Louis looked at his sister, waiting for an explanation.
Sophia played dumb.
"So, Soph," he started, "Care to explain the elephant in the room?"
"What elephant in the room?" Sophia lied.
Louis looked at her.
"It was accidental," she spat, complacently lying.
She still had no explanation for it, why her heart weirdly ached for him, even if she just met him that very same day. It was almost instinct, what she felt for him.
She couldn't fathom why she longed for him. Heck, she had never felt these types of emotions before. They were all so new to her. It was a sudden desire. A thirst for something she assumed no one else could give her.
Louis chuckled at his sister's absentmindedness.
"Sis, when are you ever going to admit you have a liking for him, even by the tiniest bit," he asked offhandedly, point-blank.
Sophia laughed, scoffing. She found the query unaccounted for.
"What makes you say that, Lou? You already know what I think of him, brother, why suggest a completely ridiculous and preposterous idea?" Sophia asked, facial features scrunched up.
"You're usually a better liar than that," Louis admitted, eyebrow raised.
Sophia rolled her eyes.
"Brother, rest assured I think nothing more of him than an acquaintance. He's a complete stranger to me, I've known him for what, a day or so," Sophia lied.
"You keep telling yourself that, Soph," Louis told his sister, sighing.
Sophia narrowed her eyes.
"Brother, I'm not lying."
"The day I like him - as you suggest - is the day h-ll freezes over," she said.
Louis sighed. There was no use trying to pry. She could be extremely stubborn at times.
He noticed something move, before he said, "Speaking of Nicholas."
He gestured to whatever was behind her, and Sophia turned to see the sight.
And there, a couple of distances away, was Nicholas being pestered by a couple of girls.
One was tall and bony, the other short and stout. First, one being Kiara, second being Sheila. Both viscountesses, earning their titles from their aunt-turned-queen, Emilia.
They were trying to woo him, to no avail.
"Well someone's a hot commodity," Louis noticed, eyeing Nicholas pitifully.
Sophia watched the sight in pure amusement, or at least she tried to.
Even if a part of her thought Nicholas being courted by other girls amusing, she couldn't deny a part of her was fuming.
"He is, isn't he," she said through gritted teeth.
Something deep within her just broke, some kind of restraint.
She clenched her jaw, so much so that it was noticeable.
Louis looked at his sister, who was a ball of rage, exuding an aura that seemed deadly and daunting.
He looked, intrigued at the sight of his sister like this.
She had never been like this, never this infuriated.
She had her fair share of fights with Emilia, but it had never gotten this dreadful.
This was another kind of anger.
She couldn't explain it, but Louis could.
He asked, "You sure about the whole 'he's just an acquaintance' part, Soph?"
Sophia whipped around, jaw and fist unclenched.
"Of course I am," she said.
While she had her back turned, she hadn't noticed the conversation ended. She hadn't noticed how Nicholas had had enough of things, a sight that Sophia would've revelled in.
He had excused himself, as he made his way to Sophia.
Louis nudged his sister in the rib, as Sophia asked, still in a bad mood, most probable from the scene she had just witnessed, "What?"
"He seems like he wants to talk to you," he said, gesturing to Nicholas subtly.
Sophia scoffed before she turned to see Nicholas' face.
Still shocked, she asked in a fake tone, "What is it that you want, suddenly appearing behind me like that?"
Nicholas said desperately, "I've been meaning to talk to you about something."
Sophia suppressed the tempting urge to laugh. He was seeking an escape from the women that were trying to court him, obviously.
"Somewhere more private then?" She suggested, suggesting a change of place, gesturing at Louis.
Nicholas agreed, and minutes later, the two were in an empty conference room.
"So, what is it that you want to talk about, get a move on with it, I don't have much time, unlike you, I have actual things to do, which is not flirting with those that I just met. I have problems to attend to," Sophia said, her only goal to get out of there before things escalated quickly.
Her heart raced, as Nicholas sat down close to her.
"A means to an end. A solution that perhaps might solve both our problems and a collective issue," Nicholas said, forcing himself to speak.
"Yes?" Sophia asked as she impatiently tapped her foot on the ground.
"I propose we form an arrangement," Nicholas suggested, his words sounding better in his head before he said it aloud.
"An arrangement? Of what kind? And what for?" She asked, Sophia craned her neck closer to Nicholas before assuming an answer herself.
'One where, oh, I don't know, you leave forever and I get to do whatever I want when you're gone, an example being, not having to marry for the sake of the kingdom,' Sophia muttered hopefully, her words being - quite unfortunately - heard by the prince.
Nicholas scoffed, "Perish the thought."
Sophia pouted, pretending to be dejected when she wasn't too upset about it in the first place. It wasn't the worst idea she heard, not that she'd plainly admit that.
"It's another kind of arrangement," he explained, calling her by her title, "Duchess Sophia."
"I'm listening," Sophia said, urging Nicholas to continue out of pure curiosity.
Nicholas kept quiet, only making Sophia more and more curious by the moments that passed by.
"Spit it out already," she said, heart still beating at an abnormal rate, cause unknown.
Nicholas stared Sophia in the eye before he finally said the words he'd been meaning to tell her all along, "One where we pretend to be in love."