Hearing Reine's words, Azrael could not help but snicker. He looked at Reine and said scornfully, "Do you even know who you are talking about?"
Meanwhile, the man did not even pay any attention to Reine and walked past Azrael to hold Aelia's hand. He smiled warmly at her and asked, "Angel, Happy Birthday! How have you been? Have you missed me?"
When Azrael saw the man walking past him, he could not help but frown, "Hey! Stop flirting with my sister!"
On the other hand, Aelia felt a little uncomfortable by the man's familiar way of talking. She asked, "Uh! My name is Aelia and do I know you?"
Hearing Aelia's question, the man frowned while Azrael snickered.
The man was about to say something when he was interrupted by Reine. She had initially felt a little flustered by Azriel's question, but after seeing that she was being ignored, she gnashed her teeth in anger.
She questioned innocently, "Aelia, why are you pretending to not know your fiance? I told you, you don't have to worry about other's opinions! I'm sure father and brother won't disagree with your relationship, even if your fiance can't provide for you! After all, love should come first, besides you can always support both of your lifestyles.
Although Reine sounded as if she was concerned for her sister's relationship, people could not help but wonder if Aelia was embarrassed to introduce her fiance to everyone, as she thought he was from a lesser background.
Hearing what Reine said, Azrael clicked his tongue and said, "It seems that fools have the habit of digging their own graves!"
Aelia, on the other hand, was not concerned about Reine's comments. She was more curious about that man's identity.
When the man saw her questioning eyes, he gave her a small smile. Initially, he had planned to not reveal his identity in front of the crowd, as he wanted to avoid public attention, but after hearing what Reine said, he changed his mind. After all, how could he allow his beloved Angel to suffer a loss, even if it was just due to a girl's false speculations!
He turned to Aelia and said, "I'm Asher Ignatius Ivanov! It's a pleasure to meet you again!"
Finally, hearing the name of the man, a gasp went through the crowd. Everyone in the room had heard the name of the Crown Prince of the mysterious country of Delphia. No one other than Delphians had seen him in person as he never showed his face in front of the public outside his country due to security reasons. Outsiders too were not allowed into the country. In fact, to date whoever tried to enter the country, except Delphians, had been found after a few days either with just a missing memory about his whereabouts or even severe cases, found themselves turned into lunatics. This had made Delphia the most mysterious as well as the most powerful country in the world, for no other country dared to anger them, as they could not be sure about how the Delphians would retaliate.
So, though some people had considered that the man could not be from a simple background, no one had recognized him as the Crown Prince of Delphia. What further shocked the guests was the fact that this mysterious Crown Prince had recognized Aelia as his fiancee.
When Reine heard his name, she turned pale as she too had heard about this infamous prince, as well as the rumours surrounding him. While some rumours said that he was an ugly fiend who drank his enemies blood, other rumours claimed that he was an incarnation of Ankou, the Devil himself who could tear apart his enemies' throat with his bare hands.
Realizing what she had said about the prince, Reine could not help but feel a shiver running down her spine. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Aelia too was surprised to know the man's identity. But she was more shocked to see that her brother acted so informally with the Crown Prince. Moreover, he had claimed her as his fiancee and said that they had met 'again', meaning that they had met earlier. Aelia sifted through her memories, but could not remember someone like Asher. Thinking about all this, Aelia suspiciously looked at his brother, who seemed to know the Asher quite well.
Azrael noticed his sister's suspicious gaze directed at him and indicated with a gesture that they would talk later.
Asher on the other hand was quite annoyed with Reine for falsely claiming that his woman was wearing a fake dress and then interrupting his conversation with his fiancee.
He turned to look at Reine and said with a fierce glare, "Do you want me to recommend you to The International Theatrical Organization for your marvellous acting skills."
Reine was extremely frightened by his intense glare that seemed to see through her thoughts. She stammered, "Your Highness, what might you mean?"
Asher scoffed, "Just a moment ago, weren't you claiming that Aelia had intentionally worn a dress that copied the design of your own dress?"
Reine was sure that Asher couldn't have known that she had made a designer imitate the design of Aelia's dress. She had hired the designer by paying an exorbitant sum of money and made sure to let the designer know that if he let his lips loose about this matter, she would make sure that his designing career would be over. The designer too knew that if anyone heard that he had produced a dress, by copying someone else's design, he would never be able to show his face in the designers' circle. So, he had promised to keep his mouth shut.
This she regained her courage and started, "I don't mind that she had copied the design of my dress. It's just that if she'd have told me that she liked my dress, I would readily given it to her."
Seeing that Reine still continued with her foolish act, Asher said cool, "So, do you mean that the dress I had gifted to her is a fake one with a design imitating your dress?"
Hearing this Reine broke out in a cold sweat. She thought, 'How could this be? Wasn't this dress a gift from Azrael?'
As she tried to think of a way to improve the situation, another man suddenly joined the conversation.