The gaggle of young gentlemen flocked around Lily Anderson like satellites orbiting a luminous celestial body. The young lady graciously accepted their adoring attention while dressed in a stunning ivory gown befitting of royalty and having her chestnut hair restrained by elaborate butterfly clasps.
Yet Ethan's discerning eyes easily perceived the undercurrent of disdain simmering beneath that practiced facade of affability. This haughty princess clearly deemed herself among unworthy commoners - her regal bearing more akin to a raptorial fowl imperiously surveying its hapless subjects from an imperious perch high above the fray.
Indeed, the young lady abruptly broke off from her sycophantic entourage, plucking a coin from one toadie's upturned palm before striding over to where Ethan slouched against the wall. Rising onto her tiptoes, she deposited the coin into the pocket of his threadbare shirt with an airy flourish.
"Perhaps you loutish lads could put that petty change towards aiding the impoverished, if spiritual sustenance eludes your comprehension," she chided her minions with an arch of one sculpted brow, the very picture of patrician magnanimity.
Though couched in the dulcet tones of feigned nobility, her snide remark could not quite mask the naked contempt burning like twin sapphire flames in those judgmental eyes. Following that, she disdainfully offered a handkerchief and swept it across her delicate fingertips as if worried that even that meager coin's soiled touch might have tarnished her skin.
"As you command, dear Lily!" Her smarmy coterie hastened to comply, coins raining down in a discordant clatter at Ethan's feet amidst a chorus of mocking guffaws and sneering insults.
"Well, go on then, scavenger! Gather your pittance!"
"Grovel for your ill-gotten 'charity', gutter-trash!"
While once their pathetic jeers may have sparked an explosive fusillade of knuckle-led retribution, today Ethan merely stood impassive and unmoved. Let the privileged curs have their puerile amusement - such worthless barbs held no venom for one long-inured to life's harsher realities.
"Come now, we must go away," The young lady's lilting voice rose above the vulgar catcalls, her polished tone one of mild reproach as she gestured for her sycophants to disperse. "Have you louts no shred of decency? The downtrodden cling fiercely to the tattered remnants of their dignity."
And with that parting remark, delivered with a derisive flick of her upturned nose, the exquisite Lady Lily swept imperiously away on the arms of her slavering entourage, never once deigning to meet Ethan's smoldering gaze again.
True, no overtly inflammatory words had been spoken - simply another round of airy 'charitable work' by the local finishing school's elite towards quelling their jaded ennui. And yet...Ethan had been scorched by the all-too-familiar flames of humiliation that day. That vexing reminder of how insignificant and expendable those living in poverty were in the eyes of the wealthy elite Societal dregs to be idly mocked and discarded at their most fleeting whim.
From that day forth, the name 'Lily Anderson' had been seared into Ethan's consciousness as an indelible brand of shame. An eternal reminder of the ignominious insect he had once allowed himself to become in their regally disdainful eyes.
With a profound sense of karmic satisfaction, he studied the once-regal beauty now lying disconcertingly low beside him, her former aristocratic poise completely shattered. However, her fiercely burning sapphire eyes still displayed an innate pride and untamable spirit, proving eerily recognizable even in her current state.
The trill of his phone broke up his bitter reverie. Ethan snatched it up, unsurprised to find his assistant on the line.
"Sir, I've compiled the full dossier on this Lily Anderson per your instructions."
"Go on then..." Ethan purred into the receiver, unable to resist locking eyes with his latest fallen conquest. This was going to be most enlightening indeed...