Two years ago
It was Felicia's 10th birthday party.
On Felicia's birthday, the Boldenville family was bustling with activity. The maids were busy arranging the tables with the finest tableware and filling them with the choicest dishes. The garden was decorated with flowers in full bloom, making the atmosphere exude an aura of magnificence. As the sun began to set, the earls and barons arrived, one by one, in their horse-drawn carriages, all dressed in their finest garb, to see how the Boldenville family's seedlings had grown.
Amidst the buzzing of the nobles, Felicia, the graceful young lady and the daughter of the Boldenville family, welcomed her guests wearing a beautiful dress made of silk that shone like the stars. The noble families present were the heads of their respective families, along with their sons, who would undoubtedly become Felicia's future husbands. Usually they brought their second or third child to make them the future head of the Boldenville family.
Felicia, whose birth had disappointed her father, Reynold. She had to look beautiful and elegant before the other nobles to get the best husband to continue her family name.
That's why she tried hard daily, day and night, learning to write beautifully, dieting, and learning dance. Everything she did was to make her father proud and accept her as his daughter.
The day came when she would show the results of her training. Practice makes perfect; that is how she thought it would be. She was already confident, stepping into the ballroom beautifully and gracefully.
People watched her with amazement; she had become the beautiful person her father had hoped for, and the noble boys and even adults were scrambling to ask her to dance.
Felicia smilingly accepted their hands at random, not seeing how nervous the person she was holding was.
"My name is Brian Biverlay! Nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Brian," Felicia said, gracefully lifting her skirt.
Brian nervously took her hand when Felicia wanted to start her dance pose.
The music started, but Brian was still silent as if he didn't know what he was going to do,
"Mr. Brian, please hold my waist," Felicia said.
"O-okay!"
It was a little late because the music had already started, but Felicia was still able to follow the dance well, even though it made her do the lead for a while,
Then Brian stepped on Felicia's foot.
And he stepped on her in people's blind spots.
The pain in her leg made her lose balance, she was doing the lead at the time to match the dance with the music, so it was as if she was the one who made a mistake.
"Pa-pardon me! Lady Felicia!" shouted Brian.
"It's okay, Mr Brian, we can start again-"
As she struggled to regain her composure, Felicia could feel the weight of her embarrassment pressing down upon her. She looked up to face the crowd, hoping for some support or at least a kind word to help ease her shame. Instead, she was met with a sea of smirks and raised eyebrows. People were already starting to look at her sarcastically, their condescending gazes cutting through her like a knife. Felicia didn't know that falling during the dance was the end of her.
Her father then approached her, looking down on her too
"Daddy, I'm sorry, I was-"
"Get out of here; you're embarrassing me," said her father.
As a result, Felicia immediately stood up, bowed her head, and walked out the door.
"I want to get some fresh air first," she said, still trying to maintain her family's dignity in front of the other families. It was clear to Felicia that this was the end. She had hoped to leave a lasting impression on the nobles and her father, but now all she could do was slink away in humiliation, knowing that this mistake would forever define their view of her. As she walked off the dance floor, head bowed in shame; she ran away quickly.
With a heavy heart, Felicia tried to rush out of the house to her favorite garden, her mind consumed by the piercing stares she received from her father and the people around her. Every pair of eyes seemed to be screaming at her, criticizing her every move and judging her harshly. The weight of their expectations and the pain of their disappointment was crushing her spirit and suffocating her soul.
As she ran, her tears blurred her vision, and her steps became increasingly unsteady. Eventually, her emotional overload caused her to stumble and fall. The impact of her body hitting the ground reverberated through her, as did the harsh noise of her cry of anguish.
Rachel, who had been walking behind her, was startled by Felicia's outburst. She paused, unsure of what to do. But as Felicia's sobs grew louder and more uncontrollable, with a sympathetic glance, Rachel turned and walked away, trying to give Felicia the moment she needed to collect herself and regain her strength. Though it was difficult for Rachel to leave her lady in such a vulnerable state, she knew that sometimes all she could do was retreat and hope that time and space would heal the wounds of the heart.
Felicia stood up and walked to the fountain in her garden. She could see the reflection of her face in the water. And she hated it. It was the face of the person who had let everyone down. She had sacrificed so much
Refraining from eating the food she liked, refraining from practicing day and night, refraining from learning as much as possible, refraining, refraining, refraining, refraining for everything. And the result is now… a failure.
She didn't know how to look at her father's face tomorrow, let alone her mother who had been ignoring her a lot lately. With tears streaming down her face. Her heart ached with sorrow and despair, and she felt like she couldn't bear the weight of her problems anymore. The water in front of her looked tempting, and she had the urge to plunge her head into it and forget everything.
Just as she wanted to drown her head, she hears rustling from the nearby bushes. She froze in place, listening intently for any other signs of movement. After moments of tense silence, a man emerged from the foliage, looking disheveled and flustered.
"Who's there?" asked Felicia, her voice quivering with fear and suspicious
From the bushes came an adult man, who crawled out of there with his clothes in disarray and a leaf on his head.
"Forgive me for interrupting your time, lady. I was walking to raiding air, but I walked too far."
Felicia eyed the man warily but sensed no malice in his demeanor. He seemed genuinely apologetic, and his apologies sounded sincere.
"Are you the one who attended my birthday party today? You're pretty presumptuous to come out when the earl's son is having a birthday, huh."
She then made a surprised face, after which she quickly bowed her body
"I apologize for my impudence, milady. My name is Waldo Barkaley, and I came here to dance with you."
Felicia turned her face away, looking sadly back at the fountain in front of her,
"Go inside; other girls may be prettier and better at dancing with me. I'm not fit to be anyone's wife."
ƥαṇdα-ηθνε|·ƈθm Waldo chuckled, then he walked over to Felicia.
"You're more mature than I thought. Although you still have a bit of a childish streak," Waldo said with a big smile.
"Are you trying to mock me? You really don't fear punishment from the earl, do you?" replied Felicia languidly, then she continued
"Whatever you say, I'm not going to do anything anymore; I'm finished."
"Yeah, no wonder. After crying so hard, you must have wanted to die because you were so embarrassed at the thought of someone else listening to you."
"?!!"
"Hmm?"
"What did you say?! D-d-did-you just peeping at me weren't you?! Y-you saw me crying?!" Felicia shouted with anger and embarrassment on her face; now she really wanted to die from embarrassment, as Waldo had said.
Waldo was finally in front of Felicia, standing tall and smiling at her. At that moment, Felicia realized that he was taller than she thought.
Waldo knelt gracefully in front of Felicia, her eyes fluttering with surprise as he took her hand and brought it to his lips. She felt a shiver run down her spine as the cool wind brushed past them, rustling the leaves of the trees around them. As they gazed into each other's eyes, the blanket of clouds that had obscured the moonlight slowly began to shift, and a soft glow illuminated their faces. At that moment, Felicia felt as if time had stopped.
"Happy birthday, Lady Felicia."
Those words were...
Those were the words Felicia most wanted to hear at that moment. Even though it was her birthday party, Rachel was the only one who wished her a happy birthday. It was as if everyone didn't care about her, but only about her family name. People came there not because of her but only to use her as political material.
Waldo's sincere words touched Felicia's heart deeply,
'Apparently, someone remembered my birthday,' Felicia thought as happy tears rose.
"You want to cry again? Haha It turns out you really are still a child."
Felicia, embarrassed, immediately removed her hand from Waldo and wiped her face.
"Don't call me that! I feel humiliated!"
Felicia then looked at Waldo's hands, which were scratched from walking through the bushes.
"Your hand..."
"Oh, this? It's fine; everything will be fine later with the health potion."
"Did you bring it with you?"
"Not at the moment."
"Then it will leave a mark."
Felicia then bit her thumb hard, blood came out of it, and she used it to activate her god's blessing.
"Ooh, you really are as talented as the rumors say; getting a god's blessing at the age of 10 is amazing."
It was the first time Felicia had used her god's blessing for someone else. Waldo watched in amazement as Felicia's god's blessing was like magic that shone beautifully with flowers.
Moments later, Waldo's hand was healed to its original state, with no scars, nor were there any signs that it had ever been injured.
"Very good, lady. Thank you."
"You don't need to force yourself to praise. It's not very useful."
"What do you mean? Isn't that great? You can heal others as you please."
"My god's blessing is not very useful; if you want to heal wounds, you can use potions; no need to bother using a lot of mana just to heal others."
"A lot of mana? How many times can you use it?"
"Only once a day."
Waldo then fell silent and recalled the rumors that had spread about Felicia. Felicia's talent was extraordinary, but her divine blessing was not.
Waldo stood up and said
"From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you, lady."
Felicia turned her face away, then said, "There's no need to say that; I'm just healing a small wound. Only small wounds can be healed with potions."
"I thank you for your decision to heal me, even though your mana is only enough to use once daily. You gave me something very precious that you can only do once a day. It shows that you really care about me."
Felicia looked back at Waldo, her eyes sparkling.
"Your godly blessing is amazing."
Waldo once again said something that had a great impact on Felicia, and it didn't end there,
"If you keep practicing and can use it many times, I can't imagine how many people you'll save with your abilities."
Waldo's happy smile made Felicia feel like she was doing something useful for the first time. The god's blessing she had always cursed was now the most beautiful part of her, allowing her to be useful to others.
From this point on, Felicia decided to help as many people as she could to see their happy smiles.
"Shall we dance, Lady?"
Felicia accepts Waldo's hand, and then they dance under the moonlight.
.
.
.
"Hey! Hey! Hurry up and get off!" shouted Allen, holding Felicia's hand to get off the train.
"Lady, is there a problem?" asked a worried Rachel.
Felicia shook her head, then she said
"Nothing, I'm just remembering something that hasn't crossed my mind in a while."
Felicia took Allen's hand and got off the train. But she once again stayed there. Looking at Allen's hand that she was holding.
"What's wrong?" asked Allen.
'Allen's hand was bigger and rougher than I expected. Just like Sir Waldo's,' Felicia thought.
Without answering Allen's question, Felicia walked into the palace, this time also trying to be as beautiful as possible. Just like she did before, and it worried her.
Will everything be okay?
Will I be able to do well this time?
Sir Waldo, please give me courage.
While thinking that, Felicia approached her parents, who were waiting at the door of the castle ballroom. Then she hesitantly stepped into the room.
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