Kelly approached Jane, put her hands on her shoulders, looked into her eyes and said, “Yes, you’re my daughter now, no matter what anyone says. You must stand tall and with confidence for me, who have taken you in as my adoptive daughter. You are a noble now and should not let anyone tarnish our family name. So, always keep your back straight and be confident. You can do well.”
“Yes, mother.”
Jane’s eyes were filled with tears, so Kelly wiped them away with a handkerchief.
Sienna watched them lovingly. It had only been a few weeks since they had formed the bond of parent and child, but their relationship had been a long and deep one. Those two people, who treated each other caringly, seemed to have already had the strong bond of a mother-daughter relationship, no matter their circumstances.
Sienna, Jane, and Kelly got in the carriage that was parked outside. It was not their usual carriage, but a fancy carriage led by six white horses. The outside of the carriage was painted with a shield symbolizing the Grinnie Family, and around it there was an engraving of two lions carrying the shield.
Sienna took the horseman’s hand first and boarded the carriage. After that, Jane and Kelly did the same. While the three chatted amicably, the carriage slowly headed toward the palace.
Jane’s hands trembled nervously. That was also the day where she would go from being a commoner to formally becoming an aristocrat.
Sienna had shuddered just like her when she had first gone to her debutante ceremony in the past. She had been so nervous that she hadn’t been able to drink a sip of water at the time, and so, she had ended up going to the palace with a pale complexion. Although she had been very nervous, she had certainly held expectations for her banquet since it had been held at the Imperial Palace.
But the debutante banquet she had experienced had been terrible. She had been laughed at by the other high class, aristocratic girls, who had worn stylish dresses and expensive cosmetics. She had been repeatedly teased by them, being constantly called a “countryside hick.”
Sienna had not been able to refute the remark because she had felt very shabby by comparison in that rustic dress. All she had been able to do was hide herself in a corner of the banquet hall and swallow her tears.
“Sister, if there are people at the banquet who are disrespectful to you…”
Sienna gave her calm advice, recalling the tricks that had disgraced her at that time, when she had known nothing. Jane listened silently to Sienna’s words, a tense expression on her face. Kelly, beside them, listened to Sienna and burst into laughter.
“Hahaha, that’s amazing! Who would believe you if you were to say that this is your first time attending a debutante ceremony today? Sienna, where in the world did you learn those things?”
Sienna seemed to have unintentionally said too much. Like Kelly had said, it was not something a girl from the outskirts of the capital who had never participated in a banquet should have actually known.
“Chelsea told me.”
Sienna used Chelsea as her excuse. It was strange that Kelly, a commoner who had lived in Heidel for a long time, would have known of such information, but she had no proper excuse. Luckily, Kelly didn’t keep prying.
The carriage, which had passed through the front gates of the Imperial Palace, had to come to a full stop well across the garden that the gardeners had arranged for the occasion. At the front of the palace, the nobles stepped off their carriages and entered the banquet hall.
The Sun was sinking. Full-scale banquets were better at night.
Sienna and Jane followed Kelly into the banquet hall. Kelly knew how to walk with grace, though it was her first appearance at a banquet in a long time ago. Jane’s steps resembled hers.
Sienna could walk in line with aristocratic manners like them, but she strode without caring about her steps. Having been in the city for nearly five years, she could have done as well as the etiquette teacher had taught her, but she didn’t.
The gatekeeper opened the door to the banquet hall. As soon as he did, she heard the sound of music being played by musicians and the laughter of those who were enraptured by those telling stories.
As they entered the hall, the splendid interior decoration caught their attention. While any banquet hosted by the Imperial Court was equally sumptuous, the debutante banquets were held on a particularly colorful and large scale. Usually, only aristocrats from the capital were allowed to participate in gatherings at the palace, but the debutante ceremonies were even grander because even the children of far-off aristocrats were allowed to participate.
Nobles were obligated to hold a debutante banquet only once to show themselves to the emperor. Only then, were they recognized for their status as nobility.
That was the tradition of the Laifsden Empire, though it served more as a way to display the power of the emperor and strength the empire. It was a rite of passage that moved one into adulthood, where one was not protected, but rather, was able to start a strong family.
In the past, men who attended debutante ceremonies used to fight knights, while women used to wear goats’ blood, but now, attending a debutante ceremony has become much simpler. The focus was meeting other aristocrats and being recognized for stepping into high society.
Kelly led Sienna and Jane around and introduced them to people. In the past, it had not been easy to be introduced like that due to Kelly’s failing health, but now, many people had been introduced to to Sienna.
Many people to notice of Jane, partly due to her unusual circumstances in rising to nobility by becoming the daughter of Kelly Grinnie. However, her beauty was playing an even larger part.
Male or female, she easily blinded the eyes gazing upon her. Jane had a charm that attracted others to her.
There were people who were naturally born with such things. People who attracted others’ attention even if they didn’t have something visibly special about them. Sienna looked at Jane and remembered Carl. He was also one of those people with that ability.
By the time the banquet ended, Empress Arya and Prince Valore entered the banquet hall.
Sienna watched Empress Arya’s gait, which was as graceful as always. Her desire to break her white, slender neck, which was raised upright, burned within her hands.
‘Should I put aside all those complicated thoughts of revenge and instead, strangle that neck to death with my hands right now, at this very moment?’
Sienna could not overcome the desire boiling within her heart, so she took her eyes away from Arya, fearing that she might cause an incident. Sienna sent her gaze to the feet that followed behind her, to the prince.
Prince Valore looked really weak. He had dark brown eyes and plain brown hair. At first glance, his mother, Empress Arya, seemed very intimidating.
It didn’t seem easy to live as Arya’s son, for Sienna knew just how terrible her desires. Sienna felt pity for Arya’s relatives. Sienna knew that the prince was not at all interested in politics. His delicate and sensitive personality was more in touch with the arts than matters of state, and Arya disapproved the point.
As Empress Arya sat at the top, Valor headed to the musicians. He looked at the musicians with envious eyes. There was something she remembered when she saw that scene, so Sienna turned to Arya sitting at the table.
“As I suspected.”
Although she had a benevolent smile, Sienna could see, at a glance, how uncomfortable she was. Arya was scratching her armrest with her fingernails.
A smile crept up on Sienna’s mouth when she saw it. She couldn’t break Arya’s neck, but at least, she thought of a way she could upset her. Sienna mumbled to herself, estimating her skills.
“It’s been a long time, so I don’t know if I can pull it off well.”
While the piano player was away, Prince Valore settled in front of the piano and caught up with the musicians’ performance with dexterity.
The expression on the face of the empress, who had been trying hard to keep her facial expressions intact, collapsed. Her bright face turned red with fever.
In Laifsden, the piano was a woman’s instrument. The act of standing upright and playing a white keyboard with a slender figure was a symbol of aristocratic spirituality.