Chapter 15
Emily turned her head to follow Valenti’s gaze towards the entrance, but she couldn’t see anything due to the crowd.
At that moment, a wave of quiet sound spread. As if something invisible was gradually spreading, everyone paused and turned their gaze to the entrance in sequence, and for that brief moment, a heavy silence swept through the hall.
Emily unknowingly swallowed dry at the strangely fierce and tense atmosphere. And after a brief silence, the banquet hall was once again filled with the sound of conversation as if nothing had happened, but everyone’s gaze was fixed on Prince Lucas and Kira, who had just entered.
“Ah, Miss Kira…”
As people turned to look at the entrance, Emily could see Kira and Prince Lucas entering the banquet hall together through the gaps.
Kira was wearing a white silk dress decorated with gold lace, with the lace rising to her neck emphasizing her slender throat. Her curly blonde hair covering it shimmered like golden waves under the chandelier light.
Prince Lucas standing next to her was wearing a suit with the same concept. It was predominantly white, but with gold decorations on the sleeves, collar, and waist area, and the large and small jewels decorating the elegant lines on the chest area each had an extraordinary sparkle.
As the two, all white and glittering gold, entered the generally dark-themed banquet hall, it seemed as if all the lights were shining on them, naturally drawing people’s attention.
As the two moved, people slowly made way for them. No one dared to approach first, but their gazes held many emotions.
“Miss Astina, are you alright?”
“What could the prince be thinking…”
Emily, who had been blankly staring at Kira and Prince Lucas from afar, suddenly turned her gaze at the whispers of young ladies nearby. Not far from where Emily was standing, four or five young ladies were gathered around Astina, trying to comfort her as her face turned bright red.
“Miss Astina, don’t be too upset.”
“Yes, yes.”
Astina’s reddened face was contorted with a mix of various emotions. She was tightly gripping her dress with her slightly trembling hands, and Lily, standing beside her, tightly clasped Astina’s hands with both of hers.
Even from where Emily was standing, she could see that Astina’s eyes had reddened. Seeing Astina’s dark brown eyes burning with numerous emotions, Emily quietly hid behind the balcony door and lowered the black curtain in front of her. There was no point in catching her eye here.
“Emil…”
“Shh-!!”
Valenti, puzzled when Emily suddenly moved away from his side and lowered the curtain between them, called out to her. But as soon as he opened his mouth, Emily put her hand to her lips, signaling him to be quiet, and he unconsciously closed his mouth.
“Just a moment, Marquis Valenti.”
Emily slightly lifted the curtain to check if Astina had noticed her presence due to Valenti’s voice earlier, and sighed in relief when she saw that no one had noticed yet. Then she lightly grabbed the right arm of the bewildered Valenti and led him close to the curtain to hide herself.
Valenti flinched and his fingertips trembled when Emily lightly grabbed his arm, but he obediently followed her lead without knowing why and stood where Emily wanted him to. Valenti’s gaze was fixed on her slender fingers holding his arm.
“Phew, I’m sorry. I’ll stay like this for a moment to avoid any trouble.”
“…Yes, I understand.”
Although he didn’t know what she was hiding from, Valenti just nodded. Relieved, Emily let go of Valenti’s arm and began to look around again. Valenti felt a strange sensation at the sight of Emily hiding behind him.
He looked at Emily for a moment and then moved closer to the curtain, hiding her from people’s gazes. She was standing with her shoulders slightly hunched in a position where only he could see her. Valenti took one more step closer to her without her noticing. As his arm touched her elbow, Valenti felt his lips tremble slightly and lowered his head a bit.
Emily and Valenti wished for this moment to continue for different reasons, but the situation didn’t go as they hoped. Kira and Prince Lucas were approaching their direction.
‘I don’t want to get caught in the middle again…’
As it seemed she would be caught between the two groups again in a delicate situation, Emily unconsciously furrowed her brow. However, at that moment, Lily Ramone, who was standing next to Astina, approached Lucas and Kira, trailing her dress.
“Ah, Lady Lily. It’s been a while.”
“I greet you, Second Prince.”
Lily, with her beautiful silver hair braided up and adorned with jewels, walked elegantly towards Lucas and curtsied slightly. Lucas welcomed her and nodded. Both of their eyes had a similar shape, with orange-tinged golden irises.
“Yes, have you been well, Your Highness? I’ve been disappointed that we rarely see each other despite attending the academy together.”
“It’s difficult to run into each other when the Magic Department and Swordsmanship Department have different classes.”
“That’s true. But it’s a bit sad that we’ve grown so distant when we used to spend time together every day with Miss Astina when we were young.”
Lucas momentarily paused when Astina’s name came from Lily’s lips. However, suppressing the urge to look at Astina standing behind Lily, he looked at his cousin sister.
“Lady Lily, isn’t it natural that we see each other often in the palace since we’re cousins? Here at the academy, we naturally don’t run into each other since we’re in different classrooms.”
As Lucas answered with a slight smile, Lily smiled back and glanced at Kira beside Lucas.
“That’s true. Kira is also in the Magic Department, which is quite interesting.”
“Indeed, thinking of each other seems to increase the chances of running into each other by chance.”
As Lucas and Lily looked at each other with gentle smiles, an invisible battle of nerves unfolded between them, while Kira stood silently. Lily, who glanced at her, raised her hand to a servant serving pre-dinner drinks in the distance.
“Here.”
At Lily’s gesture, the servant approached with a tray of drinks in one hand and offered it to her. Lily took two glasses from the tray, gave one to Lucas, and then gestured towards Kira. The servant naturally approached Kira and handed her a drink.
“It’s fate that we entered the academy at the same time, and if possible, I’d love to have lunch together sometime, Your Highness.”
“If the opportunity arises, gladly.”
As Lucas raised his glass to Lily and took a sip, Lily gave him a beautiful smile, bowed lightly, and retreated. Astina’s red hair was briefly visible behind Lily before being obscured. At that moment, Lucas quickly lowered his head and averted his gaze.
Kira, watching Lucas, had a strange expression. As it was her first time attending such a banquet and she was the prince’s partner, she was quietly observing the atmosphere without moving carelessly. Catching an unexpected glimpse of Lucas’s behavior, Kira brought her drink to her lips to hide her expression.
“Eden, you were here?”
Meanwhile, Emily was anxiously watching Kira and Prince Lucas from behind the balcony curtain when suddenly a blue outfit blocked her view. Feeling frustrated, she looked up. There stood William, who had approached after seeing Eden.
“Why are you standing there blankly instead of coming over? Leaving me to die under everyone’s gaze alone is too much.”
William, not noticing Emily’s presence, put his hand on Eden’s shoulder as he spoke. Eden answered indifferently.
“No one would be looking at you.”
“No, that’s just a figure of speech. You’d know if you stood behind those two, the gazes feel like they could skewer you. But why are you standing here? Not going out to the balcony, not coming in, just standing in front of the curtain… Whoa, you startled me!”
William, who had raised an eyebrow at Eden’s strangely awkward posture, approached the curtain and was startled by the faintly visible silhouette of a woman.
The balcony area was dimly lit, and the shadow of a person with curly hair let down was faintly visible through the black curtain. He almost screamed, thinking it was a real ghost, not a joke.
“Hello, Lord Chase.”
Then Emily, with an embarrassed expression, peeked her head out from behind the curtain and greeted him with an awkward smile.
“Huh? Oh, yes. Hello, Miss Emily. Why are you standing there? I’m not joking, I really thought you were a ghost. Haha!”
As William approached Emily with an embarrassed laugh, Eden frowned slightly, suddenly feeling unpleasant.
“I’m sorry, Lord Chase. I just wanted some fresh air, so I came out for a moment.”
“Ah, I see.”
But for that, Eden was standing as if he was about to bury Miss Emily into the wall.
William swallowed the words that came to his mind and gave Emily a silly smile.
“But Marquis Valenti came alone today?”
As he was talking to William, he suddenly remembered that Valenti had arrived at the banquet hall alone earlier, and William answered with a strange expression.
“Well, Eden was too eye-catching today, so Prince Lucas sent him ahead.”
“Pardon?”
“Prince Lucas said that if this guy with his incredible looks was next to him, all the attention would be stolen by Eden, so he told Eden to go first.”
“Ah… I see.”
At William’s words, Emily looked at Valenti again and nodded strongly in agreement. It would certainly be difficult to get attention with such a face next to you.
“Is the Second Prince the type who likes to be the center of attention?”
“Well, it’s never happened before, so we were a bit puzzled too. He seemed to pay a lot of attention to his appearance today, as if it was a particularly important day. I guess it might be because it’s the first banquet he’s attending with Kira as his partner?”
As William shrugged and answered, Emily glanced once more at where the two were standing. Kira and Prince Lucas standing side by side certainly looked like a picture.
“By the way, Miss Emily.”
Noticing that Eden’s expression was becoming strangely darker the longer his conversation with Emily continued, William put on a slightly mischievous expression and spoke to Emily again.
