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No, Ela, come on, take a deep breath now. Is everything going to be alright?

The first person to talk was the crown prince.

"You know, Lady Vastelline, you are remarkably very brave and wise?" he said, smiling at me but, I'm sure it's not a genuine smile.

"Haha, I wonder why his highness believes so?" I asked innocently, even though I know the exact reason why.

"Let me guess, you received the three letters inviting you to come on the same exact day, and you couldn't ignore them because- For Lady Mcallops, you thought you are going to hurt her feelings. For, Lord Eckart, you thought, as he is your only childhood friend, so you also can't decline him. Lastly, for me, you know you can't refuse an imperial invitation until you have a legitimate reason. So you killed three birds with one stone you invited all of us here." He answered in one go.

Haha, what the fuck?Can he fucking read minds or something? I swear, I'm going to kill this guy.No, I should reasonably calm down and reply to him.

"I'm sorry, your highness but, you are mistaken..." I give a small smile and continued-

"I invited you all together for one reason, and that is to be good friends." I placed the teacup down and smiled.

He leaned back and hummed. Thank god he believed that but know what? God, it's so awkward. Should I break the silence but, before I could, someone spoke up-

"Lady Adela, I have been curious why did you suddenly go to another kingdom to study?"Lady Aria questioned me. Now, I can't really say it was because I was anxious I would get murdered or wanted to ignore all of you, can I?

"Well, I'm interested in books, so when I was going through some books, I found out about the Naithen kingdom academy, and I became interested, so I desired to see it with my own eyes." I replied. If I were in my world right now, I would have won an Oscar by now.

"How about you, Lady Aria? Are you interested in anything?" I said.

"Well, I'm interested in hunting." She answered. Wow, that's Aria for you. In the novel, she loved doing fearless things.

" Say, Lady Adela, did you read Da Vinci: Code?" Sir Lucas spoke next.

"Well, yes, I did when I was 12. It was one of the great books I have ever read." I said.

"Yes, it truly is" He then shortly got back to studying through books.

"You know, I just noticed something" Ugh, this bastard, what is it now?

" Everybody calls you Lady Adela and, I'm the only one who calls you Lady Vastelline." This mf-

"Your highness, then also feel free to call me Adela." I stated, trying not to sound annoyed.

" Sure, Adela" he said, smirking. I blinked a few times because my brain couldn't disclose the shit he just said. I looked at the people beside me. They both had a questionable look on their faces, no more like Lady Aria had a doubtful look and, Sir Lucas had a sinister expression?

" Did his highness just call me Adela?". I asked again, assuming I misheard him.

"Yeah, I did. You told me to call you that?" He said it so innocently. This dumb piece of shit- he exactly knows what he is doing.

"Ah, I see I did say that, didn't I?" I replied. Ugh, when will this end?

Finally, it's time to leave. The two hours I spent were the most challenging hours of my life. They are finally going.

The first to leave was Sir Lucas.

" It was a wonderful time with you. Please feel free to come, again" I said while my hand was on my chest.

" It also had a great time, my lady, though I would have preferred us being alone, it was still enjoyable" He said, smiling while bowing a little. For some reason, when he said alone, I felt shivers run down my body. I'm getting bad vibes from this. Fuck, this better not be what I think it is.

"Thank you, Sir Lucas" I said before he went off.

The next to depart was Lady Aria.

"Thank you, Lady Adela it was really a pleasant time with you." She said, bowing down. I suddenly take her hands into mine and say-

"Lady Aria, if I want to invite you again, will you come?" I said with pleading eyes. I really wanted us to enjoy ourselves together alone, but she may not accept it again after today. She was surprised by my movement at first, but afterwords, she thought for some moments, maybe she will say no as I expected.

" Well, if only it's just the two of us" She said, smiling a little. Oh my god, she said yes. Fuck, this is awesome.

" Oh, of course, haha, I was just about to say that." I said, laughing and, she smiled before nodding and going away.

Now it's time for the only one I have been dying to go away. This fucking guy. I turned around and saw him sitting in the guest living room.

"Your highness, aren't you also heading off?" I said, trying to maintain a happy look.

"I am, though we didn't get the chance to speak about why I wanted to meet you." He said, leaning back in his chair while keeping his chin on his hand. Shit, I thought he would have forgotten about it by now.

"Sorry, but I didn't forget it." he said. I gave him the most bewildered look ever. I didn't care if he saw it. The real question is if he can read fucking minds or not?

"No, I can't read minds... it's just your expression gives it way." He said, chuckling. I finally sit down and asked-

"So, what did you want to talk about, your highness?" I said, looking serious.

" Well, why don't we start with why you said all those things about your only childhood friend none other than Lord Eckart himself?" He questioned.

" Friends can have quarrels" I said calmly. He looked at me for a bit and continued-

"But calling him names like that, I'm sure if anyone saw you, it would look like you hate him to death." He said, laughing. But yeah, what he said is true. It's not the modern generation where you call your friends names like that.

"Well, I was born like this, I guess?" I replied. At first, he stared at me for a whole ass minute though I held the eye contact without backing down. He smirked and chuckled. This guy, I will never understand him.

"Well, I guess this is the end of your discussion though I'm disappointed it ended so early." He said fucking pouting.

"Well, I think you should hurry up your carriage is waiting outside." I said.

" Careful, Adela, your true emotions are coming out." He said.

"Haha, I don't know what you are talking about?" I replied.

" I'm sure you do." He said, looking down.

Why is he looking down? Before I could see it, he kneeled at one knee and was tying my heel strap. Suddenly I felt something, welp this is not good.

"You should be careful, or you might have just fallen" He said, finally standing up. I stared at him for a few seconds and said-

"Yes, thank you."

"Your welcome, Adela. Goodbye though, I'm sure we will meet very soon." and he headed off.

I soon went back to my room, sat by my window, and thought, what the fuck happened today. Wow, I actually gathered all the main characters, and we all chatted. Damn, and best of all, I survived. Thank god. Now my next problem will be the academy. If I get to pass that, I will be okay, right?

Hello lovelies, how are you? I wanna ask who do you ship our Ela with? Lucas or Edward? I personally ship, Ela with Aria. No question asked lol.

Also who do you think the ml is?
The characters' roles in the original novel are going to be revealed soon :).

Thank you for reading. Also, ask me anything you like and as always I love you <3

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