Chapter 138 Farce at the Ball
Mephist's eyes widened in surprise. "Why? Holden and Candy just earned military honors. The Titan family will soon receive the highest rewards. Why should we leave... Never mind, let's not talk about him, so Mother won't get upset. Just help Mother prepare for the ball, okay?"
Trion didn't quite understand Dr. Pascal's warning, but she felt uneasy inside, just like when the King had allowed Anne and Holden to legally divorce—Trion sensed danger closing in.
She didn't dare think further and could only arrange for servants to deliver invitations to the major noble families as the old lady requested. As for the cost of decorating the venue, the old lady would cover it all. Trion didn't want to ask how much money was left in the family.
On the day of the ball, pitifully few carriages arrived. Not a single viscount came—almost all were barons or non-hereditary knight families. This shocked and angered the old lady.
Especially when she saw Nina make her entrance in that gorgeous dress—the fashionable craftsmanship and fabric couldn't possibly be something Anne had prepared for her before.
The old lady immediately understood where Nina's dress came from, cursed her for being thoughtless, then wondered how Nina could afford both the dress and the refreshments.
She walked to the dessert table with her fan covering her face, examining it carefully. Those pastries looked delicate and beautiful, clearly expensive. She picked up a piece suspiciously to taste it, and from the corner of her eye, she spotted the plain, ordinary cake base underneath.
The old lady understood instantly—her dear daughter really knew how to "manage" the household! If marquises and earls had come today and discovered this, the family's reputation would be completely ruined!
She was so angry her teeth clenched. She had no mood left to entertain these lower nobles. Thinking that Holden would surely be promoted when he returned, there was no need to continue humoring these people. She turned and left the ballroom directly.
Trion didn't understand why the old lady had suddenly left in anger, until a lady went to take some pastries and let out a cry of surprise. The crowd gathered around to see what was happening, and everyone saw the cheap, ordinary cake base beneath the pretty decorations. Someone sharp-eyed noticed it was all made from untrimmed scraps carelessly pressed together—in their eyes, this was the lowest quality food that only commoners ate.
The Titan family actually used such things to entertain guests, greatly insulting these nobles.
Though their status wasn't prominent, most were from hereditary families. They had only come because they'd heard the Titan family was bragging everywhere that the female knight commander was their daughter-in-law, so they came specifically to find out if it was true and consider whether to make connections.
Now seeing the old lady's dark expression and the half-hearted food arrangements, they had no interest in building relationships. One by one, they got into their carriages with dark faces and left.
Nina hadn't expected anyone would actually touch the desserts. Her expression changed repeatedly. Thinking of the old lady's furious departure, she hesitantly came to her room. "Mother..."
The old lady got angry seeing Nina in that expensive dress and couldn't help but sneer. "Did the Titan family wrong you? Taking money meant for entertaining guests to order a dress—were you afraid no men would stare at you tonight?"
Nina rarely heard her mother speak so coldly. She sat by her knees with tears in her eyes. "Mother, let me explain."
"I originally wanted to use it all to order desserts, but we invited prestigious nobles. If I wore an outdated dress, even if a noble son liked me, his mother would hesitate. To find a better man and provide support for the family, that's why I did this!"
"Who knew those people wouldn't give us any face! Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law are great heroes from the southern campaign, and they've also achieved great merit on the eastern battlefield. They're looking down on us!"
Nina knew that just apologizing would only make the old lady blame her more, so she shifted the problem onto those nobles who didn't come.
As for the desserts, Nina believed truly noble aristocrats wouldn't touch the refreshments at a ball anyway. Those shameless people who came to freeload weren't worth befriending.
As Nina expected, the old lady's anger shifted from Nina to the disrespectful nobles after hearing her explanation.
Yes, if they hadn't refused to come, how would tonight have turned out like this!
If those invited nobles had come, Nina's entrance would surely have amazed everyone. As long as she caught the eye of some earl's or marquis's son, the benefits it would bring to the Titan family would be countless.
But what happened? Her daughter had dressed up carefully, she herself had spent so much money preparing this ball, and all who came were uninvited small families. How could the old lady not be angry?
The old lady stroked Nina's wavy hair, her tone ice-cold. "Those high and mighty upper nobles think they're superior just because they have hereditary earl or marquis titles. They should know that our Holden earned real military merit. Now that he and Candy have achieved great merit together, His Majesty the King will surely grant extremely generous rewards. Promotion is inevitable!"
"Just let them wait and see. When Holden becomes an earl or marquis, and our Titan estate becomes an earl's or marquis's mansion, even if they come begging to make connections with treasures and land, I won't easily agree!"
Nina, seeing the old lady's attention had been diverted, quickly played along and acted wronged. "Yes, Mother, we worked so hard to prepare, and it all became a joke. When Second Brother comes back, he must help us get revenge!"
"When those people want to ask Second Brother for help getting their people into the Dawn Knight Order, we absolutely must refuse them harshly!"
The mother and daughter were here plotting through gritted teeth, but outside, word had already spread—the Titan family had made a big show of hosting a ball and inviting nobles to attend. Not only did not a single respectable noble go, but those who did attend reportedly discovered that the refreshments at the ball were all for show, actually cheap and half-hearted!
And they still wanted to invite nobles to participate. This Titan family was truly shameless!