The music shifted into a slower, elegant tempo, and the Queen, beaming with maternal pride, gently took Isla's hand and practically pushed her directly toward Lucier, requesting that they share the next dance.
Isla aggressively rolled her eyes, heavily masking it as a polite blink.
''Honestly, I would much rather she had asked me to go outside and dance with a literal donkey than with him,'' she thought bitterly, her stomach twisting with sheer disgust.
''I mean, out of all the incredibly wealthy, influential people in this massive hall, my mother just had to pick this absolute clown for me to dance with? It would have been vastly better if I had just danced with that arrogant, pig-faced prince from earlier!
But if this insufferable bastard even thinks about trying to flirt with me right now, I swear I am going to choke the life out of him right here on the dance floor!''
A sudden spike of anger flared in her chest, but she immediately forced it down.
''No, no, no, Isla, you absolutely must control yourself right now! If you let your boiling rage slip even for a fraction of a second, your true, terrifying monstrous form will instantly reveal itself in front of the entire kingdom, and absolutely everything you have worked so hard for will be utterly destroyed!''
Prince Lucier stepped forward with practiced, nauseatingly perfect elegance, bowing deeply before gracefully extending his hand to ask for hers.
As Isla reluctantly placed her small hand in his, the grand orchestra began to play a completely new melody—and Isla's blood instantly ran completely cold.
It was the exact same haunting, magical music from that morning; the very same melody that had violently dragged her hidden, monstrous powers out into the open.
However, the King, who was the only other person fully aware of the horrifying danger that music posed to his daughter, was currently standing on the far side of the grand hall, completely engrossed in a deep, political conversation with his closest advisors, entirely failing to notice the terrifying melody filling the air.
Almost instantly, a sickening, suffocating wave of extreme restlessness washed over Isla.
Her breathing grew incredibly shallow as a strange, deeply unsettling, and painfully familiar burning sensation began to violently ripple right beneath her delicate skin.
'Isla? Are you alright?'
Lucier asked softly, leaning in closer as they awkwardly swayed to the cursed music.
'Yes, I am perfectly alright, why wouldn't I be? What on earth could possibly happen to me?' Isla snapped defensively, gritting her teeth against the rising, agonizing heat in her veins.
'Well, actually... it is just that your heavy foot is currently stepping incredibly hard directly onto my toes, and it is causing me quite a bit of physical pain,' he replied, his charming smile faltering slightly.
'What the hell?!' Isla scoffed loudly, completely abandoning her royal manners.
'You constantly go around confidently calling yourself my grand protector and my dearest friend, yet you can't even endure a tiny, insignificant bit of pain?'
'Actually, I would gladly endure absolutely any amount of pain for you,' Lucier sighed, his tone turning condescendingly arrogant.
'But... it just seems that today, your weight is slightly...'
'My weight?!' Isla hissed, her blue eyes flashing dangerously.
'Have you ever actually looked at yourself in the mirror, you absolute idiot? How dare you casually comment on my weight! I don't want to dance with you for another single second!'
Without waiting for his response, Isla forcefully yanked her hand away, violently shoved past him, and frantically sprinted out of the crowded, suffocating hall, desperately rushing up the grand marble staircase toward the isolated, open-air terrace of the palace roof.
The haunting music, however, was incredibly loud, and its cursed notes easily drifted up to the rooftop, relentlessly pursuing her.
The agonizing transformation began to take hold once more; her skin felt as though it were boiling from the inside out, and she could feel the terrifying, dark scales pushing painfully against her flesh.
When she squeezed her eyes shut, she knew with absolute, terrifying certainty that if she were to look in a mirror right now, her brilliant blue irises would be glowing a vibrant, predatory, and monstrous red.
''Oh gods, please make it stop, it hurts so much!'' she cried internally, collapsing against the cold stone railing, desperately gasping for air.
And then, just as suddenly as the excruciating torment had begun, the haunting music abruptly and completely stopped.
The suffocating pressure in the air instantly vanished, and Isla gasped a huge, desperately needed lungful of the cool night air as the agonizing pain rapidly faded away.
Her terrifying, monstrous features rapidly receded, and she slowly began to feel entirely normal once again.
''Whoever just forcefully stopped that cursed music down there has done me an incredibly massive, life-saving favor,'' she thought, her entire body trembling violently with sheer relief.
''Thank you, gods, for sending that absolute savior at the exact, perfect moment!''
She took a few minutes to compose herself before quietly slipping back down into the grand hall, seamlessly rejoining the massive, glittering crowd of the party without anyone even realizing she had been missing.