A Season of Masks and Masquerades

Chapter 42: The Bachelors' Party

Yellow and golden lights lined the entrance of the Valentine mansion and the purple garden that ran at both sides of the pavement looked nothing short of paradise.

The crowd was exuberant. Esther could see a hundred couples walking into the royal hall for the bachelors party. She'd been there once but she never got a chance to walk into the place. However, now that she did, she had to employ most of her strength of will to prevent her jaws from falling.

The interiors of the place were no doubt the most exquisite. The roof was being held high by gigantic white pillars with golden characters sculpted all around it on their feet. The corridors that led to the main hall were lined with extremely valuable and rare art pieces. Paintings and sculptures were gathered in such abundance that it seemed she was roaming a museum.

With utmost struggle, she suppressed the urge of stopping and inspecting the art as she kept forcing her steps ahead.

The corridors ended in a huge circular hall after many long steps and the view ahead deserved all the credit for her finally dropped jaw. From the shiny white marbles under her feet to the crystalline chandeliers above her head, every inch of the place yelled for its richness.

In the centre of the hall stood a huge portrait of the newly betrothed couple. The smiles on the canvas were far too bright and real than the ones that were stationed on the morbid and tired faces of Leonardo and Rebecca.

Esther however, wasn't the only one in awe. Every pair of feet that walked into the hall seemed to slow down at the junction to take in the glory of the place.

Amazed and regretful sighs from the debutantes filled the air while the gentlemen next to them locked their arms tighter around theirs so the young ladies wouldn't run off to the charming and filthy rich Marquess who seemed to have the spot next to him vacant of any lady.

Esther looked around to spot Juliette Frampton who usually wouldn't budge from next to him as per the latest gossip however she seemed contrastingly absent from the gathering.  During the past few weeks that Esther spent stuffed in her house, her only source of the season's update was the biweekly paper which was more hearsay than facts. However, the fact that a constant episode of a beautiful Miss Frampton clinging to the Marquess of Rosevale at all events of the ton got its personal column on the paper called for some validation of the news. 

She hadn't met the Framptons since the fishing day but she was more than eager to witness the romantic developments of Juliette and Reuben with her own eyes, which was another reason she did not wish to miss the Bachelors party that evening.

The Framptons were absent from the Radcliffe soiree earlier that week which was not so unusual as no one who was not a part of the noble families could secure an invite to Radcliffe events, however, their absence from a Valentines evening was fairly questionable.

In any natural situation, Juliette should've been seen snaking her hand around Reuben's arm as if he would run away if she were to let him lose. However, no matter how keenly Esther scanned the hall, she was nowhere to be seen that night and it did concern her, for it was the most unlikely of Juliette to miss a social gathering that she has any slightest chance to attend. She would be limp as dead in her bed and yet would drag herself out if she were to hear of a party. The entire Frampton family for that matter.

Perhaps she had realised Reuben was not the right man to mingle with.

Juliette's however wasn't the only face missing from the gathering. The real Duke was also following the trend of not attending social events lately. Esther had been on the lookout for him so she could tell him about her decision on their betrothal however he was just as nonexistent as Juliette in the events of the ton of late.