The maid looked me up and down, "It seems you've been sitting too close to the fire with a face that red Ex-Countess."
I just realized that hot tears had been flowing down my face, creating rivers of red skin. I furiously wiped at them with my hands.
"So your the maid Vincent told me to trust. Why do you keep calling me that?"
"Yes I'm Marie. Calling you what, my lady?" the maid said as she whirled around the room setting up the thousand different items she came in with. This must be the maid Vincent told me about.
"Ex-Countess of course."
"Well, my lady, because you, or former Countess Bell, no longer have the ability to retain your title, being as you are now a transmigratee your title as Countess has come under REVIEW." She punctuated the last word by throwing down a thick pile of dresses.
"What? I'm a Countess?" I said with astonishment.
"For now my lady, but that is, most likely, only the case until they finish the meeting discussing the matter."
"And who is they!" I said shouted.
"The royal family and your "father", she said miming quotation marks in the air, "And that's why I've come now, my lady, to get you ready to strut in there and show them this is still your title."
Marie put her hands on her hips and struck a power pose. She looked into my eyes waiting for my response. She really looked she was going to tell the king exactly what she thought of him, caution be damned.
"No." I said.
She looked like I'd just told her the meaning of life was 42.
Confused, disappointed, and disgusted.
"What my lady?" she said
"No. I'm not going out there into that pack of wolves again." I shuttered thinking about crazy-hat Vincent's words. Not to mention my fate was determined completely by the desires of the prince and princess.
"The prince probably changed the entire course of my life by insisting that I stay at the palace. Why would I want to fight to stay with people who could make or break my chances here?"
Marie pursed her lips, "My lady, you may be right. But even so you don't want to burn this bridge to the royal family. Not to mention the prince specifically asked you to attend. I'm afraid you must come."
I groaned with frustration as I felt my autonomy slip through my fingers. Hiding my face in my hands I mourned its loss. I knew I was also being slightly ridiculous but this day has been filled with to many horrible firsts.
'Couldn't I just hide in my room?'
I sighed.
'No I can't do that.'
I held out my hand to Marie, "Give me the outfit I need and I'll go."
Marie snorted, "The outfit you need to wear is way to complicated for a transmigrater to put together. Don't worry my lady I'm here to make sure we don't have another wisherton incident. Your old world didn't happen to have any 'special rank greetings' does it"?
"Not that I know of." I said confused.
"Well thats one less habit we'll have to train out of you."
At the the word "train", I began to pray to that unseen force that brought me here again. Fat lot of help they'd give me.
Marie quickly picked a formal dress from the mountain of clothing she brought into the room then styled my curly hair into some kind of mound on my head. She then added some make-up and jewelry to finish the look and moved me to stand in front of a mirror to see what I looked like.
Although it was fairly strange looking to my eyes it all looked fairly nice. The floor-length dress was blue with white accents and my make-up enhanced my best features. Even my hair which was styled so into a strange bun on top of my head matched the rest of my outfit to its betterment.
Marie handed me a pair of white gloves, a fan, and finally an embroidered purse. She smiled as she looked at her creation, "Your ready to take on the world now."
I smiled back at her then gathered all of my things and stuffed them into my purse.
"Alright I'm ready to defend my title."
"Oh hang on," Marie said then grabbed what looked like a bejeweled letter opener, with the only difference being the blade on this one was sharpened to a sharp point. "A stiletto. Now you can really take on the world."
She tucked the knife into my hair the pushed me out the door.
'Ready or not' I thought. Disembodied voice help me.
The king's dining room was filled with frowning people, excluding the princess who was serenely staring down at her plate. But even her smile did not look very happy. Not counting the servants, the only face I did not recognize was that of a man old enough to be my father and that probably meant he was. Unsure what to do I awkwardly bowed, tripping over my dresses skirt. I then took the only remaining seat on the large dinning table. Marie took her designated place behind me. Of course, it was beside my new "dad".
"Now that bell- I mean Elizabeth has arrived I believe we can begin," my father said.
The prince rolled his eyes and said, "I don't know why we even wasted our time waiting. We could have begun 30 minutes ago."
"Quiet my sern," The king said in his thick accent, "Yes let's begin Tobias. Why don't you great your daughter."
"My daughter is dead my King now this person has taken her skin and is parading in my daughter's body." I starred at this man who was supposed to be my father as he said these words.
I felt pity for him honestly.
Here I was in the body of his beloved daughter wearing her face but acting nothing like her. The sadness I felt for him was made worse with the knowledge that Bell could have already drowned in my body when I traded places with her.
"Toby," said the king, "I know this is difficult for you, but it will be better for everyone if you except Elizabeth as your new daughter now."
Tobias sucked in air through his teeth to show his displeasure. His voice was thick with grief when he said, "My daughter is DEAD, your majesty. And I never want to see the THING that wears her skin ever again."
With that comment I knew this was going to be a long and painful dinner for everyone involved.