A welcome ball

When I woke up, I found myself inside a dark room, but despite it being dark, I could still see as if the lights were on, 'Why does everything look so clear? I can tell the room's dark, but I can still see fine. Is it because I'm a dragon?'

Looking around the room, I could see everything clearly. 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 and the furniture in the room was amazing, 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 elaborate design on the wood suggested a much higher level effort.

'I must have been reborn into a rich family. This place is completely different from my previous life. I doubt my parents could have afforded a single gold ring. 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 crazy.'

As I looked at my cot more, I felt drawn towards the design built into the frame. I tried to reach for it with my hands, but I couldn't get close. Then, while my arm was stretched out, I noticed I was wearing 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!'

While I kicked my legs and arms in frustration, the lights in the room started to slowly turn on. 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 surprised by what I saw, 'Is she holding a ball of light in her hand? Is she using magic?!'

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

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 hanging over me. I tried to say no and shake my head, but it only came out as incoherent baby talk, "Nah, ah ba ba ba!"

She was completely blinded by her need to see me in the dress, "You look so excited to wear it. I'm so happy!"

After a few 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.

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 50 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 7th 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.

While they swarmed us, one of them stepped forward first. "Congratulations, Duke Hastus, Duchess Hastus, on your new daughter." Walter's smile quickly evaporated, "Thank you, Marquis Laseus."

The Marquis looked Walter in the eye, "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 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 burdened by Walter's glare, "Yes, you're right. Please forgive my rudeness!" after that, Walter walked past him as Crimson and I followed behind.

I couldn't help but let my mind run, 'Did that guy want me to marry his son, who's 21 years older than me?! That's way older than me even if you include my past 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, he noticed and looked at me as his serious expression slowly softened, "There's no need to worry, Sash. I won't let anyone marry you until you're at least 400."

Hearing him say that, I couldn't help but feel shocked '400! I'll have died and reincarnated another four times by then!'

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 boredom, 'How long has it been? I can't stand this 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 on his face.

After a short while, we arrive back at my room. After she dressed me, she brought a chair over to the side of my cot and sat beside me.

Crimson continuously stared at me, "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. 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.'