At dawn the Waltons were already immersed in the preparation for the forthcoming ball, nothing less than the most awaited and desired event in the year.
"What if he is bad looking?"
"What if his breath stinks?"
Shirlyn's sisters kept asking thousands of questions. They even opted for a fast which started the day before in the afternoon just to 'prevent any bloating' and get a stomach as flat as possible.
Shirlyn had to join them as her mother's will, and was already wearing the graceful dress the seamless sewed for her.
The tension in the house was palpable, however the same scene was happening in every other house of Yorkshire who had to attend such the event of a lifetime.
The corsets were pulled a little more, the hair was styled carefully and the diamonds that each lady wore were so expensive that their worth could afford a house.
The make up was as natural as possible to give them the (in)natural beauty and to balance out all the spruce up they submitted for hours.
Once the tiaras were put on, they were ready to go; the carriages were waiting outside so they all jumped on it and sat in a still position. On the first carriage Shirlyn and Abigail entered, while on the second one Sharon and their mother Ginevra took a seat. As her mother planned, two carriages instead of one would give them a more sophisticated look from the sight of the King.
Abigail took a sigh of relief when the carriage started and looked at Shirlyn with widened eyes, as if anxiety was impeding her to breathe.
Her gaze made Shirlyn giggle, "breath!" she whispered.
Abigail's sister took a deep breath and finally spoke: "I'm so nervous! How can you be so calm! This is THE most important event of our lives!" She said all in one breath.
The carriage stopped in front of the Royal Castle.
They both took a long breath, and they walked out, lifting their skirt up in order not to soil their brand new dresses.
When Shirlyn gazed at the outside of the castle, her heart raced unexpectedly, staring at the imminent beauty and splendor that building was emanating. The inside was even more sumptuous and imposing. Shirlyn held her breath in order to sink in that amazing view.
It was so enormous and at the same time detailing cured, she'd never seen something that refined and stunning. The pictures she saw during the years of that palace didn't do any justice to such a heavenly location.
Her sisters, seeing how her eyes flashed at the sight, took a grin. Sharon commented, "someone is touched, huh?"
Many ladies were reunited in the hall, they were all gazing around in search of the King. A ballroom filled with ladies was something that didn't happen every day, nevertheless even if there were gentlemen, no lady would pay them any attention since they reserved all the attention to the King.
The ladies who knew each other were giving a light bow from afar, while offering a hinted smile.
Abigail was fanning herself with a carved ivory fan, while Sharon took long, deep breaths to control her nervousness.
Trumpeters started playing, accompanied by the piano. When the entrance door opened, in the ballroom silence fell and each lady's gaze dropped on the door waiting for the desired appearance of the King.
A lady came before him. She was of middle age and was probably his aunt, followed by a few Royal guards. Then their walk paused, and they turned around, gazing behind.
"This is the time.. this is the time." Sharon whispered.
And the King finally walked him. He was tall, with a very muscled body shape, mighty arms, and wide shoulders. As Shirlyn's gaze went up, she noticed his charming face. Contrary to her expectations, he was one of the most handsome boys she'd ever seen before.
He was very pale, but his eyes were colored a deep light brown casting red shades. His beard was trimmed short but purposely accentuated his sharp jaw.
Liam reached for his throne, not even gazing at the audience he had. Then he sat and finally started around.
Every lady who casually met his gaze smiled with the best smile they could offer. Contrary to Shirlyn, who looked down as soon as his gaze stopped on her. Abigail went to give her a nudge and scolded her in a low voice, "Look up, he's looking at you!!"
Shirlyn proceeded to lift her head up meeting his gaze. As a response he knitted his eyebrows together and he cocked his head to the side like if he was trying to read her soul through a gaze.
After staring for a few seconds, enough to induce a few ladies near her to check her with their angry jealous glances, he finally moved his gaze on the next lady.
"You caught his attention. It must be the tiara you're wearing." Sharon commented in a rusty voice, quite annoyed.
In a few minutes trumpets broke the silence once again and a row of maids found their ways into the room carrying trays filled with pastries.
They laid the dishes down on the central table.
"We should give him our freebies." Abigail stated, pointing at the baskets who Kathy was carrying.
Sharon nodded gazing at the King, when they unfortunately noticed that many ladies had their same idea and gathered together in a row to give him presents of every kind, from meat to wine and desserts.
"Well... I think someone had your same idea." Shirlyn tried not to giggle seeing her sisters' gaze filled with rage.
"We will bring ours to him later." Sharon stated, glaring at Shirlyn for her joke.
"He's so charming, what a pity it was not to have seen him before."
They probably would say the same thing even if he was bad looking, but Shirlyn couldn't deny the fact he was very attractive. However, it won't change how she felt regarding her disinterest in relationships.
"I will go taste some pastries, " Shirlyn said, and then walked toward the table.
What a waste of food, to see how nobody was interested in those tasty and delicious looking pastries.
Shirlyn took one pastry, receiving the shocked judgmental gaze of a few nearby ladies, as if they saw her stealing. She turned around and saw how the King suddenly disappeared.
After several minutes of in vain waiting, a few ladies joined Shirlyn to grab some pastries, realizing he wouldn't probably come back.
"Let's explore a bit around?" Kathy whispered close to Shirlyn's heart, "since the King is gone."
Shirlyn gave a quick look around and then nodded, giggling.