Magnolia and Charles, meanwhile, were watching their daughters out there socializing or dancing. Well, mostly watching their daughter Violet, making sure she is doing okay as this is her first ball. Magnolia does this to all her children when they go out to their first ball. 

“Magnolia, dear, must we always do this?” Charles asked, slightly annoyed by his wife’s antics. 

“Don’t you want to make sure our children are okay?” Magnolia asked. “Who knows how many ruffians are among the guests!” 

“Then heaven have mercy on those ruffians if they mess with your children,” someone spoke. Charles and Magnolia both looked behind them seeing a man and a woman standing there smiling at the two. The man looked to be in his mid-fifties from the few wrinkles on his face and snow-white hair that was neatly tied into a low ponytail. He looked like an older version of Dimitri but with a small and neatly groomed mustache and violet eyes instead of Dimitri’s green. His attire was a very fancy blue and gold formal military uniform with a red cape on the left side of his shoulder, a purple sash from his right shoulder down to his left hip, and decorated with medals. He also had a dark blue belt and gloves on, white formal pants, and black formal boots.

The lady next to him was also in her fifties with one gray streak in her brown hair and some wrinkles around her green eyes, if one didn’t notice the wrinkles one would have mistaken her for Princess Annabelle. She had on a royal blue dress to match her husband next to her with some white in it and a single pink rose in the middle of her chest. She also wore a simple pearl necklace with matching earrings and her brown hair was in a low net bun. 

“Your Majesties.” Both Charles and Magnolia bowed upon realizing they were the king and queen of the land, Hubert and Lorelei. 

“It’s so good to see you both,” Lorelei smiled, greeting the two Ironbloods. 

“We wouldn’t miss this party for the world!” Charles smiled back. 

“I understand your youngest daughter is now twelve?” Hubert smiled. 

“They grow up so fast. I’m not sure if I can keep it up,” Charles admitted as a part of him still sees his daughters as his little girls. 

“It won’t be long until it’s Matthew’s turn,” Lorelei smiled, just imagining what a handsome man he would grow up to be.

 “Don’t remind me!” Magnolia began crying a river once again. 

“Magnolia, dear, please calm down,” Charles said, getting a hanky out, to which she dried her eyes with. 

“Sorry,” Magnolia apologized, feeling really embarrassed. 

“Don’t be, I feel the same way with my children” Lorelei admitted, she too gets teary-eyed when it comes to her grownup children.

“Speaking of children, I only see Dimitri and Annabelle here. Where are the twins, Alexander and Aoife?” Charles asked, upon notice. 

“Aoife’s personal maid told me there was a wardrobe malfunction going on and Alex is trying to help his sister out.” 

“Aww, that’s so sweet of him!” Magnolia said in awe at how adorable and sweet it was for the prince to help out his sister. 

“I, for one, am glad Aoife has such a good brother watching over her, I worry what might happen to my sweet girl when it’s our time to go to heaven” Hubert admitted. 

“I suppose it’s common for every parent to worry about their child’s future once they pass on,” Charles presumed. 

“Well, I can say for sure that your daughter will be just fine when that day comes for you,” Lorelei then spoke up. 

“Our daughter?” Charles asked, confused. 

“Which one, your Majesty?” Magnolia asked. 

“Why, Irene, of course,” the queen responded. “That girl is one smart lady from what I heard from my daughters.” 

“Can’t deny that,” Charles agreed. 

“But there is something about your daughter that I find kind of scary, to be honest,” Hubert then spoke up.

 “Uhh… whatever do you mean, your Highness?” Charles asked, feeling a little uneasy as his daughter Irene has been known to do crazy things in the past. 

“I heard a rumor on the grapevine that Archduke Carmine’s eldest son will never have children thanks to Irene, who castrated him with her shoes,” the king explained, causing both Magnolia and Charles to go pale in horror upon remembering that incident. They remembered apologizing for a week straight to the Archduke for what Irene did to his son. 

“Judging from your flushed faces, I take there’s some truth to it,” the king inquired. 

“Well… yes,” Charles confirmed embarrassingly. “But you see, your Highness, the Archduke’s son was trying to persuade my daughter to break her chastity with him. But when she refused he attacked her and she… revealed a hidden weapon and, well, you know the rest.” 

Both the king and queen looked completely shocked about what happened. 

“We're so sorry for her actions. We’re doing our best to teach her how to be a proper lady,” Magnolia apologized, feeling embarrassed.

“Why should you apologize?” the king asked, confused. “If anything you should be proud of your daughter for successfully defending herself. If she hadn't, things may have ended up horribly for her.” 

“Serves that man right, I may not go as far as to castrate him, but I, too, would have done anything within my power to defend myself,” the Queen added. 

Both the Duke and Duchess were in shock upon realizing what would have happened to their daughter if the Archduke's son had truly succeeded with what he wanted from their daughter. Most likely she'll be forced to marry her attacker since there are loopholes within the laws that would allow such a thing and Irene would lose that spark and become miserable for the rest of her life. 

“I understand you want your daughters to be fine, well-mannered ladies, but you shouldn’t be upset with them trying to defend themselves,” the queen explained as she placed a comforting hand on Magnolia’s shoulder. The Duchess then looks at her daughter, Violet, who was now dancing with a young man. Normally she would be giddy seeing her daughters dancing with a man, but now all she can think about was what if that man had ill intentions for her daughter or anyone in that room. 

“Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to teach our girls to defend themselves if anyone wants to harm our girls,” Magnolia admitted as all she wanted was to protect her girls from harm.

“What did I tell you about distractions young man!?” someone shouted from across the room. The four look to see a woman with devil horns and a tail berating a butler for spilling some champagne earlier. She was dressed in a nice and simple red dress with pears on her earrings and a pearl necklace and her blond hair was in a bun with a rose in it. Her red eyes were on fire from the incompetence of the male staff member. 

“I don’t care if she’s the most beautiful woman you have ever seen! You can’t get distracted by a pretty face when you're working!” the demon lady berated the butler who looked embarrassed. “Once the ball is over you are to mop the entire floor! Even if it takes all night” she then instructed the butler.

 “But-” the butler was about to complain but the demon lady interrupted. 

“Would you rather run around the palace five hundred times instead?!” she shouted. 

“No, ma’am!” the butler quickly shrank, the dreadful memories of that experience flowing in his mind. 

“Then I suggest you get back to work!” the demon lady shouted and the butler was off like lightning. 

Even Charles and Magnolia were scared of that demon lady. 

“Who’s that?” the duchess asked. 

“Oh, that's our new head housekeeper, Lilith Nightingale,” Hubert answered, smiling for some reason. 

“She’s a little harsh on the servants, but you can’t deny the results. She’s responsible for all this after all,” Lorelei smiled. 

“She acts more like my old drill sergeant,” Charles admitted as the head housekeeper kept reminding him of his old drill sergeant from his day in military school as he too was a Luciferan demon. In fact, they have the same red eyes and everything. Charles wondered if they were related in any way. 

“Well, there are rumors floating around that Lilith came from a military family,” Hubert recalled. 

“That would explain a few things,” Lorelei agreed as the head housekeeper went to the back room.

 Anabelle and Zetian were spying on Irene and Dimitri, who were still dancing outside in the garden. 

“Look at those two, they almost look like a couple doesn’t you think?” Zetian asked.

“Yeah, I guess” Anabelle mused. 

“Is something the matter, your Highness?” Zetian asked. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?” Anabelle asked, confused. 

“Well, normally, you would be excited as you're rooting for the two of them to marry one day,” Zeintan pointed out. 

“Uhh… who told you that?” Anabelle asked nervously, avoiding eye contact. 

“Your eyes did,” the Ambassador pointed out. “Whenever they're together you can’t seem to take your eyes off of them.” 

Poor Anabelle sheepishly laughed not wanting to admit that she secretly longed for her brother to marry her best friend as she could tell they liked each other. 

“Wel, I was just wondering why Irene doesn't dance with the other guests inside,” the princess said, wanting to avoid the other subject. 

“Well, Irene told me that she can’t handle crowds,” said Zetian. “She described it as a knight battling an evil monster. Sometimes she can handle it, but on other days it feels overwhelming and frightening.” 

“That’s an interesting way to describe dancing,” Anabelle mused, thinking it’s odd.

“Well don’t forget, she wasn't born normal like you and me” Zeintan reminded the princess. 

“Oh right she has Asperrrrr…” the poor princess could not pronounce the word properly. 

“Aspergers, I think it’s called,” Zeintan spoke up. 

“Oh yeah, thanks” Anabelle thanked her friend. 

“It keeps her from socializing normally like you and I would. And sometimes she has a hard time understanding some things” Zetian explained. 

“I can’t imagine how hard that must be,” Anabelle confessed as she never had a problem like that.

“But it also has some advantages,” Zetian also added. 

“Like what?” the princess asked curiously. 

“She can sometimes see things that some people would overlook, and it helps her solve trivial problems that could take others a long time to figure out. In some ways, it can be a burden for her, but most of the time it’s a gift.” the ambassador princess smiled. “Sometimes I wish I had a mind like her.” 

“I can see why. I mean, she did see through the Archduke’s eldest son’s charming face and words,” Anabelle agreed, remembering that event Irene told them earlier. 

Can’t think of a better woman to be the queen of our kingdom, she thought as she continued to see her brother and Irene dancing imagining this was their wedding dance.

Soon the music was over and Irene bowed to the crown prince happily. 

“Thank you for the dance, your Highness. Sorry about your foot,” she apologized as she had accidentally stepped on his foot during their dance. 

“Don’t worry, I’ve had worse injuries,” Dimitri reassured Irene. 

“Oh I hate doing that to anyone I dance with,” Irene said, being very hard on herself. Dimitri, seeing the distraught look on his friend’s face, quickly picked a pretty red rose from a nearby bush.

“Don’t fret, Irene. It’s not the first time a woman’s stepped on my foot while dancing, and it probably won’t be the last,” he smiled giving Irene the rose. 

“Are you always this charming my prince?” Irene asked, joking a little. 

“Only to women who step on my foot,” Dimitri joked back causing Irene to laugh. 

“Thank you,” she smiled before accepting the single rose. 

“Roses are your favorite flower, right?” the prince asked. 

“Yes, indeed it is. They remind me of my mother’s garden,” Irene smiled, looking at the red rose in her hand, careful not to get cut on one of the thorns. She looked at the garden filled with dozens of roses of many different colors. 

“Duchess Magnolia?” Dimitri asked. 

“My birth mother,” Irene corrected the prince. “I used to live in this house back in my world and it had a lot of roses growing everywhere. When they bloom, the entire garden would smell of roses and my parents would sometimes even make jam out of its petals as there were so many,” Irene smiled at that precious memory. Rose jam was her favorite and was grateful to God that rose jam is a staple of the country’s products. 

“Wish I could have a taste of your birth mother’s jam,” the prince admitted as he, too, loved rose jam. 

“Knowing my birth mother, she would have loved you,” Irene smiled, imagining if her parents were alive and welcoming her best friend with open arms. While her father would be keeping an eye on Dimitri just to make sure he didn’t do anything funny to his little girl. In fact, she can picture her birth father’s ghost standing right there, scolding Dimitri for taking his little girl. 

“I’m sure I would have loved them as well,” Dimitri then spoke up. “Even if they spend a short time with you they managed to raise an amazing woman.” 

Those words made Irene both blush and cry at the same time. So she made a mental note to get back at him for that. 

“I… have something to ask of you my old friend,” the prince said, rubbing the back of his head nervously. 

“Aoife, don’t jump!” someone shouted from above. Both Dimitri and Irene looked up to see someone jumping from the first-floor balcony. Both Dimitri and Irene ran to the side as the body fell and then, snap! The body dangled one foot in the air by a rope. Irene screamed in horror realizing there was a dead body dangling right in front of her. 

“My Goddess! Aoife!” The crown prince screamed in horror as the dangling body was his youngest sister, Princess Aoife Romanovy. The guests inside heard the screams and all ran outside to see what was going on, one by one all screamed in horror at the sight of the dead princess before them. The king, queen, Magnolia, and Charles were among them, trying to push through the crowd trying to find out what was going on and all looked in horror at the sight of the youngest princess hanging by her neck in the air. The Queen especially was horrified at the sight of her precious, youngest daughter's body in front of her and broke down, wailing. Even Zetian and Anabelle would not stop crying seeing the princess. Irene looked up to see someone on the first-floor balcony looking down horrified. 

“Aoife! Why would you do this?!” the man cried in horror. 

Needless to say, the night was ruined.