The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

I hesitated slightly before opening the box. Yet then I pulled the ribbon with trembling fingers and took the lid off. Inside, there was a small black envelope with golden edges on top of golden tissue paper. My name was written on it with beautiful gilded letters.

I got out a little card from the inside and read:

Lady Larissa Artess of White Archipelago,

His Majesty Emperor Demir Darmerion Derwood requests the honour of your presence at the Royal Masquerade Ball to be held at the Royal Gerdian Palace on the 7th day of Ferrorsun month.

The festivities will start on the 7th hour and every guest is required to wear a mask. All masks will be off at midnight.

Biting my l*p, I removed the shiny tissue paper and gasped when I saw the main gift. A beautifully crafted white mask with feathers, pearls, and diamonds was laying on top of a matching white dress. Gerdians weren’t wearing white too often, so I knew that these were made especially for me. It was a gesture. And I appreciated it.

I still didn’t know what to think about everything though. It was a bit too much information for me… Dragons, soulmates, red dragons… Everything felt as if it wasn’t happening to me.

Just then dark flames appeared right next to me again and I see a book with a little note attached to me. Oh, he didn’t dare!

“I am sure you will like this one more”, the note said and I checked the book. The title was “The Duke’s Favourite Maid.”

Well, at least it wasn’t “Armenia’s Flame”! That one turned out to be not what I expected at all! I needed to take my mind off things, so I took the book and went to sit on my favourite chair on the balcony.

It started off really sad, with the poor maid being mistreated by everyone including her own family. She worked hard but no one appreciated the effort. I couldn’t stop. Life was so cruel for the maid and she decided to change things for herself. At this time the old duke died and his only heir arrived at the estate. The poor maid went to his room to talk to him about her possible promotion and the new Duke, luckily, was very eager to help the young girl out and invited her in at once…

I closed the book, feeling how red my cheeks were!

The audacity of that man! To give me another book that… that… Unbelievable!

I threw it away, almost hitting Lisa that was bringing in fresh tea.

“My lady?!” She looked at me with her eyes wide, “You didn’t like the book? You’ve been reading it for hours! I thought you were enjoying it Senco you looked so invested…”

It was embarrassing to admit that I read every single chapter of that… that…

“Anything new?” I decided to change the subject trying to calm down.

“Yes,” the maid smiles, “Everyone is talking about the masquerade. It is so unexpected! The Emperor usually doesn’t like such entertainments, so we don’t get any balls except the ones for his and the princess’ birthdays. And also the change of years one.”

“You have a nice dress,” Sandra came out with snacks. How did she even see it? I didn’t unpack it yet. “It will be easy to spot you. But then again, maybe that was the idea behind the gift,” she sneered. Lisa and she had very different attitudes. While one seemed nice and generally happy to tend to me, another seemed like the job was beneath her and she was forced to do it in the first place.

Yet she had a point. If I go in white, everyone’s attention will be on me. And I wasn’t sure I would be comfortable with that.

“By the way,” I asked, “Has the lady from the boutique returned? She was supposed to bring accessories today. I think I would like to speak to her.”

“She is actually waiting for you to be done with your snacks,” Lisa smiled as she poured the tea.

“Oh, then let her in!” I suddenly became agitated with my newest idea, “I have something I need to discuss with her!”

One of the assistants that Demir and I met at the shop in the capital came in, trembling. By now she knew that the guy she was drooling over was the Emperor and me… I think she had certain ideas about who I was. She wasn’t wrong though, now that I was thinking about it.

I looked at the accessories and asked the maids to take them away to the wardrobe room. And as soon as they were gone, I pulled the poor girl to the balcony.

“I have something else I need from you,” I said in a conspiring tone as her eyes went wide.

“H-how can I help you my lady?” she mumbled.

“You see, I have a masquerade to attend,” I smirked.

In the evening, I was invited for a dinner in the garden. Demir was already there when I arrived, and I was so happy to see him. We didn’t see each other for just a few hours but it felt like it was forever.

He moved my chair for me and I sat down, noticing how he took in the dress that I was wearing. The lightweight silver off-shoulder thing with a cape at the back. And I was ready for a pleasant evening together when he suddenly said, “Lara, today I received another message from your brother…”