Silence Explained #AStormOfFanfiction

Chapter 1

楽しんで！

I loathed balls. If it wasn't obvious from the way I had always huddled into a dark corner, praying that no one would notice me and try to engage me into what I referred to as a 'disaster waiting to happen', then not much more made it clearer.

But it had been different lately. Not the hating the balls part. No, that had remained very much the same. It was the hiding in the corners that had been tucked away into the not so distant past. Because at these balls, I had a purpose. And it wasn't to find a potential husband. It was to keep other ladies from finding a potential husband. And that was a much more important task, one whose outcome would not only benefit them but the rest of the world.

After all, less married women would mean more independent women.

Let's not forget you, A nasty voice whispered to me, hidden in the chambers of my mind. It was a voice I had come to ignore because listening to it would most likely end up in something disastrous. But I couldn't deny that she was wrong this time. There was certainly something in it for me. Like being able to continue our late night rendezvous, not that there had been too many as of late. It usually turned out to be a late night therapy session for both of us.

And seeing as all the guests had arrived, many of them arriving quite differently than what their pictures had depicted. Aging was such an unfair thing. The older these women got, the more busty and demure looking they seemed to grow. The older I got, all that I seemed to achieve was more weight in unflattering places and a larger temper to with it.

That's why I had decided to step up my game.

I had made sure my makeup was done meticulously, even bringing Adaira in to help. On the town trips that Mr. Ambrose and I had made on the horses I had managed to purchase quite a few new ball gowns, my favorite by far the one I was currently wearing.

The emerald green silk was light and airy, clinging to what little curves I had and the long sleeved, off the shoulder look, made me appear to have an elegance that I would otherwise lack. The gold and silver patterns on the bodice helped accentuate the deep color of the dress, which in turn brightened my dull brown eyes.

And not to brag, but I looked great. Well, as great as Lillian Linton was going to get.

My entrance to the ball was going to be grand, my arrival planned to be slightly late in hopes that Mr. Ambrose would stop whatever he was doing-not that he would be doing much- to take a moment to look.

Walking through the halls of Battlewood, I felt giddy. I had never been this excited for a ball. But then again, I had never looked this good, either. Not even the gloomy portraits of the Ambrose family could bring my mood down, nor the way I slightly tripped every once in a while in my heels while walking down the carpet. I doubted that even news of a great disaster could even begin to qualify to dampen my mood.

But as I watch a gaggle of girls congregated by the entrance to the ball, I realize that I spoke too soon. Taking a deep breath, and steadying myself so that I won't trip while they are watching me, I make my way towards the door, plastering an obviously fake smile on my face.

"Ladies," I murmured, trying my best to remain polite and not snap at them for blocking the doorway. "If you'll excuse me."

The one in the front, a tiny little blonde, gives me an equally fake smile, her eyes gleaming with threats. Threats that I would be sure to make it extremely hard to carry out. "Of course," The blonde replies all too sweet. "Right after you answer a few questions of ours."

I had never been confronted so blatantly unless it was by Mr. Ambrose, my aunt, or while I was under the pretense of Mr. Linton. To have been challenged as me, as Lilly, was a little unnerving. But anger replaced my nerves as I realized that the only reason they were confronting me now was that Mr. Ambrose wasn't near. They thought that I would rely on a man to fight my battles, no matter how inconsequential, for me.