Lady Dhampir
Chapter 48

Milena was observing the woman in the mirror as if she was a stranger. Though, it was indeed her own reflection. Gorgeous lustrous black hair, her perfect skin, and just a bit of makeup to enhance her natural beauty. She was not fully vampire, but Milena still had inherited the nice part of the gene, making her effortlessly beautiful. Her almond eyes only needed a trait of black, and the purple irises would be highlighted. Same for her thin lips, with a deep red. She was used to getting dolled up, but today, half of the Manor's maids have gathered around her from dawn until dusk.

After a scented bath, a rose oil, some more fancy beauty products for each part of her beauty, she had to stay still for hours. Three maids took care of her hair, and six alternated to have her get dressed. Moreover, all this time, her grandmother had exceptionally come out of her room to be the staging director of the whole scene.

Maribella de Crescent was not the easiest boss to please. One of the maids cried a lot after being scolded by her, and at least three were nearly fired before the Butler or Milena intervened. For her only granddaughter's big night, the Archduchess didn't leave any room for compromises.

"Don't you dare put that awful thing near her, it would make the skinniest woman look fat and improper. Burn it! And you, bring this here! No, don't use that color... Yes, right. One more layer now, let's hurry up!"

In most cases, Milena would have been annoyed by all this, but she was just too nervous. If anything, she already had a hard time breathing herself, and felt relieved that her great-grandmother took over. The young duchess wasn't sure she would have been able to take any good decision by herself, or even any good decision at all. She was still not very knowledgeable about the current trends, but she trusted her grandmother to make the right choices between everything her friend Yasmina had sent.

While Maribella was unbeatable about all of the Palace Events, what was decent or not according to each one's wealth, relationships and ranks. On the other hand, her friend Yasmina had established herself as a trend-setter among the nobility, and she had long, long waiting lists of orders, though she always made Milena's outfits her top priority. Letting those two handle her outfit, Milena trusted them blindly.

"I admit your friend has good taste, Milena, though this a bit too... A bit too new for me. In my times, we had much more embroidery and less lace. We had flower crowns too, but this has become too much of luxury now; But what does an old woman like me knows to the new trends! Anyway, I think this is a good enough color for you. You can't use too dark tones like vampires, but warm tones don't really suit you either."

The dress the Archduchess had finally picked was to Milena's taste. A pretty night blue, with some silver embroideries and a leather corset. Yasmina had respected her wish to use a lot of pearls into the dress. Anytime Milena moved, all the gorgeous glass pearls were like a wave of silver and blue following her steps. She spun a couple of times, checking the length and all of the details. She still hated heels, but she would have to bear it for a few hours...

"Damn, Father is going to need to get you a dozen more bodyguards."

Lucian had just walked in unannounced, staring at her from head to toe with a whistle. He stopped, however, with a glare from their great-grandmother.

"Lucian de Crescent! Where are your manners! Do I need to teach you everything! I thought young knights nowadays had more respect for Ladies!"

"I am not a knight yet, grandmother..."

"Just you wait! I shall send a letter to your instructing officer and let him know how unhappy I am about their lack of moral lessons!"

Lucian's face turned sour while all of his sister's maids could hardly repress their laughs and grins. Taking pity on him, Milena distracted their grandmother.

"Grandmother, how about you help me decide on the jewelry? You can whip him later, isn't this more important now?"

It was an excuse, and everyone in the room understood that fact, but the Archduchess played along to help her get ready, while Lucian remained quiet. It took a long while to get Milena completely ready, even with the army of maids gathered from all around the manor to help.

Once they were done, however, even her brothers were speechless. They had always found their sister beautiful, but Milena was on a goddess' level that night. Raphael smiled and took the first step to escort her outside.

She had rarely been this nervous. This Ball would be one of the most important ones of her life, the one that might decide of her whole future. Even if the deed was done, Milena would be nervous until the official announcement. Despite the poor attempts of her brothers to have her calm down, she just couldn't help being fidgety for the whole trip to the Royal Palace. She even forgot about her painful feet and caressed Blanche's fur nervously.

It was one of the coldest nights of the year, ironically for a Spring Ball. So much snow had been falling for the past few days that the carriages struggled to make their way to the Royal Palace and lined up outside until they could deliver their passengers. Raphael was worried for even Milena was starting to feel cold. Facing her, Lucian was freezing, curling up in his fur coat. Their older brother was to accompany his fiancee, so it was only all three of them inside, and Blanche. Yet, none of them said a word when the carriage slowed down to cross the Royal Portail. Milena was breathing slowly, ignoring her shivers, and staring at the window with a complex expression.

"You will be fine, Milena. You're definitely among the Candidates," gently whispered Raphael.

"Of course you'll be," added Lucian. "Grandmother would unleash hell on them if you are not, and none of those ladies can match up to you. You have your own commercial Empire already!"

It was a bit exaggerated, but Milena's new business was indeed doing pretty will. Since her little demonstration at her sister-in-law's birthday, the orders had been piling up for glass decorations and animal statues. She had to hire two new accountants just to help her cope with all the sudden requests.

However, Milena wouldn't be the only Lady with such a success. Most of her friends were actually already successful or at least very helpful to their families' businesses. The young duchess had been carefully gathering a good network of smart and enterprising ladies.

When it was finally time for her to make her entrance, because of the line of people waiting, the terrible weather and the conditions, the Royal guards had their family come in quickly after a brief announcement. All the nobles present bowed respectfully, as they had to show respect to the young Dukes and Duchess. As the current Duke de Crescent never came to the Royal Events, people were even keener to get close to all of the young De Crescent siblings.

As soon as they walked down the stairs, a lot of people gathered around them, even more than usual. Milena was the main center of attention. Not only was she strikingly beautiful in her blue dress, but her odd jewelry was also getting a lot of attention. Milena had done this on purpose, of course. While her peers were trying to impress with gold, silver, and gems, the young Duchess was wearing some divine elements, and immediately attracted a little curious crowd around her. "Young Duchess, your jewelry is beautiful!"

"Could it be cristal? It is so shiny and unique!"

"It can't be, cristal is never that smooth!"

"But there are sapphires in there!"

Milena smiled, happy to get the attention she wanted. All those women, whether they truly liked her or not, couldn't hide their envy.

"All of what I am wearing is actually made of glass."

Immediately, the young ladies looked baffled, and their enthusiasm changed into doubt. Could such pretty and sparkly things be made out of glass? They stared at Milena's necklace, earrings and even her hairpins, completely stunned.

The young Duchess had designed those a long time ago and was particularly proud to display them now. Her whole outfit was based on a winter theme and, looking at her jewelry, it seemed like it was carved in ice. Her glass artisans had worked for days and nights to produce those, and give them that unique sparkling effect. Instead of turning yellowish or grey under some light like gold or silver, her jewelry was shining with a very pure and snow-like shade of white. On her pale skin, it was even more stunning. "Lady Milena!"

In a few seconds, her actual friends made their way to her, making sure to call her by her name so that other people would let through the ones who could display their closeness to the young Duchess.

It was a very rare occasion to see all of her friends gathered. The Marquesses, Chartiana de Pristin and Briseis d'Artsein, and The Baronesses Yasina de Citrin and Tiphania d'Aventur were her closest circle. Milena had other friends and a larger group of Ladies that would follow her, but those four were the only ones she would completely trust no matter what.

While her friends quietly gathered around her, Milena observed her main rival across the room. While Philomena had yet to arrive, Rachael was standing out from the crowd with an impressive military-inspired dress. Her stance was clear, and to Milena's surprise, she only had a couple of young vampire Ladies following her around. Had she lost friends?

Curious, Milena asked her friends about it. Chartiana, the only vampire among them, nodded.

"Lady de Nova has been fighting a lot with her own family, the rumors say. She even changed her friends and argued with her family elders..."

That was a bit surprising to hear, even for Rachael. She was seemingly the sole heir of her family, so why would she get into disputes with them? Milena quickly recognized the two Ladies behind her, Verona de Narcissus, who had always been known as Rachael's best friend, and the young Marquess Sria de Niebe. Astra de Verheim was standing away from her, though, and also obviously avoiding Milena. "Interesting..." She muttered to herself.

Then, someone else was announced, and the crowd turned around. Milena froze. In a pale pink dress, Philomena looked as pure and innocent as ever, and younger than her age. What struck Milena, however, was the young woman following right behind her. She had white skin and silver hair.