𝕳𝖔𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖘𝖘 - (Ranboo)

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏

Purple was a very pretty colour, she couldn't deny the awe she felt when she saw the many tones and shades of purples spread out before her, as Venus (her patron of sorts) pulled out plenty of dresses in that colour. There were lilacs, dusty magentas, deep purples. Venus offered her a choker-necked, bishop-sleeve purple dress which fell to her ankles. As she sat down and let the princess do her hair, Hertha looked at herself in the mirror. Her bottle-blonde hair was being pulled back into a bun, which Venus wanted to decorate with floral pins and accessories. She already had her face decorated lightly with makeup: her eyes lined and shaped with the ink, which was tinted blue to better fit her near-translucent blue eyes; her cheeks were already rosy naturally, it gave her a younger look which many found endearing; her lips were coloured slightly, a nude pink, close to purple but to an untrained eye, looked like a pink. She looked young. And rich. Nothing like the personal maid of a princess, living in the village close by. Hertha was 18, she worked as a castle maid since she was 13, but was promoted to the middle child's personal maid when she was 15, that was when Venus was 18 and had the power to change the status of people herself. She took it as an advantage to pull Hertha up the ranks and closer to herself, both were close and bonded over flowers often - Hertha's interest in the plants blossomed from her mother, a botanist as well as a farmer for the village. As she sat in front of the mirror, she wasn't sure why she was trying so hard for the ball, she'd be serving and aiding guests. She didn't need to look so good. Though, Venus did say Hertha would be the "very helpful guest" - Hertha decided to let it go and try and enjoy herself like she really wanted to.

After some bickering, and Venus scolding someone outside for scaring a servant, she returned and gave Hertha a floral headband, which Hertha fixed onto her head while they both made their way to the party hall. It was exciting. Hertha had never been to a ball. She had, but she was usually helping and in a maid uniform. The hall was grand, and had a comforting hum of joy for the new baby boy, who was yet to be named. Hertha whipped her head to look at Venus but found she had already vanished to talk to guests. The maid supposed she should do the same, walking around the gradually populating room and waving to people she knew. Some of the village folk had snuck in, a girl and a boy, both in nice clothes waved to Hertha, so she went over. She offered a small bow and smiled at them, "hello you two! How did you get past the guards?" She greeted with a whisper.

"You know how Pascal is with handwriting. He's amazing!" The boy cheered and fisted the air, "a nobleman dropped their invite and he picked it up, he forged it once before returning it the next day. What a sneak!" He snickered.

"Pascal offered to make more but everyone else was scared of getting caught, so it's only us." The girl added, looking around at the many people she didn't recognise.

"You two sure look presentable. Now be careful, I don't want to report you, but if you two make a mess, I'm cleaning it up. I'd rather not." Hertha joked with them, and they laughed, "where is Pascal?" She assumed he was close, after all, he was the one who made the invites.

"He stayed back. He didn't come." The girl responded and watched Hertha's face warp into surprise, "he said if he attended, we'd all be caught, so he decided to not come with. Guess he thought about the man he gave the invite back to. He's always so good at thinking ahead." She sighed sadly at Pascal's noble front. "That's why all the girls like him." Which was true, plenty of girls in the village liked Pascal, he was the smartest, most mischievous boy in the village. He was becoming a man, 19, but he brought out the young of being that age. Hertha didn't see the appeal, he was striking, but there just wasn't anything to be interested in. He was all flesh and bones at the end of the day.

"He told us to have fun for him, and say hi to you. Between you and I, Hertha, I still think he likes you." The boy joked to the maid, and she slapped him on the shoulder.