Work Text:
Elise stands in front of the mirror, admiring her new dress. It's the most beautiful thing she's ever worn and it's probably worth more than her house and everything in it back in Kieferberg. Although, that isn't really her house anymore. It's not as though she ever plans to return to it, she certainly doesn't need to.
She can't pretend she isn't giddy at the sight of herself draped in such rich fabric, made especially for her, highlighting all of her best assets. She's truly a gem that's been polished to a lustrous shine. Something precious and valuable and made to be pampered. Finally she has what she has always deserved. But with every swell of glee there's an undercurrent, deep and dark, of something else.
She feels sick to her stomach with it, both the triumph and the something else. All her emotions are running too hot, too fierce, threatening to burn her from the inside out. Elise is sure they will settle in time, when she's not so overwhelmed by the newness of everything. But for now she's yet to get a handle on it all.
She smoothes her skirt, tilts her head at her reflection, changes the angle of body slightly. Yes, she is utterly charming no matter how you look at her. Elise places a hand on her chest and forces a haughty laugh. If everyone in Kieferberg could see her now they'd surely feel foolish to have taken her so for granted. Perhaps they'd fall at her feet, beg her to share some of her fortune.
Spite makes her feel good. Finding somewhere deserving to direct her resentment distracts her. What matters is how terribly she hated her life before and that she escaped that endless drudgery. Anything else is a trifle, not worth spoiling the bigger picture over.
She looks at her own twitching smile and the bags under her eyes. Those will undoubtedly even out in time. After all she wants for nothing. It's merely a symptom of adjusting to a different equilibrium, nothing more. Of course she's entirely content and fulfilled. How could anything else be true?
Her bedchamber – chamber, not room, imagine that! – is itself so completely faultless she could not possibly complain. A bed large enough to drown in with sheets of real silk, crystal chandeliers shimmering on the vaulted ceiling, an entire lounge suite for entertaining guests, vast and luxurious beyond compare.
Honestly, she has found it difficult to leave her chambers at all. It has everything she needs after all! She does not even have to leave for meals if she does not want to, servants will bring food directly to her. Fresh air is readily available if she opens the doors to the balcony. There are fragrant flowerboxes out there so she need not venture into the garden to enjoy the smell of fresh flora either. Comfort overflows everywhere she turns.
Elise's neck twinges and she rubs a hand over it, casting her gaze down. Sometimes it hurts a little where that snake left her mark. Her eye has a similar reaction where that crow left his. It's not a consistent pain so she's not entirely convinced it isn't psychosomatic. That final night in the woods is still fresh so she is hopeful it will stop when the memory fades. Replaced with music and desserts and all the things she could never have before.
She had only known Rozenmarine for a week. One single week couldn't possibly hang over her for the rest of her life. Rozenmarine herself had said... had insisted it was fate. If that were the case, Elise really couldn't have done anything differently. She hadn't had a choice!
Still, thoughts of Rozenmarine have Elise's chest tightening until she can't breathe. She starts picking at her fingernails just to give herself something to do. She is frantic, scratching with quick, jerky motions. Blood blooms from her nailbeds, covering her hands and dripping onto the polished floors.
Elise's wide eyes flash over her own haunting visage. What she sees is not truly so different from the Elise she has always been. Dressed up as she is it isn't a noble lady staring back. Just a girl, one who had not been born into or earned her position but had cheated her way into it. One truly in over her head. She is beautiful. A beautiful idiot.