Though Reine said the last sentence in a lower voice, it was loud enough for others to hear. On the surface, though it appeared as if Reine was just concerned for her sister, if one thought deeply they would understand that Reine was claiming that her dress was the original one. This was because she had confidently brought up the subject about the similar designs of the two dresses, which was a taboo in the socialite circle. On seeing her confidence, people would think that Reine's dress must have the actual design, or she would not have talked about the subject so openly.
And just like Reine thought, many people pointed at Aelia and started cursing her. Today many of them had come to know about Reine's identity as a part of the Romanov family. They thought Aelia was trying to make it difficult for her half-sister and trying to embarrass her.
Natalie too held a grudge against Aelia for the morning's humiliation. So she made good use of the situation to scold and embarrass Aelia, "Aelia, even though Reine is your half-sister, you shouldn't treat her like this! I heard that Reine gave you a dress for your birthday! Now she even said that she would have given you her own dress if you had just told her that you liked it! You not only didn't regard her good intentions, but also tried to humiliate her by wearing the same dress as her!"
Hearing this, the crowd went into another uproar. They had thought Aelia was an elegant lady of the Romanov family. But now they thought they had seen her true colours.
Meanwhile, Aylin and Azrael had heard the commotion and had approached Aelia. Hearing the shameless proclamations of Reine and Natalie, Aylin felt so angry, that she raised her wine glass to pour out her drink on the heads of the two girls.
But Azrael stopped her. He knew that Aylin's actions would only further solidify the crowd's belief that the Romanov siblings were humiliating and isolating their half-sister.
Aelia watched all this with an expressionless face. She knew the true nature of the socialites. They were just waiting to watch the show, regardless of who was saying the truth. So she did not pay much attention to them. As for Reine, she knew that her mask would fall as soon as Aelia proved that Reine's dress was a fake one.
In fact, she was waiting for a famous designer, who was to attend her party, to show up. It was really easy for a designer to see that Aelia's dress was made of finer fabric and the gowns' embroidery, despite looking the same to the commoners, were actually different.
Aelia noticed this because she had once seen her mother wearing a dress with similar embroidery. Her mother was quite knowledgeable about designing and had shown her, how the designer had left a unique signature hidden in his embroidery. Aelia was in fact quite shocked to see this unique signature in the embroidery of her gown, for she had heard that this designer had a unique temperament and only designed a dress once every two to three years. He also did not make gowns for just any customer, rather he chose his customer first and then designed a suitable dress for her. Aelia wondered who had convinced this infamous designer to design a dress for her.
In the meantime, when Natalie saw Aelia stay silent, she grew more confidant and continued with her scolding, "Reine even a gave a dress to you to wear, but you treated her like this!" She condescendingly stated, "You should bow down and apologise to her!"
Reine continued the act and said in a demure voice, "N-no! No! There's really no need for that! We are sisters after all! So we can wear the same kind of dress, can't we?"
Hearing this, the crowd thought that despite being schemed against, Reine was still trying to excuse her sister's behaviour. So they started praising her generous attitude.
Just as Aylin was about to say something, a clapping sound was heard.
Everyone looked to see a handsome man in a three-piece blue suit striding towards them while clapping his hands. He had a chiselled face and his sapphire blue eyes had a sharp glint that seemed like it could pierce through everyone's thoughts. His thin lips were curved in a mocking smile.
Seeing the man, Azrael's face darkened. He questioned, "What are you doing here? I thought that it was decided that we'd give her some more time!"
The man paid no heed to Azrael and stopped before Aelia. He picked up her hand and pressed his lips to the back of her palm, greeting her in a husky voice, "Hello! My angel!"
Aelia was taken by surprise by the man's sudden actions. Though she found the actions of the man a little strange, feeling his piercing gaze concentrated on her, she could not help but blush.
Seeing his blushing sister, Azriel called out, "You scoundrel! What are you doing?"
He came and stood in front of his sister so that the man's gaze was forced to move away from her.
He gave Azrael an icy glare and said sarcastically, "She's my fiancee! I have the right to at least see her, don't I?"
Hearing this everyone was surprised. For they had never seen this handsome man, yet he called the young miss of Phillon's most powerful family, his fiancee.
They couldn't help but wonder about the background of the man.
There were many experienced businessmen and powerful socialites among the gusts. So, they had quickly noticed the unique aura of the newly arrived man.
They also noticed how Azrael and Mr Romanov had not outright dismissed his proclaims. So, they decided to not involve themselves in the situation and just watched the show playing in front of them.
On the other hand, Reine and Natalie neither understood the complex thoughts of the crowd, nor were they experienced enough to recognize the unique aura of the man.
They thought that the man was just another rich guy with whom Aelia was involved. This thought was further solidified when they saw Azrael trying to stop the man from approaching Aelia.
In spite of feeling that his status was undesirable to consider him as a prospect for themselves, they could not help but feel jealous as the man was extremely attractive. After all, which female didn't appreciate a good looking male, specially a man as attractive as him!
Thus feeling jealous, Reine blurted out, "Sister, why didn't you tell us that you are in love with someone? Although he's from an improper background, I'm sure father, brother and Aylin wouldn't have minded much! After all, you can still support him, even if he isn't someone from a good family."