Chapter 10: Chapter 10

More than three weeks have passed since that evening. I avoided Alex. Even when I was playing with Desmond, I tried not to run into him. The duke didn't talk about my marriage to the crown prince, either. But it was time for the hunting competition, and all the servants were actively preparing for our departure. The Duchess and Desmond will stay at home, because children should not attend such events. My maids have been circling me since morning preparing for today's banquet.

"My lady, a package has arrived from the atelier we visited last time." Nina was holding a white box with a pink bow in her hands.

I picked up the note that lay on it.

"Hello, Lady Valmont. My name is Sarah. I am the daughter of the owner of the atelier. Father conveyed your kind words to me, my happiness cannot be expressed in words. I am very grateful to you for your kindness. Please accept this gift from me, I hope you will continue to be my client."

"This is a gift from the owner's daughter." I smiled.

"Want to see what's inside?"

"Certainly." I answered with joyful anticipation.

Sarah sent me her new dress. This girl had real talent because the dress looked amazing. It was an open shoulder dress in a beautiful peach colour with a moderately fluffy skirt embroidered with pearls.

"Nina, I will wear this dress."

"All right, my lady."

The maids did my make-up to match the dress, and put my hair in beautiful ringlets. I chose a delicate set of red ruby jewellery.

"Lady, this time you will be the queen of the hunt. All men will present their trophies to you." One of the maids chatted happily.

"I don't care." Because I knew Bella would win.

I said goodbye to Desmond and the Duchess and hurried to the carriage. The Duke gave me his hand and helped me into the carriage. I didn't know what happened to him, but I hoped these changes were for the best. Alex first carefully examined me, and then, frowning, turned to the window. I immediately opened the book and began to read. I had no desire to talk with him, or with the duke.

"Ariana, isn't your dress too revealing?" The Duke addressed me in the same cold tone as always.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Girls your age shouldn't be wearing that."

"There are girls who wear dresses even worse." I turned the page in the book.

"There might be bad rumours about you."

"I don't care. It won't be worse than before." I thought I had already said those words to Alex.

The Duke fell silent, and no longer tried to talk to me. I was not his daughter; I would not be interested in his opinion. It was tough to call this man father. Alex and the duke discussed something after the carriage set off. I was not interested, so I did not pay attention to them and read the book all the way.

***

It was closer to five o'clock when we drove up to the high stone gates. Behind them, we could see the trees. I thought this was the imperial hunting grounds. The line of carriages was long enough. The aristocracy from all over the empire was present at these competitions. A few minutes later, we passed the gate and stopped near a huge tent with the coat of arms of the Valmont family. All the aristocrats and even the imperial family stayed in tent camps during the competition. Their coats of arms could only distinguish them. But since I was not from this world, these drawings did not tell me anything.

There was a banquet today, and there would be a jousting tournament tomorrow. Only then would the competition begin. I put the book aside and waited for Duke and Alex to leave the carriage. Alex gave me his hand. Now I was starting to wish it was the duke. After that night, I didn't know how to communicate with him. But there were too many people here. I carefully took his hand and went downstairs. Nina and the rest of the servants began to carry the luggage into the tent.

"Now it's time for the banquet." The duke pointed in the direction of the crowd of aristocrats. "Alex, take your sister's hand."

"Good." The blond answered briefly and grabbed my hand tightly.

The entire banquet lawn was beautifully decorated with fine fabrics, flowers, and ribbons. A fence of tall bushes, and garlands hung on them, which illuminated everything around us. As soon as we passed, everyone started whispering. I noticed Bella. She was standing in the company of some girls. They were discussing something and laughing. We approached the emperor and empress, who were seated on thrones.

"Obedient servant, salutes the sun and moon of the empire." The Duke bowed. Alex and I too.

"Derek, stop all this. You are my friend." The Emperor waved his hand.

"I'm glad you think so. But the rules of etiquette must be observed."

"Your daughter has grown up to be a real beauty. Everyone just looked at her at the debutante ball." The Emperor smiled at me.

"Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty." I bowed my head.

"Enjoy the banquet, your father and I have something to discuss."

Alex and I bowed and left. I stopped near a large tree and looked around, and Alex silently stood next to me.

"Lady, I'm glad to see you here." Keane walked up to me and smiled.

"Good afternoon, Sir Keane." I smiled back at him.

"Lady Valmont, I was looking forward to meeting you." Crown Prince Mikael was walking toward us. How horrible. I completely forgot about him.

"Greetings, little sun of the empire." Alex and I bowed to him.

"Princess, there you are." Aiden, smiling broadly, moved away from the group of girls and also headed toward us.

"Good afternoon, Aiden." I curtsied.

"With each of our meetings, you become even more beautiful." He took my hand and kissed it. "How did you get home? Was your head spinning?"

"No, thanks to you everything was fine."

"It makes me very happy. Magical influence sometimes brings discomfort."

"Aiden, how long are you going to ignore my presence?" The crown prince turned to the mage.

"Your highness, we have already seen you." He smiled dazzlingly at him. "But I haven't seen the princess for three weeks."

"I didn't think you were interested in such young girls." Mikael chuckled and shook his head.

"That is not what you are thinking, Your Highness. You don't have to judge me."

After his words, it seemed to me that even the air around our company turned a few degrees colder.

"So that's who you were with that day." Alex's voice was very annoying.

"No reason to be angry. The princess was just helping me. True, right?" Aiden winked at me.

"Help?" The blond almost hissed those words.

"Exactly. But in your eyes I see something more interesting."

"Whatever you see is none of your business."

"What we did with your sister is also none of your business." Aiden smiled at him.

Our company attracted a lot of attention. Everyone was watching us with interest.

"Princess, will you give me a dance?" The mage held out his hand to me.

"Yes. Certainly." I smiled tightly.

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We went to the dancing couples and started dancing. I noticed that almost all girls and even women looked at me with hatred. It was probably all because of Aiden, but he didn't seem to care.

"Princess, why are you looking at me like that?" He smiled at me.

"Your fans will kill me right after our dance."

"Well, then today we will have two corpses."

"What are you speaking about?"

"Because they will kill me too because of you."

"Are you kidding again?" I smiled at him.

"No. There is only truth in my words. Sadly, I'm incapable of telling lies." The mage shook his head.

"Why are you being rude to the crown prince?"

"That boy is too arrogant. You need to lower him to the sinful earth from time to time." He chuckled.

"Everything is so simple for you."

"I don't like to complicate things. There are already so many problems in this world."

"You're right. May I ask you a personal question?"

"My heart is free, if that's what you mean." Aiden winked at me.

"Not. I wanted to ask, how old are you?" I laughed.

"Twenty-seven."

"Is that why you call the prince a boy?"

"Yes. He has not yet ascended the throne, but he thinks that the whole world is in his hands."

"I can see that."

"But I honestly thought you were going to say that you like me."

"I like you."

"Really."

But not as a man, but as a person. I like to communicate with you. I smiled at him again.

It was true. At first, I was scared of him, but it was easy to talk to him even though he made fun of me. I was not even so embarrassed by the fact that he loved the attention of women.

"We only see each other for the third time." He frowned.

"I just feel that you are a good person."

"Don't say that."

"But these are my feelings."

Aiden didn't answer. He just looked at me as if trying to find something in my expression or words. The music stopped, and we bowed to each other.

"Princess, I want to apologise." He took my hand and pulled me towards him.

"For what? You didn't do anything."

"For my mistaken opinion of you." Aiden ran his hand through my hair.

"But I don't know what you thought of me, so I can't be offended by you." I smiled at him.

"You are truly an amazing girl."

"I think you're exaggerating."

"No, not at all. Now I understand why you were so taken care of."

I was about to tell Aiden he was wrong, but a bugle sounded. This meant that the emperor would give a speech. Aiden smiled at me and quickly left. He didn't even seem to have much respect for the emperor. But to force a thirteen-year-old boy to fight and kill, I couldn't even imagine how Aiden felt.

"As you all remember tomorrow, there will be a tournament on the occasion of the start of the hunt. I hope all participants are well prepared for it. After all, this is a great opportunity to show everything that you are capable of." The Emperor raised his glass.

Everyone applauded him loudly. I turned around and went to the tent. I was a bit tired from the trip and wanted to go to bed early. Especially if I left, I wouldn't run into the Crown Prince again.

"My lady, why did you return so soon?" Nina looked at me in surprise when I entered.

"I'm already tired and I want to rest. Will you make me a cup of tea?" I smiled at her. "Your tea is the best."

"All right, my lady. Wait, I'll be right there. Your room is on the right."

I went into the room and sat down on the prepared bed.

"Let's talk." Alex burst into the room.

"Are you going to start interrogating me again about where have I been?" I arched an eyebrow.

"No."

"Okay, I'm listening to you. Just stay where you are, don't get any closer."

"You're pushing me away again, just like you did then." He chuckled.

"I already said that I don't remember that time."

"But I remember."

"Did you want to talk about it?" I asked wearily.

"No matter how much you push me away, nothing will change. My feelings for you will remain too."

"Your feelings?"

"I already told you, you just have to remember." He turned around and left.

Yes, what was wrong with him? How was I supposed to remember what I didn't know? But after his words, I had a feeling that the reason for his hatred was not in his mother and brother, but in the fact that Ariana had pushed him away. God, why was everything so complicated? I touched my temples with my fingers. I wanted to rest, but in the end, I got a migraine instead.

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