Damsel In A Red Dress (Tsukasa X Reader)

Chapter 7

The time had finally come for the ball. Nene and I were being murdered by the maids together with our corsets and our hair being pulled and prodded by a stylist.

Nene handled the preparation like it was a normal daily occurrence. "I have to be at social events like these all the time. I need to keep up with my role as a princess or else the title will eat me alive." She had told me.

My situation was a little different. I never had been to a social event like this much less a grand ball hosted by the imperial family themselves. According to Nene's words, once I've made an appearance at one social event, I needed to have a coming of age hosted by my family. In this case, since I'm owned by the imperial family, they would be hosting it for me.

Within the next hour, we were violently tugged at by the maids only to have the outcome of looking pretty. "As they say. Beauty is pain." Nene had spoken.

"Aren't you excited to see the prince in his attire? Do you think he and his brother will be matching in suits?" I asked her. Since they were twins and typically had the same style as the other.

"Absolutely not. It's always important to dress differently from everyone. If you are wearing the same dress as someone else you will need to change based on status. Luckily for us, we had these made for us specifically in advance so no one will be copying our dresses for today's events." The princess was really helpful when it came to tips like these. "Oh...and uh."

"What did you do?" They had finally finished with my dress and hair so they moved on to makeup. I had asked them prior to keeping it light.

"I may have bragged about you at some tea parties a few weeks back. So expect a lot of attention for the ladies at least. You need to keep up with their questions, but they may attack you using words. If that happens just don't respond or direct the conversation to somewhere else."

Nene's preparation had finished once she had spoken her last word. Her looks really did match the princess in a fairy tale stereotype.

"Alright. I'm a bit nervous if I'm honest."

"Of course you are. It's your first appearance." Her hair swayed with each step. She could enchant any guy out there, but they all knew she was destined to be empress.

Once I was finished getting ready, I stood behind Nene as we entered the ballroom. Guest had already started to form but I stood by the princess's side as she hooked her hand around her blushing fiancé's arm.

"Now introducing future emperor and empress, Amane Yugi and Yashiro Nene!" The announcer had spoken loudly above the music. I had not been introduced since I hadn't been accepted into noble society quite yet.

As they settled in the middle of the room to be at the center of attention, the couple had waved me off to dismiss me of my services for the night. But I was alone. I had nothing to do.

My eyes scanned the room for anyone familiar but it was filled with nobles who were either just as greedy as my father or ones who had the sole purpose of ruining other noble's titles. Was each social gathering like a war zone?

My dress dragged a little behind me as I began to walk towards a seat where I could take a breather. My eyes caught on to blue ones and my face immediately brightened. "Sir Kou! A familiar face. It's nice to see you here. Are you working?" I had rushed over to him but he stepped to the side revealing someone who looked just like him.

"(Y/n)! Meet my brother Teru. He's the head of the knights. The emperor's personal guard." It was like Kou was showing off a trophy.

His brother bowed to me out of respect and gave me a bright smile. "It's nice to meet you lady (Y/n). Kou tells me all good things about you."

"What an amazing accomplishment to be the emperor's guard at such a young age. You're only 19 correct? Sir Kou talks about you often."

The older brother laughed. "Kou is a much better swordsman than myself. He is way more skilled than I ever was at his age. Thank you for the compliment."

I felt a little out of place talking so formally to people who should be my friends. But I didn't want to seem like such a lowlife to the other nobles around me.

People around us began to hush themselves when the emperor and the empress walked in with Tsukasa. I had never seen them even though they owned me. But it was a surprise. The emperor looked kind and gentle with round eyes while his empress had sharp eyes and had no smile on her face. It was directed towards Nene specifically.

All of the imperial family or soon to be gathered next to the emperor and empress as the emperor began a speech.

"It is such an honor to serve you all as your emperor for the remaining time I have in this position. As you can see, my son and his betrothed are soon to be wed and that is the main reason we decided to host a ball this year. Amane?" The emperor's hand shifted to the side to introduce his son.

"Ah, yes." He stepped forward along with Nene, not needing to introduce himself for everyone already knew who he was. "This year's ball does not hold its regular purpose for simply catching up with the fellow noble families. This year, we have decided to announce the date of our wedding." He beamed brightly with his fiance right by his side. I couldn't help but smile at the goofy smiles on their faces. They were adorable.

Me being the attendant for the future empress gave me advantages like getting in on all of the princess secrets. I already knew about all of this.

"By these rings on our fingers we are bound to each other from this life to the next. I will not falter when I say I would not regret any second spending time with my future wife. So, due to this declaration, we decided to hold our wedding on July 6th."

Gasps were heard amongst the other nobles. They knew very well what celebration that day held. It was the day of the moon. The day the moon kingdom celebrated its God.

Nene continued for the prince. "We decided That date based off of the kingdom in general. We thought, why not have an even better reason to celebrate the day of the moon? At one point, we thought of this marriage as forced once we learned about it, " The princess admitted. The empress scoffed and turned her head to the side. The empress was the one who thought of the idea, so why does she hate Nene? "But as we got to talking and got to know each other we thought it was a perfect match! As he said, I would not regret any second I would spend time with him. In this life and the next."