"This prince has a name, Aster." He said as if he was sulking.
Suddenly, I remembered the words he said a few days back. 'You have to call me by my name whenever we meet. If you do not, then I will not respond.'
I widened my eyes and looked at him, pleading silently. 'Not now...please help me. I need to leave immediately.'
He raised one of his eyebrows as if saying 'Then, call me by my name. Why are you wasting time?'.
The ladies at the table were looking at him and then at me in curiosity.
I sighed. "If you don't mind, can I accompany you, Luis?"
A few ladies at the table gasped. A few of them were better at hiding their surprise.
Luis, though, was smiling like a child who got his favorite gift. He leaped up from his seat. "Let's go then!"
He walked around the table to where I was seated and held out his hand for me to hold onto.
I covered up my wound discreetly with one hand and grasped his hand with the other, rising up from my seat, bowing to the ones present. He then led me towards the Duke's mansion. I turned away from the table of noble ladies and sighed in relief.
As I walked away I could hear the Duchess tell the other ladies," You see, Aster and Luis are good friends, but she got mad at him last week so he was forcing her to give in if she wanted to see the blueprints. She will be happy after seeing the blueprints and forgive him." She giggled. "She is his only friend, after all, so he is trying hard to please her."
That was all I could hear before I was led away. 'No...! My life in the shadows...! Now, I'll be the center of attention... (T-T)'
While I was cursing him in my thoughts, Luis ushered me inside what looked like a guest room and made me sit on the settee. He dragged a stool and sat opposite to me.
"How bad is it?" He asked. He had lost all of the playfulness and slyness he usually showed around me.
"... not too bad..." I said, a little surprised.
He pulled my hand that was covering the wound away. "You're bleeding so much! That stupid Flavius! He only told me that you were attacked, he didn't say how bad it was. When I saw you while greeting Aunty, you looked fine so I thought that maybe you weren't hurt that bad. Why are so hurt so bad? Don't you know how to take care of yourself? If you were hurt this much, why did you come to the party?"
I knew he was saying that out of concern but it still ticked me off. "Not all of us are princes and princesses. I can't just excuse myself from the party without a reason! " I said. "You think I wanted to come to the party in this condition? Do you think I didn't try my best to take rest? Just what is it with you? Why are you getting mad at me?"
He looked up into my eyes in surprise. He sighed and said, "I'm sorry. I've been worried ever since I heard the report of the incident. My informer only told me what happened but he said that he didn't know how deep your wound was. I couldn't exactly come to your manor in the middle of the night to ask about it."
He let go of my wrist and grasped my hand in his." You were smiling calmly at the party so I thought that maybe it wasn't as serious as I thought. I still checked again when you were talking with Lady Roberts and confirmed that you were well. Imagine my surprise when Flavius came to me and said you were bleeding. I rushed towards the garden to find you still smiling calmly. I was just angry that you didn't let me know anything and tried to deal with the situation by yourself... It is unjustified anger though. I'm sorry."
He was probably saying some touching words but what bothered me was... "Who's Flavius?"