A welcome ball

When I woke up, I found myself inside a sizeable pitch-black room, but for some reason, despite it being dark, I could still see as if the lights were on, 'Why does everything look as clear as day? I can clearly tell the room's pitch-black, but I can still see fine. Is it because I'm a dragon now?'

Looking around the room, I could see it all so clearly. Unlike everything else I had seen, the room looked like a standard room that wasn't in a cave but was still elaborately decorated, just like the others.

The room was much larger than the one I was reborn in but less than half the size of the sitting room my new family was in. The walls were tall with gold patterns across them, and the furniture in the room was equally as ornate as the room itself, all looking handcrafted. However, the cot I was lying in looked to be the most valuable piece in the room.

The cot, like the other pieces of furniture, looked handmade. However, the intricate design on the wood suggested a much higher level of skill, not to mention the gold interlaced into the grooves of the design.

'I must have been reborn into a wealthy family. There's literally gold all over this room! This place is completely different from the foster family I lived with in my previous life. I doubt they could have afforded a single gold ring despite hoarding the money got for taking little care of me.'

'This world is also very different from my old one, I haven't seen the outside world yet, but so far, just the fact that I'm a dragon is mind-blowing!'

As I inspected my cot further, for some odd reason, I felt inexplicably drawn towards the gold built into the frame. I tried to reach for it with my stubby arms, but I couldn't get close. Then, while my arm was stretched out, I noticed I was in new clothes instead of being swaddled in a blanket.

When I looked down towards my feet, I saw I was wearing a baby girl's night dress, 'Huh! What the hell am I wearing?! I know I was reborn as a girl, but I would rather have been put to bed in just a nappy with a blanket over me instead of this! It feels embarrassing to be wearing it!'

While I was complaining in my head, the lights in the room started to slowly turn on. Once they were fully lit up, Crimson came walking into the room, holding a ball of light in her right hand, with a yellow aura emitting from her hand.

When I saw it, I was blown away by what I saw, 'Is she holding a ball of light in her hand?! Is she using magic or some kind of futuristic tech that looks just like it?!'

The ball of light slowly dissipated from her hand. She then walked over to my cot and looked down at me, "Looks like you were already awake. We have to get you ready to meet everyone else today!"

'Everyone else? Are there more people I still haven't met in this family?'

After saying that, she walked over to a tall cabinet. She opened it and quickly pulled out what looked like a piece of clothing. She then walked back to me and held up an intricately designed baby girl's dress, "Look, we even got you a pretty new dress while you were asleep! Isn't it beautiful!"

My face dropped as I saw the dress looming over me. I tried to say no and shake my head in disagreement, but it only came out as incoherent baby talk, 'No, I don't want to wear it!' "Nah, ah ba ba ba!"

She was completely blinded by her desire to see me in the dress, "You seem so excited to wear it. I'm so happy!" she completely ignored me and started changing me into the dress.

After 15 minutes, we were already walking down the hall. Although despite my best efforts, I only slowed her down, she managed to get the dress on me, and she took it a step further by putting a bow in the little hair I had, 'What did I do that was so wrong to deserve this...!'

After another 10 minutes of walking, we arrived at a large opening to another sizable cave. This time, it was three times larger than the sitting room I saw the other day. From its design, it seemed to be a grand ballroom.

As I looked around, I saw the room had at least a hundred people, and the moment Crimson walked in with me in her arms, everyone slowly started to fall even more silent than they already were.

Everyone made a clear path for us as we walked through the crowd while they all looked solely at me. As we passed them, I could hear the faint sound of talking from the crowd, "I heard the new daughter of the Duke has his magenta eyes!"

"I heard she already created her first fire!"

"Is that true?!"

"I heard she's so powerful she'll be the second of this generation to have pink eyes!"

As I overheard all the mindless rumours, the last one caught my attention, 'What did they mean by pink eyes? My eyes are magenta, can you not tell the colour magenta!' when we reached the front of the room, we walked up a large staircase where Walter was waiting for us near the top.

As we walked up beside him, he smiled at us warmly before again facing the crowd, "Thank you, everyone, for coming here to celebrate the birth of my daughter. As you may have all guessed, we're here to celebrate a new member of the Hastus family and the first of my children to have magenta eyes!"

As Walter mentioned my magenta eyes, the crowd silently mumbled amongst themselves. He continued, "As you all know, this is a rare occurrence. So far, she is only the 5th child to be born in this generation with magenta eyes, so I hope you all celebrate with my family and me on this special occasion, and I hope you all also look forward to her coming-of-age ceremony when she turns 21!"

After his speech, Walter escorted Crimson and me down the stairs with his usual smile plTomed on his face while looking at us. Once we reached the bottom, we were swarmed by aristocrats. As I saw them crowded around us, I noticed that almost everyone seemed incredibly young, just like my parents.

While they swarmed us, one of them stepped forward first. He had yellow hair and magenta eyes. He started talking to Walter, "Congratulations, Duke Hastus, Duchess Hastus, on your new daughter." Walter's smile quickly evaporated at the sight of him, "Thank you, Marquis Laseus."

The Marquis looked Walter in the eye, but, at the same time, he put on a fake smile, "May I be so bold as to ask, have you put any consideration into your daughter's future marriage partner? My 2nd son is an outstanding young man who's only had his coming-of-age ceremony this year and would make an excellent marriage partner after her coming of age!"

Walter's expression slowly became more demonic and overbearing after hearing the man's suggestion, "Marquis Laseus, my daughter is only a day old. Don't you believe it's too soon to discuss her marriage?"

The man quickly became overburdened by Walter's frightening glare, "Yes, you're quite right. Please forgive my rudeness!" after that, Walter walked past him as though he weren't there, and Crimson and I followed behind.

While I was still stunned about what I had just heard, I couldn't help but let my mind run, 'Did that guy honestly want me to marry his son, whos 21 years older than me?! That's way older than me, even if you include my previous 16 years of life!'

'Also, what was Walter talking about looking forward to my coming-of-age ceremony? If it's 21 years away, that's way too soon to talk about!' As I looked over at Walter, I saw he still had a scary expression on his face.

Because I stared at him too long, he noticed and looked over at me, and his serious expression slowly softened, "There's no need to worry, Sash. I won't let anyone marry you until you're at least 300."

Hearing him say that, I couldn't help but feel shocked '300! I'll have died and reincarnated another four times by then, you overprotective idiot! Also, is Sash his nickname for me?!'

After hours of being carried around while my parents did their duty as hosts and greeted as many people as possible, I was suffering from all-encompassing boredom, 'How long has it been? I can't stand this boring ball anymore!'

Crimson looked down at me while I was pulling a half-dead expression, "Walter, Sash seems to be rather tired after such an exciting event. I think I should take her back and put her to bed." Walter nodded in agreement, "You're right; she seems to be exhausted after a long day. You take her back, and I'll continue here."

Crimson smiled at Walter. She leaned in and kissed his cheek before turning around and leaving the ballroom, leaving Walter behind with a smile plTomed to his face.

After a short while, we arrive back at my room. Crimson put me down in my cot before preparing my night clothes to change me into. After she dressed me, she brought a chair over to the side of my cot and sat beside me.

Crimson continuously stared at me with loving, warm eyes, "I hope you know how happy I am that you're my daughter! I've only had sons before I had you. Now I have a daughter I can spend time with and go shopping for beautiful dresses and jewellery with! When you're older, that is!"

Her words made me both happy and anxious, 'I can tell she loves me. Since I never had parents in my previous life, I always wanted a real Mother... But I don't particularly want to go dress shopping with her in the future. That sounds like a nightmare...! But spending more time with her in the future doesn't sound too bad.'

As Crimson smiled at me, she brushed my short hair back with her hand. as she did, I started to feel relaxed and couldn't keep myself awake anymore and fell asleep.