Lucy’s POV
Fortunately, despite all the troubles Gert caused with the venue, I had been able to fix things before the event. It took a lot of sweat and cursing, but my small team and I had been able to finish things up on time. The triplets had even helped out at some point, assisting in replacing banners and scrubbing off places that were never intended to have been painted in the first place.
It was a collective win, and I was grateful to them for their assistance.
The evening of the event, I had gone over to the room where Rosa and Tessa had been staying in order for us women, or two women and a half, to prepare together. In a way, it was my first actual Moon Festival in Moongrowl, because this time I wasn’t tied to a man that merely pressed me to his side because of what he thought he would gain from it. This time, I was going to be free.
As I had requested, I had finally been given access to the treasury Daven had created for me. As much as he had been a controlling influence on my life at least he had created a means for me to access funds if I had to. Once Ahmad had sorted out the things preventing me from accessing the treasury on my own, the first thing I did was to purchase dresses for Rosa, Tessa and myself for the Moon Festival. I had kept them in my wardrobe since, hoping to surprise them.
For Tessa, I had gotten her a beautiful silver dress that had little shining stones embedded in it. They sparkeled as she twirled around with excitement after trying the dress on. The joy on her face was contagious, and I couldn’t help but get infected by the happiness permeating the atmosphere.
Rosa tried on her own dress, and emerald green gown that clung to her form gently, accentuating her curves but in an elegant way that wasn’t too obvious. It had thin straps for arms, revealing just enough of her beautiful skin.
She went to look at herself in the mirror, admiring the fabric along the way. When she caught a glimpse of how she looked in full, she gave a small gasp. “I almost can’t recognise myself. I haven’t worn something like this in . . . ages.”
Because she had been pulled out of her own home and made into a slave before she truly got to experience life. I heard the hidden continuation of her sentence, but pushed it away before it could dampen my mood. I had decided to thoroughly have as much fun as possible during the festival, regardless of who was watching or not.
“Aren’t you going to try on your dress, Lucy?” she asked, turning to me.
Tessa hopped, full of energy. “Yes Lucy! Try in your dress.”
“Alright alright,” I said, chuckling. I slipped out of my blouse and skirt, and put on the gown carefully, taking care to not allow any of the stones on it latch on to my hair.
The red dress had caught my attention right from the moment I stepped into the shop where it was up for sale. The owner of the store initially had tried to prevent me from getting it, concocting a terrible lie about the dress merely being up for display but not actually for sale. Obviously, she was one of the people that looked down on me because of my relationship with Daven, and the fact that I was still merely a slave in her eyes. To her, someone like me didn’t deserve to wear something like that. It didn’t take much to convince her though after adding a little extra money to the actual cost of the dress and mentioning the triplets, she immediately turned into the world’s friendliest shop owner-ehich I found terribly humorous.
Rosa helped me zip uo the dress. She stepped back and allowed me to check myself out in the mirror too.
“Wow, it really suits you.” A mischievous look crawled onto her heart-shaped face. “I know someone who won’t be able to take his eyes off you,” she said, wriggling her eyebrows like hiw she often did years back when we had been clueless teenagers back home. It was good to see that some things just couldn’t change.
I rolled my eyes. “Stop it, Rosa. I’m not dressing to impress anyone.”
“I never said you were.”
“Maybe you’ll find your prince in that dress,” said Tessa, stepping close. There were stars in her pretty sky-blue eyes as she looked at me. “You look very beautiful.”
I gently oatted her soft curls. “Thank you, sweetheart. You look absolutely gorgeous too. I’m sure your boyfriend will be so excited to see you tonight,” I said with a sharp wink, causing the poor girl to blush and hold her cheeks.
“Lucy!” she cried out, covering her face and sitting down on her bed, although I could see her pout twitching, as though she was in the edge of a smile.
Afterwards, we used a few more minutes to finish up our looks. I helped Rosa style her hair into a bun, leaving some curls tp brush over her face. As I did so, she made mention of being a little nervous, and I jad a feeling that it was because of the man who she had been seeing but still hadn’t come out directly to tell me about. Honestly, I was getting a little impatient, but i didn’t want to press the issue and make her completely close up concerning the topic. As soft and gentle as she was, it was near impossible to get information out of her if she wasn’t willing to divulge it.
As for me, I also did a similar hairstyle to Rosa’s, except that my hair had first been braided, before it was then wrapped into a knot at the back of my head. Something simple and yet elegant. I dusted on a little shiny makeup on my eyelids, cheeks, and exposed shoulders. I wanted to be incredibly beautiful for the festival.
I wanted Shaun to nto be able to take his eyes off me. I still held a grudge against him for playing with my feelings the night before, and not kissing me. It had taken me so much to finally get comfortable with the idea of him being my mate and he just acted like he didn’t notice my attraction to him. I had no idea what he was playing at, but I was going to pay him back.
When all three of us were finally ready, we stepped out of the eoom and made out way down to the hall.
Soft music was already playing by the time we got there, and the place was decently filled. We were early, so I didn’t expect many people to be in attendance already. It was barely past eight in the evening, ans it was custom for people to not show up until an hour into the main event, because that was usually when things picked up most times.
I picked up a glass of wine and started sipping as soon as the people I came with dispersed to different parts of the hall. Rosa mumbled something about having to be somewhere shortly, while Tessa directly stated that she was going to see her friend. At least one person was being honest with me about their plans. I told Tessa to be back early, even though she always did return on time, as it was unlikely that I was going to be able to keep an eye on her all through.
While sipping on my wine, traces of conversations reached my ears.
” . . . This is well put together . . .”
“That Lucy girl definitely outdid herself. Heard that she stayed here all night to finish up the decorations.”
“Good to know that she’s not just some gold-digging slave.”
I mentally pulled away from the conversation before I could hear more of their reluctant praises. At least it was obvious that I worked hard to make this Moon Festival a successful one, and no one could deny that unless they were blind or deliberately trying to ignore the truth.
As time went on, more and more people joined in on the festival, and eventually, the place became even more lively. Lights burned around, filling the place with soft light adding to the soothing ambience. It was a festival that a lot of people enjoyed, but more than that, it was a festival where a lot of families came together to give thanks to the moon goddess fir how far they had come in the year.
A new trio stepped into the hall, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes when I saw Gert and Finn walking beside a tall, proud looking man. As they entered the room, it was as though the life was sucked out of it. People moved out of their way, parting like the red sea as they walked through.
I didn’t know the man, but he looked very familiar. Maybe he was related to someone that I knew.
Somehow, Gert caught sight of me, and I realised that I had been standing in a spot with fewer people around. She leaned in to the unfamiliarly familiar man and whispered something in his ear, and didn’t even try to hide it when her finger pointed in my direction.
I wanted tp walk away, but I wasn’t a coward, and I wasn’t going to hide this time.
I briefly hoped that the triplets were going to show up to seal with this, but I needed to face my own troubles on my own. I hadn’t even seen them all night, which was strange, so it was unlikely that they were going to turn up right at that moment.
As the trio started making their way towards me, I took a deep breath and tried to take off all appearance of nervousness from my face.
Much to my surprise, as some point Gert and Finn broke away from the man attheir centre and went in a different direction, leaving only the man approaching me.
The cold in the atmosphere seemed to get worse as he got closer and closer, until I couldn’t bear it and crossed my arms.
“I finally get to meet the elusive wife if my late brother,” the man said, finally coming to a stop in front of me.
He was taller than I had anticipated, so I stepped back a little so that I didn’t have to crane my neck upwards to look at him.
I drew my face into a tight smile, baring my teeth so slightly as I infused them with my werewolf essence. Just because people had never seen me shift, it didn’t mean that I couldn’t, or that I was harmless.
“And you must be Vladimir Vinci, the Exiled Wolf of the North.”