each other’s gazes for a full moment. It was straight out of a romance novel, sparks flying like magic, against all reason and plausibility except for the power of true love. I quickly interrupted the moment. 

“I’m sorry we’re late, Lady Catherine, I ran into some difficulties picking out a dress for such a fantastic occasion! I adore yours, by the way.”

“Thank you, Lady Valentina! Your dress is lovely!”

The preoccupied look came back to her eyes, like when I had asked about her Uncle last time. If my theory was right, she was completely brainwashed by the baron and his valet, and whatever she was about to do wouldn’t be good. I tried to begin, but she started talking before I could, driven by the only determination that could try to match my conviction towards the throne, of a hopeless child refusing to disappoint high expectations. 

“It’s such a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness! I don’t really know how things work yet, but can I have this dance?”