Three weeks later, it was finally the long-awaited day of the birthday banquet.

Even if one was traveling across the capital city, unaware of the celebration, it was obvious enough by the long line of carriages that a special event was happening in this kingdom.

Once the guests entered the palace, the decorations in the grand ballroom were sure to be beautiful and stunning, and perhaps unforgettable to some. After all, it is not so easy to catch a glimpse of the royal family, especially the youngest member.

"Greetings to the kingdom of Uladia." they answered in a clear voice as the royal family entered.

One by one, the nobles lined up and shared their greetings to the main guests; bowing respectfully to the king, the queen, and finally to the crown prince.

"His Royal Highness, I wish to extend my congratulations on your birthday. I hope his royal highness will accept my gift."

"... the celebration for your 13th birthday."

"...congratulations.."

Eventually, the greetings sounded the same to Theodore, who listened to the words of each noble. He paid attention to their actions, their expressions, and the tone of their voice. He acknowledged the ones who seemed to express good intentions towards them and responded politely, and the ones who didn't, he simply gave a perfect answer as if taken out from a manual.

Yes, this was normal.

"Theodore, are you feeling under the weather?" his mother whispered, to which he responded with a curious look. "You've been acting strangely for a while."

I was?

When the last of the noble finished presenting their gifts, his father spoke up with a chuckle. "Were you that bored because you didn't have a friend to talk to?"

At the mention of this, there was someone he thought of.

Even though these type of events were something he was supposed to be used to attending, perhaps he missed the presence of a certain lady.

"Maybe I am.." he answered, lost in his thoughts.

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While the banquet was held on the prince's birthday, the birthday party was celebrated the next day.

Fiona smiled happily as she waited in her assigned seat, pumped up for the event. The thought of trying the gourmet of the finest quality, made by the chefs at the palace had left her internally squealing with excitement.

She started to imagine what kind of food she'll get to have.

"Fiona, I'm starting to see a drool on your face," said the person, her tone filled with amusement.

She realised Adelina was standing in front of her and smiled excitedly. "Adelina! You're here!"

"Yes, yes, I'm here." She received a warm hug in return.

Then she heard someone cleared his throat.

"Lady Fiona, it's nice to see you too."

She frowned when she saw who Adelina came with.

That person was none other than Claude. He appeared to be polite on the surface with his greeting, except Fiona could see that he was struggling to hold back his laughter from his twitching lip.

She knew there was a reason she didn't like him.

"Lord Claude, you're here as well. Will you be joining us for the rest of the party?"

I hope you don't.

"Of course, I should stay close with my sister. I don't want anyone to bother her."

Bother? Bother?!

"Claude, you shouldn't tease my friend." Adelina said while defending Fiona as if a mother hen was protecting her child.

Fiona smiled in triumph over his shocked face. Ha! Serves him right.

--------

Judging by the guests' expressions, the birthday party certainly answered their
expectations. Especially her best friend.

Adelina managed to tune out the rest of Fiona's conversation (or banter) with Claude and greeted the guests she was familiar with at their table.

Their conversation went along something like this.

"Lady Victoria, that ribbon is so pretty! Where did you get it?" 

Yes, this was Adelina speaking. It wasn't hard for her to get used to their way of speaking, because their conversations were a faint reminder of how she used to talk with her friends in the past.

The lady she was referring to, Lady Victoria, would also attend the same academy as her in the future. She didn't have a major role except to be a classmate of the heroine. However, what was important was that she would be known as that one student who is always up-to-date with the latest news.

The pretty lady answered proudly to her. "Have you heard of the new boutique called LaLa?"

"Yes! Isn't the owner a really famous designer?" The lady next to her asked, her eyes sparkling.

"How did you get to place an order? I heard it's really hard to even get a spot in the waiting list." Another joined in the conversation.

Lady Victoria nodded, smiling. "You see, a distant relative of mine was close friends with her and..."

Adelina was in a relaxed state as she listened to their conversations with a small smile, joining in once in a while.

Coincidence or not, most of the guests in the party were the ones she met during the tea parties she had attended. She was lucky she didn't come across anyone their family was in bad terms with.

"Lady Adelina."

Ah, she forgot about this one.

"Do you remember me?"

Of course, how couldn't she? He is-

"Finn Dahlia," her brother cut in before she answered, clearly unimpressed by his presence.

"Why are you here?"

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author's note

I don't think I can get used to having readers reading the stories I made. Ahh, I don't know where I'm going with this, but honestly, I'm just happy there are people out there enjoying this story, so...thank you! ^^