182 2.2.7: Debutant Party V

Her eyes clouded with darkness at her sudden turn of thoughts, but Adriel, who was next to her, thought she had turned gloomy because she had seen the new couple. When he first found out from his mother that he was to escort the daughter of the Warrington duke, he was suspicious. Although his mother told him that she owed the Duchess of Warrington a favor, he was still doubtful that there was something else behind the favor. So he had his men investigate and he found out who he was escorting. Even though he didn't discover everything about her, he did find out that she was an illegitimate daughter, but something else was even more odd. Rumors were that she was very close to the heir of the Harrison nobles, Dominic. Rumors also were that they had deep feelings for each other which caused them to rebel against their families.

At first, Adriel didn't believe in the nonsense. It sounded like something straight of out of a silly play. Even more so, if she was really harboring deep feelings for the Harrison heir, then why would she want him to be her escort for one of the most important events in her life? So, he brushed it aside as another nonsensical rumor that high society had blown out of proportion. But, at the moment, when he saw her deep in thought with a grim look in her eyes, he realized that there must have been some truth to the rumor. For some reason, that made him uncomfortable and he gripped her hand even harder, snapping her out of her daze.

"Your H-Highness," she stuttered, not expecting to be caught looking in their direction. Her behavior made him even more annoyed, particularly when she saw them meet eyes.

"Miss Warrington, the next song is starting." Before she had a chance to speak, he had already dragged her to dance again. In the midst of their dance, he found himself contemplating on his actions. He hadn't expected to be so childish. He already knew about the rumors, yet why did seeing the rumors happen before his eyes bother him as much as they did? He had never felt so irritated for something so foolish, but there was a first time for everything.

Now that a couple of hours had passed, he came to realize that he didn't find her the way he expected her to be, at all. He expected a spoiled and infatuated socialite, but she was neither spoiled nor infatuated. At least infatuated with him. He didn't like the presumption and continued to steer her to dance, preventing others from asking the main star of the night to dance. It was very puerile of him but he subconsciously found her company more enjoyable than he originally thought.

Xiao Yunhua was still catching her breath when they finally sat down. For some reason, the moment that Dominic and Liliana entered, the crown prince had a sudden burst of energy to dance nonstop, and he dragged her with him. Hence, she was forced to endure and used up all her energy to keep up with him. Her feet ached and she was sure they were going to bleed at any time. She couldn't imagine the horror if she wore a corset.

Her eyes wandered to the people staring at them, especially her, with a newfound interest. Even she was confused, nonetheless the nobles. The crown prince wasn't interested in her, so why did he want to dance with her for so long? She was sure that if she didn't show signs of fatigue, he would've kept going.

Had he acted like this for his other appearances with his other partners?

No.

According to the rumors, the few times that the crown prince made an appearance, he was very rarely dancing or actually involved with his partner. So that meant that her debutant party had encouraged him to be more involved? No matter which way she looked at it, she found the situation weird.

Her wandering eyes met the Duchess who looked very pleased with her. In the years that she had lived with her, this was the first time that her green eyes didn't remind Xiao Yunhua of a snake. Instead; they were filled with joy and sparkles like a young maiden. The Duchess' lips curled into a gentle smile when she realized that Violetta was looking at her, like an encouraging mother.

The only thing that Xiao Yunhua could think was...creepy.

Even when she acted like she enjoyed her company, she didn't go this far. The Duchess right now was just too different in comparison to her usual and her acting.

Xiao Yunhua shook her head and ignored the smiling Duchess, her eyes scanning even more until they met the warm chocolate brown eyes that belong to a person that she hadn't seen for months. Ever since his knighting ceremony and his oath to protect her, she had been swept away in the preparations for the debutant party, which was her coming of age. Earlier, they had met eyes for a couple of seconds, but now, they were really looking at each other. She couldn't decipher what he was thinking and neither could he. Their locked eyes weren't noticed by the buzzing crowd and the people who were minding their own business and occasionally looking in her direction. No one would've guessed that the young miss of the Warrington Household, who was looking forward, was actually looking at the distant Harrison Knight.

No one but Adriel, the crown prince who was seated next to Violetta. Not only did the weird feeling of irritation grow in his chest again, but he wanted to avert her eyes back to him. He couldn't understand, they had just met. Why could she cause him to be irritated like this?

He cleared his throat, hoping to get her attention. When he realized that she was still looking at the noble son and knight, he asked, "Miss Warrington, what is it that you're staring so intensely at?" Once the words were out of his mouth, she froze and so did he.

Turning to him, she was speechless and he couldn't blame her. He sounded like a jealous husband who had caught his wife eyeing other men. Other than being her escort, he was not her fiancé nor did he have any right to question her with such a tone, but neither he nor she had the compulsion to say it.

In the end, she murmured an apology and turned her attention to him fully. The awkward atmosphere that followed could only be dispelled with a random topic that she brought up, "So, Your Highness seems to enjoy books?" Out of all the things she could say, she said something she saw thanks to the system! She hoped that he wouldn't interrogate her about where she learned that from, which luckily, he didn't. Instead, he nodded curtly and didn't pay attention to how she knew about it. She wanted to continue so she asked, "Which books would you say is your favorite?" He was surprised to see her asking this question because he, himself, had never thought about it.

"I can't list a single one particularly, but I do enjoy quite a few." He proceeded to list a couple of names and she widened her eyes. Even though enjoyed the romance genre, the books he listed were militaristic and unsuitable for a young lady. Fortunately, she had gotten bored and read many things, including the titles that he said.

"Oh, I enjoy those books too!" Now, it was his turn to be surprised. A young lady would never read those brute books because they were purely strategic and too much for their delicacy. But, he was astonished when she began to list them with details. Soon, he found himself fervently conversing with her and she with him. Since he focused on his studies and swordsmanship, he didn't speak with a lot of people nor had a lot of hobbies. Reading was one of his rare hobbies, but the books he enjoyed weren't very enjoyable to the general public, nonetheless a young lady. But she was on track with him and even remembered small details that he had brushed over. He didn't know that she had a photographic memory that helped her cheat, he just assumed that her level of intelligence was high.

Her aura of maturity when he first saw her was really brought to light when she discussed things beyond her age and beyond what a fragile young miss should know. By now, his prejudice that she was a bratty young miss had completely disappeared and in its place was the idea that he was speaking to someone on his level, a crown prince of a nation who had been trained to be good at everything. The topic diverted from books to swordsmanship and he was shocked to find out that she knew many things about it. Her eyes sparkled with interest when she asked him questions in regards to his techniques, like she was a student learning from a teacher. Throughout their entire talk, she could feel a burning stare in their direction and she had the feeling that she knew who was the one having the state. Judging from its direction, it was definitely Dominic who was watching them interact and chat easily about their interests. He suddenly remembered the very first time that she had invited him for tea, his time with Augustine and her. They had done exactly what she was doing with the crown prince: chatting away with ease. The brightness in her eyes made the ache in his heart more evident. He felt a light tap on his arm and turned to his partner, Liliana, who smiled at him. Even though she smiled at him, he could sense the sadness behind it. Even she could see that his mind and heart were elsewhere, nonetheless the few nobles around them.

"Dominic," although she usually didn't call him by his first name, she did so to help his reputation and to stop the mouths from moving from his obvious stare. "Do you want to try this?" She indicated a cake and he felt like she was so humorously random, but immediately realized that he had been distracted too much to where people were beginning to notice. He shot her a look of gratefulness and nodded. He didn't even notice the cake nor the flavor in his mouth, but it helped to distract him from the couple that were getting along.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Miss Warrington knew how to handle a sword since you're so knowledgeable about it." When he uttered those words, she went silent. She frowned and shook her head.

"Unfortunately, all I know is from reading. As a daughter of nobility, Your Highness should know that I have many limitations." The only thing she learned was how to be obedient and learn other miscellaneous things she found useless but were beneficial for a noble young lady to be a wife. Thinking of marriage, her heart felt heavy again as she looked up at Adriel.

A crazy idea began to brew in her head, which was too ridiculous for real life, but not ridiculous enough to not want to try it...