The morning of the party I found myself relatively unhassled by anyone. Katarina, Olga, and Alisa were all helping with the set up. Now that I had the free time I wished for yesterday I felt restless. I was only hitting dead ends in my ruminations, I had nothing to read, and I didn't want to get in the way of the house staff accidentally by going to the library.
I spent some time snooping around my rooms, looking to see if I could find something interesting left behind by the previous inhabitants. I sadly came up empty handed and resorted to laying on the couch. Now that I wasn't occupied, the anxious voices started to creep in. I cared less about appearing as a proper princess in front of a large crowd of my peers, I didn't even really care about getting engaged, I was preoccupied with the guestlist.
I knew Leo and Natasha were coming, I wanted to avoid them as much as possible. I knew that was impossible though as Leo was surely going to seek me out to provoke me. I could deal with him, he was mostly powerless in public. Natasha was the one who worried me more. There was something unsettling about being puppeteered doubly so when I was powerless to resist it.
There was also Andrei, I hadn't heard anything about him coming but I was sure he would be there. If either man trapped me in the vicinity of Natasha, I shuddered to think of it.
Well then, I would just strategize as necessary to keep my distance from all three of them, and if push came to shove I would allow one of the men to corner me if it meant I could stay away from Natasha. I couldn't figure out what to do if I was forced into a situation where it was Natasha and one of the men, I supposed I'd just hope I could avoid such a situation coming to pass.
SInce I was just laying on the couch thinking as opposed to pacing I had accidentally gone into auto-pilot. I had been careful to avoid triggering it ever since I had made the connection in the carriage between deliberate physical movement and it not working. In the carriage I had been making sure to tap my foot or play with my hair in order to avoid it. I had been trying to make it a habit ever since but I had accidentally slipped into my lazy ways. I did have to admit that it was kinda fun and relaxing but I knew the risks.
I took control of my body back and started pacing. I developed a few dozen contingency plans to deal with whatever could be thrown at me. I was cut short by learning that Anna was calling for me.
I rushed down the hall to meet her, mildly out of breath when I got to her room.
"Someone was excited to see me, that's cute," my heart fluttered a little at this comment,"now sit. We have to discuss how to deal with that woman," she said "that woman" with such venom I was taken aback a little.
"You mean Natasha Sherbatskya?"
"Yes, her. She's a wrench thrown in to make sure everything goes as planned. To use my earlier analogy, she can force all the coins to be heads regardless of the circumstances. I am outside the scope of her influence but you are not. I will try my best to be beside you tonight but if anything happens go to Nikolai. He is largely useless but his default state is to dislike her. He will force her away should she approach you. "
"If you're immune then shouldn't I also be able to learn it?"
Anna wryly smiled at my comment,"No dear. I need you in the dark for some things and this is one of them. Just trust me, okay?"
"Of course. Is there anything else I need to worry about? Leo and Andrei worry me."
"Think of any interactions with them as reconnaissance, for now Nikolai is your target but you'll be facing them in the future. I will be with you, nothing bad will happen. The two of them really scared you, don't worry you can kill them. I know you can."
I felt uplifted to have Anna's confidence and again my resolve was steeled.
"What about Nikolai? You're his sister, you should know his weak points."
"We will talk about Nikolai after the party. For now just focus on avoiding Natasha and getting info out of Andrei and Leo if the opportunity arises."
I nodded solemnly at these instructions.
"Well, I think it's time the two of us started getting ready for the party. I'll meet you outside of your room so we can depart at the same time."
*******
Getting ready for the party was a hassle as always. Scrubbing and polishing and wearing what felt like a hundred layers of clothing wasn't getting any easier no matter how many times I did it. Since we were to be eating after the dancing was over I decided once again to go barefaced. I had Katarina give me a quick rundown on how to dance prior to setting out. Even if everyone knew I had changed; I'd prefer not to make a total fool out of myself. Perhaps some of Mila's mentality had rubbed off on me.
Anna was at the door to my room as she had said she would be. I was surprised to see that she was not wearing the dress she had been wearing when I saw her for the first time in the game. Instead she was wearing a white suit with red accents with her long, blonde hair pulled into a ponytail.
I thought I would be blinded by her overwhelming aura. My knees were going wobbly again. Katarina gave me a concealed jab to the ribs as if to say "stop staring."
"Surprised? I decided on something different this time since things are different. You're here after all. A princess needs to be accompanied by a dashing Countess in situations like this," she bowed to me and held out her hand.
I accepted, my heart pumping insanely fast to be holding her hand. The initial disappointment of not being able to touch her since the two of us were wearing gloves faded when I realized my palms were sweating profusely.
The door to the ballroom balcony swung open and I felt hundreds of eyes on the two of us. The two of us descended the stairs to mingle amongst the crowd and I could hear murmuring from the crowd. Anna gave my hand a reassuring squeeze and whispered,"ignore them. They're nothing, just look at me, I'm the only one who is real here."
I followed her advice and felt the anxiety of being watched fade away although the nervousness from being so close to my beloved was still there.
Nikolai met the two of us at the bottom of the stairs, he looked at Anna with a little bit of disbelief, saying," if I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to steal my fiance away from me."
"Oh but you do know better. I was dressing the part of the dashing knight that hands the Princess to her Prince. Now that my job is done, I'll be sure to accompany her anytime you find it troublesome."
"I appreciate the thought but you're too charming for your own good. Now then, would my fiance do me the pleasure of sharing this first dance with me?"
I giggled a little bit at this faux jealousy from Nikolai and said,"of course I would."
The music started up and I began to dance. Luckily my anxiety about not being able to dance melted away when I realized Kitty had strong muscle memory when it came to dancing with men and not maids.
"It seems you've made fast friends with my sister," Nikolai observed.
"Yeah, I think she saw how nervous this whole thing has made me and just wanted me to feel at ease."
"Maybe it's not my place to say this but I do wish you'd lean on me a little bit."
"So you can leave me to starve during the winter," I teased.
Nikolai turned bright red at this mention of our argument from yesterday. He looked like he wanted to say something but I stopped him before he could defend himself,"don't get all uptight. It was just a joke. We have our disagreements but if you're willing to compromise for me I will let it go."
Before the two of us could converse any further the music stopped and it was time to change partners.