4. Preparations for the Ball

“Reya,” Chasity looked vacantly at her pale sister with a worrisome expression.

The lady in question was meandering around her sister’s assigned chambers like an evil spirit.

It was quite humorous had it not been for the fact that Reya had not uttered a single syllable, more so a word.

“I need to use your bathroom” she suddenly announced, sprinting towards a door to the left.

The relief Reya felt when the door opened knew no bounds.

Scuttling to the toilet bowl, she descended to her knees and dry heaved twice before her breakfast surged out of her throat.

“My goodness,” came Chasity’s gasp as she watched her sister throw up.

“Sorry,” Reya breathed weakly.

“You know how effortless it is for me to get sick” she quaked.

“I know,” Chasity nodded, hoisting up her sister’s wild curls so it did not come in contact with her vomit.

Afterwards, Chasity ensured to see to it that her sister was cleansed.

“I understand you are feeling unwell but it seems something appalling has happened”

Chasity stated the obvious, green eyes shining with a curiosity that Reya could tell was piqued.

“I puked out of the window,” she divulged, splashing some water on her face to revive herself.

“In the Royal Castle? Have you exchanged your brains for peanuts?” Chasity chuckled in limpid disbelief.

“My bathroom was locked” Reya argued back, scrunching her nose.

“Unfortunately, no one would care for my side of the story after my vomit so graciously landed on a Royal-“

“What?” Chasity squeaked, eyes widening by a fraction.

She barked out a small disbelieving laugh whilst eyeing Reya and patiently waiting for her sister to confess that she had cracked such a silly joke.

Except Reya did not confirm her thoughts.

“Oh no” Chasity shook her head, her pale skin whitening to an even paler tone.

If it weren’t for Reya’s Golden brown skin tone, she was positive that her complexion would have mirrored Chasity’s.

“You puked On a Royal? Wow. Father is going to bludgeon your head” Chasity laughed, surprisingly finding the situation humorous.

“Nae This is not funny Chass. At this very moment I believe the Royal dragon clan is preparing gallows to hang me” Reya huffed.

“And what are you going to do about it?” Chasity inquired, raising her eyebrows.

Reya understood it was a rhetorical question.

Because no matter how scheming she was, there was no way she was going to escape this freely.

All she had to do was avoid staying in her chambers and shut the windows.

Thinking about that, she wordlessly raced to her own chambers, shut the windows and ran back to Chasity’s.

Half the servants roaming around the castle looked at her in confusion and it somehow relieved Reya.

At least not everyone knew about her flying vomit.

But as she dashed back to Chasity’s room, a tingling started at the base of her spine and the hair on the nape of her neck started to rouse.

Reya’s instincts had always been as sharp as a knife and she knew something was amiss.

She had no need to turn around and authenticate that indeed, a pair of eyes were boring holes into her back.

Reya’s actions were controlled by her conscience and fear of being caught so she decided to keep racing away.

“You seem to be a runner these days” Chasity remarked as she watched Reya pant and fan herself, back pressed firmly against the door.

“Anything to avoid being caught” she snorted.

A knock resonated in the void of the chambers and Reya flew away from the door in fright.

Chasity’s eyes widened considerably as it was quite clear that her thoughts mirrored Reya’s.

“Hide in the bathroom” Chasity mouthed to Reya.

But before she could move, a voice called out her name.

“Lady Reya?”

It was the voice of the maid that had been assigned to her.

With an exhale, she moved to open the door.

“I have been looking everywhere for you,” she bowed slightly.

“The other castle staff informed me that you were seen running around the halls. Is everything alright?” Her meek blue eyes shone with worry.

“Yes. I am sorry for putting you through so much distress. But I would prefer to share bedrooms with my sister. I.... I have almost suffered from isolation madness once. Tis such a dreadful experience” she shook her head, placing a hand on her forehead with a dramatic sigh.

The loud snort that erupted from Chasity’s mouth shattered Reya’s pity drama.

The maid’s eyes shone with confusion before humor but she quickly fixed an emotionless mask over her features.

“I understand. I will have your things transferred to Lady Chasity’s chambers” she announced briskly before turning around and sauntering off.

Reya’s head whipped around swiftly as she flashed Chasity a lethal glare.

“There was no reason for you to embarrass me” She snapped in indignation.

“I have had the unfortunate pleasure of listening to you throw lies right from when we were younger. I find this particular one disappointing” she chuckled haughtily.

Reya rolled her eyes and made her way to Chasity’s bed before plumping into the heart of it.

She was beginning to feel weary from all the traveling and in the span of seconds, she dozed off.

However, her nap did not last the longest.

Although the sun was setting on the horizon when she roused from what Chasity liked to call Beauty sleep, she still did not feel well rested.

There was no tightness in her muscles and neither did they ache but she felt her mind was weary from overthinking.

“The ball begins in less than three hours milady. You need to have a bath before we can prepare you for the ball” The maid assigned to her informed the sleeping beauty.

She nodded sluggishly and stood up, now noticing that a couple of royal maids were also in Chasity’s bedroom.

They had unpacked Reya’s dress for the evening and were placing it on an abstract model.

The only woman she recognized amongst them was Tanaya who was the best dress maker in the Red Dragon Clan.

She seemed to be guarding Reya and Chasity’s dresses like a mother hen, snarling and snapping at any maid who dared to come close to her masterpiece.

When the maids noticed she had woken up, they scurried towards her and started pulling at her dress.

Reya watched the busy bees in bewilderment as she found her present dress tumbling to the floor.

How could they undress her so hastily?

Before she could voice a protest, her bra was sliding off her chest.

With a death glare, she peeled down her panties by herself and the other Omegas worked on removing the pins and claw clip she had bundled her red locks into.

A robe enveloped her frame and the maid she was most accustomed to led her into the bathroom.

Two other maids were standing over an extra bath tub, tossing rose petals and some scented oils into a bath tub opposite Chasity’s tub.

Reya was beginning to get curious.

Why were so many maids assigned to Chasity and herself?

Or did the Royal Dragons really regard the red Dragon women as to do something so extravagant for them?

Chasity did not seem to mind all the extra care and drama as she enjoyed her bath, recoiling luxuriously into the water.

Reya slipped out of her robe curiously and stepped into the hot water, finding pleasure with the temperature.

The two maids seemed pleased at Reya’s relaxed smile and exited the bathroom.

However, the maid most familiar to her was still standing there.

“What is the matter?” Chasity asked the maid with an irate raise of her eyebrows.

She shrunk away from Chasity immediately and her eyes darted towards Reya.

“I am sorry My ladies but I was required to inquire this from the higher authorities” she bowed towards Reya.

“What would you like to inquire?” The redhead asked curiously.

The maid looked up slowly and she clenched her timid and trembling hands into fists with a determined expression.

“Did you by any chance vomit out of the window?”

Reya made a choking sound at the question and the maid’s eyebrows drew together in a pinch.

The doctor had completely forgot about that!

Seeing that her sister was tongue tied, Chasity decided she was obliged to step in.

“You” Chasity said, intimidating the maid with an opposing glare.

“Y-yes?” She stuttered, bowing and averting her eyes.

“What is your name?” Chasity asked, shifting slightly in the tub so that the sound of rippling water echoed in the bathroom.

“R-Roanna” she replied, her face paling.

“You will remain tight lipped about this situation. There was no one occupying that certain chambers. Do you understand?”

“B-but-“

“I said! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?” Chasity barked, making the maid Roanna to leap backwards.

“Y-yes!” She nodded her head vehemently.

“Kick your stuttering self out of my bathroom. You are interrupting our bath”

Like a frightened chicken, Roanna took to her heels and fled.

Reya gave her retreating figure a sympathetic look.

“Sister,” she glanced at Chasity.

“You did not have to be so mean”

Chasity simply smirked and hid her eyes behind two perfectly rounded cucumber circles.

“If I hesitated you would have gotten into trouble”

And that was the end of the matter.

Chasity got out of the bath tub faster than Reya did.

When the doctor was finished with her soak, Chasity’s makeup was approaching completion.

Reya immediately pressed her lips in disdain as she considered the heavy smoke eyes on her sister’s eyelids.

It did not suit her sharp green eyes and the image reminded Reya of a raccoon.

She glanced towards Roanna and noted that the maid also shared the same discontent for her sister’s makeup.

Roanna came scrambling towards the doctor to narrate what had happened.

“She would not let me make up her face. I am the best beautician that there is and the other maids barely know how to-“

“It is alright. You can do mine” she cut the rambling maid off.

Roanna flashed her a sincere smile and they moved towards the other full length mirror.

Two other maids followed The doctor and Roanna and at once, they set to work with her hair.

When One of the maids raised a comb, Roanna cried out.

“Stop! You will ruin her curl pattern! Her hair needs a different type of treatment” She said smartly, pulling out a small tube of some white liquid.

Reya watched Roanna in fascination as she took care of her curls, taming and styling them with expertise.

At the end, her curls were neatly styled into a low bun that even Reya knew she could never pull off.

A few face framing curls were pulled out to accentuate the redhead’s defined cheekbones and jawline.

“Where did you learn to style my type of hair?” Reya asked, admiring her curls in the bright lighting.

“The Queen has this hair texture,” Roanna stated with a blush.

“I used to take care of her hair but I taught her favorite maids so she let me go” she explained further.

Then Roanna set to work on her face.

She followed Reya’s skin tone closely as she chose colors to work with.

Roanna chose a rather glowing lotion that added an extra body shine to Rey’s already golden skin tone.

The effect was exquisite.

As a doctor, Reya had always been too busy saving lives to care about makeup.

So when the maid assigned to her had finished with her face, she could hardly believe she was the same person staring at her reflection in the mirror.

The shade on her eyelids was the same color with her golden brown eyes.

Her blood red lipstick matched with her jewelry and her dress.

Every accoutrements the redhead donned that night was evenly complemented.

Her beautiful red dress was completely off her shoulder so that the red diamonds could sit comfortably on her neck.

The sleeves were a transparent net material with faux red leaves embroidered into it.

The upper bodice had the same pattern of red leaves scattered across the material. The red leaves curved around her breasts to shield her nipples and areola but her cleavage was left bare.

The lower bodice formed into a corset that drew attention to Reya’s narrow waist. Tanaya always loved to throw attention to that detail, seeing that it was every woman’s envy.

The once transparent net material slowly deepened its hue to a deep and luscious red that followed Reya’s magnificent wide hips.

It clung tightly to her figure until it was below her knees. The redhead did not have the most voluptuous curves but because her frame had always been willowy and small, every single curve she grew over the years were pronounced.

The dress flowed beyond her ankles and left a considerably short trail behind her that would not inconvenience her as she danced in the ball.

She wore golden short heels because she hated the long ones and would do a lot of dancing for the night.

Her red pins, earrings and necklace were ancestral heirlooms that were worn by the last Luna of the Red Dragon Clan.

It was a clear statement that even though she would be dancing with various Alphas and perhaps Princes tonight, her heart and loyalty will remain with the Red Dragon Clan.

With a satisfied smile, she turned towards a proud looking Roanna.

“Thank you Roanna” she beamed.

The maid’s face brightened considerably and it was only then that Reya noticed how beautiful the maid was.

“It is all my pleasure,” she curtsied and turned away.

“Wait” Reya called after her softly.

Roanna turned towards her curiously.

“Did you need anything Lady Reya?” She asked softly.

Reya exhaled and placed a hand on Roanna’s shoulder.

“I am an adopted child of Alpha Charles but legally, I have no title. Everyone calls me Doctor or Miss Reya. So please do the same even if you are to be in my service for just one night” The Doctor said softly.

She was feeling awfully guilty about Chasity snapping at her.

“If you are to report to the higher authorities, tell them the truth. I barfed out of the window. Do not put yourself in any trouble”

At once, Roanna’s slightly bent head lifted up.

She flashed Reya a smile full of pride, one that unnerved the redhead.

“You have made the right choice Lady Reya. I will be pleased to entertain your presence at the ball”

At once, Roanna turned on her heels and left the bedroom, leaving a perplexed Reya behind.

---

Author’s note.

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