Chapter 16 - The Debutante Ball (1)

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Idol AU or High School AU for my next special chapter (in honor of my BFF's birthday)? Vote in the comments!

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The afternoon before the debutante ball . . .

"Her Majesty, the Tsaritsa, has approved of the Grand Ballroom," La Signora announced, expressionless. "I think we're done. Columbina, do you have your dress? It'd be best for you to wear something stark and plain."

"No worries, Lady Signora," I smiled, snatching a beignet from the counter. "I have everything ready!"

Stark? Plain? Ha, she's in for a surprise.

Signora nodded. "Well, the only thing left to do is confirm that everything is ready for tonight. I need to go make some final touches to the guest list. Go visit Scaramouche, Columbina. I'm sure he's in the training grounds, beating up some poor guy."

"Yes, Lady Signora!" I responded earnestly.

Prancing away, I walked out to the courtyard, wrapping my fur stole tightly around my shoulders.

Sure enough, the moment I entered the training grounds, I heard the violent sound of a bone breaking and a blood-curdling scream.

Signora's intuition is truly admirable, I thought grimly.

"I didn't bring you here so you could pull your punches," Scaramouche rebuked, hauling his subordinate up by the collar and shoving his skull into the concrete. "Get up and fight me like a man, you coward!"

"Lord Scaramouche, please stop!" I yelled, striding towards him. "He did nothing wrong!"

Scaramouche dropped the subordinate, cracking his bloodied knuckles and eyeing me with an irritated frown.

"So, we have company. It's been a while, Columbina." he remarked, seemingly oblivious to his actions.

Rushing to the aid of the injured Fatui, I glared at Scaramouche. "Did you really have to do this?"

"He was holding back. Defiantly refusing to follow my orders like the pathetic little soldier boy he is." His eyes travelled down to my glowing Vision, which was slowly healing the cadet's wounds. "What are you doing?"

Tearing off my stole, I placed the cloth on his forehead to stop the bleeding, applying pressure around the wound.

"Get off him, Columbina!"

I paid Scaramouche no mind, holding the Fatui's broken arm while it gradually mended, and pressed my free hand to his chest. Two broken ribs.

"Send him to the infirmary," I told my maids, watching while they heaved him away.

The other cadets dispersed in fear, but as I attempted to walk away, Scaramouche wrapped his elbow around my neck, holding me in a chokehold.

"Don't you dare forget your place," he seethed, enraged. "You're just a pretty face and some nerve, got it?"

Scaramouche released me, and I stumbled forward, gasping for air.

"Yes, my lord," I answered, sincerely wishing that I could grab his humongous umbrella of a hat and smash it into pieces.

"We need to talk, by the way." Scaramouche grabbed my hand, yanking me inside the building. "And don't even think about acting up again. What are you, the Ninth Harbinger, since Childe got shoved down to Tenth? Know your place."

He closed his fingers around my arm, practically throwing me into the lounge and slamming the door shut.

I waited for him to take a seat before I settled down opposite him.

𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜'𝙨 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙬 // scaramouche x ocWhere stories live. Discover now