Chapter 380: Preparing for the event
Belle watched Rohan leave her room for the second time after coming back to tell her he wouldn’t be going with them to the ball and would arrive later instead. She had asked him why, and he had told her he had another lead to discovering important information about Isabelle. That had immediately set Belle’s mind to unease. The last time he had gone probing into the affairs of the deceased, he had come back with a shard of glass in his throat.
Nonetheless, despite her worries, she could only nod in understanding, knowing Rohan could not be talked out of it, not when it was an important matter that concerned her. All she could do was raise her hands to brush away the dust and webs clinging to his shirt from wherever he had come from, then help him button up properly as she pursed her lips and said,
"Be careful. If you come back to me with any injuries—"
He cut her off with a quick kiss. "I won’t. Remember what I told you: don’t let anyone try to put you down at this ball. You have the upper hand for as long as you hold that report. I will see you later."
He left after flashing her a reassuring smile.
Belle hated the part of her that didn’t want him to find out anything about Isabelle, a part of her that was strongly against the truth coming out. A part she knew for certain wasn’t hers, just like the anger toward Jamie wasn’t, but she couldn’t do anything except suppress it.
That morning, after Rohan left, Belle received a visit from her mother, who came to scold her and to give strict instructions about how she was to present herself at today’s event and make sure not to disappoint or disgrace their family again with her madness.
"I am not mad, Mama. Don’t ever call me that," Belle warned calmly, staring back at her mother, who was regarding her with stern eyes. But at her words, Lady Louisiana looked shocked.
Lady Louisiana recovered quickly after recalling that Belle was now a person who could talk back and speak out what she didn’t want instead of silently taking it in like she once used to do. She let out a sneer of disapproval.
"You are beginning to show your true colors, haven’t you, Isabelle? I have always known you were a hypocrite who hides behind timidity, and then you look at me with those evil eyes of yours. But regardless, I was, and I am still, willing to love you as a daughter. Whatever it is that came over you and made you react in such a way to a man you once were crazily in love with, I hope you can put that aside and bring yourself to apologize to him today for breaking his arm."
Lady Louisiana spoke strictly, realizing she had to be stern to make this rebellious young woman understand the gravity of her behavior the other day and correct it today. Just as Lady Louisiana had thought, the news letters yesterday morning and again today had carried cruel words about their family, people whispering whether they would once more be the cause of a town’s evacuation because they had another insane, demonic daughter.
Nobody had spoken about the past Isabelle or associated her with the Dawson family in a very long time because the duke and the king had made sure to bury those words under the rug. But unfortunately, it turned out another Isabelle was stirring the dust and causing people to lift the rug and see where it came from.
If this got out of hand, her husband could lose the dukedom, and they might be cast aside as people would say they were the problem. If matters worsened, Lady Louisiana thought grimly, they would rather send the girl to an asylum to rid themselves of future trouble before she cause them to lose everything.
"I am not going to apologize to anyone. I broke his arm because he..." Belle trailed off, stopping herself before she gave away the fact that Jamie had hit her son to trigger her anger towards him. If he hadn’t hit Angel, she may or may not have been triggered to kill him.
"I don’t want to ever see him again," she said instead.
Noticing how Belle looked displeased and utterly unwilling to listen to what she was supposed to do today at the ball, Lady Louisiana replied,
"It is not because of us that you should apologize or meet him. It is because of you. If you don’t want yourself being cast away like some madwoman, Isabelle, then get everything fixed today. It is for your own good. Your behavior will be strictly watched by the guests. Do not give them a reason to put you in a place you wouldn’t want to be."
Lady Louisiana’s words held some truth in them, though the way she twisted them made the truth sound more like a dagger. Many people were now siding with the new Baron, and the marquis’ daughter was very influential and adamant in her wish to get back at the woman who had injured the man she wanted to marry. If Belle did not make things right by apologizing, she wouldn’t only be making herself new enemies but also dragging their family name through the mud.
"It will be best for you not to act high and mighty, Isabelle," Lady Louisiana continued, her eyes narrowing with cold disapproval. "Be like your old self who listens. Don’t go flashing your status as a vampire duke’s wife, as you did to your sister and to us. People will forgive you faster that way, and you need their forgiveness far more than they need yours."
Done with what she had come to say, Lady Louisiana moved to leave the chamber. But the moment she opened the door, she came face to face with the vampiress she had been trying to avoid ever since the woman had grabbed her wrist, leaving her with painful hand movements. Her heart almost dropped into the pit of her stomach in fear, but she controlled herself and quickly stepped out without waiting for a greeting from the redheaded woman with a child in hand.
Evenly and Angel watched the duchess hurry down the hall, her skirts swishing behind her. She and the boy exchanged a look, as if they had no idea why the woman appeared so terrified, before stepping into the room and closing the door.
"Good morning, Belle," Evenly greeted warmly as Belle turned quickly to face them with a smile that did not quite reach her worried hazel eyes.
"Good morning," she replied, her gaze shifting immediately to her son’s bright face, who was smiling at her with pure joy. "It’s good you brought him."
Rohan had already told Evenly earlier, when he came to bring Angel, that they should all stay together at the ball and not let Belle go anywhere alone or linger too much near the Baron. That was the very reason Evenly had thought it best to come and dress here, along with Angel, to make sure they would remain close.
"Are you all right?" Evenly asked, noticing the shadow of worry in her friend’s expressive eyes as she stepped forward to hug her son and take him into her arms.
"Yes, I am. Just... not looking forward to going to the ball," Belle admitted honestly, her voice low and tinged with her reluctance.
Not only was she required to meet the very man her heart and mind urged her to kill, in order to apologize, but she was also being forced to attend an event that had never once been pleasant for her. On top of that, her mother had been hinting that she should go there as nothing more than a doormat to people, meek and shy, which was utterly impossible for Belle, even though she hadn’t told her mother that directly. Instead, she had silently watched her speak to dismiss her from her room as quickly as she could.
It was in this very ball that she had first met Jamie many years ago, and it was also in this very ball that many ladies had mocked and belittled her, making her serve them drinks and even spilling them on her when she got their orders wrong. Or rather, when they pretended she got it wrong, simply for the chance to humiliate her further.
All of those times, Belle had been too afraid to disappoint her parents and had silently taken the insults, swallowing her pain like bitter wine. Now, however, she didn’t think she would tolerate it, nor would she allow anyone to speak down at her without consequence.
If it were entirely up to her, she would have rather gone with her husband to help in his investigation, if only to escape this event, but it wasn’t. Furthermore, this event meant so much more to her now, because after what Rohan had said last night about them moving to the cottage, she had no choice but to attend in order to submit that report to the king.
"What’s the ball like?" Evenly asked curiously as she placed her dress on Belle’s bed and turned to watch her friend undress Angel from his nightwear, preparing him for a bath as the boy played with a piece of charcoal he had taken from the stand.
"Well, to many it’s the time of the year when they put their daughters out for suitors. Everyone dresses to outshine the others, it’s like a competition. Noble young ladies who wear the most expensive and trending dresses and jewelry are treated like princesses, and the ones who wear the least are treated like maids, as if they are nothing, with no feelings, just pushovers. All the years after I came of age to attend the ball, I have been in that position. So, you see why I don’t look forward to it?"