I was quietly surprised by what the girl just said.
Lady Octavi, who was behind me, started to walk beside me and said.
"*Ehem* May this young lady introduce herself before speaking like that towards my lady?"
"Hmmm? How do I need to introduce myself to you, servant? Surely, you need to apologize to me with that attitude, servant.."
"I think you need the one for apologizing, young lady…"
"HA? My lady Aurelia, perhaps you do not train your servant well. This disgraceful servant dared to emit a single word in this great meeting."
"About th—"
Immediately, Lady Octavi stuck out her hand in front of my face and said, "No, my lady, you don't need to speak a single word toward them before this young one apologizes."
"Is this how the Aurelius Family, a gold family that makes all the nobles envy it, serves the guests? Why does my Lady Aurelia just keep quiet about this behavior?"
"If you know well about the Aurelius Family, surely you know well whether the servants are or not."
"Aurelia!" Finally, the Prince spoke the words, "Control your servant, Immediately!! If you let this continue, she will stain my honor."
"I don't mean to stain your honor or your renown, Crown Prince... I know you are a man of honor and a man of valor in the academy…You are my underclassman; surely I know you... But this is a disgrace for my lady and for me."
"I am your underclassman???" The Prince seemed to take a closer look at Lady Octavi
"Don't tell me, you are the Hawk?"
The Hawk? Was that how Lady Octavi was called in the academy?
"I don't quite like that nickname, but yes, like your highness thinks, I am Octavi Claudi, and I am a daughter of VISCOUNT from the Claudi Family; maybe your highness knows me well in the academy…"
"I don't know if you are from the Claudi family…You had great sword movement back in the academy, and you achieved a perfect score on your graduation…"
I looked at Lady Octavi, I didn't know that she was that amazing.
"Your words are an honor to me, but the one who sits beside you, needs to apologize first for her words towards my lady and me... How dare she show that disgraceful attitude toward my lady and me, who have a higher peerage rank than her…And I am lost for words to know she could sit beside you; even I couldn't sit beside my lady like that."
"I apologize for my disgraceful behavior toward my lady Aurelia and Lady Octavi, where I didn't acknowledge and was mistaken as a servant. May this apology be pleasing to both of your hearts." Lady Anna apologized.
"I accept your apology." Lady Octavi said.
But, again, Lady Anna said something surprisingly "How about, Lady Octavi apologize on behalf of my lady Aurelia, who brought a servant behind her with daggers in her thighs.."
At once, all three guards in the room took a stance of guard…
I was shocked beyond words that she knew it, and even though I just knew about the maid's guard recently, I believed even the little two didn't know about it. How an outsider from the family knew about it
"Is that true, Aurelia?" the Prince asked.
"It's true… Adel, you may take out your daggers and remove them. I answered
Adel removed the ties from her daggers, and at once, I could hear all of her daggers fall. She picked them up and brought them to the guard. After that, she came back behind me.
"Now, I need to know, who is this lovely one that could sit beside my betrothal?" I asked the girl.
"My name is Anna Justina; maybe my lady has been informed about me as the daughter of a count; well, I will not introduce my title again…"
"So it is Lady Anna then; you may call me Lady Aurelia, I am a little bit uneasy if a noble called me 'my lady', beside my subjects…I believe Lady Anna knows it well, right?"
"Ha ha ha *small giggling* Surely I know it well, and it is an honor for me too, Lady Aurelia…"
"Great… There is something in my mind: how does my betrothal know Lady Anna?"
When Lady Anna wanted to answer it, out of sudden Lady Octavi leaned her mouth to my ear and whispered.
"It would be great if this conversation happened in the garden, my lady, to relax the atmosphere.."
I looked at her and said, "That's a great idea, Lady Octavi.." and I turned back to them and said, "How about we bring this conversation to the garden. Surely I am glad to hear Lady Anna's story about my betrothal in the garden with a nice and relaxed atmosphere, rather than a dull and tense atmosphere here."
We stood up from the seat, and went to the garden. I walked side by side with the Prince, followed by Adel, Lady Octavi, and Gina behind me, but Lady Anna was not walking behind the Prince; rather, she was walking beside the Prince. I could feel the tension in the house, sort of angry. Even the servants we passed by were so irritated. First, I thought the black dress from Adel's advice was great, but after I saw they wore the same color dress, white, this dress seemed to have faded away.
Suddenly, I heard words from Lady Octavi in my right ear.
"My lady, you need to keep walking and stay side by side with the Prince…"
I realized that I was left behind; they were already in front of me…I tried to catch them, but somehow my foot, even my body, couldn't catch them…Gina on my left said.
"Are you alright? Perhaps you are not feeling well, my lady?"
"Thanks for the concern, Gina. I am alright, but... but…I don't know…Why does my entire body not want to come near them?"
"So you are irritated by them.."
"Irritated? How come I was irritated by someone I don't know well about, even though I don't recall any memories with him?"
"That's your mind thinking like that, but your heart is different, my lady…That's why I said, Prepare your heart."
"Nonsense!!" I tried hard to catch them. "Nonsense!! Nonsense!! Nonsense!!"
Unfortunately, until I arrived at the garden, I stayed behind them.
…
In the garden, especially in the pavilion, a table was already prepared for us. They walked with me behind them. On the table, there were some snacks, a teapot, and cups of drinks. There were four seats on the table, which meant Lady Octavi was included. They took the seats, again side by side, but I took a seat opposite the Prince. After I sat on the seat, Lady Octavi whispered to me.
"My lady, you need to sit in there... So you can sit side by side with the prince; let me sit on that seat you are sitting at."
"No, I will sit here... You can sit there, Lady Octavi."
"But, my lady…"
"Don't let me repeat my sentences!" Immediately, Lady Octavi took a seat, and after everyone took all the seats, Adel started pouring the drink from the tea pot into all the cups.
"Now, I want to hear Lady Anna's story back then... How did this lovely lady meet my betrothal?"
Lady Anna explained how they got to meet each other. It started at the Palace Academy, where she went, because they were in the same group, so they bumped into each other every time. They started to know each other.
"That was amazing. If I could hope that I was in the academy as well, but I still have a great tutor like Lady Octavi and Gina who are behind me. Wait a second... Is Palace Academy for knighthood? I heard it from my little sister…It means Lady Anna is a knight. Does it mean Lady Anna knows how to handle a sword?"
"A little bit, Lady Aurelia…but if you compare me with Lady Octavi, I am way beyond the bottom of her."
"It's alright, Lady Anna, because I have watched her in the match, and even with someone…surely, it is hard to catch the stage of Lady Anna's sword.."
The prince was surprised and said, "Who is the one who can even be with her?"
"The one who poured your drink, Prince.." I answered it.
They looked at Adel, who was beside them at the table.
"We surely had an even match between each other, but we lost to my lady…" Lady Octavi said.
"I don't know if you learn about swords, Aurelia.." the Prince said.
"Is that when Lady Aurelia tried to save the four children? That Lady Octavi and this servant lost to you." Lady Anna said.
I was shocked again; it was not just me that saw Lady Octavi's and Adel's faces; their faces were astonished after hearing from her.
"What do you mean about that, Anna?" the Prince asked Anna.
"I heard from the wind rumor that Lady Aurelia almost defeated both of them in the alley when she tried to save the four children in there.…"
How could she know about that incident? Again, the only ones who knew about the incident were the people from the family or the residence.
"That wind rumor surely told everything, maybe it will tell about the end of the world tomorrow, right? My lady," Lady Octavi said, like it was just a joke to me.
"Tomorrow is the end of the world; it may be overexaggerated, Lady Octavi, but a rumor about Lady Aurelia leaving the Delios temple with a lot of blood stains in her dress, may be over exaggerated; is that right? Lady Aurelia," Lady Anna said while taking a sip of her tea.
"Ha ha ha! *small giggles* Yes, it is over exaggerated; how could the rumor be like that?" I just answered.
"Maybe the rumor could be true sometime?"
Out of the blue, I heard in my right ear, words from Gena.
"It is not good, my lady…You need to excuse yourself right now…"
"Why?"
Lady Anna took a sip of tea and looked at us. "Is there something wrong, Lady Aurelia? Or maybe the rumor that you are in a state of not feeling well is true too?"
"It's just a rumor, Lady Anna. Everything is fine, I am here in healthy condition, it means the rumor is just a rumor, right?"
"I hope so, Lady Aurelia.." Lady Anna said this with a little smirk on her face.
Gena continued to say, "I felt the dianoia reaction…I thought it would be amusing to let this dianoia reaction go without telling you, but after I saw her right now, I changed my mind.."
"What do you mean by that? Explain it to me!"
"No time, my lady…"
"Just explain it to me! Right now!"
"It's really that there is no time…"
"I th—*cough*" Like Gena said, suddenly I coughed and blood came out from it. "*Cough* *cough* *cough*" The blood stained the table.
I saw everyone standing up except Lady Anna, who was still sitting, I looked at her, and she showed me some smirks and smiles.
Gena, Lady Octavi, and Adel immediately surrounded me and asked "Are you alright, my lady?".
"Yeah… I a…m…al..r*cough…i.g—" I blinked my eyes, and suddenly the faces of Adel, Gina, Lady Octavi, and others were gone from my sight. Their faces changed to those of someone I didn't know. I looked around, I was not in the garden anymore, but…