It was okay, everything was okay. Lucien completely didn't bother about all those conversations she could hear extremely very clearly. The pressure of their gaze and murmur was weighing her down. As much as she wanted to shout and tell them to shut up, or say that she never knew, no one was going to believe her and, most importantly, this was all planned out.
'I think I finally understood what sis once told me, wearing an inappropriate outfit on a wrong occasion.'
Those people who recognizes her moved their glances away like Lucien was an outsider. It wasn't only them but those ladies, the consorts were snickering as well.
Walking inside the hall wasn't the problem, the real problem was where to go and stand. It wasn't like she was going to keep on walking around.
Her feet paused when she heard a peal of familiar laughter. "Father?" Her eyes widen in surprise.
What she never expected was to see her father among the crowd. He was simply having a normal conversation with some Nobles. As soon as he heard his daughter's voice, he turned toward her in delight.
"Lucy~"
"F-father...what are you doing here? I-I mean why are you here?"
"Ho~ho~ho"
He laughs in amusement. "Why shouldn't I be? I received his Majesty's letter for a meal though I didn't expect many guests to be here."
Lucien's hand trembles as her jaws tighten. "Anyhow, I missed my daughter, so I came as soon as I received the invitation. I was worried about how you would be living here. And the emperor even sends the confirmation teleportation seal." Her father continue but she paid no attention to them. All she heard was snickering and mumbling around.
"Father, I think you should go back." Lucien calmly answers. "It's late and I could hear thunder rumbling around, there is nothing much here and apart from that, I'm doing fine. Everything is pleasant and they are performing their best."
Whispers aroused among the crowds.
"Why did the Grand Duke Valentius has to send her daughter in this manner?"
"So ungrateful. It's presumably how the father raises his daughter in this way."
"I say, a shame."
Lucien was holding back ever since she received those gazes. However, it was too much for her to handle when the people around them started to say that in front of them with no remorse.
Her father held his daughter's trembling hand. "Lucy, come with me. Let's grab something to eat, alright?"
Lucien nodded her head and followed to the luxurious table. Both grabbed anything to eat and Lucien was somehow able to calm down.
"Don't take heed to what others say. Ignore them and they will ignore you."
Lucien laughs in return, "yes, Father." And soon enough, both daughter and father started to chat about other things ignoring their surroundings.
"But, why did you wear something like this today?" Her father suddenly questioned. "It's very inappropriate. Or you don't have enough gowns?" Her father's face began to get pale, at the thought of his daughter not having enough clothes.
"Ah, What? No...no...its–"
Lucien wasn't going to tell him what had happened. It was only going to create a problem and misunderstanding. After all, this was between her and the emperor.
"Wait, I'll ask Catherine–"
"Father, it's okay... it's okay. You don't need to worry. I've enough." 'More than enough to open a store.'
She calmly explained that it was a mistake of her to do that. Her father scolded her to be careful in the near future. Saying that it would be embarrassing for the mentor who had taught her about all this etiquette manner and it might also ruin her image.
"I know Father, I'll be more mindful next time." His nagging was no different than her father in the modern world. She didn't mind rather was happy, it felt nostalgic.
Lucien's father finally told he was about to leave and excuses himself to greet the emperor.
As soon as he left, her smile drops down. Anger boiled inside her with a raging fury in her gaze. 'It was okay if it was only me but you even dare to bring me down along with my family?'
Her gaze move towards the stairs of the balcony where the emperor sat with a glass in his hand. No wonder she dreamt about Yeong-su. Lucien's father greets the emperor with a bow and soon left.
"Lady Lucien."
A voice made her startled, taking her back to her world from making a plan of murdering the look-alike features of her crush or bf or ex? She didn't know what was the appropriate word to describe it.
"Ah, Lady Alina."
She quickly removes her bitterness with a smile.
"Did you had any food yet? I'm starving."
Alina delightfully asks in a swift manner as her stomach grumbles. She had been hungry ever since she came here but didn't have the guts to walk towards the table until she saw Lucien standing beside the table.
Lucien giggles seeing her embarrassment. "Alright, I can get some dessert."
Instead of dining in the hall, Alina took her out to the garden. They sat by the fountain and began to eat especially, Alina.
"Earlier, Renee asked for an audience with the emperor." As Alina spoke Lucien's hand froze.
"W-what? What for?"
The spoon she held to slice the pudding was on halt.
'Oh my gosh! Don't tell me she wanted to leave.'
"Wait, is it allowed for us to make an audience with the emperor? We aren't even half the procedure and it's forbidden for us to meet his Majesty, right?"
"I guess so." Alina sighs as she spoke. "But she was determined to meet the emperor and," she sighs again, longer than the first. "The other ladies were supporting her, especially that pink hair." Her sentence ended with a little annoying tone.
'Those ladies. Are they really asking for a death sentence?'
"Don't worry," Alina uttered slicing off the chicken's thigh with her hand. She had removed her gloves as she felt uncomfortable when she was having her food. "I don't think she is about to leave though others think like that."
Lucien breathed out in relief wishing it was true.
"Yesterday, at the tea party." Alina glances her look toward Lucien. "You were actually advising Renee, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?"
Lucien calmly took a spoon full of pudding, ignoring her gaze. "I just said what you heard."
Alina just gave a confused look but questioned no further. "Alright...alright...I believe you. But honestly, I agree with your suggestions and I think Renee does too if, she isn't stupid."
'I hope she isn't.'
Everything that lies was whether Renee understood or not. Both sighs together as though their mind spoke in unison.
"Okay then, I'm leaving to get more food," Alina announced and stood up.
"What?" Lucien looks down at those piles of plates on the fountain and the grass. "You are still hungry?" Alina ignores her question and walks back to the hall to get more food 5-6 times. No matter how much she consumed, her stomach was flat as though she had never had her food in the beginning.
"I have a big appetite and the food here are once in a lifetime we could taste." And she answers without turning her back with the motivation to get more food she was unable to obtain before.
Lucien sighs and leans back with arms supporting her back. The pudding she ate was already finished. She raised her head staring up at the partly cloudy sky. She could barely see the moon and a few stars. 'Wait, was there a plot like this in the novel?' She thought. 'No, it didn't. Is the emperor changing the plot?'
Her body leans in, no more leaning back. To sit more comfortably, she pulls both legs up and sets herself in a yoga pose. Arms folded across her chest with one thought echoing in her mind. 'Who is in the Female protagonist?'
'Wait, that lady whom the Butler had mentioned before, she had a dying wish. Who did she transmit into?'
Lucien move her gaze towards the hall, she could hear the music played by the performers: the cello, the violin, and many others but her mind were completely blank.
'If the female lead was the lady transmitted into her then why did she say she wanted to leave this place as soon as she could?'
Her right thigh moves as though it was tapping against the fountain. 'Wait....wait....wait....this is too quick to make things clear out. It's just my assumption.'
Frustrated, she lay down on the fountain, arms still around her chest while her right ankle was on top of her other knee. 'This is frustrating.' Her forefinger taps against her arm. 'Okay, if she was that 'dying lady,' she would have been surprised by this situation as well but,' her hand paused from tapping. 'If she isn't that 'dying lady' then who is she transmitted into?'
"Uggghhh!"
She finally stood up and made her way inside. The air was getting rough and she needed to get into her bed. But before that, there was something she needed to do.
.
.
.
.
The banquet was over and everyone left. The sky started to make a thundering sound as lighting began to flash across the cloud.
Efthalia walks out of the bathroom with a silk towel robe to his living room. The maid has placed some warm tea along with some pastries and snacks. However, he didn't expect Ajex would be there on the couch drinking tea as well. He sighs and lets the maid and butler excuse themselves.
"Weren't you supposed to be on your post?"
Efthalia asked pouring himself a warm pink tea as he sat down.
"I am however, I'm on a break," he responded and calmly sips his tea.
"Is something wrong?"
Efthalia questions as he weirdly stares at Ajex.
"Nothing.."
However, he refused to respond but one could see that both his ears have turned red. His mind was a mess.
Earlier, during the banquet, Ajex was assigned to patrol the Platinum Palace courtyard. He has already dispatched his underlings in groups in different areas.
As he walked around, he didn't expect to meet the same lady he met in the garden or to see her on the balcony. It would have been okay if he were to ignore her and walk away. But, as a knight, it was his duty to look after the people of the Imperial palace who were either guests or the royal family. He made his way to notify her to get inside the hall.
However, what he didn't expect was to see her in an unladylike sitting posture. 'What the? Are Noble ladies supposed to sit like that?'
Lucien didn't notice any of her surroundings as she was too busy thinking too deeply and the knight was approaching on her right.
"My la–"
His step paused, and so as his tongue. At this moment, he wasn't brave enough to make a move or to make a sound, his body stiffen as though somebody has made him stop from moving any further.
It was unladylike to sit in a weird posture but it became more unladylike when Lucien decided to lie down on the fountain. Her feet were pulled up with her knees pointing at the sky. Her gown flew as light as a feather when she decided to rest her ankle on the other knee. It was a good thing that ladies in this period wore petticoats under the gown with leggings.
Ajex didn't know what to do. Walk forward to greet her and tell her it's an inappropriate way for a lady to lay like a man or walk away like he had never seen this.
And not long before, Lucien decided to leave herself. And at this moment, he realized something. 'This woman has no elegance as a woman.'
.
.
.
.
"I don't know what is wrong with you but you remarkably have an unusual taste in women."
Ajex suddenly spoke after a long minute of silence.
"....."
Efthalia silently stares at his friend with a judgemental look who seems to have gone insane after arriving from the battle at the border.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The maid has left and Lucien was not yet ready to sleep. She sat alone in the living room with her leg crossed and her arms crossed across her chest.
"Now then, let's see what you could do."
She uttered in a quiet manner gazing down at the little flower blooming on the pot on the table.
** ~What is your command, my lady?~**
A little voice responded to her response. Lucien wasn't alarmed by the sound. The flower was no more on the pot but instead evolved into a hundred petals that were now floating around in the air.