Once the two entered the party hall, they immediately search the room for their headmaster. As they push around the crowd, they fail to notice a certain man staring at their every move. He is especially staring at Shaelyn who is not paying attention to her surroundings.
"By the way, is there a reason for you to change your dress? I liked the dress you were wearing earlier, it suits you more," Clara mentioned as she finally found the location of their group.
"It was stained remember? Besides even if you disguised the stained part, it will still show later on. I'm thankful that the headmaster thought us this trick before. I don't want that guy to recognize me," Shaelyn responds as she observes the nobles. She is trying to see whether the man she met earlier is part of the crowd.
Clara was about to ask what she meant by that when they heard someone call out to them.
"Clara! Shaelyn!"
They both search where the voice is coming from and saw a familiar face, Lawrence.
Lawrence Siveer is currently ranked top three among the whole student body. He has clean ginger hair, upturned blue eyes the same color as the ocean, a pointed nose, and thin lips. He is about 5'8 tall with a lean figure. He is wearing a dark blue clean suit with white cuffs.
Lawrence eyed the two, before motioning for them to follow him.
Lawrence doesn't talk that much. But if he does, he always has a very sarcastic tone or teasing tone. Since he is two years older than Clara and Shaelyn, he always likes to tease the two especially, Clara. Lawrence finds her a bit childish thus he enjoys teasing her.
"What is it? Where are we going?" Clara asks as they follow Lawrence.
"The headmaster has been looking for you two for a while now. Where did you two go? And why is Shae wearing a different outfit?" Lawrence asks while raising his left eyebrow.
"It's a complicated situation... anyway, did they (royal family) already arrive?" Shaelyn answers with a low voice to avoid the nobles from hearing them.
"Yeah, if you can look over there. They are sitting on their throne with his highness the Crown Prince," Lawrence pointed with his eyes to where the royal family is sitting.
The King is sitting on his royal chair while conversing with a higher noble. He has black hair, sharp black eyes, a pointed nose, and thin lips. Despite his age of 50, his face is still handsome as he was when he was in his prime.
On his right is where the Queen is sitting. The Queen is only four years younger than the King. She has long white silky hair which was braided neatly under her crown. She has round emerald eyes that shine clearly like an emerald gemstone. Like the King, the Queen still has beautiful features like when she was in her younger days.
And sitting on the left side of the King is the one and only Crown Prince.
He has long silky black hair ended just above his waist, and his clear emerald eyes are so mesmerizing you can't help but stare at them. He has a pointed nose same features as his father and slightly pink thin lips. The man's aura is so captivating that all the noble ladies are staring discreetly at him.
For a moment, the Crown Prince and Shaelyn's eyes met. Shaelyn's heart thumps loudly on her ribcage, she wants to look away yet for some reason she can't.
The Crown Prince's gaze is so hypnotic that she can't help but stare. She notices that the crown prince is also staring at her.
Then, a smirk formed on his lips, and she felt her face rise in temperature as she looked away.
"Shae! Are you okay?" she heard Clara asks.
Shaelyn clears her throat as they near the location of their group.
"I-I'm f-fine! It's just a bit hot in here!" her voice rose a bit higher than she is expecting as she walks faster than Lawrence and reaches to grab a drink that Gianna was holding.
"Hey! That's mine!" Gia protested as Shaelyn gulp her drink in one go.
Gia, short for Gianna Morfo, is the current rank seven of the student body.
She has medium wavy lavender hair, bright round purple eyes, an aquiline nose, and red plump lips. She has a pear-shaped body and wearing a coral-colored a-line long dress paired with silver two inches heels.
Both Lawrence and Clara stare at Shaelyn confused. Gia on the other hand went and grab another drink as she glared at Shaelyn.
Shaelyn ignores all their stares, the only eyes she can feel are the eyes of the Crown Prince staring at her intensely.
Shaelyn took a deep breath and try to calm her beating heart. She even closed her eyes to clear her thoughts. But she suddenly heard a tapping of shoes, as murmurs and whispers of voices echo in the air.
Even the sound of the music seems to stop playing, she also heard the gasp of the people surrounding her. Curious, she opens her eyes and when she did... she met face to face with the Crown Prince himself.
Her eyes widen in surprise as she took a step back.
The Crown Prince smiles at her before offering his hand to her, "May I dance with the lady?" his deep voice made her shudder and she almost stops breathing.
Her eyes wander around to see if she's not the only one seeing the sight of the Crown Prince asking her for a dance. All eyes are focused on them, curious about what she will do next.
She clears her throat trying to find words to talk or to ask, why her? But no words are forming in her mouth and she only manages a small nod.
The Crown Prince gave her a reassuring smile before gently holding her hand. He led her gently to the dance floor, he glanced at the musicians as they start playing a song.
The song was slow, which Shaelyn is thankful for. She only manages to barely remember the dance steps their teacher have taught them.
"Are you alright?" she snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a voice whisper in her ears.
Her face turns bright red as she looked away from him but she ended up stepping on his toes.
"I-I'm sorry!" she stutters while apologizing to the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince pulls her closely as he chuckles.
"Relax.. take a deep breath and ignore them. Just focus your mind on the song and us," he whispers in her ears which made her blush even more.
The 'them' that the Crown Prince is talking about are the eyes that are staring at them. Especially the nobles' who are surprised to see the Crown Prince taking initiative to ask a lady to dance.
Ever since the Crown Prince's first debut, he never asks anyone for a dance. Besides, the very few ladies who dare to try to talk to him all suffered severe headaches that last for a month. Rumors have started to speculate that the Crown Prince puts curses on everyone who will dare to talk to him carelessly.
Although there are rumors that say, he was cursed by a powerful fairy when he was seven and that any lady who will try to talk to him will suffer.
They also said that the powerful fairy cursed him to transform into a hideous beast during a full moon. Someone once said, they heard a powerful roar inside the Crown Prince's palace once during the blue moon.
A lot of rumors float around him, but no one dares to talk openly about it in front of the prince. Anyone that dared to, has vanished without a trace.
"Y-your highness... may I ask a question?" Shaelyn asks while trying to calm down her wildly beating heart.
The Crown Prince stares at Shaelyn's face, for a moment... his eyes show a deep interest in her before they quickly faded away. He clears his throat, ignoring the thumping of his own heart.
The moment their eyes met earlier, his heart has been beating rapidly and he has been feeling sick to his stomach. He notes to himself to ask for the royal physician later.
"Before that... may I ask for the lady's name? I believe this is the first time we met," he asks the question that has been burning in the back of his mind.
Shaelyn looks up at him, and their eyes met once again. And once again, unknown to both of them... their heartbeat is beating in sync with one another.
The two are drawn to one another, like a moth to a flame. The song has already finished and another is being played yet this doesn't bother them.
The others are also dancing with them but... the two remain staring at each other's eyes completely hypnotized.
The King and the Queen are also staring at the two, who are dancing gracefully on the dance floor completely unbothered.
"What do you think my King? Could she be the one that the fairy is talking about?" the Queen silently whispers to the King's ear.
"Perhaps... let's hope she is the one. For the sake of our son, and the sake of our kingdom," the King calmly holds his wife's hand as he continues to stare at the two.
"We should do something before someone tries to do something against her. I heard she's from the academy, she was also adopted by Asha. I can easily make arrangements for their marriage," the Queen suggested.
The King looks at his Queen before glancing to where the headmaster, Asha was standing. She is also staring at the two, worry etched in her eyes.
"Yes, we should arrange this as soon as possible. The moon will once again show his face soon," the King agrees as he whispers for his attendant to summon the headmaster of the academy.
--
Everything felt like a dream... for the both of them.
They finish dancing and they are currently taking a breather on the balcony. A few guards are secretly guarding the entrance of the balcony to avoid anyone spying on them.
"I still haven't got the lady's name," the Crown Prince broke the silence, he is still holding both Shaelyn's hands.
He is not acting like himself, he knew that he is only interested in her because the cursed royal family's heirloom has reacted to her.
At least that's what he is using as an excuse to prevent himself from getting too attached to her. But clearly, his body is unwilling to let her go.
Shaelyn clears her throat, this is the first time she felt something like this.
Her heart feels like it's going to explode any second.
"My... my name is Shaelyn Silvers, your highness," she introduces herself as she curtsy her dress.
The Crown Prince also stand up and introduced himself.
"My name is Atlas Xavier Caswell of Caswell Kingdom. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Shaelyn," the Crown Prince takes her hand and kisses it.
Shaelyn's blush instantly came back as she tries to remember what answer she should say.
"I- it's a... I mean— the pleasure is mine, your highness," she stutters as she bows her head.
A smirk forms on Prince Atlas' mouth as he enjoys the influence he has on her, completely forgetting that she is still wearing the cursed heirloom necklace of the royal family.