Amos watched Emilia seamlessly mingle with the young boys and girls of the upper class. It didn't look like she was attending this kind of party for the first time at all, making all his efforts through the years look like complete jokes.
Of course, with Emilia's previous experience, handling this kind of social event really wasn't much at all.
Not to mention Dixie, even the other partygoers thought that Emilia treated the party quite casually. But only she knew how much thought she had put into today's appearance.
Emilia was well aware of the importance of first impressions. If a person's thoughts of her could be described as an object, Emilia considered the first impression to define the overall shape of the object in one go, while her later interactions with them could only cause minor deformations at best.
It was like carving a statue. If the initial stone cutout didn't match the final product in general shape, it would take the sculptor far longer to get it all done. And in some cases, it might not even be possible.
If someone's first impression of her was overwhelmingly negative, it might take a very compelling event and quite a bit of time just to change it to neutral. As for turning it into a positive impression, that would be an even more arduous task.
Of course, nothing was set in stone. Some people were just more objective than the rest, while some were inherently biased. But Emilia considered this the most effective way to win people over, and it had served her well so far.
Even if Maeve's betrayal had shattered a lot of her pride, Emilia didn't believe her approach was ineffective.
Not everyone in the high society attended all the events, although there would certainly be some who did so. Of the students in Emilia's class, only three were attending the party today, so most of the people here would see her with their own eyes for the first time.
This was when their 'real' image of herself would be formed. It didn't matter what they had heard from others or what they saw on the TV or the internet. It could all be instantly warped, because except for the most gullible, people only really believed what they witnessed with their own eyes.
Once so many people in the high society had a 'solid' first impression of herself, the foundation for building her reputation could be laid down. And as more of her classmates started integrating with the high society, this foundation would continue to become firmer.
This was why she had put so much thought into both her appearance as well as her entrance.
Not to mention her looks, even her choice of partner mattered a lot. If she had entered alone while seeming so eye-catching, it would make her appear either aloof or arrogant. So the most obvious choice when coming to this kind of party was to be escorted by someone of the opposite gender.
This also provided many people who originally didn't belong here to come to the party as 'partners'. The more conservative people would choose to go with their family members instead.
This was an easy way out since most youngsters were just 'extras' in the party most of the time anyway. Their guardians would also certainly be here, negotiating business deals or simply building connections with others of equal or higher status.
Hence many young daughters entered by hanging on to their father's arms, while others chose their brothers or uncles. It wasn't uncommon, and this was what Samantha had planned for her as well.
However, Emilia's choice for her escort ended up being Dixie, who was supposed to be her 'competition'. Of course, this notion was absurd for anyone who knew of their relationship. But Emilia knew this was how most people here considered it.
Here, even the best friends who seemed to get along well competed with each other secretly. Sometimes, they would chase after the same goals even if none of them would have been really interested in them otherwise. It was all just a means to an end, to establish 'dominance' over their 'buddies'.
This was the case for most boys, and it was the same for the girls. Although they seemed to get along so well, there were very few true, genuine friendships to be seen. Every little thing from their clothing, accessories, and even their choice of boyfriends was one big 'competition'.
Since that was so, and all of them were well aware of it, choosing to come in this way would have typically only earned her scorn and ridicule. After all, either she was using Dixie as a foil to make herself look good, which would make her despicable. Or she was just pretentiously acting like 'good sisters' with the girl, which would make her 'lowly'.
As for Dixie? She was probably just pleasing her to get more benefits from her family, making her a conniving little weasel.
But that's where Dixie's attitude and mannerisms came in and turned the whole mess in her favour. With just a single glance, even an idiot could feel her deep, undying obsession with the girl in her arms. Moreover, although her choice of outfit was a coincidence, that wasn't how it appeared to everyone else.
To them, Dixie intentionally tried to appear more like a boy, despite her obviously feminine body and face, in a futile effort to enter Emilia's eyes as a suitor.
Dixie wasn't an unknown face in the circle. Although she wasn't very regular, she had made a fair number of appearances over the years, and was quite familiar with many people even at this party.
To bend this girl over so far, Emilia's charm must be terrifying, and her attitude towards her friends must be extremely good.
And thus Emilia, who was clinging on to her friend innocently, boosted her perceived charisma exponentially.
Of course, a relationship between two girls was 'impossible', or so most people here thought. At most, Dixie was just obsessed with her friend.
But that didn't stop some boys from wanting to go over to Amos to poke fun at this normally invincible opponent.
After all, his supposed fiancée and childhood sweetheart was clinging to someone who was clearly obsessed with her. Isn't that an extreme loss of face for a boy who is usually so self-important and overbearing?
Only a few people had the guts to directly say this to the hero's face, of course, but they could still discuss it 'in private'. It's not like they were making sure he could overhear it, okay?
"Tsk tsk, just how bad of a boyfriend do you have to be for your girlfriend to prefer other girls over you?"
"Ahahaha… I guess you would have to be pretty shit. Badmouthing her everywhere you go, never paying her any attention, all that stuff. You know, just tick all the checkboxes of being a petty douche."
This time, not only did Theo not stop his friends, he even encouraged them instead. Any conversation that could infuriate that suspicious bastard was a good one in his books.
"Yo, are there really such scumbags in this world?"
"There are plenty, man, even I know of one. Oh, of course, he's a distant cousin of mine, lives in Africa. You don't know him. Ah, Amos, my man, I didn't see you there."
The hero's face turned green as he clenched his fists furiously.
'These fucking morons who aren't even man enough to compare to my toenails dare to spout shit like this?!'
But of course, even if he wanted to tear their face off and kick their teeth in, he couldn't really admit that they were talking about himself, could he? That would be just admitting that he was being insulted like that, and it was too much for his ego to handle.
The Gregory sisters didn't seem to be quite as tactful, however.
"Sister Mia, who is that girl's fiancé?"
"I don't know, Tia. I only heard about Emilia White today. It's actually quite surprising, considering she's that White family's daughter..."
The boys seemed delighted that two cute young blondes had been 'brought' into their group by the furious Amos.
This guy couldn't have a cuckolding fetish, could he?