[Portia's POV]
Almost all people in the world—good or bad—have someone they loathe so much. If you ask me, I will answer this with certainty. The person I despise the most is someone who accidentally bumped into me a few seconds ago and now looking at me with an irritated look.
"Are you not going to help me and keep staring at me like that? For sure?" I raise one of my eyebrows, still sitting on the ground like a fool.
"You bump into me first." Young Kazech is standing still with his head held high. He does not even bother to stretch his hand to help me at all. I guess he is 15 now. He is two years older than me. He has a stiff expression on his matchless handsome face. Remembering that he is the last person I saw before I died makes me even more pissed.
"You … seriously? Ugh, whatever." Dejected, I choose to stand up by myself and clean my white dress before walking away from him. Looking at him for too long will make me insane, so being left immediately is the best option for me now.
"Where are you going?"
"What?" I turn around and see Kazech crossing his arms over his chest. His dark blue pupil squints at me.
"You owe me an apology."
I can feel my veins straining against my skin and my blood rushing straight to my head as I try to hold back my anger when hearing these bastard words. Ah, come to think of it, all my anxiety and stress have gone and been replaced with a sudden rage towards Kazech. I do not know if I must be thankful to him for that or not.
Huft, let's be patient and just give him what he wants. "Sure. Sorry about that, Prince Kazech. You must feel irritated because I hit you without any warning, but that was an unfortunate event. I promise you if that thing will never happen again. So please, excuse me."
"Wait—" I walk along and pretend not to hear his call. I have no time to linger around there with him because I have an important mission to do now. Kazech stands there and watches me until my shadow disappears into the crowd. Not long after, a light tap came from behind and made him turn around.
"Nath."
"Yo, Kaz." Nathaniel, the main figure from today's event, stood there and put on a presumptuous expression.
"Call me brother, Nath."
"Brother, my ass. We only separated for one year. No need for me to call you—ouch! Ouch! It hurts!" He screams in pain when Kazech pulls on his ear. "Let me go, Kaz—no, Brother! I'm sorry, okay?"
When Kazech released his hand, Nathan drew a few steps backward and rubbed his earlobes that reddened thanks to Kazech's pinch.
He sneers at Kazech with a sore expression. "You're the worst."
However, when Kazech's cold gaze landed on Nathaniel, he instantly smiled and said, "I'm kidding! Kidding! By the way, isn't that girl who talked to you earlier, is the first daughter of Palmerston?"
"Is she?"
Nathaniel nods with a disparaging look on his face. "Yeah, just look at her blonde hair, and that prideful expression makes me want to bring her down even more."
He does not stop there and continues talking, "All Palmerston's members are garbage. They stacked up their assets and looked down on the imperial family. If I needed to choose one, I would choose the second daughter. What's her name? Ah, Yuri Palmerston. She is only 8 now, but I bet she will grow into a beautiful girl like her mother. Hmph, I wouldn't mind if she wanted to marry me in the future, but her family must be my subordinate and kneel in front of me—"
"Stop, Nath. It isn't funny." Kazech cuts Nath's words and glares at him. He knows Nath is sarcastic, rude, and loud-mouthed like usual, but this is already going too far. "Just go back and enjoy your birthday party quietly, don't try to pick a fight with her. I warn you."
Kazech walks away and leaves Nathaniel there with a scowling face.
"What's wrong with him? I never can read his mind, grossss."
He sticks his tongue out and kicks some pebbles in the ground with resentful feelings before starting to wander around and talk with other people to dominate the conversation with his words—ah, it is just one of Nathaniel's common hobbies.
Forget about Nathaniel and his gross habit. Now I am lurking between the guests and peeping at someone at the round table near the gazebo—the main reason I am forcing myself to go here.
"Good afternoon, Miss Raeliana."
"Good afternoon, Countess Darwin."
A beautiful young woman in a deep red velvet gown sits on the chair as another woman comes and greets her. Her long, flowing black hair was dancing with the wind, making me unable to blink from her glamour and elegance look. She could still be considered a rare beauty despite standing amongst so many beautiful ladies.
Raeliana Margaret is an independent woman who will get later success in her late twenties in her fast fashion and jewelry business. She becomes one of the influential figures in Tamerlaine. No one dared look down on her as before when she struggled alone to change her miserable fate from an orphan girl into the most successful woman on this continent.
"I heard that you started a fashion business, am I right?" Countess Darwin, a woman in a deep blue gown, stares at Raeliana with a belittling look.
However, Raeliana gives her a genuine smile. She has been used to this look, so what is the point of getting mad?
"Yes, you're right. It would be a pleasure if you could visit my store. I will give you a discount on some new items. How about that?"
Countess Darwin scratches her head as she sweeps a glance at her companions behind, who start to giggle each other. "Aaah, I'm not quite sure about that. Look, I didn't mean to underestimate your business, but we usually buy dresses from renowned designers to keep our reputation as high nobles. Am I right, ladies?"
"Fufufu, that's right."
I can see Raeliana's irritated look all over her face, but she still refrains herself from getting mad. "Of course, I understand that. Please come to my store if you have changed your mind."
After that, Countess Darwin and her companions went off from Raeliana's sight while laughing and gossiping about how upset Raeliana was.
Raeliana let out a sigh before sipping out a glass full of red wine. All of a sudden, she turns to me with a suspicious look. "Could you stop peeking at me and get out of there, young lady?"
I gasped as she drew a thin grin when looks at me from her couch.
"Damn it."