Heading into the ballroom, Oriana came face-to-face with what she had hoped for.
All the decorations she had messed with, bar a few, were present around the room.
How it had happened, Oriana did not know. She expected that the Royal family would see them and request they be taken down, or make a stink at the Merchants Guild.
But, for some reason, that had not happened.
The only thing she could think of was that the members of the Royal family had not been informed of the decorations, and hadn't had a chance to check how the ballroom looked yet. It's not like they would be putting them up themselves. It would be down to the servants, and they could hardly speak up to push back on using certain decorations that the royal family had brought.
The only decorations that had been removed were the banners which had ducks on them. A shame, but Oriana realised that these people saw the heraldry of the royal family all the time. So, of course, they wouldn't put up banners that didn't represent the symbol of the family they were part of. They probably thought it was some sort of error from the Guild.
In their place, they had tapestries and other banners. Probably ones from elsewhere in the castle to ensure there was enough in the ballroom.
The good news was that while they had dealt with the banners, the rest of the decorations had remained, and they looked perfect.
All around the room were pictures of the princess, oil paintings and other such methods were used to bring out the glimmer in her eyes, showing off how beautiful she was.
And between each of them was a lovely painting of Sir James Kraven in various heroic poses and moments from past deeds that had been recreated.
On their own, they would probably look amazing. It made sense why the Marquise had wanted them, as they truly did make you feel like you could face the world with him at your back.
But interspersed between the beautiful pictures of the princess…it really did not go.
Did the servants think that the princess had some sort of adoration for the hero, or a crush, maybe? That was the only reason she could think of for them to put them up.
Granted, Oriana hadn't realised that while the servants worked in the castle, it wasn't like they knew the princess personally. So they have every right to think that that was the case. I mean, the people from the castle had ordered the pictures.
Around the rest of the room, she could see the other changes she had implemented. The incorrect fabric for the tablecloth was one of them.
This change was something she thought was quite genius. It was something of a long play.
The material it was made from was Sawinian Spider Silk. It sounds nice, and the tablecloth itself looks incredible, but the item itself is something of a 'got you back' gift.
It was for the times when someone wronged you, and you wanted to make them pay, but didn't want to actually hurt or kill them. You just wanted to cause some confusion, a bit of panic, and embarrassment for them.
That is where the Sawinian Spider Silk comes in. It's versatile, beautiful and soft to the touch. Although one property about the silk is that once you touch it, you will not want to ever again.
Special care is required to weave the silk into such a thing as a tablecloth, because touching the silk causes a toxin to enter your skin. It's not poisonous and will cause no permanent harm, but the effect it had was sure to make things awkward for the guests
She was sure that would cause some fuss a little later, after everyone had eaten…and with the servants who had laid it on the table.
---
Other changes around the room included the carpet. It being a ballroom, the carpet was only on the edges of the room, and the royal family had ordered something special for this day.
It was to be a lovely purple, reminiscent of wealth and as far as the gossip from the other nobles, said to be the princess's favourite colour.
A shame, then, that Oriana had managed to change it into a nice rainbow.
She didn't think the dyers would have been able to do it, but she was proved wrong. And how good that felt now that she could see it in its splendour.
And then, Oriana turned towards the center of the room.
"Wow."
To find…piece de resistance.
At the center of the room stood the massive ice sculpture.
At its base, she could see mana crystals and the edges of a ritual circle, all keeping the sculpture frozen solid.
It itself was around twice her height, maybe more, and on its circular base, it had enough area to depict a scene.
The original one would probably have shown Lady Greenthorn holding her staff in the air. She would have stood on the head of some sort of monster, a chimaera if she recalled correctly. It would have lain dead on the floor, but its serpent tail was still in the air, going to attack Lady Greenthorn.
It truly would have been a marvellous sculpture, and would have turned heads as soon as you entered the room.
This new one…well, it did the same but for another reason.
The scene itself was entirely different. Lady Greenthorn stood in her heroic pose, but to her side were goblins and various other small monsters. They lay on the ground, looking defeated, but not dead.
Lady Greenthorn had her staff out, but it was not pointed at the monsters. If anything, it was pointed away from them. She was also almost in a crouch, so much so that she was quite close to one of the goblins on the ground. Some would say…almost in an intimate way.
It was quite the scandal and was sure to cause a lot of confusion.
She was glad it came out so well.
When she had changed the request, she decided to go along with the whole flamboyant metaphorical speak of the original request, stating that she wanted Lady Greenthorn to be at her moment of victory, standing by the foes she had subdued, and understanding that this was the end of the conflict, would show resolve and restraint, ensuring that she would look one enemy in the eye to discern their soul.
There was a lot of other flowery nonsense around it, but it did what she hoped. Well, it did what she hoped it would do to the ice sculptors. It caused them to take all that nonsense and make their own interpretation as artists, while ensuring they met the letter of the request.
It honestly could have turned out to be completely different and entirely normal, but that was a risk she had to take to ensure the ice sculptors didn't just say no to a strange request for the sculpture to be of the hero tripping or something. As a highly reputable place, they were sure to look into anything that could damage their reputation, such as making a sculpture that annoys a hero.
Thankfully, it came out well. But as Oriana looked at it, she couldn't help but feel a tad…regretful.
As brilliant as the sculpture was, the original would have shown off Lady Greenthorn's appeal.
An appeal that Oriana could see from her image, even as she looked like she was about to kiss a goblin.
"She is…beautiful," she said to herself as she stared into the sculpture's eyes.
It almost felt like the sculpture was staring back as well…
Catching herself, she looked around, checking to see if anyone heard her, before moving out of the way and away from the sculpture that was causing her to think about something other than the chaos that this ball was experiencing.
---
It didn't take long for everyone to slowly enter the ballroom.
As they did, you could hear all of the mutterings as they looked around the room.
"What is with that carpet… It's so strange."
"Would you look at that, you can tell that this tablecloth cost quite a lot of coin. You can practically feel the wealth." One noble said as he stroked the fabric. It started to make Oriana a little uncomfortable watching him do it.
"I must say, what is with these pictures of Sir James Kraven. I know he looks heroic in them, but why are they here, along with pictures of the Princess?"
"It could be that she sees him as an idol, as many others do."
"Maybe, but it still seems odd for so many pictures of him to be present in the princess's debutant ball."
"Could it be…an infatuation with the man?"
"You can't be serious."
"Exactly, how could she have such feelings for the man when she has not even seen him trip over a log and fall into a swamp. You can not just fall for the hero; you need to understand the man underneath the heroic persona as well."
The faces of the two nobles who had been chatting away about the oddity of the pictures slowly turned to the newcomer who had just joined them. An equally odd expression formed on their faces as they saw the man.
"Wait, isn't that the Marquise who purchased those pictures from before?" Oriana mused to herself. "Huh, small world."
More comments arose from people around the room, but it wasn't long before everyone's mind was on the centrepiece of the ballroom.
"What…I don't understand it. Why is Lady Greenthorn not killing those goblins?"
"It almost looks like she is…saving them."
"Don't you think she is a little too close to that one there?"
It was music to her ears, drowning out the classical concerto that was already being played.
And so, having seen the fruits of her labour, she headed over to the food and drinks table, took one of the glasses of wine that she knew was good, along with the first of many samples of deserts and took a sip and a bite as she waited for the show to start.
"Ohh, tastes so good."