You have essentially poured in every penny you had.

Today was your debutante ball, your official first step into high society.

Since it was your first ball, you prepared more grandly and brilliantly than anyone else. The hall was filled with sparkling lights, high-end cuisine and wine were served continuously, and fresh floral decorations adorned the entire banquet hall.

You had no doubt that for tonight, you would be the protagonist of this social circle.

At first, there were definitely crowds of people.

"...But that lasted only a very short while."

Along with perfunctory, formal greetings, people began to leave one by one. As luck would have it, news arrived that a lady from a famous nearby Ducal family had suddenly thrown a massive ball today.

At the hour when the ball's heat should have reached its peak, people flocked to the party next door like an ebbing tide, as if they had all made a pact.

And finally. No one was left in the vast banquet hall.

An empty hall. The lingering scent of burning candles. Food growing cold, left untouched.