179 2.2.4: Debutant Party II

On the day of her fifteenth birthday, the servants had woken her up early enough that the mansion was in complete silence. Usually, there was some sound when Xiao Yunhua woke up, but today, she woke up so soon that the only thing she heard was the sound of her thumping and anxious heart ringing in her ears.

The worry was eating away her thoughts and her eyes widened when she saw the bathtub that the servants had prepared. Large with steaming water like the usual, but it was filled with red rose petals and made the room smell fragrant. The servants stripped her down and ushered her in the scorching water. Using a single finger, she tested the temperature and it burned her, but under the gazes of the impatient servants, she went in the water anyways.

Her body ached from the overwhelming heat but the smell of the red roses helped to ease her thoughts away from the scorching pain. The servants began to scrub her body thoroughly and use exotic oils to make her pale skin even smoother. The fragrance of the red rose petals eventually dulled as she got used to it when they began to condition her hair to be as soft as silk. It was already smooth, but thanks to the months of pre-conditioner, it was even smoother.

When she finally got out, her bath had taken about thirty minutes. She raised her arms and stood still like a scarecrow as they dried her body with the towel and began to help her get dressed. This was exactly how she had to stand when the Duchess called for multiple seamstresses and jewelers to take her measures and her preferences to match her dress.

Speaking of her dress, it was decided that it would be a long sleeved, creme-colored dress that was slightly puffy on the shoulders and had white, flowery lace sewed on the collarbone. The dress had the same lace in a belt-like hold to emphasize her slim waist. At the bottom of the dress was also laced, however, it wasn't as conspicuous and only made her steps appear lighter when she walked.

Her shoes were basic creme colored shoes and her jewelry...The Duchess had paid a hefty price for the teardrop diamond earrings and matching necklace. But what really set the look together was the vine of diamonds used to assist her hair in a curly and thick bun behind her head. Since her hair was naturally straight, they had to use a curling hot wand. Fortunately, the curls didn't look excessive and looked like they were part of her hair.

When Xiao Yunhua looked in the mirror, she was stunned. For the first time since she arrived in this world, she really saw herself as a beauty. No she wasn't beautiful enough to cause the downfall of a nation, but beautiful in her own way. It amazed her that all the effort that she found tedious had actually ended up helping her to perfect her look today. The servants finished her look with light makeup and dabbed her lips with crushed berries.

When the Duchess saw her, she didn't say anything but nodded in satisfaction. Out of all the days, the effort she had put in for the child had really been put to good use when she looked beautiful. Oddly enough, the Duchess realized that the child didn't resemble her husband, meaning that the child must resemble her commoner mother. Unfortunately, the mother was dead and she could never confirm it.

The Duchess grabbed her hand and realized that she wasn't wearing the gloves that were paid for. She shot a glare in the direction of the servants, who flinched from the fear. "How dare you?"

There was two responses to this. Either they had neglected their duty and forgot to help her wear the accessory—which was very bad, especially for an occasion as important as this one. Or, one of them had decided to steal the gloves. There was a low chance that it was the second one since the servants were pretty terrified and had to have immensely guts or pure desperation to do so. But, one couldn't underestimate what someone would do when they were poor. Those gloves were made from the finest fabric and looked laced with elegant diamonds. Selling them would fetch quite a large amount. Wearing them would attract attention too.

They all kneeled on the ground, trembling in fear. Xiao Yunhua felt like the Duchess was being excessive for just a pair of gloves. The Duchess walked forward and walked past them, calmly, but her snake-like eyes wandered in their direction, scanning them. She stopped in front of a young servant. The servant froze and bowed her head, averting her eyes. Her hands that were on the ground were suddenly stepped on by the Duchess, making the servant release an ear-piercing scream.

"I was wrong." She quickly admitted, her eyes swarmed with tears from the pain. The Duchess didn't move and looked at the servant with disgust, awaiting her excuse. "I was blinded by my greed. May Your Grace forgive me. Please have mercy!"

Xiao Yunhua watched with wide eyes filled with horror as the Duchess added more force in her feet, the sound of bones cracking. Seeing the merciless and heartless woman stepping on someone's hands like she was stepping in dirt, Xiao Yunhua's heart bleed. How cold was someone to hurt someone like this without much thought?

The servant cried out more and Xiao Yunhua clenched her fists, ready to step forward but the Duchess finally stepped off. Xiao Yunhua felt the urge to vomit when she saw the red hands that had a shoe print embedded on top of them, and the hands themselves in a weird angle because of the fractured bones.

"Get this wench out of my sight. Whip her twenty times and kick her out. Find the gloves immediately." The Duchess ordered with a cold voice. Xiao Yunhua watched them take the girl away and felt sympathetic towards her. The Duchess had possibly destroyed the usage in her hands and being whipped afterwards? She shuddered at the thought.

This was the same woman who didn't bat an eye at nearly choking the child she mentored for years, it wasn't that surprising that she treated a servant like so. Nonetheless, she still felt disgusted that a human being was so cruel. Were all nobility like the Duchess cruel and heartless towards others of less status than them? Today was her official debut to high society...she didn't want to find out.

The remaining servants had huddled in fear and didn't dare to look up because the fear had stricken them speechless. "This serves as a warning for all of you. Thievery is absolutely not permitted." The Duchess turned and grabbed the stolen gloves—quickly found in the things of the servant—and helped Violetta wear them. Xiao Yunhua looked at the gloves. Yes these were beautiful and expensive enough to feed a peasant family, but the mere thought that the cost of these gloves was the hands of others...made her hands feel itchy and gave her a great urge to take them off.

"Now then. You're fully ready, let's go." The Duchess grabbed her hand and guided her away. "Your escort for your debutant party is waiting."

"Duchess, how did you manage to get His Highness the Crown Prince?" She blurted out the question that had been bothering her all this time. What connections did this woman have to get the crown prince of the nation to be the escort of an illegitimate daughter? She was so confident when she told her that her picked escort would be the crown prince, was this what she meant? But connections were connections, she couldn't have connections that were higher than the authority of the royal family? Xiao Yunhua did not know that the 'connection' was the Queen of the nation who owed the Duchess a favor.

The Duchess looked at her in silence, her green eyes brimming with something that Xiao Yunhua could not understand. The older woman smiled sardonically, "You don't need to worry. Just don't mess up the years I've taught you...and you'll be fine. This is a big fish, I hope your act is good enough to reel it in." The meaning of her words was clear. She wanted for her to 'reel' in the future king, but why? Seeing the young girl speechless, the Duchess chuckled but Xiao Yunhua detected that her laughter was filled with nothing but malice...