Labyrinth

Acception

"Remember to smile, Rosemarie." Father said and I nodded, knowing damn well I won't.

He want to see me out himself, which again, was a thing out of his character. He never cared about what I wore to parties and he would never come to sent me away.

At this point it was getting suspicious.

Nevertheless, I got into my carriage and we took off to the ball.

Breathe in, breathe thought,
Breathe deep, breathe out.

I continued to take a few more deep breaths to calm myself down and prepared myself mentally as we reached the Phili's House.

__

"Please wear this, my lady." The guard at the entrance said, handing me a mask.

It was a quilled masquerade mask, that perfectly matched my dress.

The last time we were asked to wear masks to a ball was almost 2 years ago, and I was so grateful for it today, at least now I could hide under the mask. 

I wonder if it was the Lady's idea.

I walked in and the smell of Jasmines filled my mind. I had been to this place for years, the same old shiny yet dull traditional guest house. It was beautiful at first but slowly the colour of it seemed to fade. They changed the curtains and interior design every month, it never fails to amuse me how much money they wasted on these parties.

As usual, it was crowded. Every month a dozen more children would join the party, no adults whatsoever.

The noises of girls laughing loudly and the smell of freshly cooked pasties replaced the scent of Jasmines.

"Lady Rosemarie, you're here!" a familiar voice called me.

"Lady Anastasia," I bowed, "Thank you for the invitation."

I didn't expect to run into her so early. Lady Anastasia was the young Lady of The House of Philis. Even though she wasn't the one who would take over the family, she was very popular among the lower nobles.

She wore a pretty pink and white dress, her reddish hair fell perfectly, she wore a matching mask but her brown eyes were smiling, as always, she looked stunning.

"Oh my, Rosemarie, please adress me casually, I already told you that and thank you for coming, please be my guest and enjoy the ball, you look so very cute today!" she said with a smile brighter than my future.

Anastasia Phili was the most talkative person I knew, I wonder if she ever gets tired of it?

"Yes, my lady, I shall try to enjoy the ball to my fullest." I tried to sound friendly and casual. "And the idea of wearing masks was a good one."

"I know right? It brings back memories of the past, and I'm sure it'll be a perfect–"

Her voice slowly faded when I heard a laughter. A very familiar laughter. I peeked to see where that sound came from.

It was across the room and I just knew it was him.

Even though he was wearing a mask, even though it was nearly impossible for me to notice him I knew that laugh and I knew those blue eyes. It really was him, Noah Courteney.

I wouldn't think for a minute, I needed to get away from there before he saw me. I had to come up with an excuse and get away from him.

"My lady, I'm not feeling very well so if you would excuse me." I tried to say calmly and sound as polite as possible.

"Oh is that right? Are you okay? If you aren't feeling well you should head home." she said worried.

"Ah no, I'll just take a walk outside and I'm sure I'll be fine." Not like I could go home as soon as I reached here anyway.

"Alright then, please be careful Lady Rosemarie."

I took my leave and went as far away from him as possible.
I just have to hide somewhere for a while.

I said I would take a walk outside but I only just came out of the ballroom.
After wandering around for a bit, I finally found myself away from most of the crowd.

I was in the paintings room. I knew the corners of this guest house like the back of my hand. There were not much people that visited this place so it was the perfect escape for me. 

I decided to look around even though i had probably seen these pictures a hundred thousand times. Even the people in the paintings looked tried of seeing me every month.

Suddenly the room got noisy as a pack of people entered it laughing and talking.

Oh shit. It was Noah Courteney and his company. The same person I was trying to avoid were here. All his friends had their mask on so I could only recognise Noah in them.

It seemed they hadn't noticed me yet, I adjusted my mask nicely and pretended to observe the paintings as I looked for an opportunity to get out of there.

"Noah, did you really turn THE Lady of ice down, you bastard!" one of them said loud enough for me to hear as I froze. Were they talking about me?

"I told you guys, it would be a piece of pie for me to make her fall for me." Noah laughed.

What? What did he mean by that?

"You are such a jerk!" another one said and laughed loudly.

"Remember our deal idiots, give me my money!" He demanded as all the 4 guys handed him some coins. It wasn't the ordinary bronze coin the public used but pure shiny gold coins. He had done all that for a few gold coins. They laughed and laughed, evil laughs and I watched from afar as they left the room.

I realised my legs were shaking and I couldn't breathe.

I couldn't believe my ears. Or eyes.

I wanted to get home. Out of these four walls. But I couldn't. I couldn't go home just yet.

I didn't have a place to go to at all.

I ran out of the room and the house. I wanted to get away from all these people to a place quite with no one around. I want to breathe the cold air outside.

I found myself in the garden. It was a beautiful empty garden behind the main building. And only a few people would ever visit this place. This was the place I confessed my love for that...that inhuman.

I sat on a bench. I was out of breathe and my chest hurt. It felt like my heart had been broken into pieces. I wanted to cry but tears didn't come out. I felt worthless. I felt empty. I felt unwanted and unloved.

I felt miserable.

Was it all really a lie? Giving me false hope. All for some gold coins! Was I worth just that much?! To think I had fallen for someone like him, it was pathetic.