𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙮, Bridgerton

01

- CHAPTER ONE -
✧
- Season One -

. . .

The corset that had been fitted to her waist was making each and every breath that left Ophelia's body sound hollow and ghastly, as if it were scraping together the last of the oxygen within her lungs and forcing it out with the help of nothing. How annoying it was indeed that in order for Queen Charlotte to deem them beautiful, their waists must be nothing but as minuscule as possible and their faces as seamless and heavenly.

She regretted choosing to go first in getting dressed, for Daphne would be be able to last longer in front of the Queen without fainting. But nonetheless, she did not despise the satin dress resting above the corset, nor the embroidered golden embellishments upon her puffed sleeves or skirt.

But it seemed Ophelia's terrible breaths would have to last even longer. With her red hair plaited around and around her head until it was looped into a bun, and her makeup done to only enhance her features, she followed after Eloise, Francesca and Hyancith in walking down the stairs and joining the hubbub of chaos at the bottom.

"I am already roasting." Eloise complained, marching down the staircase with purpose whilst the other three followed slightly less irritably. "Truly I cannot be expected to bare these fashions the entire day." She gestured to her frilly dress, ignoring Francesca's question of whether she would grumble on all day.

"I feel like a princess." Hyancith pinched at the top of her dress skirt to prevent her shoes from getting caught on the material and instead chose to wave the satin about. "Do I look like one?"

"Of course you do." Ophelia copied her actions in lifting her dress skirt, unsure of whether the Queen would really like to see a rip in the back as she walked back down the aisle with Daphne. She slowed down at the noise of thunderous footsteps behind her and quickly shifted to the left to keep from being knocked out of the way by Gregory who was eagerly making his way down the stairs.

"Gregory!" Hyancith ran after her brother after he barged into her shoulder, leaving the elder siblings to deal with the stress of downstairs by themselves.

"Is our dear sister still not ready?" Benedict walked across the entrance hall to meet them at the bottom of the stairs, just about avoiding the incredibly large vase of flowers in the very centre of the room.

"Oh, she's only been readying herself the entire night." Francesca threw her gloved hands up, falling into step with Ophelia who wasn't paying too much attention to the conversation but more to the new flowers adorning the shelf near by.

"You mean her entire life." Eloise rolled her eyes, coming to a stop in front of her brothers with the two girls following behind. "Ophelia's ready at least."

The fair-skinned girl flattened out her dress skirt as a flurry of nerves suddenly begun swimming around the pit of her stomach. "Daphne would like to go, I would much rather be riding right now." She needn't say much more, accepting the look of slight disappointment from Benedict and Colin who were just as enthusiastic for her to be named this season's diamond.

"You look wonderful, Ophelia." Colin wore a soft smile as he spoke to her, replacing it instantly with more impatient look as he turned to his brother. "I shall run upstairs and hasten her along."

"Colin, wait." Benedict brushed between the shoulders of Eloise and Francesca, reaching out to grab the brother's arm. "I'll do it."