Gisella hated this with a passion.

She was stuffed into a dress she hated, a corset laced up and suffocating her.

She could only wonder how you managed it day-to-day, this would drive her mad, not to mention that you were curvier and likely had to have this blasted thing tighter.

The ravenette watched the people of the court flouncing around the ballroom, masks covering their faces.

It was a Masquerade ball, after all.

However, that didn’t mean she didn’t know who they were. There was Councilman Xavier Hilton dancing with Lady Cathrine Fraser, who was only just eighteen and not his wife.

The ball was not, however, restricted to the Royal Court and selected nobles of Trespia, no. The King, your father, had invited the Xaelan royals, the Shahadan royals, and such people from the other counties.

From what Gisella was aware of, this was supposed to be a peaceful meeting and possible negotiation of treaties between Trespia and Xael.

The informant could see the two princesses of Xael, the fair-skinned and dark-haired Princesses Marida and Ivory Scyrte- they reminded her of deer. They were gossiping, likely about the other royals, as they sipped Trespian Nectar.

Gisella had been at your side all night, as your father’s Advisor had instructed. It wasn’t at all a displeasing assignment, she rather liked you.

What she *hated, and she had mentioned this to you several times, her hatred of her costume. She was just curvy enough to not pass for a man, so she had been dressed up to blend in.

She was dressed as a fox, with a sprawling and flouncy gown of the most horrendously expensive satin and velvet known to man, with a gaudy mask in the shape of a fox’s face.

She detested everything about it, which made you smile. You were dressed as the swan, your hair done up in the most elegant of curls, your dress sewn with even more expensive material than hers, pearls decorating you.

You were gazing appreciatively at the orchestra, and then you pulled her onto the dancing floor.