Unfortunately, It appears I had been staring too long. As the woman noticed me. I turned my gaze away, but it was not enough as she began to make her way over to me.
"Hello, I couldn't help but notice you looked a little lonely all by yourself. I also don't have any friends here yet and was hoping that, well maybe we could keep each other company?" The end of her sentence trailing off into something uncertain, likely because of my blank unchanging stare.
I sigh, giving in, "Greetings my lady. My name is Madeleine Blackwood. Eldest daughter of the Duke of Blackwood" The bare minimum. In a vain hope that she will take the hint and go away. Knowing it will never happen. She's the heroine, and someone who naively believes in the best of everyone.
"Ah, right I hadn't introduced myself. My name is Eve Clearfield, daughter of Baron Clearfield. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She finished with a curtsy that was really rather sloppy. (Also really black-wood and clear-field. What a cliche.) Before apparently deciding to add "Though, my mother was a commoner so I'm only an illegitimate child, it's why no one here likes me much."
Really I shouldn't say anything, but good gods she was annoying. Her naivety grating, even though I had seen it so many times. Her rather obvious lack of understanding of the social boundaries that governed high society, and how someone should act when in a formal setting surrounded by strangers. No wonder none of the other ladies disliked her, she was simply trampling all over the rules and customs they had spent their whole lives learning and perfecting. Just because she thought them silly or unnecessary, or because she never bothered to learn them in the first place.
So, against my better judgment I open my mouth. "You should not admit to that sort of thing. You do not owe anyone here an explanation of your birth. You do not need to justify your place here. If you want people to accept you then you need to act as though you belong. Furthermore, you should try to use more formal speech when in these sorts of formal settings, you use to many contractions. That would be fine in a casual setting but this is a royal ball."
Her eyes are wide, she stares at me for several long beats. I just know she is about to burst into more tears, or make some kind of scene. I know that I have once more fallen into my place as the villain of her story. So much for staying as uninvolved as possible. Oh well, at least I won't be forced into a life living as her best friend who ends up betraying her, I wouldn't be able to stand it.
"You really don't - er do not think it matters? That I am an illegitimate child?" Is that really what she's taking away from that speech. What is happening right now? Is this not the part where she decides I am evil and full of nothing but vitriol? The beginning of our years long rivalry or some nonsense like that.
Now it is my turn to stare. Before finally finding words to continue this strange interaction.
"It only matters as much as the people around you think it matters. The people here use it to mock you because the way you act only cements their beliefs that those not of pure blood are not true nobility. Simply because you do not act as someone of nobility. Also because they know that it hurts you when they do so. If they believed it did not bother you they would stop using it to attack you."
"But why should I have to follow all those stupid rules of etiquette just to be accepted, when it is not my fault who my parents are!" Ah, this is much more familiar territory. That familiar irritation comes back to me.
"They may be stupid, but everyone here has spent years of their lives dedicated to perfecting those rules. They believe them to be important, so they are. Coming in and telling them that these rules are stupid invalidates all that time and effort they had to spend learning all of it. None of these ladies were born with the knowledge of how to execute a flawless curtsy, they spent hours and hours practicing to perfect it."
"I - I guess I had never thought of it like that. Does it really come off like that? Like I'm dismissing their hard work?" She goes quiet. I glance over after a beat, trying to think of a response, only to realize she's crying, again. Really, what about this is worth crying over. Just because someone is challenging her worldview.
"I - I'm sorry. I'm Just gonna -" she scampers away like a frightened deer. Heading towards one of the nearby balconies. Trying to hide her tears.
I feel like the world has once more settled back into place. The ground beneath me no longer tilted settling once more. No part of that conversation went the way it usually does. But the outcome is very familiar. Myself, alone, watching as the heroine runs away from me in tears.
I know, as I feel eyes settle on me, that this will be yet another thing added to my list of sins in the eyes of the courts. Just one more mark on my record of supposed wrong doings.