The next morning the inner courtyard was humming with people. I watched from my balcony as more and more lords and ladies appeared while the day continued on. Many faces I did not know, but there were a few who had looked familiar.
Countess Fairefax and her husband strolled through the courtyard observing the servants, who were hard at work, as they started decorating for the night's festivities.
It was clear, after observing these folks for quite some time, that the guests who had been invited consisted of some very important and prestigious families, and some notable religious figures. I was sure many of them were the parents of some of the girls that remained, and many of those who had not.
There was no telling how upset some of them were. Their precious daughters being turned down on the very first day, embarrassing them and making them the laughingstock of the towns they lived in and social circles they had frequented. If I had been them, I would have been brimming with questions, in fact I was despite that. But they must have come, despite their embarrassment, or maybe because of it, to ask the royal family indirect questions in passive aggressive tones in hopes of finding out why their child was denied, and perhaps also to see which girls had been so great as to have been chosen instead of their own.
Not only were it us girls competing with one another, but our families as well. We were just pawns in securing the greatest boost in status that a family could acquire. Yes, it was a normal thing in our society for our parents to make us marry up, to force us to climb up that social ladder with them all, including our younger siblings, on our backs. We were the future of our families, we secured marriages for our siblings and if we did not marry well, we could ruin everything.
However, this particular ladder had not, like all the others before it, stopped on the floor just before the top, it was glittering in gold and went all the way up to the highest point in our political tree. Because, for the first time in a very long time, every noble family had a chance to not just marry up, but to marry the highest one possibly could.
Anyone who held a title lower than a duke or duchess did not even get considered as an option for the royals, usually. But, since the rest of the world was no longer available, and there were no other princes or princesses, they had to marry down. Though, if one looked at it in a more strategic light it was a very smart move on the royal's part.
Not only would this Courting please the nobles by boosting their egos, but it would bring entertainment for then entire kingdom as well. And, if it were needed, a very large distraction. Though, no matter what the nobles might convince themselves of with such a reassuring move on the crowns part,
The lucky girl would never become queen and the nobles would not have any additional power within the kingdom. The royal family would continue to retain complete power since it is a patriarchy and Thomas is the second born. Though, the only way I see that they could have ever possibly attained power would have been in the slim chance that the current king, heir and all his children and Thomas were to die while Thomas's wife was pregnant with child. That would leave her as the temporary ruler until her child, if a boy, was born and come of age. So again, it was a fool's hope to think anything more than one singular family becoming slightly more important would happen.
Though, perhaps that was the reason they had not married off Prince Henry and Princess Corinna yet. The King must have been holding out hope for the illness, the plague, that ravaged the world outside our borders to one pass one day soon and in turn allowing him to marry them off to someone more worthy, more beneficial to the kingdom.
Though many of the families still left in the Courting were most likely also a part of the royal court and lived in the palace most of the year. Countess Fairefax was one of those people. Mother occasionally attended court, but never had the honor of staying in the palace. Though, she had been working diligently on securing herself a more permanent spot and becoming a lady of the court. Something I had hoped would never come to fruition.
While out on the balcony, I wore my mask as instructed by Mrs. Dansbury, and even went as far as to wear a cloak as well, to make sure I kept my identity hidden while I passed the time. I was nervous about that night's festivities and used the continuous movement below as a distraction from my ever-encroaching thoughts.
Everyone down below continued to go about their duties, never stepping out of line. It was a marvelous thing, watching people transform a usually empty space into something vibrant and ready to be filled with laughter. I always enjoyed watching the servants at home dress up the house when there were to be guests, but this, this was a much larger undertaking. Despite that though, they were nearly done with the preparations, and it only took them most of the morning.
With the sky growing brighter, I looked up to check the placement of the sun, wondering if it were almost noon, when something across the courtyard at the part of the structure opposite of me caught my eye. After all my watching of those below, I came to find that I too was being watched.
There were five terraces that were attached to the third floor of the opposing building, and in the middle stood him.
It was a considerable distance between the two of us, but it was quite obvious that he was looking directly at me. I could not tell if he had been a servant or a noble, but he looked quite tall, and had brown hair. He was leaned over, both hands resting on the stone railing, watching on with curiosity, when a smile crept onto his face.
"He is rather odd, smiling to himself like a creep." I thought, then realization struck, "He cannot be smiling at me, can he? It should be impossible for him to know that I am looking at him.".
We exchanged gazes for a few moments longer before he nodded, then turned around and left me there wondering what had just happened.
"How had he known I was looking at him?" I touched my face to make sure I was not crazy and that I was in fact still wearing a mask. "What an odd man."
It had not made me uncomfortable in the slightest, but the whole exchange was confusing to say the least. I was curious and rather intrigued by him and wanted to know why he had been staring at me and for how long.
However, I just had assumed it was because I was a masked girl in a cloak standing on a balcony in broad day light, and he found it ridiculous. And that thought alone made me laugh to myself. Because, to him I was probably the odd one, and rightfully so.
. . .
About an hour before we were to be summoned, Cordelia started to help me get ready. First, she bathed me in an assortment of flowers and herbs, then let me soak while she went and laid out the dress piece by piece.
After she had returned, she helped me out of the bath, then into a smock and robe. The two of us then returned to the bedroom where I stood behind the changing screen, braced against the wall, as she put me together.
Other than the bodice, the rest of the dress was entirely made up of several layers of emerald colored velvet. The neckline was off the shoulder, but slightly scalloped to accentuate my bosom, collar bones, neck and shoulders. The bodice, too, was emerald and covered in goldwork making it the focal point of the whole ensemble. It had long bell sleeves and the skirt trailed behind me just enough to make me appear as if I were floating, but not too long for it to get in the way of others and be stepped on.
Next, we chose my jewelry. For this she had me sit at the mirrored vanity, where she brought me several different pieces to compare.
"We cannot go too simplistic this time, being as this is a more formal event and you need to make a statement. But you do not want it to be too gaudy that it takes away from the rest of the look." She draped the largest of the three emerald necklaces across my neck as an example.
"I believe I like the one that is tight around the neck." I pointed at the one with the smallest jewels on it.
It was a collar of emeralds strung together with golden embellishments and pearls. The largest sized emerald sat just in the center of my collarbones, with a smaller one hanging beneath it. Strands of pearls drooped off and connected to every other gem, leaving the ones in between with a single pearl hanging from them.
The width of the part that hooked around my neck was about half the length of my pointer finger, making it not that small, but not too large that it looked bulbus. The earrings that matched it were made of smaller emeralds that rested just on my lobe, not big enough to make them sag, with a small pearl dangling from each of them.
Next, she put up my hair in a complete updo to make my neck appear longer and pinned it up with gold and emerald hair ornaments. She allowed a few strands of hair to hang loose in the front, and lightly dusted my cheeks with blush.
Once we were done, she had me stand up and walk over to the large body mirror in the corner of the room to fully admire myself, but to also see if anything needed adjusting.
"My god, Emma. . ." She looked over my shoulder at me in the mirror with tears in her eyes. "You are absolutely stunning."
I stood there quiet for a moment, taking in the girl that stood in the mirror before me. I had never dreamt in the entirety of my sad life that I would have looked as beautiful as I did in that very moment. My eyes shined, the green one being the greenest I had ever seen it before and the blue, so clear as if I were looking into a frozen sea.
My hair was no longer dull, and had become a vibrant reddish brown, making my freckles pop and my skin glow. I had no words that could have described how I was feeling, other than it felt like I was someone completely other than myself.
But I suppose you could say that I was reborn that night. I was no longer a blank canvas waiting to be painted, but a vibrant painting full of life with secrets to unlock the more you looked at it. I had been away from home for only but a day, yet it felt like years had gone by.
"I do not think I could ever thank you enough." The words finally left my lips. "You have shown me the woman that I have always been inside, the woman that I myself could not bring to life after she had been smothered for far too long."
Before she could reply there was a knock at the entrance door followed by Mrs. Dansbury's voice, "It is time to go, please put on your mask and cloak and join us in the hall promptly."
Quickly Cordelia grabbed the cloak that matched my dress while I picked up my mask off of the tea table near the fireplace and after we were ready, we made our way through the receiving room and stood in front of the door.
"This is it." I let out a shaky breath, then looked to Cordelia for reassurance.
"You will do wonderfully, Emma, do not worry." She patted me on the back after draping the cloak around me. "They will love you."
"I hope you are right." I put the mask on and with shaky hands opened the door.
Outside in the hall to my right, several girls and their lady's maids stood in front of their doors, watching as I walked out. I counted Sixteen of them, meaning the other three were still in their rooms to my left.
Each girl had on different styled, and colored dresses, completely opposite of the day before. It was clear that they had all learned their lessons and had, like me, most likely chosen a dress that best showed off their most favorable attributes.
Once we were all gathered in the hall, Mrs. Dansbury walked by us, taking her place at the very front. "Now, you all will merge into one line, starting with the girl who is on my right being in front, then the girl on my left falling in behind her, and so on and so forth. Once you are all ready, we will make our way down."
Everyone followed her instructions and as soon as we were all in line, we began to make our way down the hall. The dress the girl in front of me wore had an obnoxiously large amount of fabric in the back to make her appear more voluptuous, but it only looked rather silly to me and must have weighed a lot.
I did my best to keep off of her heels, trying to not step on her gown, all while Cordelia helped keep the girl behind me from stepping on mine out of spite.
Once we reached the end of our hall, we made a right, which meant we weren't heading back to the entrance hall. I watched out the windows to our right, that overlooked the courtyard, as we made our way down the long corridor.
Cordelia was right about the dress needing to catch the light because, even though the halls were lit well, many of the girls' dresses in front of me, that I could see, fell flat against the warm hue of the candlelight.
And from what I could see of outside, the courtyard was lit with torches and candles alike mixed with the blueish-white light of the moon. That meant light colored dresses would not be that vibrant and pale in comparison to the deeper ones.
However, one of the girls in the far front wore a very deep burgundy dress that was breathtaking, piquing my curiosity, and leaving me to wonder what she could have looked like.
After we reached the end of the hall, we made a another right and followed that hall about a third of the way, then took the stairs on our left down until we were on the main floor of the building.
To our right were glass doors that led out into the courtyard that was currently empty of people, and to our left were two massive wooden doors that were closed, but the sound of many voices bled underneath them.
"Through these doors is the throne room." Mrs. Dansbury announced. "You are all about to be presented to not only His Majesty, the king, but also the entire royal family and every single one of tonight's invited guests."
I knew she was just informing us of what was about to happen, but the amount of pressure she put on us by telling us all of that was far too much. It was clear many of the girls had become nervous, including myself. Several started picking at their gloves or adjusting their dresses and cloaks.
"After the unmasking, everyone will proceed to the courtyard for the banquet." She sighed, "This may sound overwhelming, but if you wish to become a princess, you will have more than just a silly little garden party to attend. Get used to being in front of people, because for the rest of your life, if you win, you will never be in a room with less than forty people ever again, unless you are sleeping."
Though her tone was firm, I knew she was telling us this out of the kindness of her heart. She was preparing us for a lifestyle unlike that of which we knew at the time and there was no easy way of putting it. The ugly truth of the matter was that the life of a royal was hard and full of expectations that even those born royal themselves had a hard time living up to.
And now we were being held to that standard.
All it took was one wrong step, one slip of the tongue and not only would we have been embarrassed, but the following morning the queen would have dismissed us. There was a lot more that could have gone wrong that very night than the day before, which after looking back on, the events of the yesterday were quite trivial, and calm compared to what we were about to endure.
We may have been the final twenty, but by tomorrow morning there was no telling how many were going to be left. Because, if they could dismiss a hundred and seventy-six girls in the blink of an eye, what kept them from getting rid of a couple more?
Alongside the queen, it felt as if the entire kingdom had now started to watch us, that they were all eagerly waiting for us to fail.
By the end of the night, they would all have had their favorites to love and hate. And after, they would wait each morning for the papers written about us, needing to know who we all were, who had gone home and who had gotten closer to the prince.
The kingdom had gotten a new form of entertainment and it was all at our own expense. Any embarrassments, any scandals would ruin a girl's image, and could have possibly made them unwedable for several years or forced them into lower levels of our societal caste.
Though despite everyone knowing the risk of attempting to grasp power, we were all going to continue until we had won or been dismissed. Which did not seem like it would take that long, since where there was once a hundred and ninety-six, only twenty remained. The standards were set high, and the people we had to impress were many.
The game of courting had begun, and we had to win the favor of not only the prince and his family, but the entire kingdom as well.
***Bonus***
Here are the pictures of the dress and jewelry I slightly based her outfit on.