Abella waited patiently as the maids finished up her makeup and hair. For the first day of the Imperial Ball, Abella was wearing a pink layered off-shoulder dress with an extra layer of transparent fabric over the dress part. The dress went down to her knees on the front, then got longer towards the back to reach her shins. The dress had a large pink ribbon around the waist that came up in a bow towards the front right, a pink fabric rose being the centre of the bow. To each layer of her dress, there were frilly laces at the bottom and the top layer had silverish white pattern embraided on it. Multiple pink fabric roses with pearl centres went from the side of her chest diagonally upwards to her opposite shoulder. The off-shoulder sleeves were tight around Abella’s upper arms and lace lined the bottom and top of the sleeves. Around her neck, she wore the Imperial treasure called ‘the Pink Diamond’ on a thin silver chain, and on both her wrists she wore a thin bracelet with small diamonds dangling from them. She wore dazzling diamond earrings that sparkled under the light, not too large but not too small. As a child, the maids hadn’t given Abella incredibly tall heels that she had worn many times in her past lives, but shorter pink heels nonetheless with two pink straps crisscrossing over the top of her foot and circling around her lower shins.

( For reference)

Abella’s blonde hair was tied up in a half up braided crown and there was a rose gold pin on the right side of her hair. It was a modest and pretty dress that matched well with her blonde hair.

The Ball had started just a little while ago, yet Abella had received report that almost all the nobles who had been invited had arrived, signalling that her entrance with the Crown Prince would take place soon. The Emperor had wanted to make sure that every noble in the empire knew of the Crown Prince and Abella’s engagement, and had instructed them both to make an entrance only once every person on the list were there.

Abella had yet to see the Crown Prince, but she was sure that the Emperor had stayed true to his word and prepared a matching suit for him.

A knock at the door pulled Abella from her thoughts as the maids who had just finished her makeup bowed and left. Abella glanced at the door and said, “you may come in.”

A maid opened the door and bowed as she said, “Lady Abella, His Imperial Majesty the Emperor has sent me to inform you that all the guests have arrived and that His Highness the Crown Prince is waiting for you.”

“Alright,” Abella smiled as she stood up. “Lead me there.”

“Of course, Lady Abella.” The maid bowed respectfully and led the way as Abella followed behind her. The Imperial palace was just as much of a maze as Abella remembered – twisted corridors, multiple doors, many flights of stairs, and long, endless hallways that got Abella lost many times during her first few lives. Soon, the maid stopped and bowed as she said, “Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Abella looked up at the Crown Prince with her usual smile. He was wearing a black coat with gold shoulder flaps, and the collar of his coat was bent backwards, displaying some broaches and badges on it. Underneath his coat, he had a black suit with a red sash over his shoulder, and golden chains connected one of his shoulder flaps to a broach on the underside of his collar. Calling him ‘handsome’ would have been an understatement.

“I assume that His Imperial Majesty the Emperor is going to be furious,” Abella smiled as the Crown Prince stared.

“Probably,” the Crown Prince shrugged, looking away. “Let’s go now.”

~~~

Dietrich hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Abella when he had first saw her. She had looked beautiful in her pink dress – he had always known she was pretty enough, but he had never really thought of her as anything more than that. But now, as she walked alongside him, Dietrich couldn’t help but smile slightly.

“Was that a smile I saw?” Abella glanced up at him with a slight smirk. Dietrich quickly changed his expression and looked straight ahead again.

“No,” he snapped.

“How dishonest, Your Highness.” she smiled and looked straight ahead at the door in front of them. Dietrich held out his arm and Abella took it with a smaller smile as the doors opened. Someone announced, “introducing His Highness the Crown Prince and his fiancée, Lady Abella Rose Silverstein.”

Murmurs rose up from the crowd below as Abella and Dietrich walked down the staircase together. Dietrich sighed exasperatedly. If anything, he wanted to leave as soon as possible, but the Emperor had commanded him to dance with Abella at least once, and Imperial commands couldn’t be disobeyed. I’ll leave after that, Dietrich told himself as he and Abella reached the bottom of the staircase.