Summer poured through the windows of the room, bringing sunlight to paint the wood of the wall with a slightly more yellow tinge than what their brownish fibres were used to. Lili looked over the glasses that gave away to the garden, getting a glimpse of the distant trees, as if to check whether the carriage had yet arrived.

She closed the envelope of the letter which she had been working for days now. While she did not wish to keep her hopes high, she could feel her heart beating faster when she thought about being able to study botany at Gardelilac, the capital of the Golché duchy. It was not until long ago that women were admitted for the first time into higher institutions like these.

However, Lili knew she could not stay daydreaming for long. The footsteps outside of the room announced that her betrothed was already approaching to take her to the Summer ball. Charles Gagneux had been selected personally by her father and the arrangements for their marriage were set before she even could grasp some more knowledge about the man.

Today sounded like an opportunity for getting to know more about him, perhaps making some sounding questions about his aspirations in joining the army as an officer of the newly formed armoured regiment or establishing a verdict on whether he would forbid her studies in a later date.

The door opened to reveal a tall man in a blue piece of uniform, yellow buttons blazing against the light that came in from the windows and reflecting at the edge of his white cap.

"Miss Comtois." The voice came out gently, in a whisper as the man removed his hat to incline himself forward, revealing a head full of blonde strands of hair that looked rather unaligned, if not slightly messy. "I have arrived to escort you to the Summer ball, should you give me the honour."

"Mister Gagneux." Her studious blue eyes spent a few minutes in carefully pondering on his mannerisms before she could muster a proper reply, "In which case, I must tell you I'm ready. It's such a lovely summer afternoon, isn't it?"