The smile on Alicia's face faded quickly. She lowered her head. "Yes, you are absolutely right. I am the illegitimate daughter of the Marquess who may soon be married off to an ugly old man."
Rowena hugged Alicia tightly. "You don't have to worry, I will save your mother and you from this place."
"The two of us will never be able to get out of here. Because once, my mother and I tried to escape. But in the end we were caught by the guards in the mansion," replied Alicia.
Rowena's body shook slightly after hearing Alicia's story. Rowena is a little traumatized by what happened to her in the past, which is almost the same as Alicia's. Even so, Rowena still hugged Alicia and continued to comfort her.
"No, this time the results will be different. I will continue to visit you to teach you law, economics, politics, and war. Once you become proficient, I will immediately get your mother and you out of this pathetic mansion."
"Okay. Then I will continue to hold on until the time comes," said Alicia with confidence and enthusiasm.
"Since my business here is done, then I will return to the party place first. See you Alicia and don't forget to take good care of you and your mother."
"I thank you again, Rowena. See you soon." Alicia waved her hand as Rowena walked away from there.
Having managed to get out of the maze, Rowena returned to the party room. There he saw Diego who was standing in the corner of the room alone. Rowena took the initiative to approach him.
"Why don't you dance with other women? As long as you know an event like this is the perfect place to find a wife so that you can become queen of Odelette," said Rowena, who had just come to Diego.
"I'm only here to dance with my partner and not to find a life partner either. Besides, for a wife, I'm more interested in making you the queen of Odelette than the women here who only know how to spend money to buy jewelry and are busy flaunting it here and there," replied Diego flatly.
Rowena chuckled as she heard Diego's assessment of the single women present there. "Unfortunately I strongly object to being your Queen one day, Prince Diego. If you have nothing else to do here, we'd better head back to our respective residences."
"If that's your wish. Let's go home." Diego took Rowena's hand and walked out of the party.
Diego escorted Rowena in his luxurious horse-drawn carriage to the front gate of the Squella mansion. Rowena immediately shooed Diego out of there for fear that if Sir Damian happened to come home, there would be a cold war between the two humans. Diego's carriage left Squella's residence. Rowena went straight into the mansion after confirming that Diego had left Squella's residence.
The next morning, Rowena wore a dark red formal dress to appear before Prince Helios in the study in the prince's palace. Today she was asked to accompany Prince Helios to visit Duke Carbell's residence.
Rowena knocked on the door before opening it. "Shall we leave now, Helios?"
Seeing Rowena coming into his room, Prince Helios immediately got up from his chair. The man immediately approached Rowena and grabbed Rowena's shoulder.
"Rowena, is it true that yesterday you were at the party that Marquess Doreta had with Diego?" asked Prince Helios.
Rowena was a little confused by the question asked by Prince Helios. "Yeah, I went to the party as Diego's partner. What's wrong?"
Prince Helios' face immediately paled and he looked sad and disappointed. "Have you accepted the proposal?"
Rowena was increasingly confused. "Huh? What do you mean, Helios? Can you get straight to the point? You're really confusing me now."
"I heard from the rumors that have been circulating that you were at the party with Diego. Moreover, you are wearing the Odelette Imperial family's clothing and accessories which means you have accepted Diego's proposal as his wife. Is the title of Grand Duchess still not enough to keep you at Sunverro? Do I need to make you my wife so you can't leave my side again?" Prince Helios whined.
Rowena laughed loudly when she heard Prince Helios whining even to tears. "Hey, you've misunderstood. Diego has never proposed to me, so how can I accept his proposal. After all, yesterday I attended the party with Diego purely as his partner."
"Even if he proposed to me, I would definitely reject him immediately. The same goes for you if you want to propose to me," added Rowena.
Prince Helios's eyes sparkled again at Rowena's confession. He breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm relieved to hear that. Then let's go."
With a feeling of relief and calm, Prince Helios began to depart for Duke Carbell's residence with Rowena in the horse carriage that had been prepared earlier.
It took quite a while to get to Duke Carbell's residence due to his residence being very remote from the capital. From the outside, you can already see a very scary aura sticking out of it. Rowena and Prince Diego immediately got off the horse carriage.
In front of the gate was an old man who Rowena believed to be Duke Carbell as well as a young man who looked to be the same age as Prince Helios who was standing right beside Duke Carbell. They immediately welcomed Rowena and Prince Helios' arrival in a friendly manner.
"Welcome to my ugly residence, Your Royal Highness the Prince and Your Highness the Grand Duchess," said Duke Carbell.
"Thank you for welcoming us both, Duke Carbell. Then you don't have to be too humble," Rowena replied as she covered her nose and mouth with the fan she was holding earlier.
"Then let's talk inside the mansion. I'll have the maids serve tea and snacks for the two of you," Duke Carbell said.
The four of them walked into Duke Carbell's residence. Just as Rowena entered the residence, there was a very strong fishy smell of blood. They continued walking until they came to a room. Rowena and Prince Helios are invited to sit for a while while waiting for the maid to bring her tea and snacks.
"May I know what business you and Her Highness the Grand Duchess come to visit my residence?" asked Duke Carbell politely.
"I'm just bored because I keep locking myself up in the palace. So I invited Rowena to come here with me because I heard that you have a unique new item. Besides that I also want to talk to you," replied Prince Helios.
"If you guys want to chat, may I take a tour of the mansion? There seems to be a lot of interesting things going on here," said Rowena.