The group looked at the pink atmosphere between the two while the two princes noticed something between Princess Aphra and the new guy who had arrived. Prince Zander was the one that was so displeased that he felt it hard to hide his frown.
Prince Maxen felt blindsided as he never thought that his wife would have a life outside what he knew. Realizing this, he felt guilty that he may have ruined her chances with a different future. Still, it did not feel good to know that there is a guy somewhere who was not ashamed to look at his wife that way. Worse is that she accepts his gaze.
The hall had been silent for some time before Elizabella realized that she stared longer than what was considered appropriate. This made her blush a little before clearing her throat.
"Leader, it is nice to see you too," she said with a gentle smile on her face, one that looked like her usual gentle-princess smile, but her friends who knew her noticed that it was real.
"I am glad to see that you are doing well," said Leader as he continued to smile at her gently and looked up at the two princes who gave him strange looks. "I am the leader of Red Enigma; I am simply called 'Leader.' Last year, we had been commissioned to do an advertisement for 'The Radiant Cirque,' and we also performed with them. If you are interested in watching, we still have the video archived in our system."
"That will not be necessary. I do not think that the princes will be interested in something like that," said Elizabella a little quickly as one could see her blush, making Beast, who was in a good mood to tease her reply.
"Why not? They invited us to come to entertain. Watching that ad would give them a sense of who we are. Are you afraid that they will see something that they should not? Or are you ashamed of performing in a circus with us?" Elizabella, hearing Beast turned to her with a pout.
"That is not what I meant," said Elizabella as she looked more her age when arguing with her friend.
"Then why are you so worried? Come on. When was the last time we all sat down and watched our past performances to admire my fabulous self?" said Beast with a prideful look, giving off mature charm vibes while Elizabella stared at her.
"Oh. Right. You were the RingMaster. The star of the show," said Elizabella in a playfully sarcastic tone with a smile. "Remind me again how we are friends?"
Beast replied with a scoff and an eye-roll.
"Who was it again that kept bugging me to help with her lines? Who was it that kept coming to me to sing a duet with them? Who was it that wanted to spend sleepovers doing each other's hair? Need I go on?"
"I concede, Vampire Queen," said Elizabella as she threw her hands up in the air, earning another eye-roll from Beast.
"So, with Beauty's consent, would you like to watch? There are other things that we have done with Beauty that we could see. The stage is ready, and whenever you are ready for our live performance, we can quickly get dressed," said Leader as he continued to smile gently, which irked Prince Zander.
"I think that it would be fine watching some of your past performances while we wait for the other guests to arrive. This way, we can also see if all the equipment you guys brought is working well," said Prince Zander with a forced smile, while Elizabella kept her head down, then looked up at Leader.
"Can you show me the stage first? I will be performing a dance later and would like to see where it is that I will be dancing," said Elizabella as she looked at Leader with a polite smile.
"Of course, I can show you," said Leader with a bright smile as he began to lead Elizabella through the door and walked next to her.
Seeing them leave, the group remained quiet as Prince Zander dug his nails into his palms.
"It seems that Princess Aphra and your leader get along well together. Were they always so close?" asked Prince Zander with a chuckle and his forced smile, making the group look at him strangely before looking at each other.
"Well, they would get along because…" said Starfish as she did not know how to tell their friend's new husband and family about a past flame.
"That is Beauty's boyfriend. Or he was until we found she became engaged with the Crown Prince of Glear," said Beast, in a bored tone while Darian jumped to stop her from saying any more.
"Okay, we were going to get something to eat and drink. Would you girls like to come with us?" asked Darian as he grabbed Beast and turned to his two companions.
"Yes!" said Starfish and Ivy together before the group turned to the two princes and bow to them before they took their leave.
Prince Zander and Prince Maxen were left standing in the middle of the hallway, dazed. The news that Princess Aphra was dating anyone before her engagement to Prince Maxen surprised them. Prince Zander quickly got over his surprise and became angry. The way they looked at each other made it painfully clear that they still had feelings for each other.
"This guy is disturbing my plans! Who is to say that she will not go to this guy if she divorces Prince Maxen? Would I still have a chance then?" thought Prince Zander as he frowned to himself while staring at the closed door. "What is worse, should she not have fallen for one of the Princes of Edalelia? What is going on?"
Prince Zander turned to look at his cousin, who still seemed lost in thought, making him seethe in rage as he scoffed to himself.
"Are you not upset that your wife just left with her ex-boyfriend?" asked Prince Zander sardonically at Prince Maxen, who seemed to understand his mocking tone and gave a slight frown.
"He is her past. She is now married to me," said Prince Maxen, making Prince Zander more upset. "Besides, if it is true that they have not seen each other in months and they were still together up until our engagement, I would assume that they never had closure. This could help them have that closure they need. After this weekend, they will probably never see each other again. They should have this moment to themselves."
Prince Maxen looked at the door briefly before he turned to go and get something to eat. Prince Zander felt like he wanted to strangle his cousin for his indifference in seeing his wife off with another man that clearly had feelings for her. He scoffed again as he watched him leave.
"Of course. He would not care. He already has a girl on the side that should be coming here soon. Why would I have thought that he would care about Lady Elizabella?" thought Prince Zander as he turned to look at the closed door one last time before turning to follow Prince Maxen.
**********
Elizabella and Leader walked side by side up to the stage. Along the way, Leader made sure to tell her where all the equipment was set up, like the lights and sound. He especially seemed animated about the stage and its features.
"The stage here is excellent. It can move up and down to floor level for special, intimate performances. The seating can accommodate up to one hundred people comfortably, but we can move the seating around to make the stage bigger. Since this is a small, private party, we had thought to remove many of the seating and make the stage bigger. That way, we can have an exciting performance," said Leader as he excitedly talked about the stage while Elizabella listened with a polite smile. "I am not sure what you will be performing, but if you tell our stagehands, I am confident that they can accommodate you and your performance. If you want, we could also help you with anything. It will be like old times."
"That would be fun. I could have some live backup music. I will perform with my violin, though, so I will need maybe drums for a rhythmic beat. Perhaps you could play the piano for me. I am sure that Beast will never forgive me if I left her out, so she can be vocals if she wants," said Elizabella as they were very into their conversation.
"You wrote lyrics, or is this an old song?" asked Leader as Elizabella shook her head no.
"Does she need lyrics to be vocal?" asked Elizabella with a smile while Leader laughed heartily.
"Very true! Alright, I can have everything arranged, but we would need to rehearse it at least once to make sure that everything goes well," said Leader as he noticed that the stagehands had quietly exited to give them privacy. "How are you doing, Beauty?"
"Everything is going well," said Elizabella as she knew that they were having "the talk."
"I was astonished to see you getting engaged to the Crown Prince of Glear when I knew you were closer to the Princes of Edalelia. I was also curious as to why you are going by an assumed name. I have to say, knowing that you quickly married with your assumed name brought me hope that maybe we could someday work things out. I overheard, just now, that they did not even know that we were part of your life until just now. Why are you hiding your true self from them? What is going on?" the gentle smile had disappeared from his face, and instead, a worried and frustrated look appeared, making Elizabella sigh.
"I knew I could not hide this from you, but did you not get my message? I had asked that we not see each other anymore," said Elizabella sadly while Leader looked dejected.
"But why all the secrecy? I do not understand, Beauty," said Leader as he sighed and looked away.
"Things happened, but the girl you once knew is long gone. I was afraid to tell you much sooner as I did not wish to make you sad. You know what happened back then has really messed me up. I no longer FEEL like how I used to feel. I feel numb more than anything, and I am only acting on the values I grew up on to try and lead a normal life. I came to Glear to start a new life, away from everything that reminded me of my past because it was too maddening," said Elizabella as she looked at the floor and took off her glasses while Leader looked at her with great sadness, seeing her like this. "If it is alright with you and the rest, can we act like the old times and pretend that everything is okay and not the hell that I am currently walking? It would be a great peace of mind to have something familiar that was and still is pure to me."
Seeing Elizabella look up at him and noticing that her eyes had changed since the last time they were together made his face drain of color as he felt that the girl he once knew no longer existed. The thought of this broke his heart more than hearing her marry someone else so quickly without telling him beforehand.